Tottenham 0-2 Aston Villa - Sunday 1st January, 2023

[Stan]

Kick-off 14.00

Live on Sky Sports

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Last 3 Meetings
09/04/2022 - Aston Villa 0-4 Tottenham
03/10/2021 - Tottenham 2-1 Aston Villa
19/05/2021 - Tottenham 1-2 Aston Villa

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Tottenham - DLWWL
Aston Villa - LWLWL

[Reluctant Striker]

Feels difficult to predict how it will go.

When Villa have been good this season, they've had a few quick starts. And that's apparently not Spurs strength right now.

But this exactly the kind of game they can just roll over in.

If Unai intends to stick to this 4-4-2 out of possession & moving around with the ball, I think I'd like to see Ings get back in. With Watkins playing as the more mobile one of the 2.

 

[Stan]

17 minutes gone and Kane hasn't had 1 touch of the ball.

[Stan]

That was a god-awful half of football. 

Even the crowd can't get up for it. 

[Stan]

1-0 to Villa. Luiz long-range shot spilled by Lloris. Watkins picks up the rebound and lays it off to Buendia to score.

[Reluctant Striker]

0-2. Douglas Luiz.

Too early to assume it's over.. but this could be huge if they finish this off.

Would stay 12th but be much nearer a Euro spot than bottom 3.

Would be 3 recent wins over top half sides (Man United, Brighton & Spurs)

 

[N U F C]

Spurs are absolute rubbish.

[Cicero]

Conte is very much like Mourinho where his methods aren't sustainable. 

[Lucas]

That's a shambles of a performance from Spurs. They have been below par for a long time now but that is as bad as I can remember.

Worst thing for me is Villa...Aston Villa this is, same team that have not exactly been great themselves, taking the piss out of Spurs by looking to walk the ball in the net at 2-0 and could easily have made it 3 or 4 with more clinicality and not pissing about.

If you'd have turned on at that point and seen that, you'd assume Spurs had 10 men or something. And this is at Spurs too.

No desire at all from the players.

Fully appreciate they are missing Bentancur and Kukusevski, two players that are guaranteed starters, but my god, you look at their line up today and I don't see how that is not enough to beat Villa at home.

We were all lauding Bissouma in the summer as a great signing to add strength in depth but fuck me, he looks a shadow of himself. Something doesn't feel right there...

Son, poor. Gil and Perisic, average. Kane not great but its the first game he's not scored in a while. Service was abysmal. No creativity at all.

Something has got to give soon you feel because Top 4 is looking more and more unatainable the way things keep going.

[Reluctant Striker]

It is early days, but seems Unai is perhaps greater than his reputation & Conte the opposite. Feels like the most defining factor IMO.

Villa's next 4 in league, through to early Feb:

Wolves (h) Leeds (h) Southampton (a) & Leicester (h)

Almost expecting them to be more problematic than this Spurs side.

But no better time & chance to really try & press on.

I think Unai just might be able to get the best out of this squad. And he will get to do some transfer business through this month.

[Stan]

It's quite clear Emery has had an immediate impact given how compact and organised Villa have become. Hard to break down and hit on the counter.

I heard during commentary that Emery never had a 0-0 draw in the PL as Arsenal manager . Quite surprised at that.

He seems a good fit for Villa for where they are. Those next 4 mentioned above all seem very winnable. 

[Danny]

After we played Spurs the overwhelming feeling amongst the players was that we dropped 2 points. That they had 6 minutes of momentum that got them back in the game but away from that, never looked like really getting past our defence.

Not great for them to go from that to getting done 2-0 by Villa, this team are far away from winning anything atm.

[Dan+]

I've said virtually all this season Spurs are poorer than they were last year.

The downside of Conte showing.

[Dan+]

1 hour ago, Reluctant Striker said:

It is early days, but seems Unai is perhaps greater than his reputation & Conte the opposite. Feels like the most defining factor IMO.

Villa's next 4 in league, through to early Feb:

Wolves (h) Leeds (h) Southampton (a) & Leicester (h)

Almost expecting them to be more problematic than this Spurs side.

But no better time & chance to really try & press on.

I think Unai just might be able to get the best out of this squad. And he will get to do some transfer business through this month.

Correct. Totally disrespected in this country. I wanted him to replace Rodgers this season. Quite jealous you got him and early days suggest vindication, with 3 wins against top half sides in his first 4 games (we on the flip side have 1 point from the top half all season). Arsenal didn't work but it happens, he's not a bad manager at all, doesn't get anywhere near the respect he deserves given how much he's won already at his age.

[LFCMike]

Liverpool's 'bad' performance at Villa on Boxing day doesn't seem so bad now

[DeadLinesman]

Lloris is dogshit, yet his woeful mistakes always seem to fly under the radar.

