Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa Pre-Match Thread

[markus209]

2-1 to Villa.

Bent to score 1st, Walker to equalise for them in the 88th minute before a last minute winner from Agbonlahor

[Hillbilly]

The pre-match on TV will be an hour long Harry Redknapp tribute (lovable rogue, wheeler dealer, next England manager, etc, etc) followed by a 2-0 defeat, where we'll get robbed by at least one controversial, game changing decision.

He sure doesn't like being called that .

We can legitimately add "the accused" and "the defendant" now. How funny would it be if the all the Villa fans wore convict garb or judges wigs to the match...

[eamonn]

Why?

Hung over.

Haha, you might not be far wrong.

I was at the Ireland game in Dublin on Tuesday night. The next morning I had a job interview first thing.
On my way back passing the Shelbourne Hotel who did I see in the enclosed, smoking area at the front but Dicky Dunne, bleary-eyed in jeans and a hoodie, puffing on a cigarette. Was caught between congratulating him and ticking him off so I just left him to it.

[Des Little]

Routine Spurz win. 2-1.  Hope I'm wrong, seeing as I'm going!

[VillaAlways]

I think I will have switched over to Young Apprentice by 9 pm 0-3 to them

[eamonn]

Ugh...Young Apprentice...the score could never possibly be that bad.

[Compass]

Not only a draw would be extremely difficult to get, but a win would be impossible. Come on now, use your head. We have a non-existent midfield, a collapsible defence and a tactically clueless manager. Gabby won't have the ability to one man our team to a draw against a top 6 on form side away from home, nevermind a victory.

[Rigadon]

Not only a draw would be extremely difficult to get, but a win would be impossible. Come on now, use your head. We have a non-existent midfield, a collapsible defence and a tactically clueless manager. Gabby won't have the ability to one man our team to a draw against a top 6 on form side away from home, nevermind a victory.

Why do you bother?  Seriously, what possible enjoyment do you get from it?

[Compass]

I don't enjoy it. All the optimism I've had about Villa has been stripped away this summer. But this club is too addictive regardless if I'm enjoying it less.

All we can hope for with this match is a minimal loss with Gabby who's the best thing what's happening at the moment, but he can't do everything by himself against a better opposition. I mean look how good he was against Norwich and even then, the rest of the team (including McLeish who brought in Ireland 3-1 up, wtf) still nearly cost us a win.

[Rigadon]

This might seem a bit condescending but, it might serve you to lighten up a bit mate.  It aint perfect at the moment, but it's far from the black pit of depression you seem to see judging by your posts on here.  AM isn't Satan.  Just a solid manager who is playing the cards he's got in his hand.  I think he's doing OK so far and is genuinely happy to be here and has large balls to have made the transition.  We still have good players. We are no more/less likely to win something than when MON was here.  Finishing 6th is the same as 8th.

Genuinely, you will enjoy it a bit more if you focus on the positives every now and again.   Continuously moaning about EVERYTHING doesn't endear you to anybody and gives the impression you're on the wind-up.  You might not care about this or my opinion, but I just thought I'd share. 

[adrenachrome]

Grauniad

dubya dubya dubya what the fuck dot com

Shurely shome mishtake!

Saturday 19 November 2011 22.29 GMT

Aston Villa v Tottenham Hotspur, 8pm Monday 21 November

Kevin Bond claims Tottenham are now a sterner prospect away from home

Kevin Bond admits that Tottenham Hotspur have been "turned over" away from home in previous seasons but the Spurs assistant manager believes they are now a sterner prospect away from White Hart Lane.

Bond, Harry Redknapp's assistant manager, said: "As a staff you're aware of where your strengths are and maybe where your deficiencies are slightly. Maybe we got turned over too easily at times last season and we've thought about that and hopefully we're not quite the same this season. It's about a mental toughness of the players and also your team selection – we're full of flair players who are probably, you might argue, better with the ball than without on occasion so they need to be aware of their defensive duties."

