Everton ace Aaron Lennon and Andre Villas-Boas previously worked well together.
Everton’s misery was compounded on Sunday by losing 4-1 at Southampton.
No Everton player covered themselves in glory but the reviews on Twitter for Aaron Lennon’s performance were particularly scathing.
Caretaker boss David Unsworth appears to trust the 30-year-old winger, having given him all three of his Premier League starts this season, but Lennon struggled to repay that confidence with a wayward showing.
The Toffees fans are desperate for Unsworth to be replaced with a permanent manager and a certain Andre Villas-Boas was backed into 11/2 fourth favourite at the weekend with Sky Bet.
And if he gets the job, you wonder if Villas-Boas could help under-fire Lennon get his groove back. After all, they have history.
The former Tottenham Hotspur flyer spent 10 years in North London but his most productive Premier League season in terms of goals and assists came in the one full campaign that Villas-Boas had in charge – the 2012-13 campaign, where Lennon managed four goals and seven assists in 33 games.
In January 2013, the Portuguese manager raved about him to Sky Sports, saying: “He has been tremendous for us, not only creating but scoring too. It is creating within himself a winning mentality for Tottenham. It is important for the fans to see his desire and commitment in every single game and he was superb for us today.”
With that in mind, it certainly seems as if Villas-Boas knows how to get the best out of him and though Lennon is five years older, he still has the speed and cunning to be an asset under the right manager.
Whether that manager is Villas-Boas remains to be seen – Martin O’Neill, at evens, remains the favourite – but it’s certainly not unthinkable to wonder if Lennon is hoping it is.
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