[Danny]

40 minutes ago, LFCMike said:

Liverpool's 'bad' performance at Villa on Boxing day doesn't seem so bad now

Villa fisted us too

[True Blue]

This was the highlight of my day, yes i am that sad.

[Reluctant Striker]

Just seen a knee jerk Tweet of Gary Lineker..

[6666]

I'd be surprised if Conte doesn't threaten to run away in January if he doesn't get a load of new players. Overrated manager.

[Michael]

4 hours ago, Lucas said:

That's a shambles of a performance from Spurs. They have been below par for a long time now but that is as bad as I can remember.

Worst thing for me is Villa...Aston Villa this is, same team that have not exactly been great themselves, taking the piss out of Spurs by looking to walk the ball in the net at 2-0 and could easily have made it 3 or 4 with more clinicality and not pissing about.

If you'd have turned on at that point and seen that, you'd assume Spurs had 10 men or something. And this is at Spurs too.

No desire at all from the players.

Fully appreciate they are missing Bentancur and Kukusevski, two players that are guaranteed starters, but my god, you look at their line up today and I don't see how that is not enough to beat Villa at home.

We were all lauding Bissouma in the summer as a great signing to add strength in depth but fuck me, he looks a shadow of himself. Something doesn't feel right there...

Son, poor. Gil and Perisic, average. Kane not great but its the first game he's not scored in a while. Service was abysmal. No creativity at all.

Something has got to give soon you feel because Top 4 is looking more and more unatainable the way things keep going.

To be completely honest, I looked at the line-ups for this match, just before kick-off and I knew it would be a difficult match for Spurs. Sure, as you mentioned, Spurs were missing two of their best players in Bentancur and Kulusevski, but Villa had some very decent players in their starting line-up. Just looking at their midfield, Douglas Luiz is an excellent ball winning midfielder for Villa. As is Kamara, who is a very highly rated young midfielder in France, and he used to be one of the best midfielders in the French League before he joined Villa. As for Buendia, well he is in my opinion a superb winger on his day. He's a goalscoring winger, who has great dribbling ability and close control. His goal today was due to a Lloris error, but that doesn't take away how good a player he is. While McGinn is a seasoned Scottish international who has always been influential throughout his career.

Even upfront, Villa had Watkins and Bailey, again two excellent forward players on their day. While at the back, the West Midlands side, had the likes of Mings and Digne helping out their rear-guard, again, two of the best defensive players in the league in my opinion. Moreover, although Villa dropped Argentinian international keeper Martinez for this game, they played Swedish international Robin Olsen, one of the most solid and consistent keepers around, who is very experienced. It's also a bit of a luxury for Villa, to be able to bring a player with the class of Coutinho off of the bench

For Spurs, I am not a huge fan of Doherty, he's decent, but not an amazing player by any serious metrics. While Gil still hasn't delivered properly for Spurs, he's struggled to really impress in most matches that he has played in the Premier League. He's still very young, and clearly needs a lot more time to adapt to the rigours and physicality of the Premier League in my opinion. As you suggested, the fact that several of Tottenham's better players didn't have a great game either, didn't really help their plight today. But this always looked like a very tough game for me, after I saw the starting line-ups.

[Gunnersaurus]

18 hours ago, DeadLinesman said:

Lloris is dogshit, yet his woeful mistakes always seem to fly under the radar.

Not like that harry kane penalty. That went well over the radar 

[Storts+]

Wanted a day to calm down after that because quite honestly that's one of the worst performances I've seen in a very long time.

I feel like we've reached this crossroads so many times in recent years, but once again I think we have reached a point where we have to question the direction of the club, the management of both of the squad and the resources. 

I did not think I'd get to this point but I'm not sure Conte should stay as our manager for a multitude of reasons. Ultimately though this football we are playing is utterly dire. No team in world football wins the way Conte wants to play anymore. It isn't sustainable and we are suffering as a result. This is going to contradict slightly with what I'm going to say later, but there's absolutely no chance this squad and this team should look as bad as they do. There's so much more talent here than is being utilised and a different manager would be getting more out of them. Just look at the turnaround at Newcastle and the work Eddie Howe has done. There isn't a chance they have a better squad of players than we do, but they are performing week after week while we put in the same turgid performances, reliant on moments rather than any sort of consistent pressure. 

He is so stubborn too. I mean the crowd reaction yesterday to the Spence sub says it all. The fact he refuses to give him any meaningful minutes at this stage of the season is beyond laughable. How he persists with a formation that is not working, and lacks any sort of creativity when Kulusevski is out. It's not helped by Son's absolutely abject form, yesterday was possibly his worst ever performance in a Spurs shirt, but there is a complete inability to play through midfield and create chances. I've never seen a Spurs team so reliant on set pieces to score ( most in the Prem I believe). 

