Aston Villa Vs Tottenham: Match Thread

[thinktank]

I thought 2nd half it was a huge improvement.

We went through a 10-15 min period where we started to drop a bit deep but aside from that we dominated them.

Soz man, can't agree. We had brief spells of going up a gear but then it fizzled out again. Lennon brought a little spark on and dembele held it up well and tried to knock it about in and around the middle, but by then it was very hard for us to pull ourselves out of our slumber.

I hated that performance, but love the win under such circumstances. We would never have won that game playing like that in the past.

 

[jambreck]

Whilst it was 0-0 I was contemplating how we're fairing with AVB as a manager.

Don't get me wrong I think he's come no leaps and bounds from his Chelsea time and I'm not even implying we shouldn't keep him.

I was just sitting there watching as we played dire football and wondered if we'd be playing such football under a manager even like Laudrup or Lambert.

The investment is there, the quality of footballers are there, yet it still isn't 'happening'.

I'm sure it will time!

We were playing some very good football prior to the West Ham defeat. Dominating games to an extent that I have never seen from a Tottenham team before.

That dominance wasn't translated into big winning margins, though. And that's because, although we were generally having in excess of 20 attempts at goal per game, not enough of them were genuine gilt edged chances. That's partly because teams tend to sit very deep and defend in numbers against us and partly because our fluency of attacking play simply isn't there yet. It's still a bit ponderous. And that's understandable, given that this is very much a team in the making. Nor should the absence of a left footed left back be underestimated. AVB's teams depend massively upon the full back providing attacking width.

Today's performance wasn't as dominant. That's an inevitable hangover from the West Ham game. The team's confidence will have taken a big hit. So, in the circumstances, it was a very decent show. And a very important win.

For now, accumulating points is all that matters. I'll only start worrying about how entertaining the football is if there's been no improvement as we get into the final few months of the season.

 

[thinktank]

Priority for AVB is to find another position Lamela can play in and start him there......he certainly isn't going to start on the right the way Townsend is playing.

Now that sandro is back to beastdom, I'd go:

Townsy Lamela Eriksen

 

[thinktank]

I guess we're back to being a one man team again...sigh!

I know where ya coming from, but I'm willing to give things a little more time before they click and the others get up to townsend's intensity level.

He is now critical to this team.

 

[newbie]

We made a fair few changes today won 2-0 maybe play Lennon and Townsend would give us a bit more attacking threat? We were slow to get going lets remember villa are no longer mugs we are still in transition lets give it time. It's nice to see AVB can rotate players. His subs were good, eriksen capoue Ade are all good at the passing game, we have depth lets not be blinkered but let's remember if we had lost today it would have been a traversty, west ham I only saw first half and they were lucky to hold on we could easily have won first half. We looked a bit nervous to start with today.

Big win

 

[Gaz_Gammon]

Love the coolness of this finish..

You can't expect much more for 26 odd million. A blast into the stands type of player was sitting on the bench though......................

 

[THFC 1882]

What a week for Andros Townsend
When we got our lead, we played in full control
First thirty minutes was really poor

It seams when we take the lead in games we get more energy.

Second half we played some good stuff
Sandro did a hell of a job

Good to be back on track!

 

[SteveH]

We got spanked 0-3 at home two weeks ago (last game) - its hardly surprising we were very nervous in the first half.

But once we found we got our mojo back in second, half we looked good.

Turgid first half

BUT a much better second half

3pts AWAY

COYS

 

[Gaz_Gammon]

Priority for AVB is to find another position Lamela can play in and start him there......he certainly isn't going to start on the right the way Townsend is playing.

When you pay 30 million for a player, it's best that someone makes way for his preferred position . I would just guess that he was brought in to play in a certain position rather than as a shoe-in. I mean only Chel$ea do that surely?

 

[scottlag10]

When you pay 30 million for a player, it's best that someone makes way for his preferred position . I would just guess that he was brought in to play in a certain position rather than as a shoe-in. I mean only Chel$ea do that surely?

Are you saying Lamela has to wait for Townsends performance level to drop before getting a chance? Surely the boy is talented enough to play in another position?
Baldini must be thinking 'nobody told me about this Townsend', but nobody could of predicted the impact he has made at the start of this season.

 

[Shadydan]

It's up to him, I suppose. It's his head on the block and he's no excuses with nearly having the overall quality he has wanted throughout the squad.

That performance was unacceptable imo; it was a bad win...if you know what I mean. But united have been getting away with playing rubbish and winning for a long time (until this season), so to have that in our locker is a nice feeling to have.

Shows that we have true quality at our core. Reassuring.

No such thing.

You'd rather win like this then playing them off the park and losing ala Man City. Couldn't really care if we played like that every week as long as we pick up points. That's what training sessions are for to work on cohesion, tactics and ability.

 

[dondo]

We absolutely were.

Don't let the win fool you.

I didn't I saw the match with my own eyes. We didnt play great, but we won and deserved to

 

[CowInAComa]

No such thing.

You'd rather win like this then playing them off the park and losing ala Man City. Couldn't really care if we played like that every week as long as we pick up points. That's what training sessions are for to work on cohesion, tactics and ability.

Youre in luck because we do play like that every week.

Boring and efficient is without a doubt what we are working and being coached towards.

 

[Drexl]

Not the greatest of performances but a win is a win

Townsend was sensational, others worked hard, defence made my heart skip a beat but happy with the 3 points

Hope they find the stupid mong who threw the smoke bomb and Levy gives him a life ban

 

[scottlag10]

Boring and efficient is without a doubt what we are working and being coached towards.

Bollocks

 

[Shadydan]

Youre in luck because we do play like that every week.

Boring and efficient is without a doubt what we are working and being coached towards.

No we don't, the only other matches we played like that this season was against Palace which was the first game and against West Ham.

 

[dricha1]

AVB is coming in for a lot of unjust flack regarding our performances and this is despite our good points haul.

It would be great to see swashbuckling football week-in-week-out but that type of football doesn't always get you results either. Consistent winning football is built on solid foundations and we have that. Bar the 10 minutes after Benteke came on, I never really felt Villa would score.

You also have to look at the opposition when judging a performance. Villa set up to hit us on the break, they were the home team they showed minimal inclination to take the initiative until after we scored. Maybe AVB was aware of this and so the caution in our play for the first 1/2 hour.

With almost 2 games a week and 2 international breaks already this season, I don't think AVB has had as much training ground time as he would like with our squad and the new players in particular. I think the performances will improve as the season goes on. It is all about picking up points between now and Xmas.

 

[CowInAComa]

I look forward to the day when some football maverick devises a system that can be successful and yet interesting to watch.

it'll never happen.

 

[dondo]

I look forward to the day when some football maverick devises a system that can be successful and yet interesting to watch.

it'll never happen.

As much as it pains me to say it fergie didn't do to bad for 20 years and even wenger for a few seasons

 

[chookz]

I don't know why people never seem to be satisfied with a win. Just because a team is not ManCity, ManU or Chelsea doesn't mean we will walk over them away from home. We are in transition still, players are understanding the pace of the game, we got spanked two weeks ago; I therefore don't see why we should be expected to play like Barcelona all season. I would rather win ugly when teams play on the counter attack than lose trying to play attacking football when we leave ourselves open at the back.