Aston Villa v Tottenham Hotspur Post-Match Thread

[old man villa fan]

I am a bit drained on the topic of motivation.   Perhaps I should not have raised it.   It seems to have come down to how you interpret what "motivation" means.   To those who see things differently from me to motivate a player is to charge him up to go out and play at or above his full ability.   To me it means forming a bond with a player so that he can be directed to play the way you want him to and in so doing correct the faults in his game which are causing the team problems.   To me it is not about running through brick walls.   It is about running where there are no brick walls.   It is a question of definition.

Motivation differs from player to player.  Some need to be wound up, some need to be directed to play the way the manager wants him to play and the most difficult, giving a player confidence to play to the limit of his ability.  It is the latter that PL has struggled with, particularly the last two games.  It is not surprising though with so many young players.

To motivation you need to add coaching, to prevent ball watching, getting dragged out of position, central defenders being too far apart etc.

[oldtimernow]

A team consists of 11 individuals and when you have at least four who can't or even more worryingly won't be arsed to do what is needed is a recipe for disaster.When those four play in your midfield your defence will have its work cut out.
Play against good or better teams and we will lose with that formula

[brian green]

The 1960s comparison is also interesting because John Sleeuwenhoek and Harry Burrows were part of a core of youngsters with Mike Tindall, Alan Deakin and one or two others christened by the press as "Mercer's Minnows" a very naff attempt to surf on the fame of the Busby Babes, who were to be the new dawn of the club in the big time.   Plus ca change and all that.

[Chris Jameson]

I'm with Bert on the quoting thing, onje_villa you don't have to quote the entire bloody thing just to say you agree.