Tottenham, who visit Aston Villa on Monday evening, have lost only once away from home so far, and Bond picked out their last match, the 3-1 win at Fulham, as an indicator of their new resolve.

"We've shown a little more resilience away from home. The Fulham game: we weren't great in the second half, but we did show plenty of battling qualities and maybe in previous seasons we wouldn't have got anything from that game," he said of a win that was only confirmed when Jermain Defoe scored in the 90th minute, after Younes Kaboul's second-half own goal.

Bond added that Scott Parker's acquisition in the summer has provided further steel in the midfield for tough away trips. "He looks to me like he thoroughly enjoys a tackle – Wilson Palacios gave it when Harry first came here, then Sandro last season was fantastic at that. So we've now got Sandro and Scott Parker," he said.

Starting with Villa, Spurs do not have what appears the hardest sequence of league fixtures until they host Chelsea on 22 December. Yet despite also playing West Brom, Bolton, Stoke and Sunderland before then, Bond denied it would be easy. "I wouldn't underestimate anybody – it would be disrespectful to look at them and say: 'We can beat them.' The team at the bottom is capable of beating the team at the top," he added.

[mrfuse]

Spuds 2-0 Bale will tear Hutton apart and Van Der Vaart if fit

If not take your pick out of any of these to run the show Modric/Parker/Lennon/Adebayor/defoe!

Sadly Currently only Given Gabby and possibly Bent would make it into the Spurs Team/Bench

[PeterWithe]

Why?

Hung over.

Haha, you might not be far wrong.

I was at the Ireland game in Dublin on Tuesday night. The next morning I had a job interview first thing.
On my way back passing the Shelbourne Hotel who did I see in the enclosed, smoking area at the front but Dicky Dunne, bleary-eyed in jeans and a hoodie, puffing on a cigarette. Was caught between congratulating him and ticking him off so I just left him to it.

From The Sun

STEVE BRUCE insists Sunderland will not be left punch-drunk by an Irish hangover — but reckons some of their Premier League rivals will not be so lucky.

John O'Shea and Keiren Westwood return to face Fulham after helping Giovanni Trapattoni's Republic of Ireland reach next summer's European Championships.

The Guinness flowed in Dublin after the 5-1 aggregate play-off win over Estonia. But Bruce reckons his partying pair will be OK after failing to push the boat out as far as some of their team-mates.

The Sunderland boss smiled: "John's head was fine, and Keiren didn't touch a drop, but I'd back Villa to get beaten at the weekend from what I heard. The Wolves lads also had a right crack at it, too."

[Clampy]

I see the ref tomorrow is Mark Halsey. Just thought i'd warn you all in advance.

[eamonn]

Why?

Hung over.

Haha, you might not be far wrong.

I was at the Ireland game in Dublin on Tuesday night. The next morning I had a job interview first thing.
On my way back passing the Shelbourne Hotel who did I see in the enclosed, smoking area at the front but Dicky Dunne, bleary-eyed in jeans and a hoodie, puffing on a cigarette. Was caught between congratulating him and ticking him off so I just left him to it.

From The Sun

STEVE BRUCE insists Sunderland will not be left punch-drunk by an Irish hangover — but reckons some of their Premier League rivals will not be so lucky.

John O'Shea and Keiren Westwood return to face Fulham after helping Giovanni Trapattoni's Republic of Ireland reach next summer's European Championships.

The Guinness flowed in Dublin after the 5-1 aggregate play-off win over Estonia. But Bruce reckons his partying pair will be OK after failing to push the boat out as far as some of their team-mates.

The Sunderland boss smiled: "John's head was fine, and Keiren didn't touch a drop, but I'd back Villa to get beaten at the weekend from what I heard. The Wolves lads also had a right crack at it, too."

Just as well we have had the extra couple of days to wait for this game for Dunne and Given to sweat that stout out of their systems.