Heroes & Villains, the Aston Villa fanzine
Heroes & Villains => Heroes Discussion => Topic started by: eamonn on September 19, 2013, 12:16:39 AM
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Have our chances of beating them gone from being underdogs to favourites?
Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas says the Football League is "putting players' careers at risk" with its scheduling of the League Cup.
Spurs play in the Europa League on Thursday, visit Cardiff in the Premier League on Sunday and then face a League Cup trip to Aston Villa on Tuesday.
"How can a game be scheduled after two days, immediately putting careers at risk with injuries?" Villas-Boas asked.
The Football League has yet to respond to Villas-Boas's comments.
Tottenham, who have spent around £105m on seven new players to compensate for the loss of Gareth Bale to Real Madrid for 100m euros (£85.3m), have made a strong start to the season.
Narrow victories over Crystal Palace and Swansea were followed by a defeat against north London rivals Arsenal, but the Lilywhites beat Norwich 2-0 on Saturday.
Spurs reached the quarter-finals of the Europa League last season, but many saw their regular Thursday night fixtures as a major reason why they failed to gain the top-four Premier League finish needed for Champions League qualification.
A comprehensive 8-0 aggregate play-off win over Dinamo Tbilisi put them through to this year's group stages, and their Group K fixtures begin with a match against Tromso at White Hart Lane.
Villas-Boas is unhappy that his team have to play their League Cup tie at Villa Park on a Tuesday when five other ties are being played the following day.
"I find it absolutely incredible that we have to risk injuries to our players in a game that they play on that Tuesday," the Portuguese said.
"The problem is that it puts the players in a very difficult situation.
"It's also nothing new in English football. I had the same thing once with Wolverhampton and Chelsea, when I was at Chelsea, and I spoke the same way.
"The second day of recovery is the most dangerous day for a player to pick up an injury. If this is not taken into account I think it's bad.
"Other things have to be respected - televised games, fixture organisation, the police - comes into account because of the fixtures that are being played on the Tuesday and Wednesday.
"But the problem is that in the end Tottenham was chosen to play on Tuesday, with only the Monday to recover from the last match, and that puts us in a very difficult position."
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Felt since the draw was made that we'll win this one.
Dunno why.
Think we might be good at home in the cups. Frustratingly so, compared to our league form.
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The Villa have an extra day and a bits rest, take any advantage we can get.
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Perhaps, if this competition is causing too much hassle, and considering the tilt for the title, assault on European glory and FA Cup destiny, AVB might like to withdraw from it and we can have a nice little passage to the next round without having to play a game?
If not, he could suck it up and play the game rather than using a disingenuous concern for player careers to cover up his managerial misgivings.
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Sounds like he's getting the excuses in early. Bringing up the potential for player injuries is quite cynical I think. They are unlucky to have to play on the Tuesday because of the perfect storm of other fixtures but I'd have more respect for him if he said he was annoyed but it is what it is and they've got to suck it up.
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He's spent over 100 million this summer on building a big squad. He should use it. He's got two players in every position.
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Yeah, and he needs to clear his throat before he gives press conferences. Every time I hear him speak I'm desperate for him to cough.
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Well said Chico. Cough it up man!
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He's got a point about playing two games in two days but like a lot of people have already said, they've got a big enough squad to cope . A Spurs fan rang Talksport saying AVB shouldn't be really be moaning about it but also said a weakened spurs side should have enough to beat us.
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I can see why he'd be annoyed at having 3 games in 6 days, but he has a large squad which he can rotate.
My main annoyance with him is still that whenever I see his name out of the corner of my eye I think it's something about Aston Villa, not Andre-Villas bastardface.
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Arsenal also play on Sunday and have been drawn away to Albion in the League Cup. The police wouldn't want Villa and Albion at home at the same time and wouldn't want Spurs and Arsenal fans travelling up together and arriving in Birmingham simultaneously, so whatever they did they were bound to annoy Spurs or Arsenal. One has to play on Sunday followed by Tuesday.
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I actually like him (shame he's at That Club), and he does have a point here. Yes he can rotate, but it's not for the footballing schedulers to force him to do x or y with his squad.
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The whole point is that it is supposed to be difficult to be successful. As others have said they've got the squad, built over time as they've progressed, now it seems they also want the fixture compilers make it easier for them and prevent the rest of us having the opportunity to catch up.
Plus it's a bit of getting his excuses in early.
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Arsenal also play on Sunday and have been drawn away to Albion in the League Cup. The police wouldn't want Villa and Albion at home at the same time and wouldn't want Spurs and Arsenal fans travelling up together and arriving in Birmingham simultaneously, so whatever they did they were bound to annoy Spurs or Arsenal. One has to play on Sunday followed by Tuesday.
Arsenal would play their European game earlier than Spurs, so they should play on the Tuesday and us and Spurs on the Wednesday.
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It's also to do with Small Heath being at home in the cup, to Swansea who are also in the Europa, so it gets complicated.
Basically we can't play at home at the same time as SHA and WBA.
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It's also to do with Small Heath being at home in the cup, to Swansea who are also in the Europa, so it gets complicated.
Basically we can't play at home at the same time as SHA and WBA.
And Albion are at home to Arsenal. No chance of that being played on the same day as Villa at home to Spurs
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He needs to qualify for the Champions League so I would think his sides tonight and next week would differ a fair bit from the one he selects for Sunday whichever night our game with them was played. But it is always nice to have an excuse as a back up.
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His complaint should be directed to the money men at Uefa who decided that europeans games all being on wednesday didn't earn them enough money. Move the uefa cup games to wednesday and Saturday 3pm kick offs become viable for those clubs again. The situation in Birmingham for these cup games is down to the police wanting to avoid clashes, which is perfectly fair.
