Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[tarzansbrother]

From top to bottom we are a fuckign shambles. Nothing I've seen since August 2010. No scrap that, May 2010 has convinced me otherwise.

Randy needs to show some leadership. If he's sticking with McLeish he needs to back him in the January window even if it involves having to borrow. We have been on a slippery slope for a very long time and the way the whole thing has fallen apart with such speed is a real cause for concern. What sort of structures have we got in place??

Lerners leadership is advice from Sir Alex and sorting his sons school out for 6 months. No wonder our players are partying.

Playing for us at the moment is a very comfortable living, no wonder Collins wants a new deal.

[Jimbo]

Here's a prediction: McLeish will not work out at Villa.

But Randy should never consider getting rid until he has a football person at the club to advise him on who to get and, more importantly, how to go about getting him. At the moment, Randy and Faulkner are like pig farmers in charge of a spaceship. It's only going to go in one direction.

[Somniloquism]

It was very different on here after the Norwich game. Nobody was complaining, mainly because the morons were probably pissed off we'd won. Don't get me wrong, we were piss poor tonight and to tell the truth, I wasn't very impressed with AM's post match interview. We didn't keep the ball very well? No shit, Sherlock! For me McLeish is just MON without the money.

I'm sure most people were stating that they were surprised we won that and didn't let in a last minute goal, our defenders were woeful and Hutton/ Ireland weren't very good players minimum, but a win will always temper arguments even if it is only papering over the issues.

But we have not truly dominated one match this season in a similar way we were dominated tonight, especially considering that we only have two more of the bottom ten to play after Swansea.

[midnite]

But we no longer have the kind of players that can play on the counter the way barry, milner and young did. Hutton & Heskey out wide??? The tactic tonight was to frustrate Spurs and hold on for a 0-0. When we made a gigantic cock up of that after 30 mins, AM should of been working on who to bring on in for the second half. And how we can then take the game to spurs and try and make a go of it. Instead he did nothing. Bad, Bad man

Sad times.

[Rudy Can't Fail]

McLeish needs to grow a pair of balls and forget about the planks who are dying to jump on his back because he came from the Rags. If he's going to let a few morons make him so defensive, so bloody negative, so scared of losing, he should never have taken the job in the first place.

Shape up or ship out.

The thing is, Mark, for all the people who care about his Small Heath past, there are a lot more of us who don't give a shite about that, but are very concerned at his pedigree of super negative football.

Tonight is an example of him doing the one thing which will lose him all the goodwill he does have at breakneck speed.

It was spineless and exactly the way he played so often in his previous job. Sorry, but much more of that, and as far as I am concerned, he can fuck off.

It was very different on here after the Norwich game. Nobody was complaining, mainly because the morons were probably pissed off we'd won. Don't get me wrong, we were piss poor tonight and to tell the truth, I wasn't very impressed with AM's post match interview. We didn't keep the ball very well? No shit, Sherlock! For me McLeish is just MON without the money.

No. McLeish is MON without the money, and without even the Plan  A.

I don't really get why you're directing so much of your anger at other fans, though. 

Personally, I couldn't give a flying fuck if there are some fans who won't give him a chance regardless. Tonight was entirely of his own doing, it wasn't fear of fans reaction that made him played like that. That's *exactly* how he'd have played his Blues side in that fixture.

The only difference is that rather than Cameron Jerome plodding around in front of the ten man defence, it was Darren Bent.

There's some rewriting of history there, Paulie. His Rags team were 9th before winning the League Cup. He had a load of injuries after and that was the main reason they went down. Even the Noses that hate him admit it.

What concerns me is that we're in the middle of November and he still doesn't have a settled side. He took off Herd tonight to bring on Delph. Since when has Delph been a defensive midfielder? He was a great box to box player at Leeds. Bannan on, for who, Heskey? No. Hutton. Hutton is utter shite but he takes Carlos off and moves Hutton back to right back.

If he wanted to play a more defensive side he could have played 5 across the midfield and given Bent a night off, leaving Gabby up front by himself. Bent, like Friedel, was a bloody spectator tonight such was the lack of service and when he did get a chance he fluffed it.

He desperately needs to find a settled side but you just know Heskey will be in his side. He has a Plan A but like MON's, it's stuck in the last century.

