Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[AV82EC]

Far too many negative comments on here. I went to the game and went home feeling positive, considering Houllier's been here a couple of weeks, considering he's working with someone else's players, considering he's managed NRC and Emile back to effective first team football, considering he's got them PASSING the football TO A TEAMMATE, considering we played Spurs off the park for long periods (and not just the first half) when if you remember it was them who did the same to us at VP last year, and considering they have some pretty good players despite their injuries. The only difference was the Crouch-van de Vaart partnership which we couldn't replicate. We played some good stuff. Houllier felt we should have had a draw and Harry was particularly magnanimous about us, and fair dooze to him. For the neutral a pretty entertaining game and maybe one we should have drawn. Let's hope MOTD does us justice.

Quite agree Martyn, just got home back up here in Manchester and I haven't walked away from an away defeat as positive as this in a long time.  We gave Spurs as good as we took and came up just a little short.  They had a world class player in Van der vaart to make that little bit of difference.  The players can take great credit from their performance today and if we play like that against 75% of this division we'll be winning more than we're losing.  Special mentions for NRC and Downing today, superb. 

Lets also not forget how we played against Spurs away last season, we somehow got a 0-0 draw with probaaly one ofthe worst displays of anti-football ever and it was when I started to seriously doubt O'Neill.  Now this season we've got a worse result but we looked as though we belonged on the same pitch and they won't be looking forward to VP on Boxing Day.

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I was at the game and I don’t think we deserved to lose that. We had enough opportunities to have won the game. Some incredibly poor decision making by Young, Petrov and Carew respectively when we were breaking forward and outnumbering the Spurs backline.

I thought we played the better football first half and the system works incredibly well with a big and aggressive mobile striker. Full credit to Heskey for the goal and is performance.

The equaliser rocked us and I thought that, coupled with their change of shape really knocked us for the first 15 minutes of the second half, before we finally remembered how to keep the ball.

There’s not a great deal between them and us- some extra depth in a few key positions, notably up front and that's it. Carew isn’t mobile enough for me and has been really poor so far this season. Albrighton needs to work on his fitness, as he’s similar to Delph in that he’ll fade after the hour mark energy wise. Petrov is starting to worry me too, as I think he’s getting exposed too often and leaving too much space in behind him, although NRC did a very good job of winning nigh on every loose ball.

I was surprised Cuellar didn’t start, although Dunne did well in the main. I felt he had to commit himself to the block for the second and that Collins should have competed with Crouch a lot better for both goals.

I hate having a two week break after a loss, but given that Gabby is out until Sunderland and now Heskey has picked up a knock, we’ll almost certainly need that time to get him fit again. Some tough but winnable games coming up and I’d include Chelsea in that bracket.

[pauliewalnuts]

We're a work in progress, and this is going to be a very up and down season with the recent changes.

I've not seen the game, but the consensus on here seems to be that we played some more than decent football. I thought we did the same at Stoke, and at Wolves, too, so the signs are there, and that's enough for me at the moment.

The manager's been here a little over a week. He's probably not managed to remember everyone's name yet, let alone get them performing as best he can.

[PaulWinch again]

We're a work in progress, and this is going to be a very up and down season with the recent changes.

I've not seen the game, but the consensus on here seems to be that we played some more than decent football. I thought we did the same at Stoke, and at Wolves, too, so the signs are there, and that's enough for me at the moment.

The manager's been here a little over a week. He's probably not managed to remember everyone's name yet, let alone get them performing as best he can.

Yep to be fair we did play some very good stuff. Downing appears to be growing in confidence which is encouraging and I do think we need to fit Ireland into the team. The result was disappointing, but if the improvement in quality of football in the space of a couple of weeks is this good hopefully we are of the right path. However Dunne needs to sort himself out, he is still in dreadful shape and Carlos should have started today.

[Pete3206]

I was at the game today. I thought it was a fine football match.

Spurs had the measure of us today, but only just. I thought we played terrific football at times, but lacked the cutting edge in the second half.

Heskey seems to have aura around him that hasn't been present since he joined the club. He was quite simply magnificent before he went off.

I was proud of the team today.

[Shrek]

Does playing 'nice football in periods' win us games and put points on the board?

[Pete3206]

Does playing 'nice football in periods' win us games and put points on the board?

Not always. Sometimes you play poorly and win, like at The Molineux last week.

[eamonn]

We probably can but only just and it does raise the question as to why need Ireland... Is he a luxury item we should cash in on?

Cash in on after starting one game? Don't be soft, he's going to be a key player for us over the next 4.4 years.

[Simba]

Dunne playing worse now than under MON - was he pro-MON?

Pro MOn? I think he was is pro MAC.


That's BIG MAC -- with extra fries and a supersize Coke.

[ROBBO]

Positives, NRC, Heskey, Downing, Dunne blocked a couple that could have been goals so not a disaster that some reckon. If Houllier can turn some of these players around we will have a good season although i think Carew is a lost cause. He let the side down with his lack of effort and poor decision making, why he tries to shoot from outside the box i'll never know. He was a poor relation to Heskey who must be a twin because his brother was bloody useless.

[Matt Collins]

I'm starting to get really pissed off with some of the negativity on this site. We played well at possibly the second most difficult place to go in the league. Spurs did have the edge but we knew that already. Petrov actually played well I thought. Dunne didn't have the shocker people are claiming. We looked extremely dangerous in the first half. With a sharper edge up front we could well have won. Look at the comments made by redknapp, houllier, motd pundits and the press reports.

[Matt Collins]

Oh and I don't see why this game is convincing people that young needs to go back to the wing. He played very well.

[Simba]

Matt - Yes, I think Ashley did well albeit in patches as he searched for space. He is not Milner though is he? Luke has been a revelation as have been NRC and Ivanhoe of course. Some good managemnt here and I am positive about the tactical nouse and our fluidity too in comparison with MoN.

Bit mostly I was pleased with the aggression. Bordering on Nasty at times I admit but it will be good to have a reputation as being a bit hard.

Sorry about the result but quite happy so far.

[Klaus Katt]

It was good to see the whole team play so aggressive, particularly in the first half. Maybe Houllier waited too long with the last substitutions. And Dunne is far from the giant of last season.

[Bosco81]

I think the criticism of Dunne is a bit harsh, if Collins or Young had coped better with Crouch, VDV wouldn't have had the chance to get ahead of Dunne.

Carlos should have kept his place, it also meant Collins swaping sides to allow Dunne to play on the left which can't help.