Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas didn’t get the luxury of being tossed many softball questions at his press conference at M&T Bank Stadium ahead of Saturday’s exhibition match against Premier League foe Liverpool.
Those kinds of inquiries are easy and come part and parcel with an overseas preseason tour. But Spurs are hardly settled heading into the year.
Not only is the 34-year-old Villas-Boas in his first season taking over a club that finished fourth in the EPL last year – and would’ve had a Champions League spot if not for sixth-place Chelsea swiping it by winning the European title – he’s got more than his fair share of headaches.
Scott Parker is out after surgery on Achilles injury. The team is still working on permanently signing Emanuel Adebayor from Manchester City. Luka Modric skipped the U.S. tour because he wants to be transferred (to Real Madrid(?)). Gareth Bale was Tottenham’s best player against the Los Angeles Galaxy on Tuesday, but fans are angry because he missed out on playing for Team Great Britain in the Olympics due to injury. [The club responded with this statement.] And Jermaine Defoe left the team after his cousin was tragically killed in a swimming pool electrocution accident on holiday in St. Lucia, leaving Villas-Boas currently with one striker, 18-year-old Harry Kane.
It’s still better than Villa-Boas’ tumultuous half season at Chelsea.
“I think they are enjoying what they are doing,” Villas-Boas said, explain that he’s been adapting to his new team as much as they’ve been adapting to him. “You will get a more specific answer from the players, of course. But I think the warmth of the group is excellent to see. Different groups react differently, and we’ve seen the spirit within this group is fantastic. It’s different from what I had last year.”
One adjustment that’s easy is goalkeeper Brad Friedel, who at age 40 is working on his record 305 consecutive starts in the Premier League. Every match he plays moves him one match closer to having that streak end. Across the street from where Cal Ripken Jr. played baseball, it’s hard not to wonder if it’ll happen this year, especially if Villas-Boas tries to bring in someone new.
“I will see how my body feels later on in the season,” said Friedel, who is on a one-year deal. “We’ll see how things progress, and then I’ll make a decision if I play longer or not. At this stage, my body dictates everything. If I couldn’t do it anymore at the highest level, then I wouldn’t want to play. I would never sign a contract if I didn’t think I could fulfill the contract.”
Friedel grew up rooting for Liverpool and once played for them, but asked about where he thought the Reds were coming off an eighth-place finish last year, Friedel said, “I don’t know where they are other than north of us.”
He did weigh in, however, on Clint Dempsey’s potential transfer from Fulham.
“Clint is a tremendous player, and he’s worked very hard to get himself into a position that he’s in right now, to where a lot of big clubs are after him,” Friedel said. “Wherever he decides to go, or if he decides to stay at Fulham, he’ll be successful because he’s a class player and a class individual.”
He also gave his thoughts on the U.S. team failing to qualify for the Olympics.
“Any time you miss an international tournament, it’s a little bit of setback,” Friedel said. “I think when the U.S. and our qualifying region, we should be qualifying for these tournaments. I think the main goal at the youth levels is to develop the players, to be able to go on to the national teams and to other pro teams whether it’s in MLS or the rest of Europe. Whenever your players aren’t on the big stage in the big tournaments, it lessens their exposure. I don’t think it’s a setback where U.S. soccer will go into turmoil. However, it is a setback for those players that could’ve been able to express themselves and get seen by other teams.”
Friedel also said he’s impressed with the growth of Major League Soccer and that hopes to see more players in the mold of John O’Brien or Claudio Reyna at the peak of their careers in England and overseas to help the U.S. team.
And while Villas-Boas has plenty of work left to do behind the scenes, Friedel is just trying to make it through another preseason – he said it was his 21st as a pro.
“I don’t think it’s too different,” Friedel said when asked about playing against a fellow Premier League side on Saturday. “It’s still a preseason game. The only difference might be that they’re more similar to us, where we’re at in terms of fitness. When you play against the MLS I think both teams will be going out and trying to win the game but also go through to get another 90 minutes of match fitness under the belt.”
