Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[curiousorange]

I've posted the match report for the site I write for this evening. See what you think: http://pickourteam.com/premierleague/aston-villa/fansverdict/07-10-2012/tottenham-hotspur-vs-aston-villa

[Ad@m]

It's truly scary he many of us have the mentality of "we weren't expected to win so it doesn't matter".

Why?  Like it or not, we've got to realise where we are as a club at the moment.  Slitting our wrists every time we lose away from home to a club that's spent the last decade in or around the European spots isn't a particularly rational reaction.

[Risso]

It's truly scary he many of us have the mentality of "we weren't expected to win so it doesn't matter".

Why?  Like it or not, we've got to realise where we are as a club at the moment.  Slitting our wrists every time we lose away from home to a club that's spent the last decade in or around the European spots isn't a particularly rational reaction.

We've won 1 game in 7, what's your excuse for the other games we've lost, particularly getting walloped by Southampton.

[Five Villa Tattoos]

Please tell me that I'm not the only person who is concerned that we've been sold a dud in Benteke. He was awful today as he was last week. I really hope he proves me wrong but he is looking anything but a £7million striker at present.

[curiousorange]

A thought occurred to me earlier that I'm trying to subdue, but I'm wondering if there's a touch of the McNeills about Lambert.

[Risso]

Please tell me that I'm not the only person who is concerned that we've been sold a dud in Benteke. He was awful today as he was last week. I really hope he proves me wrong but he is looking anything but a £7million striker at present.

It's too early to say that he's a dud, but he's been rubbish the last two weeks.  He's just looks like a big lump up front, and I think that Bent offers far more goal threat, and Weimann is a much better all round player, so why they've been dropped for him, is anybody's guess.

[onje_villa]

Please tell me that I'm not the only person who is concerned that we've been sold a dud in Benteke. He was awful today as he was last week. I really hope he proves me wrong but he is looking anything but a £7million striker at present.

These things take time mate.

He's 21, he showed in 20 minutes against Swansea that he HAS got it in him - good control, good composure. Yes he missed a few chances today but that happens to even the best strikers in the world (look at Torres for God's sake!).

I don't think Lambert will be too worried, at 21, the guy is a solid investment, he's got the right attributes to make a real future for himself but he's only had a couple of games. Young kid, new country, new league, even if it takes him half or a whole season to settle in the long run he could be a real player.

[Richard Richard]

I thought Benteke had a good game and is only being criticised for his glaring miss (rightly so), however if he'd have put it in then we'd be talking about a good all round performance. He gets into some great scoring positions to which is no co-incidence, just needs to work on his composure.

[curiousorange]

I thought last week that while Benteke fluffed his best chance against the Boggies, Bent wouldn't have chased the guy down and created the chance in the first place. Put simply, they both have to take the qualities of each other's games to play together

[PeterWithesShin]

I really do wonder sometimes. Lambert the new McNeill after 7 games. People doubting a 21 year old after 5 games in a new country. What happened to patience? What happened to the stuff people spouted under MON where they weren't satisfied with winning and wanted the team playing more proper football, even it mean winning less.

How about from last season, all the "I don't care if we lose so long as we have a go". And so on and so on. The simple fact is, some people are only happy when they can moan about the Villa.

[eamonn]

It's too early to say that he's a dud, but he's been rubbish the last two weeks.  He's just looks like a big lump up front, and I think that Bent offers far more goal threat, and Weimann is a much better all round player, so why they've been dropped for him, is anybody's guess.

Probably cos the manager asked Lerner/Faulkner to buy the player and after an outlay of  approx £10m (transfer plus the wages over the course of his contract) he's going to want to prove that his decision was correct. Not a good enough reason to keep Bent benched, mind.