It is not enjoyable watching this Spurs team at all. You know exactly what you are going to get turning up. Might as well not even bother for the first half but the worry yesterday was that after they scored there was no way we were coming back. We could have played all day and we wouldn't have scored. Villa were so comfortable and that's just not good enough for this football club.

Conte has also facilitated this constant state of uncertainty around the club, and I'm sure this drips back down into the players. I don't really blame him per se but the lack of commitment to him or from him is not helping anyone. At this stage he's aware of the circumstances around this ownership and how they are going to operate, and you either have to work within these parameters or move on. We cannot continue in this state of flux. It does raise the question of why ENIC keep going for these vanity project short term managers if they were not willing to adapt to these conditions. Conte is a manager you bring in if most of the pieces are in place and you're prepared to buy a few premium players to get you over the top. That is not who we are, who we will ever be under this leadership. 

The frustrating thing is I do really like Conte. I think he's a manager that has clearly been very successful, often says the right things and challenges those that need challenging, but he's flawed and as expected I'm not sure ENIC and Conte are remotely compatible. I don't see the point of prolonging this relationship when it is not showing any discernible benefits for any party. 

The problem is that these issues run so much deeper than the manager, and they will continue to do so no matter who is in charge. I have always been on the side of pro Levy and pro Enic. I think it is quite clear they have done many things right during their ownership of the club. We saw some excellent progress in returning the club to the upper echelons of the league after a frankly quite miserable period at the beginning of the Premier League era. The last two decades have seen plenty of top four finishes, semi finals and finals but without getting over the line. The infrastructure at the club is as good as any in world football, and off the pitch we are a money making machine. These things cannot be disputed. But what I also think can also not be disputed, is that under this ownership we will never take the final step. And that is demoralising. They will never go out there and buy that extra player or two to really push us over the top. Never go out and shop in the big leagues, instead it's the same old tired model that has only been able to take us so far. Doing the bare minimum to keep their investment strong but not ever a real drive to win on the pitch. Even the summer business - players from Brighton, Everton, Middlesborough, a 33 year old on a free, a Barcelona reject. These aren't the moves of a team serious apart pushing on from a top four finish.

It's clear to all that the squad is still imbalanced. A few injuries have once again really hurt us. Without Kulusevski, who I think is probably our most important player these days, Richarlison and Bentancur we are weakened significantly. Gil is too lightweight, Conte is right on that, not suited to the Prem at all and a real miss from the recruitment team. Moura is permanently crocked and not good enough anyway. We don't have a single creative midfielder in our squad able to unlock stubborn defences. We have one wingback who is good enough, and even then has been disappointing for large chunks of the season. We have one top quality centre back and a goalkeeper that needs replacing now. But recruitment has been very poor for the most part. Last January we hit the jackpot but those sort of signings have been so few and far between. It's more frustrating when you look at our rivals and the way they attack the transfer windows. They're not afraid to go out and just pay the money to bring in the players they need.

We constantly harp back to it but those Poch windows set this club so far back. Both the windows with no players at all and the real missed opportunity. Then the £150 million wasted on Clarke, Sess, Lo Celso and Ndombele. I think that should have said everything you need to know about the desire to win for Levy and Co. And so once again we enter a period where we cannot sustain the manager for much longer, he will inevitably be replaced whether its soon or the summer and we go back through the same cycle (probably with Poch back). 

I think until we see new owners come in, we will always have these feelings of regret for not capitalising when we were at our best, feelings of frustration that we always just fall a bit short, and games like yesterday were everything was just so flat, on and off the pitch. 

For now though, I just want to see some attacking front foot football again. I want to see us taking the game to teams and pressing them up the pitch. After Mourinho and Conte I don't think that's too much to ask.

 

 

 

 

[DeadLinesman]

@Stortsdo you think you need a complete refresh too to bottom? And I mean like getting rid of Kane even? As if any manager has simply become to reliant on him as the star?

[Storts+]

27 minutes ago, DeadLinesman said:

@Stortsdo you think you need a complete refresh too to bottom? And I mean like getting rid of Kane even? As if any manager has simply become to reliant on him as the star?

I understand where you’re coming from. But not sure that’s the answer. There’s not a chance can replace can with anyone remotely close to how good he is or how much he means to this club. I’m happy to build around him. Especially with the way we operate. I don’t think we have much choice. Although then again he could leave next season and then we are confronted with the problem either way. Son on the other hand, starting to think we will regret not selling him at the peak opportunity last summer.

It’s a real mess though. Just so many problems from boardroom, to management to the pitch. But I think they’re a lot of easy fixes to be made in playing style with the right manager and utilising the players we do have. I have a lot of sympathy for Conte but he’s just not in the right job.