Aston Villa 0 Spuds 2 Post Match Thread

[brontebilly]

Spurs were very poor until we handed them two goals. They took the piss out of us thereafter. I thought pre game we were crying out for a change of formation but Deano went with the same 433 with the same predictable results. Another hopeless performance and we really need this international break.
Martinez 4 - poor clearance led to first
Cash 2 - a rating to match his number, at fault for both goals, not the first time he has made an idiotic challenge like Kane mugged him for
Konsa 6 - struggled with Vinicus physicality but one of the few to get a pass
Mings 5 - lots of shouting but not much else.
Targett 8 - our best by a long way
Luiz 3 - disgrace tonight, jumping out of tackles and putting teammates in trouble
McGinn 7 - lost the ball a lot but one of the very few who kept going all night
Trez 3 - not a prem player but any stretch of the imagination
Traore 3 - has ability but that only gets you so far. Too soft physically and mentally and needs a spell on bench
Sanson 4 - pace of the game too much for him again, improved a bit after half time but physically needs a hard pre season in him
Watkins 5 - little or no service but his running around a lot has become very predictable, not a threat at any time

AEG 5 (starts well but flounces after first tackle), Barkley 4 (doesn't run), Davis 5 (made Barkley chance with a nice turn but miles out of his depth)

Smith 3 - terrible run of form that we show no signs of turning around

[Smirker]

Garbage for the most part.

I’m sure the owners are dead chuffed with a massive extra six points for another £75m outlay

We still have 10 games to go?

The owners probably are pleased anyway. How much do you get per year for being in the PL? £150m? And the value of the club will only have gone up. We are progressing.

[Deano's Mullet]

It’s not so much the results that bother me as we aren’t losing every week but the performances are. The swagger has gone, the mistakes are creeping back in and the midfield/wingers aren’t impacting on the game which leaves Watkins chasing breadcrumbs. I think we made it very easy for them tonight which is very very disappointing. They looked dangerous even when Sky were trying to convince us we were causing them problems early on. At 1-0 down I honestly thought the game was already gone. Any team would miss Jack but the rest of that midfield are not stepping up and taking games by the scruff of the neck. The wingers are wishy washy and Luiz and McGinn are both off form.
Enough said about Barkley, that ship has sailed.

[Ads]

Felt we were pretty decent for the most part. Just not the crucial part, the final third.

Delivery so-so, Watkins isolated and just a bit blunt across the line.

The wingers are really out of form, but Trez for me just isn't good enough. I was surprised to see a change of shape, but I've been advocating a diamond and think we'd be no worse off from trying it.

We've not been as fluid post COVID, even with Jack, as we were before. There are a couple of reasons, but a big one is what Neville touched on; the pool of quality isn't there to change things dramatically.

We are certainly reliant on Jack, absolutely. But Tottenham look entirely reliant on Kane.

The difference tonight, was we made two bad mistakes. Martinez clearance and we're out of shape and Kane and Moura link. Then Kane buys a cheap penalty and suddenly Spurs have some confidence and the game is dead.

In a real funk of form now, particularly up top. It seems unlikely that Davis, Trez or the way Barkely has fallen away, are going to be answers. Traore and El Ghazi nowhere near consistent enough.

Luiz has gone off the boil too, but that's the lot of a young player I suspect. A world beater earlier in the season with panic that Man City are swooping, to some very indifferent form now.

I have to say too that I think there's a real dramatic overreaction and a compulsion to catastrophise things on here at times.

[Allan C]

Quite simply we lack quality in midfield and have no depth to the squad. Traore, Trez, McGinn, AEG, even Sanson and Luiz will not be good enough for us to progress. I always thought Sanson and Ramsey were for next season, hopefully Luiz can recover his early form but the rest need replacing. It was so obvious tonight. It’s not that we played badly, just lack quality

[Olof's Beard]

How much of a contrast is this to the first half of the season? I got into a lovely little mindset of sitting down to watch us knowing that we would entertain and expecting us to score. It has taken a couple of months for that to be replaced by the expectation of turgid, disjointed tripe coming forward.

