Tottenham vs Aston Villa Post-match thread

[ChicagoLion]

When the alternative to Richards is Clark, Gbby is Gestede and Amavi is Richardson you get to understand how bad this team and squad is.There is hardly a decen Premier League level player to be seen.I think people are kidding themselves if they think it is down to team selections.
This is a squad set up for relegation.

[Ormy Droid]

One thing that did annoy me about Gabby last night. About 3 mins in, a Spurs player had his arms all over him but he didn't protest to the ref at all, he just accepted it. I think he's time may be up.

They should refuse to pay his wages until the fat bugger loses a couple of stone. It's disgraceful for a professional footballer, a striker who's only attribute used to be a yard of pace, is in that condition. He's simply not fit for purpose

[oldhill_avfc]

Basic technique was lacking in so many areas of the pitch yesterday. 

Poor positioning in defence, inability to control and hold on to the ball in midfield, no creativity up front.

Reality check to those who think this squad is mid table - too many are woefully short of premiership standard for that.

Garde's job is all about somehow managing to engineer a result or two up to Christmas and then being able strengthen, otherwise we're fucked.

[Dave]

When the alternative to Richards is Clark, Gbby is Gestede and Amavi is Richardson you get to understand how bad this team and squad is.There is hardly a decen Premier League level player to be seen.I think people are kidding themselves if they think it is down to team selections.

Westwood was preferred to Gana. Bacuna was preferred to Gil. Gabby was preferred to Ayew. Richardson was preferred to Amavi. Lescott was preferred to Okore.

Those are team selections, and very bad ones at that. There aren't decent Premier League players to be seen if we choose not to pick all of our best players.

[Ads]

It's hard to say what it tells you when your best players are sat on the bench or left out altogether in favour of people who were either finished at this level five years ago or have never cut it a this level.

[ChicagoLion]

When the alternative to Richards is Clark, Gbby is Gestede and Amavi is Richardson you get to understand how bad this team and squad is.There is hardly a decen Premier League level player to be seen.I think people are kidding themselves if they think it is down to team selections.

Westwood was preferred to Gana. Bacuna was preferred to Gil. Gabby was preferred to Ayew. Richardson was preferred to Amavi. Lescott was preferred to Okore.

Those are team selections, and very bad ones at that. There aren't decent Premier League players to be seen if we choose not to pick all of our best players.

And we have seen all those players getting the same results.

[Dave]

When the alternative to Richards is Clark, Gbby is Gestede and Amavi is Richardson you get to understand how bad this team and squad is.There is hardly a decen Premier League level player to be seen.I think people are kidding themselves if they think it is down to team selections.

Westwood was preferred to Gana. Bacuna was preferred to Gil. Gabby was preferred to Ayew. Richardson was preferred to Amavi. Lescott was preferred to Okore.

Those are team selections, and very bad ones at that. There aren't decent Premier League players to be seen if we choose not to pick all of our best players.

And we have seen all those players getting the same results.

Have we? When was the last time that the five who played last night were missing and the five who didn't start were in their places?

[PaulWinch again]

When the alternative to Richards is Clark, Gbby is Gestede and Amavi is Richardson you get to understand how bad this team and squad is.There is hardly a decen Premier League level player to be seen.I think people are kidding themselves if they think it is down to team selections.

Westwood was preferred to Gana. Bacuna was preferred to Gil. Gabby was preferred to Ayew. Richardson was preferred to Amavi. Lescott was preferred to Okore.

Those are team selections, and very bad ones at that. There aren't decent Premier League players to be seen if we choose not to pick all of our best players.

And we have seen all those players getting the same results.

Only is because there has been no coherent plan when they've played.

[saint13]

As for Gabby, the camera on him in the tunnel before the game said it all. There he stood, our team captain about to lead his boyhood team out into battle but wearing a gormless unfocused expression of disinterest and a pair of gloves to keep his little handys cosy. He pulled his tracksuit top collar over his chin to keep warm then witheringly wobbled his way out to the pitch. And what followed? 6 touches in open play, the halftime hook and national lampooning on Sky Sports. That ladies and gentlemen is our captain. I could weep.

It was a disgrace...I was screaming at my TV when I saw him in the Tunnel. It sums him up entirely. He should have been out of the door years ago. I was delighted when Neville exposed him live on National TV. I hope he is truly embarrassed but I suspect he is too thick to notice. I suspect he will rarely appear again under the new man.

[john e]

As for Gabby, the camera on him in the tunnel before the game said it all. There he stood, our team captain about to lead his boyhood team out into battle but wearing a gormless unfocused expression of disinterest and a pair of gloves to keep his little handys cosy. He pulled his tracksuit top collar over his chin to keep warm then witheringly wobbled his way out to the pitch. And what followed? 6 touches in open play, the halftime hook and national lampooning on Sky Sports. That ladies and gentlemen is our captain. I could weep.

