Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa Pre-Match Thread

[Mister E]

Spuds 3 . 2 Villa

Crooks
Archibald
Galvin

Bremner
Geddis

or

1-4 Villa

Hoddle (pen)

Evans
Gregory
Little
Shelton

http://hotspurhq.com/2012/08/23/ardiles-and-villa-home-debut-for-tottenham-on-23rd-august-1978-know-your-tottenham-history/

UTV
The Doc

The game where Sid completely outclassed the Argentine debutants ... happy days

[OCD]

Dropping Guzan would only be an option if he had a better understudy. Given's a good shotstopper but offers nothing else. He has no control of his box (so would put more pressure on a weak defence) and makes too many mistakes. The save he made against Leicester which he got praised for was due to a mistake in the first place. It was bad enough dropping Okore and Lowton, the last thing we need is more change at the back. We need to pick our best back 5 and stick to it until the end of the season (injuries/suspensions permitting). For me that's Guzan-Hutton-Okore-Clark-Lowton, with possibly using Bacuna at right back when it suits us.

A good shot stopper and nothing else is how I'd describe Guzan rather than Given.
Guzan's distribution and decision making is woeful. I drop him in a heartbeat. I think Guzan is the most overatted player in the team.

Guzan does come and catch crosses though which reassures the defenders in front of him. His distribution can be good (see Weimann's goal against Man City last season) but isn't nearly consistent enough. Guzan seems a better talker too. Even if they were the same, it would still be disturbing an already unsettled defence, which we need to get away from.

[silhillvilla]

Sunny with cloud, blustery conditions in North London, we will need to keep it on the deck this afternoon.

[Mortimer's Bear]

I'm convinced we'll win today.

[silhillvilla]

I'm convinced we'll win today.

Let's hope Spurs are on the beach.

[Mortimer's Bear]

I'm convinced we'll win today.

Let's hope Spurs are on the beach.

I just think if you keep Kane quiet then you keep Spurs quiet, they're nothing special.

[supertom]

Grealish gets fouled on average every 22 minutes. Which, over 10 appearances, is the most frequent in the league. Spurs defence is pretty clumsy, so I would expect Jack to win us a few free-kicks. I think this is a game he could shine in. He deserves to keep his place after tuesday too.

[Toronto Villa]

Goals from Ormondroyd and Platt should see us though today.

[curiousorange]

Yes, I was happy with Grealish's performance the other night. A number of times he did that 'ball's attached to my foot' thing that the best kids you played football with had a habit of doing. It seems the most popular way to try and get the ball back is to foul the bloke.

One thing that I'd like to see him do is leather the ball once he gets into the box. I have no idea if he can kick the ball really hard, but against QPR he had a shot which came to him on the rebound which Green comfortably smothered, and there didn't seem to be much zest behind it.

[silhillvilla]

Sweet Jesus Richardson and Sanchez both start again.

[Toronto Villa]

Richardson has kept his place. Looks the same team as the other night. I'd rather have put Lowton back in.

[Clampy]

I'd put Okore back in personally and played Lowton left back rather than Richardson.

[supertom]

Yes, I was happy with Grealish's performance the other night. A number of times he did that 'ball's attached to my foot' thing that the best kids you played football with had a habit of doing. It seems the most popular way to try and get the ball back is to foul the bloke.

One thing that I'd like to see him do is leather the ball once he gets into the box. I have no idea if he can kick the ball really hard, but against QPR he had a shot which came to him on the rebound which Green comfortably smothered, and there didn't seem to be much zest behind it.

He got a bit of zip behind his freekick. I don't think we'll ever see him unleash a Hitzlsperger special though. To be fair to Jack, that chance he had, Green was very quick to it. I thought it was more excellent keeping as opposed to a poor finish.

[supertom]

I guess Sherwood just really would prefer a left footer at left back. I dunno. Had Lowtons performances not dropped in the previous couple of games, he might have stayed in at left back. But he was only ever plugging a gap.

My only hope is that Richardson looks fitter this week. But honestly, I'm expecting him to get targeted from the off.

Sanchez has to play, for no other reason than we need 3 in midfield and we've only got 3 fit.

[Gregorys Boy]

2-2 which I think should be a better point for us than on Tuesday considering our rivals have tough fixtures this weekend and are unlikely to pick up much.