Aston Villa v Tottenham Hotspur Post-Match Thread

[silhillvilla]

Wow, has A certain Mr Woodhall "sold out" 

[dave.woodhall]

Wow, has A certain Mr Woodhall "sold out" 

23 years ago (approx).

[silhillvilla]

Ha nice one Dave, I just don't think Lerner should be defended right now. The decisions made over the last 3-4 years ago have been tragic.

[Matt C]

It's hard to get your head around us at the moment; two excellent performances followed by two utterly woeful ones. We weren't world beaters after Liverpool and we're not the worst team in the universe now.

We need some of our injured players back and a couple of more experienced, steadying influencers added in January.

[Gareth]

Stephen Ireland - cant wait to see the next media article telling us all how he cares, needs a chance to show how good he is, does a lot of great work for charity blah blah blah....I hope today was the last time I ever see him in a Villa shirt, the complete lack of inclination / effort to retrieve a ball that was played 2 foot behind him in the lead up to the 2nd goal was disgusting.  Lets not forget he is the most experienced (& probably highest paid) player in a claret & blue shirt today...the example he set was pathetic.  In 2.5 years he has contributed practically nothing to our football club and IMHO is a waster in the Ginola ilk.  We need some creative players in our midfield for sure but they are utterly pointless if like Ireland they turn up for 10 minutes or 1 pass every 6 or 7 games which is Ireland's Villa career.

The midfield is a worry but I have faith that Lambert will address it in January and again next summer and come the start of next season the runners with little ball ability like Herd / Delph & Holman (+maybe Gabby) and the work-shy like Ireland will be fringe players or gone.

Big game on Saturday, need a positive performance to clear these two games out of the mind...we arent as good as we were made out to be after Anfield and we arent as bad as the last two results.....we are an average team in a league where two thirds of the teams are likewise, Wigan are another of those sides and it is essential to get those points and move on looking for reinforcements at the start of Jan. 

 

[Des Little]

Put simply:
We have no leader on the pitch.
Heads go down far too quickly when we go behind...belief evaporates
The Beast finds the lone striker role impossible, and needs to learn the offside rule sharpish
Losing is one thing, but the goals against is unforgivable and could be our undoing
3 experienced heads in jan is a must otherwise we are in big trouble

[Pat McMahon]

I saw plenty of effort and commitment on the pitch tonight, but far too little ability and tactical nous. I don't think anybody can hold their head up and say they earned their wages.

We were only level at half time by virtue of some very good last ditch tackles and throwing numbers into defence. I think this shows the commitment to the cause, but that commitment can only take you so far.

I have been saying for a while that we lack physical presence and experience, especially in midfield (KEA, Delph, Westwood, Bannon, Holman and even Ireland are all hobbits).  Fixing this has to be a priority in the transfer window. If i can see it, our opponents can too. We were second best physically all over the pitch and KEA reminded me of a kid in the playground trying valiantly to win the ball off older lads, who just shrugged him off disdainfully.

To date this season I have had fans of Southampton, Man City, Chelsea, Everton and now Spurs telling me we are the worst team they have seen this season.  I trust Paul Lambert to do a fine job for us in the long term but I am increasingly concerned about the short term issue of avoiding relegation, and we desperately and quickly need a few wise heads to help keep us up.

Tonight reminded me of a 4-0 home defeat to Arsenal in November 1986, where we worked like crazy to stay with them for an hour or so, but were eventually murdered. At that time the individuals looked fine on paper but as a team we weren't functioning. Lets hope we avoid the same fate this year.

[JJ-AV]

That's the first time I've left a game early since we lost to Chelsea 3-0 (or 4-1?) in about 1998ish

[ozzjim]

I think the loss of Baker and the enforced change of shape killed us today. Going blow for blow was a bit like putting Amir Khan and his glass chin in with David Haye, a pretty decent heavyweight but not quite the best there is kind of thing. Going toe to toe and having to change the shape meant where they were better than us became harder to stem, and I thought Baker was having a really decent game until he went off. Westwood going off I could understand from the point of view Wigan is only 4 days away and he has played a lot recently, so was maybe feeling it a bit, but Delph and KEA are just awful at the moment. They need to improve so much.

[dl9]

Stephen Ireland - cant wait to see the next media article telling us all how he cares, needs a chance to show how good he is, does a lot of great work for charity blah blah blah....I hope today was the last time I ever see him in a Villa shirt, the complete lack of inclination / effort to retrieve a ball that was played 2 foot behind him in the lead up to the 2nd goal was disgusting.  Lets not forget he is the most experienced (& probably highest paid) player in a claret & blue shirt today...the example he set was pathetic.  In 2.5 years he has contributed practically nothing to our football club and IMHO is a waster in the Ginola ilk.  We need some creative players in our midfield for sure but they are utterly pointless if like Ireland they turn up for 10 minutes or 1 pass every 6 or 7 games which is Ireland's Villa career.

The midfield is a worry but I have faith that Lambert will address it in January and again next summer and come the start of next season the runners with little ball ability like Herd / Delph & Holman (+maybe Gabby) and the work-shy like Ireland will be fringe players or gone.

Big game on Saturday, need a positive performance to clear these two games out of the mind...we arent as good as we were made out to be after Anfield and we arent as bad as the last two results.....we are an average team in a league where two thirds of the teams are likewise, Wigan are another of those sides and it is essential to get those points and move on looking for reinforcements at the start of Jan.

"we arent as good as we were made out to be after Anfield and we arent as bad as the last two results..."
Agree with the first point, disagree with the latter.

[dl9]

Put simply:
We have no leader on the pitch.
Heads go down far too quickly when we go behind...belief evaporates
The Beast finds the lone striker role impossible, and needs to learn the offside rule sharpish
Losing is one thing, but the goals against is unforgivable and could be our undoing
3 experienced heads in jan is a must otherwise we are in big trouble

We're already in big trouble bro, Bradford must be licking their lips...

[silhillvilla]

I left on 83 mins in disgust, walked past two exits then walked back in, and watched from a different seat. I just can't leave early very well no matter how bad it is.

[Dan England]

We desperately need some protection for the back four, oh and two new centre  backs. Baker was doing very well before he got injured however Herd is no where near good enough, Clark will be a good Midfielder but he most definitely isn't a Captain or first line centre back. How much do we need a Petrov/Barry/Milner, a ball winner who can use the ball as well?

[sirlordbaltimore]

Well that was absolutely abysmal. The first 45 was as bad as i've seen yet we somehow managed to keep it 0-0. We played slightly better in the second half (and I do mean 'slightly' as in piss poor rather than utter shit) and let in 4

Face it folks. This revolution is built of twigs and i'm still to be convinced the leader has a clue

[dl9]

I left on 83 mins in disgust, walked past two exits then walked back in, and watched from a different seat. I just can't leave early very well no matter how bad it is.

Same. In my case I don't know whether its a matter of blind faith or just wanting to get my money's worth each & every time. Probably both.