Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[Concrete John]

I only have Hutton there due to the fact i like Herd in the middle and with the right mix around him see him as an excellent Defensive CM
If Lichaj was fit he would be in before Hutton in a heart beat

Pretty much agree with that.  Herd has been one of the major pluses so far this season, so I think it'd be a mistake to move him from CM.  I think Carlos should start against Swansea, so unless AM pulls another masterstroke it's either Collins or Hutton missing out.  I would realistically like to see:-

GK - Given

RB - Hutton/Cuellar
CB - Cueller/Collins
CB - Dunne
LB - Warnock

CM - Herd
CM - Petrov
CM - Jenas

RW - N'Zogbia
LW - Gabby

STR - Bent

That team should be able to get a result.

[hulkamania]

Has Mclueless been given the boot yet? Very very depressing to see what we have become. I'll be amazed if we aren't in a relegation battle this season. Especially with the next months fixtures

[PeterWithe]

It annoys me that I have a Southampton fan mate who is shouting from the roof tops about them. I went to a game with him and they actually played really good stuff. He has been banging on about they would beat Villa, and I've been saying forget it and they are in a different league. Scary thing is they probably would beat us.

As someone above said, get down to VP tonight and you will see a team in C&B playing attractive, controlled football. The antidote to the general depression surrounding the first team may be close at hand.

[mal]

No shit, Sherlock! For me McLeish is just MON without the money.

2007-10
No shit, Sherlock
MON= 6th 6th 6th
AM = Relegated, promoted, Relegated

If not this season, then the next.

[Lee]

Quote from AM:

"We played Carlos and Alan on the right. I just wanted to tighten things up a bit and I still think that was the right thing to do"


It's going to be a long long season

That has been the raison d'être since before the season began.

I have to say last nights result didn't hurt me as it usually did. The Villa have knocked the stuffing out of me, especially in the last  18 months or so. 

While I often thought that the decline culminating in the Summer of 2006 under Ellis, was perhaps one that was waiting to happen for a good while, the headless downward spiral that we are in now has come as a bit of a shock to the system. I'm older and wiser now (I'd like to think) and the frustration that used to have me crawling up the walls is no longer there.

Dave W put in his Birmingham Press article that the good will that Randy cultivated, still leaves him in credit. I think that his "good-will cashflow" has dried up far too quickly. PR gaffes and what seems as a lack of leadership from our Board, culminated in last nights result. We can carry on blaming MON ( and for good reason), but he has been gone for 18 moths now.

[Meanwood Villa]

There are no positives from last night. It was so one-sided it was truly embarrassing. Are Spurs really good or are we really shit? Probably a bit of both. Depressing

[Chris Jameson]

I mean, Sir Alex has got Villa's best interests at heart hasn't he?

I sincerely hope that Lerner is returning the favour to Man United by giving O'Leary a glowing reference.

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

Is it bedsheets and spray cans time again?

[VillaAlways]

Quote from AM
 “It was a bad night for a few of our players – a bad day at the office – and they know they owe us one. They owe the fans and me a performance in the next game."

So what happened to I'm not scared to drop players if they underperform.No doubt Collins wil stilll start on Sunday

[pauliewalnuts]

Quote from AM
 “It was a bad night for a few of our players – a bad day at the office – and they know they owe us one. They owe the fans and me a performance in the next game."

So what happened to I'm not scared to drop players if they underperform.No doubt Collins wil stilll start on Sunday

Of course he will. And so will Heskey.

I can't believe we witnessed a midfield which included Hutton and Heskey last night.

[Archbishop Herbert Cockthrottle]

The old 'Attack, attack, attack, attack attack' chant needs to be dusted off.

[ozzjim]

Heskey last night reminded me of being back in primary school.  It was like one of your better players hadn't turned up and you were left with the fat kid who was always willing but everyone knew he could hardly kick the ball , he just make up the numbers, contributed nothing and fell over when the ball came to him.

The plan was (and always is) lump it up to him, hope he wins the headers and see if Bent and Gabby can do something with the knockdown. After the first 10 minutes it was clear Spurs were expecting this and in fact Heskey hardly won a header. It's a fucking shit plan to begin with but even so, if it's not working, change it straight away. Nope. We kept trying it al game and gave the ball away nearly every time inviting more pressure.

So what else did we try and do? Well there's always try and get gabby down the channels. But even when Gabby wasnt being asked to defend and was running the channels, he was double marked with one of if not the fastest full backs in the league. So that wasnt working either. What next?

"Sorry, that's it mate. I'm trying to be cagey and tight with a team shipping two goals a game!"
WELL DONT FUCKING BOTHER! Play our most attack minded footballers who can keep the ball for more than 2 seconds. We do have some. We're going to ship goals anyway because our defence is pretty much hopeless now so go for it.

Back to the drawing board:

..................................Given

Herd.............Cuellar..............Dunne..........Clark

..........Gardner............Jenas.............Delph

...........Gabby...............Bent...........N'Zogbia

Guzan, Baker, Warnock, Petrov, Bannan (or Ireland), Albrighton, Burke.

Spot on. This is the exact side that I said this morning to my old man in the car.

Time for Gardner and Clark to come in. Delph can pass the ball and is the future IMO with patience.

[pauliewalnuts]

The old 'Attack, attack, attack, attack attack' chant needs to be dusted off.

Last night I'd have settled for a bit of "gerrintoem FUCK EM UP"

[andyh]

Quote from AM
 “It was a bad night for a few of our players – a bad day at the office – and they know they owe us one. They owe the fans and me a performance in the next game."

So what happened to I'm not scared to drop players if they underperform.No doubt Collins wil stilll start on Sunday

Quite a regularly used phrase now.

[Villafirst]

I only have Hutton there due to the fact i like Herd in the middle and with the right mix around him see him as an excellent Defensive CM
If Lichaj was fit he would be in before Hutton in a heart beat

Pretty much agree with that.  Herd has been one of the major pluses so far this season, so I think it'd be a mistake to move him from CM.  I think Carlos should start against Swansea, so unless AM pulls another masterstroke it's either Collins or Hutton missing out.  I would realistically like to see:-

GK - Given

RB - Hutton/Cuellar
CB - Cueller/Collins
CB - Dunne
LB - Warnock

CM - Herd
CM - Petrov
CM - Jenas

RW - N'Zogbia
LW - Gabby

STR - Bent

That team should be able to get a result.

I would stick Gary Gardner in NOW! What is there to lose? Heskey was completely anonymous tonight and gave the ball away cheaply all night. I'd go with Gardner, Herd and Petrov in the middle. N'Zogbia has to return - he played much better against Norwich, then is dropped! I couldn't understand why he wasn't given a chance 2-0 down at half-time. A complete disgrace from a Villa side to surrender like that from the outset! December I feel will be a disaster - bottom 5 by Jan 1st!