Aston Villa v Tottenham Hotspur Post-Match Thread

[Mortimer's Bear]

"Marc Albrigton was excellent"

Ha! That's just topped it off. I laughed then read it again in disbelief. What is Lambert on?!?!

To comment on the effort of the team being great as well is a fucking joke, did he not watch the first half???

He was our best player by a mile, he was far from outstanding but he offered more of a threat that the others put together.

[olaftab]

I feel really sad that people running our club and team have already priortised avoiding relegation above all else with 5 games gone. I feel really sad that teams can turn up at the great Aston Villa football club and be given a walk over. I can not and will not support a manager who will not field the strongest team available in a cup tie at Villa Park.

[Irish villain]

Spurs have been run very well over the past decade.

We have been spectacularly mis-managed over the same period and it's why they are title challengers and we are relegation stragglers

The truth hurts but we should not be so far behind that lot. .

[Merv]

A Villa side missing its key players loses to Spurs. Mutiny!

[andrew08]

The issue for me is the 'journeyman' make up of our B team. All good,solid championship/ lower Premier League level players. Adequate cover,individually only,for the first team.

Where are the young prospects though? I know one or two are on loan but it would have been good to see a 'potential' player on the pitch as well.

Spurs clearly have strength in depth to go for the two weaker competitions they are in, we obviously don't but I would have liked to have seen a glimpse of one of our supposedly good young players.

And if we're paying Given at least play him in these games.

[fredm]

Well what happened to the pressing/closing down type of game that we were supposed to be about this season? In the first half Albrighton and Tonev never got anywhere near giving support to Kozak, he was left alone upfield while we played 5 across the half way line. They were playing as auxiliary full backs and never got forward to pressurise the spurs full backs.
That, together with Bacuna and Sylla also getting nowhere near the pace of the game in the first half meant KEA was left chasing shadows and trying to contain them himself, until he got a final warning from the ref.
Tonev, Sylla, Bacuna, Helenius, Bowery were completely off the pace of the game and need to learn how to play in the fast moving, physical game that is played in this country. At times they showed a bit of skill which maybe suggests that if they can adapt they might be decent players but until they do they will continually struggle.
Also I said last season that in the summer our squad should be put through a weights programme to make them physically bigger and stronger and last night showed that up even more. They were being outmuscled all over the park. Most of them need another stone of muscle to compete at this level.

[Kingthing]

When do the Ashes start?

[richard moore]

Spurs have been run very well over the past decade.

We have been spectacularly mis-managed over the same period and it's why they are title challengers and we are relegation stragglers

The truth hurts but we should not be so far behind that lot. .

I could agree with about 30 excellent posts on this thread but none more so than this one

I listened to Dean Saunders last night on R5 rattle off the names of the team he played with in the that halycon period in the early 90s - and he could remember every single one - and reflected on how we are now a million miles away as a club from what we were then both in terms of personnel and, most sadly of all, status within the game (not all of which is entirely our own fault of course)

[UK Redsox]

Just incredible how he wasn't penalised for that. Pathetic.

It wasn't just a penalty

It wasn't just a penalty and a Red Card

It was a penalty, a Red Card and a place on the Sex Offenders register

[Irish villain]

Thanks richard. I just feel we have been sinking for the past few years and nobody seems to care. If Spurs had a nightmare season you just know they would sort it out and make sure it didn't happen again.

We have had, two, three of them and we seem to be sleep-walking into another one. Do it often enough and eventually you are relegated.

As I said on the other thread, I just can't wait to see us reach 40 points. I still think we will be safe by March and should be able to clock up another eight nine points on that. But will that represent progress? I'm not sure. Keeping our world class striker should have given us a piggy-back to the top 8/9. Will be back to square one next summer?

What is Randy's ambition for the club? Is this yearly struggle and crap home form good enough for Aston Villa?

[UK Redsox]

No point in going into too much depth about last night.

Tonev had one run in the first half and two good minutes just before he was subbed, other than that he was (and has been all season) awful. No better than Grealish or Carruthers would be.

I thought that Helenius looked good, with some nice turns touches and layoffs. He could well have scored if he hadn't have been de-bagged.

Marky Marc did OK, with a couple of good crosses that none of the midfielders gambled on.

As always its the defence that worries me and I think that the main problem is Vlaar. He'd probably be OK alongside three experienced Premier League class defenders but he's no leader. Lowton's really gone backwards since last season and Bennett's, well..... he's Joe Bennett.

[Malandro]

I'm fully behind Lambert, we are where we are because of past mistakes.  It's embarrassing how we've been bullied and ripped apart over the last two years but I'm confident,given a little more time we will be much more competitive.

I take heart from the end of last season, this  pre-season (I know...but some of the football was sublime) and how we have played at the start of this season.

[aj2k77]

Will anyone really be bothered after we lose our next 3 home games making it 5 in a row or will it be just more excuses along the lines of ''the project, building for the future, key players injured, who else could do any better, MON fucked us''

[UK Redsox]

Video of the de-bagging for those who still haven't seen it

http://deadspin.com/de-pantsing-is-soccers-most-effective-defensive-strate-1379996612

Perfectly safe for work because, according to the Referee, it didn't happen.

[Ads]

A Villa side missing its key players loses to Spurs. Mutiny!

And a very, very good Spurs side at that.