As Andre Villas-Boas attempts to fend off pressure from the club’s supporters following the poor start to the season, he also has another situation to deal with. Having announced to the public that Brad Friedel will remain Spurs’ No.1 for now, he appears to have upset new signing Hugo Lloris who says “it’s never nice” to hear such comments.

Spurs made no secret of the fact that they were chasing Lloris for the whole summer and eventually landed their man courtesy of a £12m deal. However, even though many supporters were delighted to sign a player with such a positive reputation in Europe, there were concerns at just how the France international would fit in. Despite his advancing years, Brad Friedel is still regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in the top flight and few would disagree that he would have been very hard done by to lose his place. AVB seemed to realise this, quickly telling the press that Lloris would have to earn his shirt in the team.

Obviously, this hasn’t gone down well with the new signing. There were murmurs of dissatisfaction after France manager Didier Deschamps revealed that he was not happy with Villas-Boas’ comments last week. However, Lloris has added more fuel to the fire, stating, “Obviously it’s never nice, but we’ll see when we return to work on Wednesday.”

Furthermore, Friedel believes that his place in the team is fully vindicated. When asked about the situation, he told the press, “Right now I believe the shirt is mine to lose, I believe the manager came out and said that. If that’s the case, then great.”

Bearing the above in mind, it remains to be seen how AVB handles this situation. He has come under fire in the past for his man management skills and following this situation, the same looks to be occurring again.