Villas-Boas adds spice to Tottenham vs Chelsea by revealing he and Mourinho no longer speak
Villas-Boas adds spice to Tottenham vs Chelsea by revealing he and Mourinho no longer speak
"We had a great personal and professional relationship. It
broke down. We don't talk now" says AVB of his old boss before weekend
clash
Happy days: Mourinho and AVB worked together at Porto, Chelsea and Inter
Andre Villas-Boas admits his relationship with former mentor Jose
Mourinho has "broken down", but added: "I don't lose any sleep."
Tottenham coach Villas-Boas will pits his wits against the Special One, who he worked under at three clubs over seven years, for the first time when Chelsea visit the White Hart Lane side on Saturday.
AVB was a scout for Portuguese countryman Mourinho at Porto, Chelsea and Inter Milan before launching his own management career.
But these days the two are barely on speaking terms.
"We
had a great personal and professional relationship before that we don't
have now," said the 35-year-old. "I don't think we need explanations on
friendship and personal relationships. But our relationship broke down.
"I
think we have the mutual respect for each other, and we understand what
we have been through cannot just disappear, but it's not like it was
before.
"We don't talk now. We talked at the Premier League managers' meeting in August, but not since then. I don't lose any sleep."
AVB
will not even share a glass of wine with Mourinho after the game, as
the Spurs boss will immediately leave to be "guest of honour" at his
former club Porto's 120th anniversary celebrations.
However,
Mourinho, who made the club European champions in 2004 before leaving to
boss Chelsea, is not expected to attend the function.
AVB lasted
only 40 games at Stamford Bridge in 2011-12, and now Mourinho is
encountering similar problems in changing the culture of the west London
club.
"I don't care about Chelsea," Villas-Boas stated. "It's not my responsibility."
The
simmering tension between the two ex-friends was evident long before
the build-up to this weekend’s top-of-the-table clash at White Hart
Lane.
Mourinho
took great delight in signing Willian after he had completed a medical
at Spurs - and AVB cheekily asked about the availability of Juan Mata
before the transfer window closed.
On Thursday, Villas-Boas was
keen to establish clear blue water between between him and the Chelsea
coach, both in a long interview for French newspaper L'Equipe - and
during his pre-match briefing at Spurs Lodge.
“The
comparisons are difficult to accept for different reasons,” said the
35-year-old. “When you start a coaching career, everyone looks at where
you came from. I learned from Jose Mourinho but I’m completely different
from him in terms of personality, methods of work and communication. We
have different philosophies.
“Of
course, Jose was very important in my career, and he gave me experience
I would not have had with anyone else. We had a great working
relationship, we won, but as soon as we split, I started to do things my
way.
“I don’t want to analyse the philosophy of Jose. My
philosophy is to have attacking teams, who take the initiative, who like
to have the ball. It doesn’t matter the match - you play to win and
sometimes you pay the price.” Moody Blues: Chelsea sacked Villas-Boas after less than a season in charge
Getty
That
certainly sounds different from arch-pragmatist Mourinho, who played
without a striker to secure a goalless draw at Old Trafford.
AVB was asked if there was anything in his fellow Portuguese’s style that he deliberately avoided.
“I’m
not
sure if I can give you that answer because you will put it in a
negative way,” he smiled. “I think there are things that we do
dramatically differently but it’s more for you to investigate and write.
“
AVB added: “Our
break-up point was because I was full of ambition to give him something
extra and I wanted further involvement for the job I was doing at that time, which was scouting and match preparation.
“But he felt he did not need to have someone alongside him. Therefore, I decided to think about my own career.”
Villas-Boas
took over at lowly Portuguese club Academica Coimbra - before following
in Mourinho’s footsteps in management at Porto and arriving at Chelsea in 2011.
He was fired in March 2012 after a dressing-room rebellion.
But the Tottenham boss insists he is now a better manager as he took a thinly-veiled swipe at the Blues old guard.
“Chelsea was an experience for me because it allowed me to understand that there are some things I could not do,” he said.
“I
was just the same coach as at Porto.
“I had a direction I wanted the team to follow. But I did not have enough support to follow this direction. Euro star: AVB wins the 2011 Europa League Final with Porto
Getty
“It was a good thing, in the end, because this experience has taught me a lot and now in Tottenham, I do things differently.
“I
learned
in a school (Porto) where the team was more important than any player.
But now I’m more rounded, I maybe deal better with the important
players. I treated everyone the same way at Chelsea.
“For you to stick to such a decision, you need the support of the club, and you don’t find that everywhere. In Porto, yes.
“It
was an experience that I had to live. It made me very strong.
“I failed,
it is true. I had to win and I failed. It could have been possible but it was perhaps impossible.”
Another difference from Mourinho’s first spell at Chelsea.
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