Thursday, 20th March, 2014
Andre Villas-Boas has defended his spells in charge of Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, insisting they were anything but failures.
The Portuguese tactician has rebounded quickly from his sacking by Tottenham in December, being appointed the new coach of Russian giants Zenit St. Petersburg on a contract believed to be worth around €8.5m per year.
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Some eyebrows have been raised in England, where Villas-Boas was sacked by Chelsea before taking charge at Tottenham and saw his successor at Stamford Bridge, Roberto Di Matteo, lead the club to Champions League success.
But Villas-Boas has come out fighting, defending his record in English football, pointing to a high points total in his first year at Spurs and claiming some of the Champions League credit pie at Chelsea.
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"In my first year at Spurs, the team achieved its highest ever points total in the Premier League", he explained to reporters.
"In regards to my second year with Spurs, I cannot comment on this due to contractual reasons.
"When I left Chelsea the previous season, they went on to win the Champions League.
"You have to give the players credit, but it was me who constructed that team."
Villas-Boas has succeeded Luciano Spalletti as Zenit boss and instantly set his sights on winning the Russian Premier League title.
"My goal is to take Zenit to the top", he said, with his new club three points behind leaders Lokomotiv Moscow with nine games left to play.
"The first step is to win the Russian league."
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