Ratings & Reactions: Spurs v Villa

[tom_avfc]

1 minute ago, Davkaus said:

We did well to keep our shape and keep them away from our goal for large periods, especially in the first half. But even in the first half...Remember Kane's one on one, and his missed header? Once he's in the swing of things, that's two goals right there, he'll have been very disappointed to only score 2 with the chances he got.

And before people start, I'm not getting hysterical, I think we'll be fine this season, and this game was never going to be an indicator of how we're going as a team. I just think 3-1 makes it seem a much closer game than I thought it was.

Kane’s one on one was offside and the header he was under a lot of pressure from Elmo.

Spurs had 7 shots on target to our 4. Until we tired we restricted them to shots from a long way away. Heaton made 2 good saves albeit they scored from the first anyway eventually. 

We looked good at the back and I have hope that the likes of grealish, jota and Wesley can come more into games at home and against the weaker teams.

[Danishlad]

Good fight, good spirit. But too many played at Championship level. I thought the Trezeguet, Heaton, Mings and Engels and Jack (first 80 mins) were the only ones who had Premier quality.

The two full back are not Premier league quality, Hourihane isn’t either. Im not convinced by El Ghazi. McGinn scored but didn’t do much. Big Wes showed some strength but not enough.

Jota and Kodija looked well off the pace of Premier league. 

It is going to be a long season. 

[sicwhite]

Sky giving a good account of Villa there. I certainly don't think things are nearly as dire as some people on here are saying.

[AntrimBlack]

A very good and sharp lesson for our players. We could have lost by more; they missed a lot of chances. We had 0 corners, they had 26, I think?

Our players go down far too easily; it looks pathetic. And too many Heaton kicks going into touch. 

But Heaton, Mings and Engels look very good, though I would prefer Gilberte and Targett as our full backs.

Wesley was poor; we may regret not getting another or a different striker. And I would have preferred Davis to Kodja.

However, in spite of all that, there are plenty of teams that we will beat, and I expect the players to be improving as the season progresses. So still optimistic of a good season.

[Kingman]

2 minutes ago, Mantis said:

1. We didn't spend anything like £150m

2. It was hardly Spurs' B team - Ndombele alone cost £55m

3. A lot of our new signings barely even featured

Cant be arsed mate, Just read the bottom line!. 

[Awol]

I thought we played really well! Spurs squad worth maybe 8X ours, with real quality everywhere. Mings, Engels and Heaton were superb, fullbacks worked hard but the gulf in quality told. Hourihane a passenger in midfield carried by McGinn & Grealish today. Luiz not on long enough to say, Jota very average & not convinced about El Ghazi at this level either. 

That said, Spurs are one of Europe’s best sides & for 70 minutes they couldn’t break us down. We’ll learn from the errors & for this team’s first proper game I’m pretty happy with that.  

[a m ole]

12 minutes ago, Davkaus said:

I haven't missed all of the snark if anyone dares to not get on board with the happy clapping. 

Close game, lads. We had them right where we wanted them.

7-4 against CL finalists 

[MellbergsBeard]

Well I am proud of every single one of them, we went out with a plan (which is good to see) and came undone is the last ten minutes. 

 

The Premier league isn't what it was 4 year ago, this was a free hit and the team will have learnt alot about themselves, each other and the Premier league. 

[thunderball]

Jeez, some of the over reaction here!

[Daweii]

Just now, sicwhite said:

Sky giving a good account of Villa there. I certainly don't think things are nearly as dire as some people on here are saying.

It never is. So many people on this forum have a knee-jerk reaction and it's always an overreaction. So many ignore the fact we were playing one of the best teams in world football today.

[MNVillan]

Today was certainly a reality check.

- Some of the things we got away with last season hurt us today. Jack’s turnover before the 2nd goal and Mings losing his mark on a cross early in the match spring to mind. The Prem is obviously a step up from the C’Ship, and there will be a learning curve for the boys. Let’s hope it’s not too steep.

- It’s damn near impossible to prepare for Spurs away on opening day by playing Shrewsbury, Walsall, etc in preseason. Outside of Leipzig, the preseason competition was weak and I think that hurt us a tad today.