Our final ball is infuriating at the moment. How can top level footballers who spend their working days on the training field fail to beat the first man so often? We are also doing what we did last year and just tossing hopeful crosses in rather than trying to work an opening.

Big work needed over the next 2 weeks. We are heading for a 14th to 15th place finish at this rate. Chuffing irritating.

[Legion]

https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/12253223/vinicius-and-kane-give-spurs-the-points

[BC Villain]

The Newcastle fans are up in arms over Bruce at the moment, but lets be honest - we're no better than them at the moment.

[Goldie.7]

Davis starts the next match for me. He was the only player who actually looked interested.

If Trezeguet, AEG, Traore and Luiz never played for us again I wouldn't lose any sleep whatsoever.

[django]

Konsa was great.

I thought Mings, Targett and Mcginn had mostly good games. Of the subs AEG and Davis had some positive moments. Otherwise it was poor from everyone, but harsh on Martinez maybe but he’s set himself high standards and his pass led to the first goal.

Of particular concern is the lack of form from any of our wide players and Luiz’s and Barkleys form. All the players we need to step up while jacks been out have stepped back instead.


It’s not making excuses, but we might have had a bit more luck in the later stages if one or two Spurs players had picked up deserved yellow cards for repeated fouling.

[Lastfootstamper]

Toothless and quite boring, that. We need two more Watkinses, one to play either side of Watkins.

[AV82EC]

Meh. We were majorly undone by Cash in particular definitively not match sharp and Moura did him for the first and then his brainless challenge on Kane for the second. Martinez poor clearance for the first.

Scores on the doors

Martinez - 6 mark off for the clearance for the first goal but other than that ok.
Cash - 4 not match sharp and it showed
Konsa - 7 reasonably solid
Mings - 7 reasonably solid
targett - 7 solid and got forwards well
Luiz - 4 really really poor and chronically out of form, utter lack of physicality and presence
McGinn - 6 its getting better but still not anywhere near what we know he can be
Sanson - 5 - drifted in and out, some nice touches but as he's admitted he's been surprised by the intensity and physicality
Trezeguet - 3 Blues
Traore - 3 rubbish
Watkins - 6 runs around like a dog with two dicks but the service he gets is dreadful

Barkley - 5 meh
El Ghazi - 4 even more meh
Davis - 6.5 actually caused some issues and also gave the ball away numerous times

Smith - 5 he really needs to do something to stop the rot, his insistence on sticking with 433 with inadequate wingers shows a lack of tactical thinking that frustrates like hell. A diamond, 442, 352 anything to just make the other team have to think.

Game was lost in our midfield and wide attackers, there just isn't the quality there to compete despite Spurs back 4 being absolute gash.

Onwards.....

[PeterWithe]

We were utter shite in their third but it was pretty even in the rest of the pitch. Differences were Kane, one of the best players in the world, and Moura who is of the level you’d hope we’d be looking to recruit in the next phase.

Big disappointment for me was them winning so many 50/50 challenges, they seemed to play for with more motivation than us.

We really needed to score in that first 20 mins when we were well on top, but didn’t get a shot on target.

[DB]

Quite simply we lack quality in midfield and have no depth to the squad. Traore, Trez, McGinn, AEG, even Sanson and Luiz will not be good enough for us to progress. I always thought Sanson and Ramsey were for next season, hopefully Luiz can recover his early form but the rest need replacing. It was so obvious tonight. It’s not that we played badly, just lack quality

Agreed, when I saw the line up, I just thought our midfield is very weak, esp the wide players. Needs improvement.

[ktvillan]

Spurs were shite, yet somehow we still managed to lose comfortably.  Too many players either out of form, overtired or simply not good enough, and Dean needs a plan B .