Aston Villa lost to Tottenham yesterday and fan’s haven’t been to happy about it. Villa rarely threatened, failed to create much and struggle to cope with Spurs limited attacks. Still, many fans are forgetting that Aston Villa and Spurs aren’t competing for the same League positions. This isn’t 2007-2009 when both teams where chasing Champions League football, it’s 2013. Aston Villa are a team in transition, whilst Spurs are a team which just spent over 100 million pounds on quality players in an effort to push for Champions League. See a difference?
Tottenham are known to have a solid defence, only Southampton have kept more clean sheets then Spurs. Villas-boas knows how to make it difficult for opponents to score. Aston Villa have tended to play counter-attacking football, yesterday, Spurs broke off many counter-attacks through fouls, throw-owns and freekicks. It certainly worked. Spurs were also able to create more opportunities, they have a very creative midfield. Which is why Villas-boas tends to play a 5 man midfield. Aston Villa doesn’t have the same level of creativity. Yet, Villa have scored 1 goal more than Spurs this season.
But the greatest difference between the two sides is the astonishing squad depth that Spurs possess. Villas-boas changed the starting 11 quite a bit, but it still featured the likes of Townsend, Paulinho, Soldado and Sandro. On top of that, they could call on Lamela, Defoe, Eriksen, some of the worlds best players. Villa just don’t have that, and we must accept it. As Villa’s youth progresses and developed, Villa, may too have such a quality bench in the future. Going into this game, the best I was preparing for was a draw.
But we must look forward. We’ve got 6 games coming up against teams that will be fighting for similar League positions, these are games that we should looking to win. Lambert will make necessary changes in order to make us a little bit more competitive against similarly ranked opposition. From November I expect to see Villa climbing up the table, and possibly, even begin to cement a spot in the top 10.
No disrespect to the writer and this isn’t particualry aimed at him but i’m fed up of hearing the word transition used by many supporters. It’s the new ‘five year plan’. Whenever things weren’t going right, people would point to the five year plan and say give it time it’s going to work.
Now we’re all doing the same again with the word transition that’s used to suck us in. Give it time, we’re in transition and after that we’ll be good again. All talk and very little evidence especially with an owner in hiding.
Hopefully the next special words will be ‘new owner’. Although i won’t be believing in the magic words.
Spot on mark I’m sick of people banging in about transition and time etc. There us no 5 yr plan the only plan we have is to stay up whilst spending as little as possible. In 5 years time it will still be the sane if Lerners here which unfortunately he prob will be.
It is not losing to Spurs it’s the manner in which we lost another home game! We played hit and hope football and when that did not work there was no plan b. the players are prem league players why can they not play pass and move- it baffles me. No invention in team bar Delph. Very poor performance.
Well said javfc losing to spurs was expected but the way we lost was shameful
Bang on Mark, I’m all for change , problem is as you say no evidence to where we are going, an owner who lives in another world from ours , I was under the impression he was living here now but not so, he needs a kick up the arse from Villa fans, we are not yanks and do has he wants. I started when he came to believe what he did in cutting wage was right, guess what we are paying for it not him, we have 4 seats at Villa and still seeing shit games, I’m pissed off we fans that are like sheep mindless going nowhere brains.
Bill, I think he has paid for it and now wants to start getting his money back. We were all happy when he arrived and pumped in a load of cash, three years in sixth wasn’t so bad was it? Lerner didn’t buy out of love, he bought the club to make money (and possibly because owning an EPL club is good bragging). He’s under no obligation to apologise, take a huge loss and sell up to someone rich enough, having vetted them first to make sure they’re going to pump in all their money to compete with the other oligarches and sheiks.
I’m generally positive but a) I can’t afford to get to many games and if I did – and especially if I had a season ticket – I’d be very annoyed by now at the home form and b) the stadium was emptying fast when McLeish was ‘managing’ and that’s how to let Lerner know. Even he can see the way things are going when 27k or 28k of us turn up in a 43k seater stadium. While not turning up and the booing is the last thing the team needs, it’s inevitable if the club is not being run correctly and fans don’t want to hand over their hard earned money and two or three hours on a Saturday or Sunday to watch a load of dross. It’s not as if tickets cost a tenner either. That’s not going to happen I don’t think before Christmas but January and February, when it’s bloody cold, none of us has any money and the central heating’s on (or the pub’s open), that’s when people will think twice if the football hasn’t improved.
Like I said though I’m an optimist and things are improving. Benteke’s back and next we need Andi and Gabby banging in some goals. The defence is sorting out the basics of defending too. Things will pick up, although I’ll still be facepalming myself whenever Guzan gets the ball and kicks it straight up to Benteke.
With fan, pissing spell checker..