CABLE BEACH, The Bahamas — Tottenham Hotspur manager Andre Villas-Boas (AVB) says while he thought that Jamaica had very good players in the team, he did not see any who would fit his system at the moment.

In a post-match interview, the Portuguese admitted further that he wasn’t even scouting the Jamaicans.

“No, not tonight, but I wasn’t looking anyway,” he said after being asked if he saw any Jamaican players who caught his eyes. “But I think they are gifted footballers anyway,” said Villas-Boas after the Reggae Boyz’s 0-0 draw against the English giants at the Thomas A Robinson National Stadium here on Thursday.

The Spurs manager did concede that he will be in the market for players for the new season, as surely their aim will be to go one better than their last-minute slip to fifth in the Premier League standings, which eliminated them from Champions League football.

“We will be making changes like every other club as we try to make the club better,” said Villas-Boas.

He did hint that he was a bit disappointed that Jamaica failed to field their strongest team for the game, but said he understood the reason why.

“First of all there were a lot changes to their team as they are preparing for the World Cup qualifiers so they didn’t have a lot of their top players as they want them to rest for the qualifiers, but it was interesting either way and we wish them all the best for the qualifiers,” he said.

Villas-Boas conceded that the exercise was good for the team and him personally, even though the entire touring group is in “vacation mode”.

“It was a good game, but we are approaching the holidays, so we are near vacation mode, so that’s why the game was like that (low intensity),” he noted.

At the same time, the Tottenham manager said though it may appear that way in the condescending manner in which his team played at times, he never underestimated the Jamaicans.

“We weren’t underestimating them, it’s just that we are preparing for the off season,” Villas-Boas said.

He said some of his players will move onto international duties, while others will go directly into vacation and then they “get back on the 8th of July for pre-season” camps.

Tottenham and England defender Steven Caulker said Jamaica “is a good side”.

“They played well against us as they were a younger side… also they had a lot of pace out there, especially upfront … I thought they (Jamaican defence) were good, especially when you look at the strikers we brought…of course they kept a clean sheet (so that’s a credit to them),” said Caulker, who had a goal disallowed for off-side.

The 21-year-old, who stands at 6ft 4in, said he and his teammates enjoyed their stay in The Bahamas on a whole and specifically in the upscale area of Albany where the club’s owner, billionaire currency trader Joe Lewis, has multi-million-dollar housing development projects.

“Yeah, we enjoyed our stay as we were in Albany, which was a nice part of the island and we enjoyed the beach as well, so I would have to say it was a great trip,” said Caulker.

The game between the teams formed part of The Bahamas’ 40th year of independence celebration and the opening of the newly built Thomas A Robinson National Stadium, so named after the country’s track and field legend.

The event was sponsored in the main by telecommunications company BTC-LIME and organised by Albany Bahamas, the Ministry of Tourism and the state-run National Sports Authority.