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In the end it was appropriate that Luis Suárez should administer the last rites to André Villas-Boas at Tottenham. Here was a player Liverpool had fought tooth and nail to retain last summer, dismissing firm offers from Arsenal and overtures from Real Madrid, to convince the striker, against his better judgment, that his immediate future lay on Merseyside.
Spurs had faced a similar dilemma over Gareth Bale, whose instinct was to up sticks for Spain. They eventually relented and cashed in to the tune of £86m. At the time the reinvestment of those funds in seven signings seemed exciting, even shrewd, though the sight of Suárez ripping the new brigade to shreds on Sunday told a very different story.
Villas-Boas has time now to ponder if this all boils down to Bale. Relieved of his duties at White Hart Lane, his reputation in the Premier League about as persuasive as Tottenham's backline, the Portuguese retreats scarred by another brush with management in this country.
At Chelsea he had failed to convince seasoned performers there that he was the man to hoist them back into Premier League and other contention. At Spurs he was ultimately undermined by an inability to coax immediate form from a swath of recruits, talented players with no experience of English domestic football. The sheer scale of the overhaul was overwhelming and the "dramatic changes" to which he referred on Sunday all stemmed from Bale's sale.
The chairman, Daniel Levy, clearly thought Villas-Boas had constructed a squad capable of challenging for the title, though the Portuguese might argue the transition was too radical, the upheaval too dramatic. He had spoken of the "culture shock" being endured by Erik Lamela, at £30m the third of three record signings last summer and a player whose first Premier League start was that 6-0 trouncing at Manchester City. The same might apply to Roberto Soldado, at £26m, whose style of play did not appear to fit easily into the approach Villas-Boas pursued. These players needed time while their presence ensured many of the existing squad felt usurped and undervalued.
"We've worked hard to build a strong team, we have a strong team and we are happy with the signings ... We have to work with them, to bond them together into the team," the manager had said when asked if he considered this to be "his" line-up, though by that stage his response to the question had lurched into full-scale PR mode.
More revealing had been his stuttering opening. "Well, we had … obviously this … I'm not sure if I can make it public …", which hardly suggested he was about to endorse the club's transfer policy. Perhaps it was born of frustration that Bale had left, particularly as Villas-Boas himself had waived Paris St-Germain's interest over the summer apparently in the belief that the Wales forward would remain at his disposal.
More likely is that he had dropped his guard to reveal tension at the top. The 36-year-old had endorsed Franco Baldini's appointment as technical director and had even actively championed it, though any implied criticisms he had concerning the summer recruitment would, by definition, have indicated his relationship with the Italian had already become strained. Were Lamela – formerly at Roma with Baldini – Nacer Chadli and Christian Eriksen the manager's choices or were they imposed on him?
Those who would more readily doubt Villas-Boas's credentials might suggest this was merely the latest instance of passing the buck. At Chelsea he had apparently been undermined by the senior players. At Spurs it was any combination from the medical staff to anxious fans, under-performing first-team players to the recruitment policy. That seems harsh but there were members of the hierarchy who had tired of his perceived blame culture.
Other criticisms were more familiar: there was a stubbornness in tactics which did him few favours, an unwillingness to bend towards the more flamboyant style Spurs demand and with which his players might have been more comfortable. The high defensive line which had not worked with John Terry at Stamford Bridge did not look convincing with Michael Dawson, the last of the fit recognised centre-halves, at White Hart Lane. And, in truth, his side very rarely appeared anything but a team geared towards life on the counterattack. They had struggled to break massed opponents down last season, leaning heavily on Bale. Their 15 goals in 16 games this term suggest those issues were ongoing.
Villas-Boas still departed having secured Spurs' highest points tally of the Premier League era, and with the best win percentage, at just over 53%, of any Spurs manager in the past 20 years. Yet there was no sense of surprise at his sacking. The embarrassment endured against City, Liverpool and West Ham could not be tolerated by a chairman who had envisaged a title pursuit and, by the end, Villas-Boas cut a rather lonely figure on the sidelines as all semblance of authority seemed to drained away.
Steffen Freund, like Roberto Di Matteo at Chelsea a former club stalwart appointed from on high to assist Villas-Boas, did not always appear a natural foil. Without Baldini to back him up forcibly, the manager looked isolated and, as results deteriorated, the haunted look he had worn at The Hawthorns in the spring of 2012, just before the axe fell at Chelsea, had returned.
He had arguably been fortunate to be offered such a swift route back with an elite English club in the first place. It is safe to assume that, if he ever does choose to return, it will be after reinventing his reputation abroad.
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