Aston Villa v Tottenham Hotspur Post-Match Thread

[Shrek]

We are shit under GH, he has fuck all idea and needs to leave now

so let's say you're Randy. Option 1 - You sack GH and bring in Allardyce. I don't think we are going down under Houllier, and I don't think we would under Allardyce so mission accomplished there. January rolls around and we give Big Sam 10-15m to spend on a bunch of lumpers to ensure we are playing PL football next year. By next August we have another 10-15m worth of additional lumpers, and low and behold we spend the next few years finishing between 8th and 12th every year with football from the dark ages.

Or , Option 2 - you give GH some time to get in the type of players that in the long run will massively benefit the club and play attractive football, even if it feels as though, right now, the sky is caving in?

I'm choosing option 2

They are more options than Fat Sam, I just dont think GH has the ablity to sort this out. Remember this team took us to 6th , now we heading towards bottom 3 by time transfer window opens

People are unbelievable, this is not the bloody team that finished 6th,

We are missing our best player in Milner,

We have lots of players injured,

We are not a settled side, the football was shit under Martin, where we played the same team the same way against every single team and never made a substitute.

I for one am excited about how all our young players are getting a chance, yes we are a taking a few steps back, but I'm sure we will be taking more than a few forward by next season.

[TimTheVillain]

We just can't break a defence down.

If we'd had Modric and (say) Crouch in our side last night, we'd have won - we lack a truly creative player and a true goalscorer.

Clearly, these two aren't future Villa players, but that's what we need above anything else.

It would be worth spending £30 million on two players to get that right.

Warnock is shyte also and consistently so, but that can wait til next season.

[PaulWinch again]

I've just got back. Lichaj was our best player tonight. If anyone is pinning their hopes on Fabian Delph, they may be disappointed.

We look like a team without a leader. A few of them look like they don't really fancy it.

Oh, and my son still hasn't seen us win a competitive game.

Bit harsh Damon, I thought he grew into the game and he has been out for a long time. He does have the ability to find a pass which lots of our players don't.

[martyn ellis]

My wife just summed it up at the breakfast table when I was bemoaning the fall from from grace of our beloved football team: It's all Martin O'Leary's fault she said - and she wasn't joking.

[Clark W Griswold]

Having seen motd I don't think you can blame Warnock for their first. He was dragged across by our two centre halves who were also too far over. It was their full back who put the cross in. I'd argue that Downing wasn't doing his job in tracking him.

Admittedly Warnock has been off form but some people seem to be blaming him for everything, especially the idiot who sits in front of me and hasn't got a fucking clue what he's rattling on about.

Warnock is piss poor, but Collins is worse than piss poor. They both need to go, Collins more urgently. Just watch Collins positioning for the first goal, it was indeed his fault. It was nearly as bad as his defending for the Blues winner recently. I have no problem with Collins personally, as he gives his all, but he is absolutely woeful as a player.

[koreanmeatballs]

How has Warnock got so bad?!? We paid 8 million for him, we all thought when he first arrived that he was a bloody good player but now? Jesus Christ.

Is it possible to be 'not in form' for a year and a half...When do you stop being classed as 'not in form' and start being classed as shit?

[Rip Van We Go Again]

We seem utterly incapable of producing a clean sheet, until we can sort that out, we're deeply in the shit.

Houllier reckons we deserved a draw yesterday. Totally delusional.

[Mister E]

Albrighton was way off the pace, and Downing had one of his disappearing games. Warnock and Collins - at fault for both goals.
Positives? - Lichaj, Delph, Delfourneso.
I don't think we were particularly outclassed, in general; just lacking the killer punch. Heskey (2), GA (2) and Cuellar (2) all had headed chances that should at least have worked the keeper.

We're in a dog-fight now: this Villa squad could well go down. Out matchday teams need to be picked for defensive durability not for the cause of pretty passing. GH has to understand why we're leaking soft goals and then deal with it.
End of.

[Mister E]

Apart from Warnock being a walking/hobbling disaster area, Downing having the heart of a hamster and Carlos Cuellar being, as the perceptive wit behind me put it the only spanish professional footballer with no ball control, our biggest, most telling, most damaging fault is lack of snap in front of goal.   All of Gabby's original goal hunger and fire has been burned out of him  by O'Neill, Nathan is a bag of nerves every time he steps out in front of a full house and seems to think he should try to play like his idol Thierry Henry with little clever dinks and lay offs and flicks when what he should be doing at every opportunity is testing the goalkeeper.

We were shagged yesterday when Heskey went off because we had two slimly built strikers without a shred of confidence between them trying to take on a defence of brick shithouses.

