Exclusive – Hazard: Villas-Boas has instilled mental toughness at Tottenham

Former Tottenham midfielder Micky Hazard believes Andre Villas-Boas has given the Spurs squad a crucial never-say-die attitude, and has been the reason behind Gareth Bale’s rise to superstardom.

The Portuguese boss has had a positive maiden season at White Hart Lane, with the team coming out on top of a number of late comeback victories, especially recent wins against Lyon in the Europa League and West Ham in the Premier League in which Bale's quality shone.

And FA and UEFA Cup winner, Hazard, told talkSPORT he has been impressed with the team’s improvement under Villas-Boas.

“He’s done a fantastic job at Spurs since his arrival,” he told The Sports Bar.

“He’s instilled a mental toughness into the players. Even when it looks like they’re down and out they come back and win games.

“It’s got to be something to do with the things he’s instilled in the players. It’s good news for Spurs fans and good news for Spurs in general.”

After scoring his wonder strike winning goal against the Hammers at Upton Park, Bale ran straight to the Spurs manager during his celebrations, and Hazard also added that he wasn’t surprised by Bale’s reaction.

“I’m not surprised at all. AVB clearly seems like a player’s man.

“I think that any player that has had his best spell under a certain manager seems to regard that manager very highly.

“Bale is playing incredible football, he’s having the best goalscoring run of his career and it’s all coming under AVB.

“He’s had such an impact on his game.”