Aston Villa v Spurs Post-Match Thread

[Olneythelonely]

Maybe, when we are in for a young foreign player, and he chooses similar wages but the lights of London and Tottenham instead, we will regret sacrificing this game.

I agree. A player that completely bossed our midfield, scoring the opener, is proof that happens, foreign or not.

[Villan82]

I am still so angry. Not sure I will ever look at Unai the same way.

So disappointed. Urgh

[Olof's Beard]

I'm one to stay til the end, give them a clap win, lose or draw and depend players against the kneejerk 'never want to see them in the shirt again sort of comments usually but found myself naturally, involuntarily boooooooing in the first half yesterday. It wasn't just the performance against a side that's third bottom or even the lack of effort. It was the complete failure the uphold any sort of standards on the pitch. We could all see the second goal coming a mile off but not one player did anything about it. The goals were met with a shrug of the shoulders and a trudge back to halfway. Mings, Martinez, Tielemans all included. It was unprofessional to the point of being bizarre.

Now the season rests on an already high stakes game with the pressure notched up several levels. All eyes on us, mostly hoping we fall flat on our face. The last 9 months as a whole are so hard to judge. Our winning run was incredible and should not be downplayed. It was built on no little skill, a dogged will to win and unstoppable momentum. Even then, however, we rarely dominated a whole game and frequently came out on top of fine margins. If you constantly walk on the edge of the cliff, there's always the chance you could fall off.

And either side of that run? I think it's 5 wins in 22 games isn't it? I can't be arsed to tot it up but presumably we run at an average of less than 1 goal scored per game during that run as well. Over half a season worth with fifteen points gained from wins. It's been a bit of a theme around much of the league with the likes of Brighton, Bournemouth and Palace also fluctuating between long runs of bad form and good form. But it's also really difficult to judge where we are going into last season. So many performance have been insipid and ponderous. You can't usually question the attitude mind but you definitely could last night.

We'd better win on Thursday. Either way, there's a big summer ahead.

[pauliewalnuts]

If that was about resting players, why did the one player above all who needs to be rested play all 90
minutes?

[Crown Hill]

If that was about resting players, why did the one player above all who needs to be rested play all 90
minutes?

I’m not convinced we actually rested players apart from the central defenders and Ollie. Rogers and Tielemans played and will be crucial on Thursday. It mainly seemed to be about the approach and passive football. It’s a hard one to work out. The game plan seemed to be that Spurs were low on confidence and would panic and ceding the midfield gave them their confidence back through the long shot.

[Percy McCarthy]

Positive: I was home in time for Match of the Day.

Negative: I didn’t want to watch it.

[bill]

Team selection was suicidal. Our squad simply doesn’t have the quality outside of our first XI. Bogard is simply shit. Mings, Barkley, Bailey, Sancho, Digne, even Abraham and Buendia, simply aren’t good enough.

[OzVilla]

Maybe, when we are in for a young foreign player, and he chooses similar wages but the lights of London and Tottenham instead, we will regret sacrificing this game.

I agree. A player that completely bossed our midfield, scoring the opener, is proof that happens, foreign or not.

I think we were gazumpped quite considerably on wages in fairness.

[Richard E]

Fair play to Villa getting the 2015-16 team back for one final game together last night.

[Goldenballs]

Maybe, when we are in for a young foreign player, and he chooses similar wages but the lights of London and Tottenham instead, we will regret sacrificing this game.

I agree. A player that completely bossed our midfield, scoring the opener, is proof that happens, foreign or not.

I think we were gazumpped quite considerably on wages in fairness.

And we will be again in the summer if Spurs fancy the same player we do.

[john e]

We obviously played a weakened side
but even so Martinez, Cash, Maartsen, Tielamans, Rogers are all starters, so that’s half the team

Then Lindalof who many people have been saying hasn’t put a foot wrong and needs more game time even over Konsa and Pau
Then there’s Ming’s who’s supposed to be the most physical of our central defenders and always get mentioned when we play a physical side, loads of people, wanting him starting over Pau

Barkley who’s not much of a downgrade on Buendia if at all

Tammy who’s we’ve thrown a load of money at and a big long contract

Sancho who we are supposedly be interested in keeping next season for some unknown reason

And Bogarde who some rate highly ( not me)

So yes, the side was weak, but not weak enough to produce that tepid piss poor performance right up there with one of the worst we’ve ever seen at VP
There’s no excuses we’ve not been good for weeks even when we played a strong side we need to sort it out for Thursday night somehow

[PeterWithe]

Maybe, when we are in for a young foreign player, and he chooses similar wages but the lights of London and Tottenham instead, we will regret sacrificing this game.

I agree. A player that completely bossed our midfield, scoring the opener, is proof that happens, foreign or not.

I think we were gazumpped quite considerably on wages in fairness.

And we will be again in the summer if Spurs fancy the same player we do.

Whilst I dont know for sure, there are enough media reports about that suggest that our wage ceilings are similar.

[nick harper]

Maybe, when we are in for a young foreign player, and he chooses similar wages but the lights of London and Tottenham instead, we will regret sacrificing this game. On reflection, Spurs were very good, organised and far more athletic than us all over the park, but they, like us, could have taken it easy and conserved energy for the upcoming games, and still beaten us comfortably.

I thought their midfield 3 set the tone in the first 5 mins. Bentancour, Gallagher and Paulinho were very aggressive and intense from the off, hunting in packs and pressing high. Tielemans and Bogarde were outnumbered and overrun and with Abrahams and Barkley non-existent, it was a case of how many for a while.

Not dissimilar to the Chelsea game a couple of months ago where we stood off and they pulled us apart.

[Behind Bluenose Lines]

Woke up this morning.

Still mortified and appalled over that spectacle last night from my club, Aston Villa, supposedly a proud name worldwide.  I just want to apologise to every West Ham and Forest fan out there over us undermining the integrity of the league.

God knows what will happen on Thursday!

[RamboandBruno]

Woke up this morning.

Still mortified and appalled over that spectacle last night from my club, Aston Villa, supposedly a proud name worldwide.  I just want to apologise to every West Ham and Forest fan out there over us undermining the integrity of the league.

God knows what will happen on Thursday!

Honestly, apologising to West Ham & Forest fans?? Its a bloody rubbish performance, but who cares about west ham or forest fans?