[PaulWinch again]

I think on reflection, we weren't too bad today. It was fairly even in the first half with Spurs having the better of the chances, in the second we should have been 2-0 up when they scored and they then bossed us. Bent should have started and we should be phasing Benteke into the side rather than throwing him in. KEA looked more combative today which is good and Bennett impressed me with the exception of the second goal. The defence needs to be more alert and Lambert needs to think about how he changes things tactically when we go behind. However I expected us to lose to a form Spurs side, and there were some positives. Moving forward though we need to start winning games to take pressure off the young players and allow them to express themselves.

[Ad@m]

It's truly scary he many of us have the mentality of "we weren't expected to win so it doesn't matter".

Why?  Like it or not, we've got to realise where we are as a club at the moment.  Slitting our wrists every time we lose away from home to a club that's spent the last decade in or around the European spots isn't a particularly rational reaction.

We've won 1 game in 7, what's your excuse for the other games we've lost, particularly getting walloped by Southampton.

Well West Ham was Lambert's first game in charge and was away to a newly promoted side.  In the past few seasons we've lost away to Stoke in their first home game in the top flight and got absolutely thumped by Newcastle in their first home game back in the top flight.  Whilst not ideal, losing that game was hardly a massive surprise given the context.

Everton - in my view, Lambert got his tactics horribly wrong for the first half against an Everton side enjoying their best start to a season in decades.

Southampton - shocking 2nd half defensive performance.  Unfortunately with a young defence who are still getting used to playing with one another there are going to be some shockers along the way.

So there are all the games we've lost this season other than today.  Hardly a disaster is it?

On the flip side, we've gone up to the Premier League champions and beaten them there.  We've got a solid home win against a Swansea side that played us off the park last year.  And we put on a very professional performance against Tranmere when in similar situations over the course of the last 10 years we've made life very difficult for ourselves.

I reckon a psychiatrist would have a field day with the amount of bipolar disorder on display here - utter delight after Man City, absolute despair today.

[BC54 VFC]

I've posted the match report for the site I write for this evening. See what you think: http://pickourteam.com/premierleague/aston-villa/fansverdict/07-10-2012/tottenham-hotspur-vs-aston-villa

Very good, albeit we lost 2-0 last season also, and not 2-1 as you suggest.

As for my views, Bent would surely have started had Lambert not needed to make a point to show who's boss.

Albrighton, Delph and Bannan are not good enough to be regular starters in the Premier League, but on recent form I think Bannan should have started.

We matched them until they scored, but the substitutions really didn't work today. Bent, Benteke and Gabby, once they were together, looked as though they all wanted to stand in the same position on the pitch! The midfield disappeared, compounded by Bannan having to play at left back once Bennett was carried off.

Guzan was very panicky with his distribution, releasing the ball far too early resulting in it going to a Spurs player several times, or off the pitch altogether.

Was disappointed that Lambert stayed in his seat for the last 15 minutes, indicating to the players that he had given up!

[pauliewalnuts]

It's truly scary he many of us have the mentality of "we weren't expected to win so it doesn't matter".

Why?  Like it or not, we've got to realise where we are as a club at the moment.  Slitting our wrists every time we lose away from home to a club that's spent the last decade in or around the European spots isn't a particularly rational reaction.

We've won 1 game in 7, what's your excuse for the other games we've lost, particularly getting walloped by Southampton.

That's fair comment, the results aren't brilliant, but what is the answer?

You can moan about winning 1 in 7 and nobody will say they're happy with that sort of record, but other than having faith and giving the manager time to get it right, what else do you do?

Sack him? Sack Faulkner? Put Lerner in the stocks and pelt him with rotten tomatoes?

There isn't a quick, easy answer. We've (and you and I were amongst the most vocal on here) complained about how utterly shit things were for two years now. We were right to complain at the time, because it truly was utter shite.

The flip side of that is that, with it being so poor, the problems are not going to go away after seven league games of the new season.

Like it or not, we are going to have a season of massively up and down results. We'll have days that show lots of promise (Swansea, Man City), we'll have days of averageness (Albion), and we'll have days when we feel miserable as fuck (Everton), but over the course of the season, beyond making sure we don't get relegated, we just need to start to identify where we need to improve, and start to do it.