Anybody else hear Redknapp tonight saying how if he didn't enjoy watching his teams play, he'd give up football. Bastard that he is, Spurs are a delight to watch at times, even in second gear like tonight.

[Greg N'Ash]

Hate to say this but i'd probably sell bent in January if we could get what we paid for him. In a AM side he's as much use as a chocolate teapot and if we can re-inforce the midfield and defence its probably a price worth paying. then again if gabby got injured we'd be f**ked

[pauliewalnuts]

Yes, and they also played dreadfully negative football. Even the noses said it, there's no rewriting of history in that whatsoever.

Tonight was void of ambition right from the off. We didn't even try to get the ball back. We played for a draw till we conceded, then switched to playing to keep the score down.

[Louzie0]

Sell Bent?  Are you mad?

[midnite]

We played for a draw till we conceded, then switched to playing to keep the score down.

In a nutshell

[Greg N'Ash]

Sell Bent?  Are you mad?

he's a shadow of his form last season. he likes it passed on the floor to his feet - not something he's gonna get in an AM team

[Somniloquism]

There's some rewriting of history there, Paulie. His Rags team were 9th before winning the League Cup. He had a load of injuries after and that was the main reason they went down. Even the Noses that hate him admit it.

What concerns me is that we're in the middle of November and he still doesn't have a settled side. He took off Herd tonight to bring on Delph. Since when has Delph been a defensive midfielder? He was a great box to box player at Leeds. Bannan on, for who, Heskey? No. Hutton. Hutton is utter shite but he takes Carlos off and moves Hutton back to right back.

If he wanted to play a more defensive side he could have played 5 across the midfield and given Bent a night off, leaving Gabby up front by himself. Bent, like Friedel, was a bloody spectator tonight such was the lack of service and when he did get a chance he fluffed it.

He desperately needs to find a settled side but you just know Heskey will be in his side. He has a Plan A but like MON's, it's stuck in the last century.

Anybody else hear Redknapp tonight saying how if he didn't enjoy watching his teams play, he'd give up football. Bastard that he is, Spurs are a delight to watch at times, even in second gear like tonight.

Even when they were getting 9th they were playing defensively and scored an average of a goal a game. He wasn't setting the world on fire with brilliant attacking displays.

And he has been playing Delph as a defensive midfielder all season with Petrov getting forward more. I agree with the rest of your concerns though.

[caster troy]

Absolutely dire. A deadly combination of no desire, no ability and no belief.

Looking at our upcoming fixtures I'm expecting some giant 'We told you so' banners in the Holte End around mid January.

[Archie]

Two right backs in the team, with Hutton (Hutton) on the right wing, whereas even my cat (Gwyneth) would understand that only two real wingers could try to keep Lennon and Bale low.
SuperMark Albrighton at home.
Barry Bannan on the bench.
Two clowns in the centre of the defence.
Emile Heskey in the midfield.
One of the less motivated side that I have ever seen, we couldn't find three passes in a row. As you have written: no desire, no ability and no belief.

If Randy has no money to invest, I could accept without  problems one or two seasons of transition as long as we  got rid of Mc Leish and 6-7 of those overpaid, old, average players to play Albrighton, Bannan, Herd, Delph and Clarke in order to see which level they can reach. 

[JUAN PABLO]

we have gone from Ashley Young and w***er Downing on the wings to Heskey and Hutton on the wings.  Sad Times

[Mike Jeffries]

A few things stand out for me tonight:
1) The fact that the clubs I would expect to finish in the top 6 are now a decent distance from the rest of us. I know there's a long way to go but our chances of finishing closer to the top 6 than the bottom 6 are looking increasingly remote with every 'performance'.
2) A troubling number of our players seem to take the fact that they're at an established top-flight club for granted. As mentioned previously, the Norwich and Swansea players seem to genuinely enjoy playing in the Premier League and are doing themselves proud at this moment in time. Their squads are no bigger or more expensive than ours so surely it is a matter of motivation and philosophy.
3) Again, mentioned to death in prior posts but our almost complete lack of desire and ambition and inability to even look remotely interested is extremely worrying.

Re: 2) and 3), this under a manager they have just about all said is so much better than the nasty last one.