Villas-Boas happy with ´superior´ Spurs

Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas said his side were ‘superior’ to Lazio despite the Europa League clash ending 0-0.

The north London side enjoyed most of the possession at White Hart Lane against their Italian opponents and saw three goals ruled out by the officials.

And though Villas-Boas later rued those decisions as Spurs got their Europa League campaign underway with a draw, he had nothing but praise for his players.

“I am extremely happy with the performance and the effort the players put in,” Villas-Boas told ITV.

“In the end you can’t reprimand them for nothing, they were outstanding today. We had enough opportunities to win the game and the team that puts the ball three times in the back of the net and see two goals ruled out… it is disappointing.

“But it shows we are on the right track to giving something to the fans. But against a team that is doing extremely well, we were superior.”

Spurs gave Clint Dempsey and Hugo Lloris their full debuts, while also handing Steven Caulker his first start of the season.

And it was the academy product, who last played in a 4-2 Carling Cup defeat to Arsenal, who most impressed Villas-Boas.

“Spurs always promote young talent and young talent is coming through,” he said.

“Andros (Townsend) had a few more minutes today and Caulker was amazing in central defence, very, very steady against one of the best strikers in the world.

“So you see good things with (Kyle) Walker, (Kyle) Naughton, (Gareth) Bale, you see players who have been well taught in their education and it is extremely good to see that.”

Meanwhile, Villas-Boas said he did not hear any racist chanting alleged to have been directed by Lazio fans at his players but expects action should proof be found.

UEFA president Michel Platini attended as fans of the Italian side allegedly aimed monkey noises at Jermain Defoe, Andros Townsend and captain Aaron Lennon.

And Villas-Boas indicated that he would leave the European governing body to deal with the reported incident.

“I think so,” he replied to the post-match press conference when asked if he expected UEFA to act should the allegations be proven.

“UEFA is very active on this kind of situation so and our overall objective is to kick racism out of football.

“I can’t point the finger at anyone in any way shape or form tonight because I didn’t hear anything. It’s for the authorities to follow up in any kind of investigation.”