Aston Villa v Tottenham Hotspur Post-Match Thread

[Legion]

Houllier's view

[eric woolban woolban]

I was more pissed off at those who booed Pires when he came on to the pitch.

I thought that was a mixture of Villa fans seeing Delph replaced and Spurs fans seeing a former Gooner on the pitch.

[eamonn]

Very disappointing and worrying. Starting Delph in his first game for the guts of a year, no matter how much potential he has, was a big risk. Pairing him with an even less-experienced midfielder Hogg, up against Modric, Palacios and Van Der Vaart was fucking naive. In fairness to Delph he did improve as the game went on, but he spent a lot of the first half still remembering how tough it is to play in this league.

Our defence continues to look on the verge of collapse every time a half-decent ball is played in. Defoe lost Collins three times in dangerous areas so we were lucky that he was very harshly sent-off. That period just before half-time when Spurs had a passing sequence that seemed to last for ages was embarassing really.

We did get more of a grip in the second half but Christ's chin, every time we have possession around the box there is zero movement, Delfouenso excepted. Delph can pick a pass but when he's fuck all to aim for it's very hard. This is an area where I really thought Houllier would improve. Maybe the young lads don't yet have the confidence to make the kind of runs they've been brought up to do at junior/Reserve level.
So this meant we had to resort to throwing the ball into the box. Without Heskey or Carew there was very little height we could aim at. Hence James feckin' Collins going up there. Cuellar did have a couple of chances with headers but nowt came of them.

We're trying lots of different combinations of players but after 3 months, even allowing for all the injuries, none of them seem to be succesful.

And jjav, was it you who said Esso Akotto was shite? Sorry lad, but he was class today. If either of our full backs had played as well we might have had a chance. Leehigh did get stuck in and played well against Bale but Warnock is not really good enough in this form.

The worrying thing is that we seem to be in as much of a mess as we were when O'Neill left. While injuries have hampered us, Houllier has brought fuck-all stability to the team.

[Legion]

I was more pissed off at those who booed Pires when he came on to the pitch.

I thought that was a mixture of Villa fans seeing Delph replaced and Spurs fans seeing a former Gooner on the pitch.

From my seat on the Upper Holte, Delph got a collective round of applause as he left the field. The boos only started when Pires came on.

[Fin Feds Dad]

Yes - it's worrying - but not totally unexpected.

O'Neill buggering off at the time to cause maximum damage, horrendous injury list and god awful attitude of some ''senior professionals'' at the club has led to this.

Spurs are a team playing with bags of confidence - we have absolutely zero.

Positives -Delph, Lichaj, Fonz

Negatives - selection , use of subs on bench, warnock (AGAIN ) and Gabby.

I expected to lose today - and expect to against man city and chelsea - the hard work starts on 3rd January 2011.

Keep the faith.

[Toronto Villa]

And who's this new manager going to be?

I think he's going to be better than Houllier.

Look at Spurs after Jol, they appointed the wrong replacement in Ramos, realised their mistake, got rid, and are now reaping the rewards.

But they gave Ramos more than 3 months, and alowed him to buy players. We haven't even done that with GH. Additionally for Spurs, there had to be a Harry Redknapp out there. A Harry Redknapp that was ready jump ship yet again, and up to that point had done very little league wise with any of his former teams, and mortgaged the future at Pompey to win the FA Cup. A future they may never recover from.

I agree, Redknapp has been brilliant for Spurs allowing for a massive dose of hindsight. However, he had plenty of detractors when he was appointed. In fact there was a large percentage of the Spurs masses that wanted Jol back. Those who oppose GH may well be proved right, but this is a manager with a track record for building things and success and while it may not look so pretty now, there are few if any managers with same pedigree free and available to take over.

[black pearl of inchicore]

This team is going no-where..and have been on a downward slide since that 2-2 home draw with stoke the season before last.We blew a massive mental advantage straight back to the Emirates and ever since we are producing some of poorest football seen at Villa park since the mid '80's.We all know what happened next..well i can smell that rat again,but hey, that last time down was also inspiring...it set the bar for the G.taylor era.His first comment on arrival was..we were a very sick club,but he set standards and everyone responded.It looks like the same road will have to be travelled again.Spurs bossed us tonight all over the park with 10 men..we have forwards who if they fell into a barrell of tits..they would come out sucking their thumbs.Midfield needs a hatchet man while defence needs major surgery.

[levico]

There was a mixture of things to be worried about today. Not just poor individual player performances but naive team selection and questionable tactics.

However, none of us can categorically say that we will or will not be relegated under Houllier - although it is distinct possibility. January is the key month - if by 31st we have not added positively to the squad and improved performances then Houllier must go before its is too late.

We can't now afford the luxury of saying that we are too big for the likes of Allardyce - frankly it looks like the best we can hope for is scrabbling around in the lower reaches of the Premier League hoping for the 40 point safety net each year. Our top 10 days are long gone under the current ownership.

[Ads]

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.

Was he bollocks. He was far too narrow. By the time he'd got over to Hutton, the cross had already come in.

[lukey27]

We need to give Houllier time but his team selection today was incredibly bizarre.  He's hardly played 4-4-2 since he's been at the club and yet decided to play it today against their midfield with a limited rookie and a kid who hasn't played competitively for 9 months in the centre.

The two full backs positionally weren't great [Deja vu with Warnock i'm afraid], but I'm really concerned about the rumblings behind the scenes and our propensity to concede silly goals, that combined with a lack of real clear cut chances is a big worry. This is reminding me of Graham Taylor's full season back in charge and January is now massive for the club.

[ktvillan]

We should bear in mind Spurs were very very good today especially after the red card.  VDV is top class and now has 4 goals against us.  All the more reason he should have had someone like NRC man marking him. 

Strange selection although I think Hogg did okay and can't see why he is being written off by some.  The kids may be the future but I'd prefer that future to be in the PL and right now we need our experienced players (those who GH hasn't alienated yet or who still give a toss) in there making us hard to beat.

Delfounso shows more movement in 10 minutes than Gabby does in a whole match.  Gabby's a good instinctive finisher but that's about it.

We looked okay until Heskey went off.   I also think the red card didn't help as it meant they sat back and we are much better breaking quickly than trying to break someone down.

Starting to have some serious doubts about GH and hoping he can pull out some decent signings in Jan.. 

[Shrek]

For me.

Lichaj is our new right back.

Delfouneso looked really good, real skill an quality.

Gabby was really trying but was crowded out.

The rest were shit, Houllier should have known Ekotto is a quality full back, Downing's composure was suited too him whereas Albrighton could have got at hutton, see our goal. But Houllier left it too late switching them.

The worst thing was we stood off every single spurs player, we were scared to death of them and they were confident on the ball.

The future is bright, but the present ain't half pitch black!

[dave.woodhall]

Our top 10 days are long gone under the current ownership.

Are you for real?

[olaftab]

I was more pissed off at those who booed Pires when he came on to the pitch.

I thought that was a mixture of Villa fans seeing Delph replaced and Spurs fans seeing a former Gooner on the pitch.

The booing was all from Spurs fans.

[WikiVilla]

How is fonz being seen as a plus today?
I like the lad but he doesn't look like he can hit a barn door in all fairness!

I like Hogg but we've dropped him into a really unfair position too soon

Lichaj deserves credit for a good game today