Former Tottenham boss George Graham believes the club expected more from Andre Villas-Boas following the Portuguese's sacking on Monday.
Spurs confirmed than an agreement had been reached with the 36-year-old for him to leave White Hart Lane after Liverpool humiliated the north Londoners with a 5-0 win on Sunday.
The defeat leaves Spurs in seventh place in the Premier League, eight points behind leaders Arsenal and Graham feels recent results have failed to live up to the club's expectations after seven new players arrived during the summer transfer window.
"When you spend the amount of money Spurs spent during the summer then you expect better results than they’ve been getting of late," he told Goal.
"If you are in charge of a club like Spurs and lose 5-0 at home after the run they’ve been on then there is bound to be speculation."
Graham, who was in charge at White Hart Lane between 1998 and 2001 felt that Villas-Boas could have turned the club's fortunes around given more of a chance, but understands chairman Daniel Levy's decision to sack the Head Coach after 17 months at the helm.
"Andre Villas-Boas had some good results earlier on and brought in some good players, so perhaps he has been treated a bit harshly.
"It would only take a couple of wins and things would look better, but nothing surprises me in football anymore and you no longer get time to iron out problems.
"He has been regarded as a promising young manager, but Spurs may have looked at other good young managers, such as Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool and Roberto Martinez at Everton, and thought they could do better.
"All clubs need stability and Spurs need it as much as any club, but it comes from the top and Spurs obviously feel they’ve given him enough time and they need to change direction."
Spurs face West Ham in the Capital One Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday ahead of a tough away clash with Southampton on Sunday, and Graham feels Villas-Boas' successor will be under immediate pressure to reverse the club's poor form.
"Whoever they bring in to replace him will be under pressure to turn things round when there is still time," he said.
"With the January transfer window coming up he might be able to bring in some players, but the club spent big in the summer and they might need to off-load a few."
I believe that the young coach was pressurised because looking at the statistics David Moyes should have been fired by now too..I believe it was an early decision and even if he was to be fired he should have been left till the opening of the transfer window.
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