Sunday, 02 September 2012 11:22

LONDON: Andre Villas-Boas (pic) called for calm after his Tottenham side were booed off just three games into his White Hart Lane reign following a 1-1 draw with Norwich City yesterday.

Spurs are still awaiting their first win under the 34-year-old, with a point against West Brom and a defeat at Newcastle, in addition to yesterday's stalemate, amounting to the Portuguese's achievements so far in north London.

And Villas-Boas, appearing calm post-match, added it was “normal” for a team to start slowly under new management.

"I think it's normal (to wait for first win). It comes normally with hard work and we continued to work hard today," he said.

"I think the first half we weren't so sharp, like last week we didn't create lots of opportunities, so today was a little bit different.

"Second half we improved a lot, managed to have more of the ball and were creative. We fought hard to get the goal that we deserved but in the end suffered again on a set play.

"I think it's obviously disappointing start for everybody, but we look to repay our fans with the win they deserve and the team deserve, we will continue to pursue that.

"I think it was down to Norwich being outstanding today, really proving that you can create good opportunities when you are playing away from home.

"They were very sharp, objective in their game, always creating us problems so we give credit to them, they found their inspiration from the amount of chances they had.

"We always looked a bit on the back foot in the beginning but improved a lot in the second [half], but not enough at the end to take the result we wanted."

Villas-Boas also confirmed despite splashing out £15 million on a new goalkeeper Hugo Lloris from Lyon that veteran Brad Friedel would continue to be his first choice.

The France captain moved to White Hart Lane on Friday and was expected to replace the American.

However, Villas-Boas confirmed the 41-year-old will keep his place after a fine showing against Norwich.

"Friedel had an amazing game, you have to give credit to him. It was a man of the match performance, he saved us a couple of times from going 1-0 down, it was so outstanding," he said.

"Obviously competition increases for him, but the place is his because he is a tremendous goalkeeper and deserves that spot."