Spurs 2 Aston Villa 1 Post match thread.

[Brazilian Villain]

What I can never understand and this goes for most managers not just ours is that when everyone can see that a formation or a particular game plan is not working after 20 minutes, and I mean it’s obvious to everyone including manager and coaches
Why do they have to wait till half-time to deal with it, And even then sometimes don’t

As soon as you know it’s not working change it, don’t wait until it’s too late
There’s probably a perfectly reasonable answer to this but one that I have never heard yet

It's a bugbear of mine too and if a manager does change it before HT he's hailed as some sort of tactical genius. In American Football the coaches change it after every play and sometimes during a play.

[tomd2103]

Didn't think we were as bad as being made out by some on here.  Thought we were far too open in midfield in the first half, but thought we started to get a foothold in the game before we equalised and then briefly looked like we might go on to get another.  Disappointing to get caught on the break for their second at a time when we were looking the more threatening side and we just didn't really get back into it after that.

[Steve67]

Both of their goals were very poor give aways.  The first one had a complete absence of cover from midfield and no closing down from the three central defenders.  The second one had Targett pegging back as quickly as he could but was always struggling to make it.  We are consistently inconsistent and I guess this is what is faced with a side on the up.  Win brilliantly at Manchester United, lose at out of form Tottenham Hotshit. Frustrating but that's the way it goes. 

[Des Little]

Most frustrating thing for me was that had we replicated either of the Chelsea performances today, we win that game. Son aside they are bang average, but he was outstanding and we couldn’t cope with him at all.  We, on the other hand, cannot afford to have 3 or 4 players playing poorly and it showed.

[brontebilly]

Nakamba would have given the ball away just as much if not more than the rest of them though
And wouldn’t have gone forward with the ball In an positive manner

So I’m not convinced it would have been the right call

Ramsey was lost today...

But taking him off and bringing in Buendia left us even more open in midfield

Nakamba for Hause...would have made us a lot more solid I think. Luiz was decent enough though...McGinn forced everything today, I like to see him trying a defence splitting pass...but not every single time he gets on the ball

[Nunkin1965]

Most frustrating thing for me was that had we replicated either of the Chelsea performances today, we win that game. Son aside they are bang average, but he was outstanding and we couldn’t cope with him at all.  We, on the other hand, cannot afford to have 3 or 4 players playing poorly and it showed.

That's the joy of footy.
We took on a weaker opposition today and were way off it.
Matt Cash who has been brilliant overhit so many crosses today.

[Legion]

Nakamba for Ramsey would have made sense, especially after the booking. Ramsey is an excellent player but seems rather off the boil and out of his depth at the moment.

[Clampy]

I personally think Ramsey is the weak link in that midfield three. He's alright, but we needed something in there today and i'm not sure he was it.
 

[FatSam]

Didn't think we were as bad as being made out by some on here.  Thought we were far too open in midfield in the first half, but thought we started to get a foothold in the game before we equalised and then briefly looked like we might go on to get another.  Disappointing to get caught on the break for their second at a time when we were looking the more threatening side and we just didn't really get back into it after that.

That’s my take on it as well. The fact that we can’t consistently put together performances like last week is why we probably won’t make top six, but top six is a high bar considering where we have come from.

[JD]

No-one seemed to play well and changes should have been made at half time to freshen it up.

Hard to take this one, especially as I had to call my Brother back today and him being a Spurzzz fan as well. At least he had other things on his mind so didn't rub it in too much, having to contend with 5 feet Alligators on the golf course he was playing on today in Florida.   

[BC54 VFC]

I think we have to accept we're an inconsistent team that is not going to click all the time. You see it in individual matches - good half, bad half.

So long as we continue to build overall consistency then we'll be moving in the right direction. The positive point is that we have shown that when we are really on our game, we can be unplayable. Two fantastic results against decent sides followed by a 2-1 defeat away from home against a side who raised their game on recent performances is not really cause for despair.

DS is fucking infuriating at times, I agree, but it's not just him, it's the whole coaching staff. So long as they make these mistakes less and less frequently, then we'll be ok.

I do think we might have allowed our expectations to get ahead of us this season, though, we've sold our best player in decades and yes, we've spent the money well by the looks of it and have a much strengthened squad, but that sort of change takes a while to bed in.

I think that's as good a comment I've read in a while. I didn't think we were great today at all. I think in some ways we need to start again now Joe has gone. We'll get there, we might only finish 10th but that's fine because long term, I think there's a lot to be optimistic about.

Agreed. The voice of reason.

[CT Villan]

Utter tosh.

Passing diabolical, second to everything.

How come we can all see that Watkins and Ings doesn't work, but Dean insists on starting them both repeatedly ?

[ROBBO]

Smith could have made a statement and dragged a player off before half time. So many players that played well last week were missing today and that's not acceptable if you aim to be a top side. Mings was for me typical of the team, constantly giving the ball back to the opposition, love JMs passion but the hunger just wasn't there, Watkins scored the type of goal we have come to expect from him but he can't do it from wide on the left. Hause did okay and wasn't anywhere near the poorest defender.
I call Dean Smith the sixtieth minute man, because no matter how poor the team are playing he never puts a sub on until the sixtieth minute, halfway through the first half it was clear we were in trouble and Ramsey was not having any effect in midfield, Spurs were creating nightmares for our wingbacks and finding gaps far too easily and Watkins and Ings combo isn't what we hoped it would be. I believe Dean is great at improving players but i wish we had someone else to manage the team during the match.

[robbo1874]

It was just one of those days. Fairly evident after the first 5-10 minutes that we weren’t really at it. We just never really got going and I think Spurs probably deserve a bit of credit for not letting us settle into our stride. I think that’s indicative of our season to date that we haven’t really got going. Seems to be a case of 2 steps forward and 1 back. It’s frustrating, but we shouldn’t start flapping after losing at Spurs. In hindsight they were very unlikely to be as shit as they were against Arsenal this week, although you couldn’t help but feel they were there for the taking.

Nobody really put in a performance today anywhere near the level against MU. Ramsey who has been so impressive recently was rightly subbed. I’m starting to feel a bit like buying Buendia may have been a bit of a mistake. I’ve yet to see him justify his price tag if I’m honest about it. Hindsight again but we probably needed to change it up for today as maybe we had become a bit predictable and easier to plan against with the 3-5-2. Who knows? Wasn’t our day and they need to sort it out ahead of the Wolves match. Not sure the international break will do us any favours as I reckon it’s one of those that shouldn’t be dwelled on and just get out there and play the next match.

Have to say- that ground looks fantastic in TV and both sets of fans were quite loud, sounded like a good day out apart from the football! I do dislike that ‘When the Spurs’ song though, very annoying.

[Hillbilly]

Meh. One thing that I find frustrating is how one-footed McGinn is. Smarter opponents know to keep him on the right foot and anticipate when he tries to shift left.