Tottenham Women boss Robert Vilahamn on taking inspiration from Jonas Eidevall and Brian Sorensen, Martha Thomas' electric start and his empowering leadership; Watch Man City vs Tottenham on Sky Sports Football from 6.30pm on Sunday, kick-off 6.45pm
Sunday 26 November 2023 21:58, UK
When Spurs' recruitment department appointed new head coaches for both the men's and women's teams this summer, they intentionally sought candidates to play the trademarked 'Tottenham Way', who could turn potential into reality, and who would stick to their principles despite external pressures.
The early signs are that both appointments have gone well. Tottenham men have topped the Premier League, Spurs Women have lost only once in the WSL.
But while men's boss Ange Postecoglou has been grabbing the Happy Days headlines, women's counterpart Robert Vilahamn has enjoyed more of a back seat to the media glare. Though the Australian's penchant for unflinching honesty is another thing the two have in common.
"It's not about tactics or winning football games - they're fun, but I like to work with people," Vilahamn tells Sky Sports when asked how he has rebuilt a fractured club in four short months.
"I know how much pressure there is, one day if I lose I'm going to get fired. I'm fine with that. You know you're going to die someday... I'm not scared of that either."
Vilahamn inherited a Spurs side who had lost 14 of 22 WSL games last season, including a bruising run of 10 in 11 between November and mid-March, which ended Rehanne Skinner's three-year reign in charge.
They were supposed to improve on a fifth-placed finish the previous campaign, but instead ended in their lowest position since promotion in 2019 with morale very publicly hitting rock bottom.
"They had a tough year," he says, putting it lightly.
The turnaround Vilahamn has overseen since walking in the door in early July is remarkable by any metric. Though a spirited performance in his opening game away to champions Chelsea offered hope better times might be on the way, it did not even hint at the nine-game unbeaten streak which has followed.
Beyond the stylistic similarities across both genders this season, for the women's team specifically Vilahamn was the right man at the right time. An arm round the shoulder of a dressing room which needed picking up. Empowerment over pressure.
"It's really fresh with the new manager," defender Asmita Ale told Sky Sports in September. "He's got a different style, the way he runs things - the girls like it.
Vilahamn himself comes across as largely unflappable, a mentality he wants his teams to embody, but even he is surprised by the points progression. Especially after he announced in his first press conference that it was not important where his new side finished in his first season.
That would have turned a few heads. It sounded gimmicky, and the Spurs boss knows he is in a results industry. But he means it nonetheless. Conversely it is exactly why he believes those results have followed.
"If we lost the first four games, I would still stick to the plan - but everybody would say I was stupid," he adds. "You need wins as well. I get it.
"Even if I say I don't care about the results this year, it's true because I know that in the long run, we are going to get results. But we're going to get that through performances, and how the club plays.
"We need wins to build self-confidence, but once again you create those by focusing on the performance. It's a mixture - you have to respect the game and have a game plan to win it, but always try to adapt to how you play. You can't push it all the way, you have to find a limit to still win the game but in our way."
Vilahamn's process-driven style is in itself not revolutionary any more. He is inspired by Scandanavian people-centred leadership techniques shared by fellow Nordic coaches Brian Sorensen and Jonas Eidevall, whose WSL success convinced him he could follow in their footsteps.
He has introduced weekly yoga sessions at the club training ground, with backroom and support staff also invited. The plan is to create a sense of the collective. Not only to reduce individual pressure on his players, but to empower them.
"That kind of leadership is very common in business right now, and it's working," he says. "Everyone feels like they are together, not just doing what the boss says. Now when it comes to football, it's working the same.
"The old-style coaches who are more dictating and demanding can still work it out, but I think this kind of leadership works well in football.
"The Scandinavian coaches have been doing it for a few years, I'm not sure if English ones are. I know it works, you get people appreciating what you do and they make it not just about themselves but about everyone else.
"When you get players with bad self-confidence and you want to be brave and play out from the back, it's not easy, especially if you lose the ball and concede. It's not the easiest way, but it's the most fun way.
"If you nail it, confidence will grow quite quickly and you'll see these players are better than you saw last year and I knew that there was some potential in the group. We added a few key players to this way of playing and we're going to keep adding a few more to make sure we get the right rhythm."
One of those key arrivals is forward Martha Thomas, whose influence around the club has, to continue on a theme, surpassed expectations with six goals in her first seven WSL games.
At Man Utd last year, she played barely four games' worth of league football and found the net only once. Unearthing her to replace the injured Beth England's goals was an achievement in itself, but the way she has hit the ground running is the biggest vindication yet of what Vilahamn is trying to achieve in north London.
"It's probably one of the best signings in Tottenham's history," he says, typically understated. "When you scout players, top players in other clubs, you can see their highlights but Martha hadn't played too much.
"You could see from her actions there was something there, but to expect her to score all these goals and assists - I didn't expect that."
Thomas could easily have been the one who got away. In the final 48 hours of the transfer window, alternative options were sourced in case the deal fell through, but Spurs got their woman on Transfer Deadline Day - and have never looked back.
The 27-year-old has publicly name-checked her manager for his belief to bring the best out of her, and despite a three-game scoreless streak after that electric start his faith remains unwavering. After all, trust is what underpins his entire philosophy.
"You have to pick players to trust, and make sure you pick the right ones!" he says with a smile. "They're going to feel that trust, they can have a bad game, they're going to keep playing. But you need to find the right players to handle that, with the respect in the group.
"Martha is always very professional around the team, so everybody understands if she doesn't score for a game and I trust her in the next one, people will not think I'm a bad coach for that.
"For me, it's not just about guiding her how she has to run, shoot and score. She knows what she can do, it's more about just being in the right positions to do that. I don't try to lock the place in what the players should do, but allow them to feel free to do it within our framework.
"A lot of players get stressed when they don't get all the answers from me. But they get a framework, options, and then it's up to them to solve those situations.
"When you learn how to do that, you can play your best football."
Thomas has done that, and so too the wider squad so far this season. So much so that it would be no surprise if Vilahamn's upward trajectory continued with a surprise result at Manchester City this weekend.
It might not be all about the results this season, but you can bet how sweet that one would feel.
Watch Man City vs Tottenham in the WSL on Sky Sports Football from 6.30pm on Sunday, kick-off 6.45pm.
