Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa Post-Match Thread

[darren woolley]

If Benteke had took his chances things might have been different but there will be plenty of teams who go to WHL and get nothing so I'm not worried yet we need to focus on the next three games and see if we can get something out of them.

[Irish villain]

I'm happy that Bennett isn't badly injured. He has been impressive.

[mrfuse]

"We pick ourselves up and go again"

Is anybody else getting a bit sick of hearing that?

No, what else is he supposed to say?

[London Villan]

Not much else he can say. He has been honest and upfront with what he expects of his strikers.

And if Bent had kept his mouth shut last week then he would have probably started today.

In Lambert we trust.

UTV!

[Andy_Lochhead_in_the_air]

"We pick ourselves up and go again"

Is anybody else getting a bit sick of hearing that?

110% sick of it ?

[django]

"We pick ourselves up and go again"

Is anybody else getting a bit sick of hearing that?

I'm sick of hearing it because it means we haven't won, but i don't think Lambert has put a foot wrong in what he's said so far.

I also think it's fair enough for him to stamp his authority on the squad by not putting Bent straight back in the team. Hopefully Bent will keep his trap shut now and will start the next game, but i thought it was disrespectful to moan so publicly after being dropped to the bench for one game. I can see Lambert has to show he's his own man. Bent backed him into a corner if anything.

[eastie]

Calm down. We did ok. Focus on winning the winnable games eg Norwich and Fulham

Absolutely, who do we think we are expecting to win against decent teams. TSM said the same last year and made everyone angry. Obviously we've lowered our expectations.

I'm with you Mike. Lambert's in it for the long-haul and I'm really happy to back that but what I absolutely cannot stand is the fans who think Villa are now just some two-bit club.

"Let's focus on beating Reading", "as long as we finish 17th"...

How quickly we have fallen that a couple of seasons ago we were disappointed with 6th now any old shit will do.

If the board senses this, it's just another excuse for them to not invest further.

Bringing in kids is fine but Villa (board and fans alike) must not lose their ambition or we're going to go the way of Forest sadly.

Agree to an extent , but we are now light years away from a top 4 challenge and the finances of the top 4 are miles beyond our reach, under o Neill we had the chance but now we must look at competing with the likes of Newcastle and everton at best as a realistic target in the next 2or 3 yrs - the dream of top 4 is long gone and a cup run and shot at the Europa spots is as good as it will get in the foreseeable future.

[PeterWithesShin]

If buying players form the lower league and lesser known foreign players doesn't work and will only lead to relegation, I wish someone would tell the likes of Newcastle, Everton and Albion.

[Percy McCarthy]

Fair enough from Lambert. Positives: Guzan was okay, Bennett and Lowton did well, Vlaar was exceptional at times, Clark wasn't too bad. Some nice passing. Gabby and Benteke caused them problems.


Negatives: a bit powder-puff in midfield. We miss Ireland, and if Westwood really is a Carrick-type we need to get him in. Can't be pulling up any treesw in training though, else he'd have featured more.

Is NRC still single?

[mrfuse]

I honestly think it will get worse than this before it gets better, but as long as I see small improvements along the way that's good enough for me.

[onje_villa]

Calm down. We did ok. Focus on winning the winnable games eg Norwich and Fulham

Absolutely, who do we think we are expecting to win against decent teams. TSM said the same last year and made everyone angry. Obviously we've lowered our expectations.

I'm with you Mike. Lambert's in it for the long-haul and I'm really happy to back that but what I absolutely cannot stand is the fans who think Villa are now just some two-bit club.

"Let's focus on beating Reading", "as long as we finish 17th"...

How quickly we have fallen that a couple of seasons ago we were disappointed with 6th now any old shit will do.

If the board senses this, it's just another excuse for them to not invest further.

Bringing in kids is fine but Villa (board and fans alike) must not lose their ambition or we're going to go the way of Forest sadly.

Agree to an extent , but we are now light years away from a top 4 challenge and the finances of the top 4 are miles beyond our reach, under o Neill we had the chance but now we must look at competing with the likes of Newcastle and everton at best as a realistic target in the next 2or 3 yrs - the dream of top 4 is long gone and a cup run and shot at the Europa spots is as good as it will get in the foreseeable future.

Good point Eastie but I don't have a problem with competing with Newcastle and Everton - it's the fact that some are happy to just survive relegation, that we're now on a par with the worst teams in the entire league.

I can see the thinking that this is a transitionary year but I think lowering expectations is a dangerous precedent and lowering them to such an extent is a painful one.

[Phil from the upper holte]

We should have been 2-0 up when they scored but we really need to get some points on the board. Get Bent back in and play with wingers because creativity isn't there

[pauliewalnuts]

If buying players form the lower league and lesser known foreign players doesn't work and will only lead to relegation, I wish someone would tell the likes of Newcastle, Everton and Albion.

Cabaye, Tiote and Ben Arfa were hardly barely known when they signed them. Similarly Ba and Cisse.

[Ad@m]

Our season won't be decided on away games at Spurs.

No one really expected us to get a result there and we didn't.  Move along then, nothing to see here.

It's the home games against the mediocre and crap teams (like Swansea and the Baggies) that will determine our fate this season.

[onje_villa]

I think another problem we face with the long-term plan is that there seem to be very few out and out shit teams this year. I'd put Reading and Wigan in that bracket and probably Norwich at this rate but not sure we'll be able to rely upon that like we did last year.