joey55

You must be chuffed. He still looked average defensively. Cuellar > Dawson (and every Spurs central-defender for that matter lol). When fit they are in a different league to anything you have. Typical Spurs fan Can talk the talk but his team can't walk the walk. I really do think all of their fans are retarded. Not one of them seems capable of having a reasoned, balanced discussion without constantly claiming everything about Spurs is superior Come of it. I haven't said Spurs are superior. I've always been polite and respectful about Villa on this forum. I've raised a fair issue about the suppossed quality of you defenders. Because i support another team it seems you've all taken it as an attack on Villa rather than actually acknowledge the points I've made. You don't have to agree with them, but at least provide reasons, such as explaining why Friedel has had to make so many saves. Do the midfield sit deeper than most teams or not and does this make you harder to break down, thus meaning you defensive record has as much to do with that as the quality of your defenders?

Villa's defence are currently the third best in the league, conceding 27% less goals than Spuds. It's not the clean sheets we rave about, it's the fact that the opposition rarely score more than once past us. See Chelsea, Liverpool, Yourself, Citeh. Besides, we haven't had a clean sheet in the league since 19th September against Portsmouth. In our games since, we have conceded 2, 1, 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 1, 1. Please do not speculate and present myths as facts, it's embarrassing. No he hasn't. Watch them, they are better statistically and skilfully than your Spuds back line. We almost always have a better defensive record than Spuds come the end of the season. My balls, your chin. I'm aware you've had a lot of clean sheets and have a better defensive record than us, but the point I'm making is that it isn't simply down to you having better defenders. Which ever stats you look at, Friedel has ahd to make more saves than a majority of Prem GK. There has to be a reason for that and it does show your good defensive record has a lot to do with the quality of Friedel. Also you seem to keep alot of men behind the ball. Thats makes it harder for you to score and harder for teams to score against you. But it also means your defenders have more protection. A quality GK and deep midfield is going to really help a team concede less goals and so it really isn't as simple as saying you have good defenders. If your midfield pressed higher up the pitch and the defence was more exposed, i'm not so sure you'd think they were so good.

What the? Joey, how do you like these apples? Goalkeepers Team Saves Saves/shots Green West Ham 53 70% Jaaskelainen Bolton 53 67% Jensen Burnley 51 68% Friedel Aston Villa 47 78% Sorensen Stoke 47 78% Well i got the stats from here: http://football.stats.com/Premier League/player_leaders.asp?category=105 Says Friedel has made 67 saves, which is 9 more than the next GK.

You must be chuffed. He still looked average defensively. Cuellar > Dawson (and every Spurs central-defender for that matter lol). I have noticed that recently Villa fans have started talking about their great defence. I think you have decent defenders, but nothing special. Come the end of the season i doubt you'll have conceded significantly less than us, or maybe even more. I think because you've had quite a few clean sheets, it's brought attention to the defence and given them more credit than they deserve. Friedel has had to make more saves than any other GK in the Prem and by quite a distance. It doesn't make much sense that your defenders are that good, if you keeper is having to save you so often. Richard Dunne and Collins can't suddenly have turned into top class defenders because they are now wearing Villa shirts. I've always thought they are pretty good, but I've read about you having better defenders than us a few times on this board and I'm not convinced. I think Friedel is a great GK. But I think the main difference is that Leds and Woody have injury problems. When fit they are in a different league to anything you have.

You must be chuffed.

I think most Spurs fans would be happy with a draw. Villa away is a fixture when we'd expect to drop points and Wigan at home was a game where we'd expect to gain maximum points. That won't have changed because of the ease with which we beat Wigan. Before the Wigan game many Spurs fans were predicting we'd lose, as we didn't look great againt Sunderland.

You said this before and I asked you to say when he last had a bad game. He's clearly not over rated. Most people are of the same opinion as you and I'd like to know what you are basing this opinion on. On Spurs messageboards he was criticised like crazy during the first half of the 2007/8 season and has many detractors, but he's kept them quiet for well over a year now. There are many Spurs fans that would love an excuse to have a pop at him but they simply haven't been able to. He just hasn't had a bad game in such a long time, even though he's been in and out through injury, each time he comes in he's be really good. I can understand you calling him shocking based on his 2007/8 form, but if you can form an opinion on that period, surely you can form an alternative opinion based on the last 18 months when he's been really good.

He's never been lazy, but is often accussed of it becuase he isn't quick. But he always works hard to lug his big frame around the pitch, yet for some reason no one ever seems to point out how much more effort and energy must go into him running around for 90 mins compared to say Lennon or Modric. For a guy his size his stamina and workrate is really good.

When was the last time Michael Dawson had a bad game? In fact when did he last have a game in which he didn't play well? He had a poor first half of the 2007/8 season, but since then he's been excellent. Before he got injured last season he was probably our player of the season and in the games he's played so far this season he's been great. It's like saying Dunne is shit because of how bad he was at City last season and ignoring the fact he's played really well this season and in other previous seasons.

Tott 9-1 Wigan Tott 2-0 Sunderland Arse 3-0 Tott Tott 2-0 Everton Tott 0-1 Stoke Ports 1-2 Tott Not exactly consistent or one a roll really. Make no mistake, Tottenham are a very good attacking team and can put teams to the sword seemingly with ease, one thing we fail to do time and again. But some of those goals Wigan conceded were laughable. Spurs defence is mentally and physically brittle - something we can exploit if we are good enough to take our chances. This isn't really true. For most of the season so far Wooodgate and Dawson have been injured. King and Bassong have also been injured for about half our games. Now Woodgate, Bassong and Dawson are all fit, so there shouldn't be any problems in defence. Also there are 11 teams in the Prem that have conceded more than us. I'm pretty sure we'll start with Woodgate and Dawson at the back next week, so there is no reason to think we'll be mentally or physically brittle. When they play we only concede on average a goal per game.

I don't see why it would be a good idea to sack MON now. If he leaves in the next week or two it will be too late for a replacement to bring in the players he wants. I don't think you have a particuarly strong squad and think few could get more out of it the MON. I've read alot of posts criticising his tactics etc, but the same is said about all managers when the team is losing. I think the best thing you can hope for is a top 8 finish and hope that Ajax win the Dutch title. Ajax aren't going to challenge in Europe for a few years at least, so Jol might feel that he's achieved about as much as he can with Ajax and prefer another crack at the Prem (as manager, not simply coach, so he can buy his own players, as he did in the summer of 2005 when Spurs went onto miss out on the CL on the final day).