Spurs 3 Aston Villa 1 post match thread.

[hilts_coolerking]

As per the question in 2015 who is going to score the goals?

Wes had a debut to forget but it's one game and I think he'll shine in home games particularly where we'll be far more proactive.

[enigma]

One good half, one crap one. Got used to that under Bruce. To be fair I did see plenty to be encouraged by in that first half but we looked exhausted in that final 20 minutes.

Wes as our main  man up front still concerns me a bit though.

[colin69]

We did ok. I think we’ll be mid table. Grealish was poor...I hope he comes good but I can’t see it.

[taylorsworkrate]

Plenty of positives from the 1st half, where we looked dangerous in wide areas and with a bit more composure from Trezeguet, could have gone in 2-0 at half time. SJM and Grealish were both excellent up until HT.

2nd half we were outclassed and the midfield couldn't cope. The substitution of Luiz for Hourihane should have happened before their equaliser not after it. May not have changed the overall result, but feel it would have given us a better chance.

The only thing that did piss me off was the casualness of some of our players on the ball in the 2nd half when we were under the cosh. That needs a bit of a bollocking from Smith.

Heaton, Mings and Engels were excellent for large periods. Get Guibert and Targett either side of them next week and the defensive unit looks very good.

[TheMalandro]

Elmo and Taylor are not good enough for this division, Spurs exposed that throughout the match.

Spuds are a class above, but that's not a surprise.

Unlucky with the goals, but not the final result.

[PeterWithesShin]

I'd be interested to know if it was Jack doing it or a tactic from DS that he was so deep so often. I think he's wasted when he does that and we lose a lot going forward.

[GarTomas]

Not reading too much into this positive or negative. Along with many the starting 11 raised a few eyebrows for me but we looked competitive for large periods of the game.

Some lessons to be learnt but I’d rather we learnt them here. So a tough start is much better in a way.

[Border villan]

Time for us all to get behind the boys. We were not rolled over, yes we tired and mistakes were made, but this showing tells us we have the players to compete and stay in the Premiership.
We are all disappointed but let’s loose some of this negativity.

[Stu]

The scoreline reflects the possession. What am I disappointed about is that Dean says he wants to attack and win every game. I didn’t see any real desire to do that. It was entirely a back to the walls approach. Anyway let’s hope we see a much more progressive and attacking set up next weekend.

We were playing quality stuff in the first half and attacked well.

The idea that we were going to put a team like Spurs under the cosh at their place in the first game back in the Prem is mental. We tried. They're that much better than us that we couldn't compete for the full 90. They brought in Eriksen as a sub! That's the reality.

[charleeco7]

Plenty to build on two centre halves look very good. The big man up front will learn but jack needs to realise the pace of the game is twice what he’s used to.

[wittonwarrior]

That sums up the level we need to get too. Don’t blame jack he had no outlet. Going to b hit and miss all round

[manic-road]

We did ok. I think we’ll be mid table. Grealish was poor...I hope he comes good but I can’t see it.

After 1 game? Yeh right.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

Bitterly disappointed, having defended so brilliantly for 70 minutes.  But we disappeared as an attacking threat in the second half and the constant pressure told in the end.  Mings and Engels were immense and Heaton is a fine keeper so we should be alright at the back against most teams.  We opted to play it out from the back on a number of occasions where a clearance would have been better, notably for Spurs' second, but it happened multiple times in the second half.  McGinn was outstanding in the first half.

I am a bit worried about our attacking options though.

Agreed. At 1 up, even in the second half, a second would have killed them off. In the end Eriksen changed the game. Gutted to have lost, it was a great opportunity to pick up at least a point against a weakened Spurs but as you say, our attacking options are a concern.

[VillaBoy_23]

Grealish was fine until their second goal. To say he won’t come good is just being hysterical.

[Dazvillain]

Deano on sky now