Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Guy M]

Question for those that were there: was there any particular reason that VDV went to celebrate his second goal with the Villa fans as opposed to the adoring Spuds public? Just watching MOTD highlights and looked like he made a beeline for the away section.

[Klaus Katt]

Compared to last season, Dunne looks more like a sack of potatoes. He made some crucial saves too, to be honest.

[Rip Van We Go Again]

We're conceding far too many goals, sort it Gerard.

[ktvillan]

My disappointment at the result is offset by a lot of positives.  We played some great stuff first half an hour and they couldn't live with us the first 15 mintues.  We passed and moved more in one half than in 10 games under MON.  EVen second half we passed it around nicely but had no cutting edge in the final third.

Other plusses were that Warnock was much improved, Heskey was inspired, NRC did a lot of good work and Downing looked lively and inventive, as did Albrighton at first, and Luke Young kept Bale fairly quiet.

Downside Albrighton faded again and should have been subbed after about 60 mins, we had nothing up front once Heskey got crocked, Ashley spent too much time bitching and falling over,  Carew was hopeless again, and Collins, who had a good game otherwise, was beaten in the air for both goals.   Dunne looked slow and lethargic again and shouldn't be in ahead of Cuellar or even Davies for me.  Petrov was okay but badly at fault for goal 2 where he stood and watched VDV get away from him and have a free shot at goal. 

We must tighten up in defence and find a few more goal threats.

some decent points but the davies comment? Dont forget dunney and his performances last term, it is going to take a while for gerard to change things!

I'm in the minority that thinks Davies is much better than he's given credit for.  I doubt he'd have stood and watched VDV pick his spot twice yesterday.  I don't give a toss how good Dunne was last season, it's irrelevant, at the moment he is crap and a liability and shouldnt be selected on reputation alone.  If you want to use last season as a reason to pick him why not use three seasons ago, when Davies was playing well, as a reason to pick him?  It' just as relevant to today.

Pisses me off the Spurs got VDV, who just looks utter class,  for 4m less than we paid for Downing, less than we paid for Davies and about the same as we paid for NRC.  That's MON's flawed transfer policy for you.

[Matt Collins]

I'm sure MON would have loved VDV or Sneijder. They wouldn't have come to Villa.

[richard moore]

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

Not always but I would rather that than the last two seasons where we scraped wins very very luckily on any number of occasions but eventually got found out in the longer run by the better teams and the demands of playing hoof football and never hanging on to the ball

[Chris Smith]

There's a lot of overly harsh criticism. If the delivery is good enough to Crouch his size means that he's going to win his share of headers when you couple that with the movement and anticipation of a top class player really on form in Van der Vaart then most teams will have problems.

Overall an encouraging performance but our problem is the same one we've had for a couple of seasons, we just do not score enough goals.

[ktvillan]

I'm sure MON would have loved VDV or Sneijder. They wouldn't have come to Villa.

I acknowledge they may not have come anyway, but what, in MON's transfer history with us, makes you "sure" MON would have loved to sign those players, or most other foreign or foreign based players? 

[JUAN PABLO]

Havent read any posts yet , just got in..... 

John Carew Carew hes shitty than me and you..... 

sorry, but he was bloody awful again. soon as Heskey went off I thought bollocks.. and I would never have said that a few mths ago..  if Heskey had stayed on we would have got a result there...

Carew has lost his pace,hes lumbersome , his decisions and final ball are awful. He needs to look up when hes got the ball, twice he could have played Villa players in for one and one with the tottenham goalie, you just know Heskey would have done those passes... Replace in Jan please...


Suprised to see Dunne start, you cant drop a MOM player ( cuellar )from a week before ..even Dunne had said it will be hard to get into team... 

actually think NRC looks better because hes getting a run in the team,  looks confindent ..


VDV was the difference ...   bargain  and Im pissed off with spurs getting him as I hate them...

[Toronto Villa]

There's a lot of overly harsh criticism. If the delivery is good enough to Crouch his size means that he's going to win his share of headers when you couple that with the movement and anticipation of a top class player really on form in Van der Vaart then most teams will have problems.

Overall an encouraging performance but our problem is the same one we've had for a couple of seasons, we just do not score enough goals.

The encouraging thing is that Houllier saw the same thing yesterday. We're just not clinical enough with or without Gabby. Despite him saying we have 3 good strikers at the club I think it's an area he will address given the right opportunity.

And the criticism is way too harsh on here. There's no patience any more which is rather sad. For me the performance, style of play and desire was just as important as the result. Big teams lose to big teams all the time. We played well for most of yesterday and our challenge now as a big team is to bounce back from this.

[PeterWithe]

I thought that we played very well and were worth a point, like it or not Spurs are a very good side, the best I saw at VP last season, and its no disgrace to lose narrowly to them, especially away from home. The only real difference between the sides was Van der Vaart who was superb all game.

Its clear Carew is off form at the moment but some seem to have very short memories, he's scored a lot of goals for us and will come into form again. I thought Downing did very well, he passed the ball really well and showed a lot of energy to get back into defence at times.

I'm starting to feel pretty optimistic about GH's reign.

[olaftab]

The most annoying thing for me was Gabby Logan  on  red button Final score saying ,when we were leading coming up to half time, "Have Villa shown how to play the big Teams?"
I am fuming ..I used to like her but now she can  go  and %$##@##$%$%^

[Can Gana Be Bettered!?!?]

I thought that we played very well and were worth a point, like it or not Spurs are a very good side, the best I saw at VP last season, and its no disgrace to lose narrowly to them, especially away from home. The only real difference between the sides was Van der Vaart who was superb all game.

Its clear Carew is off form at the moment but some seem to have very short memories, he's scored a lot of goals for us and will come into form again. I thought Downing did very well, he passed the ball really well and showed a lot of energy to get back into defence at times.

I'm starting to feel pretty optimistic about GH's reign.

Very well summed up.

VDV will end up at Chelsea/Man City/Man Utd next season if he carries on like that.

[Holte L2]

Alot of positives to take from yesterday. Was great to see us go to Spurs and have a real go at them. Rather than the negative tatics of last seaon - ok so we got a point from last season but we didnt attack them like yesterday.

Dissapointed to see Cuellar dropped and I dont think Spurs would have lumped every ball to the back post with him in the side.

Yet again dissapointed with Stan. Every game seems to pass him by. Think its time for Ireland to have a run. Hoping Delp will out him from the side when fit. 

Big improvement from Albrighton, he lasted a little longer this time. 

Possibly the worst performance from Big John yesterday that Ive witnessed. And I'm  a big fan.  We striker urgently!

[olaftab]

VDV will end up at Chelsea/Man City/Man Utd next season if he carries on like that.

No that is unlikely. Any of them could have signed him at any time in the last two or three years but chose not to. Problem with VDV is  that he is attracted to the celeb culture along with his supermodel wife.  Very soon he will be part of the West End circuit and  his game will suffer.  If he had concentrated on his game in the last  few years  he  could have have been great at world stage.