Houllier gambled big time yesterday starting with the midfield line up he chose.   We only looked likely to trouble them when Petrov and wash my mouth out for saying it Pires were brought on.   Delph I fear is another player like Curtis Davies who O"Neill plunged a huge amount of money on and who we seem obliged to use to try get some pay back for a massive and reckless outlay.   He will go back to Leeds for half of what we paid for him.

If we do not sign a ready made goal scorer in January and take the soft option of either signing nobody or a seven foot tall greek kid the crowd give the bird the first time he does an Ian Ormondroyd relegation is a very real threat.

A bit harsh on Delfouneso. I thought he did pretty well yesterday - accepting that Heskey had been much more effective - and his movement and desire for the ball were encouraging.
We are a team low on confidence, and we're out of the habit of winning; so it's not surprising that we're strugling in front of goal.

[frank]

I approve of the fact that we're passing the ball instead of just hoofing it upfield in the general direction of Heskey or Carew, but at the moment we don't have a player capable of making the crucial, defence-splitting pass against a team defending in numbers. There were glimpses of this ability from Delph last night, but Pires, who might have been expected to fill this role, has been a big disappointment. Two players who do have vision are Clark and Bannan, but their all-round play probably doesn't justify a place in the starting XI at the moment, and I think that most would agree that NRC, despite all his good qualities, often ruins a promising position with a poor final pass. I hope that a dynamic, creative central midfielder is very high on GH's shopping list.

[villa1]

Watched Utd on motd. The number of through balls they play for their forwards is high. We don't even try to do that, which baffles me, considering Gabby's pace. I'll overlook the one he missed last night.

[PaulTheVillan]

Gabby had a great chance when he was through one on one and couldn't finish.

Very Vassell like...

[fredm]

The fonz is a better finisher than most that we have, but he needs a Heskey not a Gabby to play off. Gabby is fine on his own like against United, but ask him to play with someone alongside him up top and he never looks comfortable.

Delph needs games, and the only way to get them is to play. He did ok for me first game back. These 3 games are more or less bonus points if we get any with the confidence we have not got and the players coming back from injury, and had we got the Heskey pen today may have gone differently. It didn't, VDV was supreme and Spurs for me will always be crooked for the way they got him for 10 million less than he was about to sign for Bayern for!

They are though, 5 years down the line of serious investment in young players with potential; if it is our model for the next 5 then it is the way to go. It is a bumpy road but it is the only way without the riches of City.

Said that about Fonz in the pre-match thread.  Really think he is better suited as the second striker and would like to see him have some game time alongside Emile to see how he develops.  As I said then - what were Emile and little Micky like at the other place?

Was surprised with our starting pair in midfield - didn't think it did either of them any favours.  If he was going to start with Delph surely an experienced head (NRC or Petrov) alongside him would have been better.  If he wanted to play Hogg then one of those two would have helped us out defensively as well.  If we are going to play with two wingers (Albrighton/Downing or even Ash) then I think we need two in the centre who can hold things together.

Also haven't seen anyone comment on Gabby's shot straight at the keeper when he was put through by Emile?  Would Defoe have missed it?

[UsualSuspect]

If Petrov and NRC had started it still wouldn't alter Warnock being caught out week in and week out. People have blamed Collins for the first goal, but the danger arose from that Scouse tit being yet again, woefully out of position.

Tchoi battered him on the 11th too.

Warnock wasn't out of position for the first goal, he was exactly where a full back should be, it was a great ball by Modric, Hutton shanked the cross but Warnock or Collins could have cut the cross out.

Warnock wasn't out of position??

Are you still drunk??

How far away from his man was he?

[CJ]

Agree Gabby had a great chance but how often does he score when he's through 1 on 1 with the keeper?  Hate to say it but I expected him to miss and we didn't really offer much up front once Heskey went off. 

Before the game when the teams went up on the screen I couldn't believe the midfield selection - several people have pointed to Hogg's inexperience but let's not forget Delph had only had 8 PL games (not all even 90 minutes) before last night.  Crazy selection against that Spurs midfield expecially when we had Stan and NRC on the bench. The one thing I felt was really highlighted last night is how much we missed Ash - i think he would have had a field day against their defence and we would have probably got at least a point.

The table doesn't look at all good now. IF we'd played Wigan and IF we'd beat them we'd be around 9th now and it wouldn't look as bad. But I really fear we're getting dragged into the mire given our next couple of games. And I'm not convinced that Houllier is the man for that fight.

Another thing pissed me off - the traffic on Aston Hall Rd again.  Haven't parked in that area all season, but took that choice as KE School was shut.  Sat outside Astra engineering for 45 minutes then they started letting traffic down the other way - thought they'd agreed with the council to control that? Took an hour to get to J6 just to round off a miserable evening.