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He's got a point though, hasn't he? Is it fundamentally any different from us moaning about the Chelsea game?
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He's got a point though, hasn't he? Is it fundamentally any different from us moaning about the Chelsea game?
He has got a point. But I suppose it came down to either inconveniencing Spurs, or inconveniencing Arsenal AND Swansea. So the decision is understandable.
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Its a shame he didn't have £100m to spend in the summer to get strength in depth.
Wait a minute...
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An absolute arrogant bell end of a Spurs fan was on Talk Shite last night and said
" League cup is a nothing trophy"
"Anyways i would expect whatever team he puts out to beat the likes of Villa"
Hope we smash em
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wonder if they'll be desperate enough to play simon dawkins!
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An absolute arrogant bell end of a Spurs fan was on Talk Shite last night and said
" League cup is a nothing trophy"
"Anyways i would expect whatever team he puts out to beat the likes of Villa"
Hope we smash em
Very strange comment about the league cup given that Spurs have for years been known as a 'cup team'.
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An absolute arrogant bell end of a Spurs fan was on Talk Shite last night and said
" League cup is a nothing trophy"
"Anyways i would expect whatever team he puts out to beat the likes of Villa"
Hope we smash em
Very strange comment about the league cup given that Spurs have for years been known as a 'cup team'.
Unfortunately a lot of football fans think this way now. I was talking to an Arsenal fan in a Finsbury Park pub before our game last month, who said he'd rather qualify for the CL than win the League Cup. I think that's a commonly held viewpoint, although personally I'd rather win a trophy.
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It's true though - the prize money for the League Cup is less than some player's weekly wages.
In fact didn't Blues get more for finishing 18th and getting relegated than they did for winning it?
I agree though. Honours > 4th place
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An absolute arrogant bell end of a Spurs fan was on Talk Shite last night and said
" League cup is a nothing trophy"
"Anyways i would expect whatever team he puts out to beat the likes of Villa"
Hope we smash em
Very strange comment about the league cup given that Spurs have for years been known as a 'cup team'.
Unfortunately a lot of football fans think this way now. I was talking to an Arsenal fan in a Finsbury Park pub before our game last month, who said he'd rather qualify for the CL than win the League Cup. I think that's a commonly held viewpoint, although personally I'd rather win a trophy.
It's a broadly held opinion and it's a combination of the FA, UEFA and the media's fault.
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An absolute arrogant bell end of a Spurs fan was on Talk Shite last night and said
" League cup is a nothing trophy"
"Anyways i would expect whatever team he puts out to beat the likes of Villa"
Hope we smash em
Yes and their cupboard is full of real trophies of course....
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Watch the fire sale at the end of the season if they ...sorry...when they don't qualify for the UCL.
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He's got a point though, hasn't he? Is it fundamentally any different from us moaning about the Chelsea game?
Yes, quite massively so, they're playing in the correct midweek slot and have had the game set on the tuesday, along with a number of other games in the same round of the competition, with the date set by the police. Our game forced us to play 2 away games against top 4 sides in a few days of each other to start the season and then have a 2 and half week break where every other side in the league played.
Again though, the 'culprits' for it are UEFA with their pathetic scheduling of european matches in an attempt to make more money.
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An absolute arrogant bell end of a Spurs fan was on Talk Shite last night and said
" League cup is a nothing trophy"
"Anyways i would expect whatever team he puts out to beat the likes of Villa"
Hope we smash em
Just remind me what Spurs have won in the last decade ? Oh that's right ..... Fuck all.
Fuck'em, we will beat them.
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Spurs can go eat a bag of dicks.
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We also had to play Chelsea in the week when no other fucker had to play so get fucked, you're squad is big enough so rotate shit head
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An absolute arrogant bell end of a Spurs fan was on Talk Shite last night and said
" League cup is a nothing trophy"
"Anyways i would expect whatever team he puts out to beat the likes of Villa"
Hope we smash em
Just remind me what Spurs have won in the last decade ? Oh that's right ..... Fuck all.
Fuck'em, we will beat them.
One League Cup more than us.
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Such a shame for Spuds last night having D Rose, Dembele and Kaboul all going off injured.
That will give AVB more to moan about.
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Such a shame for Spuds last night having D Rose, Dembele and Kaboul all going off injured.
That will give AVB more to moan about.
Oh no, the terrible scheduling of the games may have ruined those players careers!
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Such a shame for Spuds last night having D Rose, Dembele and Kaboul all going off injured.
That will give AVB more to moan about.
Well it's a fact that playing games significantly increases the risk of players getting injured. In fact, it is proven that players careers can be ended prematurley through injuries sustained in playing games. The FA need to take a look at this, why are teams being forced to play games?
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Such a shame for Spuds last night having D Rose, Dembele and Kaboul all going off injured.
That will give AVB more to moan about.
Well it's a fact that playing games significantly increases the risk of players getting injured. In fact, it is proven that players careers can be ended prematurley through injuries sustained in playing games. The FA need to take a look at this, why are teams being forced to play games?
Exactly. Playing games gets in the way of players promoting products in the Far East.
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An absolute arrogant bell end of a Spurs fan was on Talk Shite last night and said
" League cup is a nothing trophy"
"Anyways i would expect whatever team he puts out to beat the likes of Villa"
Hope we smash em
I clearly recall a League Cup final when Spurs fans were in tears after winning. They're all bellends anyway. I've had a dislike for them ever since we were told to "fuck off back to Paki land" after turning them over 4-2 at WHL in 2000.