It was a disgrace...I was screaming at my TV when I saw him in the Tunnel. It sums him up entirely. He should have been out of the door years ago. I was delighted when Neville exposed him live on National TV. I hope he is truly embarrassed but I suspect he is too thick to notice. I suspect he will rarely appear again under the new man.

The worst thing about the sky studio laughing at him last night is I was laughing along with them

[FranzBiberkopf]

When the alternative to Richards is Clark, Gbby is Gestede and Amavi is Richardson you get to understand how bad this team and squad is.There is hardly a decen Premier League level player to be seen.I think people are kidding themselves if they think it is down to team selections.
This is a squad set up for relegation.

Spot on.

There's just not enough goals in the team to give us a sniff of staying up. You can't expect Ayew, Gestede, Gabby,Kozak to score more than 15 league goals between them. When you couple that with a back five thats guaranteed to make at least one horrific howler a game, it really does look bleak.

I'm sure Garde will settle quickly on a preferred formation and starting eleven - that'll help steady is. But the glaring difficiences in the the squad far outweigh any positives. 

[Monty]

When the alternative to Richards is Clark, Gbby is Gestede and Amavi is Richardson you get to understand how bad this team and squad is.There is hardly a decen Premier League level player to be seen.I think people are kidding themselves if they think it is down to team selections.

Westwood was preferred to Gana. Bacuna was preferred to Gil. Gabby was preferred to Ayew. Richardson was preferred to Amavi. Lescott was preferred to Okore.

Those are team selections, and very bad ones at that. There aren't decent Premier League players to be seen if we choose not to pick all of our best players.

And we have seen all those players getting the same results.

We have seen the worse players play an awful lot more than the better ones (Spurs fans, as I've said, must have been absolutely baffled as to why Gil didn't start).

[Ormy Droid]

Last night's selection is surely KMac's final act, can't believe it was one of deliberate sabotage, but it definitely betrayed his thoughts on the recent goings on behind the scenes. Gana and Traore not in the squad at all - did they miss the train? Or, have they been punished for sulking during training, bad attitudes etc. because the being rested argument is frankly ludicrous.

Then there was the bench, which held all the other players we had 'aggressively pursued' in the summer. Sherwood had made it pretty clear he didn't want them and our caretaker (not a fan of transfer committees obviously) didn't think much of them either, or Gil for that matter, who then does come on and we at least rally, and show some fight. For a brief moment we almost looked galvanised, you might say.

Some of the stuff about Garde's time at Arsenal suggested that he acted as a conduit between the British contingent and Wenger, and helped explain and smooth over some of the more radical changes the funny looking foreign fellow in the glasses brought in on his arrival at Highbury. Remi didn't play too much, but his diplomatic skills were vitally important apparently. He's going to need them here now.

[Brend'Watkins]

As for Gabby, the camera on him in the tunnel before the game said it all. There he stood, our team captain about to lead his boyhood team out into battle but wearing a gormless unfocused expression of disinterest and a pair of gloves to keep his little handys cosy. He pulled his tracksuit top collar over his chin to keep warm then witheringly wobbled his way out to the pitch. And what followed? 6 touches in open play, the halftime hook and national lampooning on Sky Sports. That ladies and gentlemen is our captain. I could weep.

It was a disgrace...I was screaming at my TV when I saw him in the Tunnel. It sums him up entirely. He should have been out of the door years ago. I was delighted when Neville exposed him live on National TV. I hope he is truly embarrassed but I suspect he is too thick to notice. I suspect he will rarely appear again under the new man.

The worst thing about the sky studio laughing at him last night is I was laughing along with them

No.  The worst thing is that we've seen this for quite some while now. The pundits seen it last night but successive management and coaching staff still haven't seen it. 

[Malandro]

As for Gabby, the camera on him in the tunnel before the game said it all. There he stood, our team captain about to lead his boyhood team out into battle but wearing a gormless unfocused expression of disinterest and a pair of gloves to keep his little handys cosy. He pulled his tracksuit top collar over his chin to keep warm then witheringly wobbled his way out to the pitch. And what followed? 6 touches in open play, the halftime hook and national lampooning on Sky Sports. That ladies and gentlemen is our captain. I could weep.

It was a disgrace...I was screaming at my TV when I saw him in the Tunnel. It sums him up entirely. He should have been out of the door years ago. I was delighted when Neville exposed him live on National TV. I hope he is truly embarrassed but I suspect he is too thick to notice. I suspect he will rarely appear again under the new man.

The worst thing about the sky studio laughing at him last night is I was laughing along with them

I was too and also enjoyed their overall analysis. It was a kind of vindication.
I'm impressed that Neville both knew what was happening and also that he spoke about it.