- I’m pleased with the first half. The 2nd was a disappointment for me, in terms of the style and not necessarily the result. Although to be fair, there isn’t much else you can do except defend when last season’s Champions League finalists decide to barrel forward.

- Wesley disappointed today. Hopefully it’s just due to an adjustment period and not because he lacks the class necessary in the Prem. Wish we would’ve signed another striker instead of going all-in with Wesley, but no point moaning about that now.

- Despite the result, it was an absolute joy to turn on NBC in the States and see them talking about Villa again. Been too long. 

Still very excited for the season, UTV!

 

 

[tom_avfc]

5 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said:

They did VAR that one according to the radio and it came back "no foul".

I’m not sure how it wasn’t a penalty to be honest. They did VAR it and the commentators on sky just said “never a penalty” but he looked to have got none of the ball and clearly took mcginn out. Just seemed a bit odd to me. 

[Rugeley Villa]

So many positives to take from that game. We were playing a world class team away from home ffs. Yes, Spurs dominated us, but they were always going to do that. We battled very hard and kept in the game right until the end. We looked good going forward when we had the opportunity, and I thought defensively we were good.  

Heaton, and McGinn were class. I thought Mings and Engles were very good, especially Engles. Trezeguet looked good first half and will create problems. Grealish will have easier games to show his quality. His mistake cost us that second goal mind, and we need to stop being so sloppy on the edge of our box and in the midfield as we will get punished big time in this league. We will have much easier games against lesser teams so I’m not concerned. 

El Ghazi was poor today, and I thought Wesley was piss poor. I’d love to be proven wrong, but we desperately need a goal scorer and someone who is up to standard in this league. Wesley will get more time to prove himself, but I weren’t impressed at all today with him. Kodjia is a waste of time in this league. 

[El Zen]

Bested by a superior team, broken by superior players. Move on and move forward. 

You never want to lose, especially when you get the first goal. I left the pub in a disappointed, frustrated mood. I felt we played a decent first 60 mins, but completely fell apart. I felt we made too many individual mistakes, and I was frustrated we didn’t make the ball stick in their half more often than we did. I was surprised we never managed to press them higher up the pitch. 

The reality of it is, though, that a defeat away to the Champions League runners up will not define our season. Tonight has showed us what we already knew: we still have a long way to go before we can compete with the very best in the business. Tonight, however, says nothing about how we’ll do against your Brightons, your Bournemouthes and your Burnleys. 

I expect we’ll see a very different Villa, starting a week from now. 

[Bunnski]

That second half was painful. We had no answer and were completely dominated, I'd of hoped for better than that but hopefully we can learn something from it.

 

Engels motm

[Rugeley Villa]

P.s Our midfield cost us today. No protection to the back four and way too sloppy. 

[cheltenham_villa]

It was probably what I expected, had a feeling we wouldnt hold them out long enough but lots of good signs. Heaton a huge improvement, mings and engels gelled. Would like to see targett but Taylor played well. Midfield struggled late on, eventually over ran. I think they will learn though, grealish will adjust quickly but hasn't played at this level for a long time. Wes and Kodj need to do more to relieve pressure and we need to take changes but this game really wont define our season. On to Bournemouth, points needed.

[StefanAVFC]

We weren't dire and we weren't. Against CL finalists, first game back we did fine. 

I dont think its 'happy clapping' to suggest that. 

[Carlos_the_third]

I know we were clear underdogs in this game, but I can’t help feel a little disappointed about the way we went about things. We spent most of the game camped in our own box, with Wesley 35 yards from our goal. I know spurs were CL finalists, but they are really not anywhere near one of the worlds untouchable sides, and we didn’t even try and compete toe to toe against a midfield of winks, with sissoko and ndombele having a competition to see who could play worse. This goes entirely what smith promised before the season, which was again disappointing, but plenty of time to put it right. However, I would much rather have lost like Norwich yesterday than sit back and wait for the inevitable.

This isn’t really a criticism of anyone (although would be interesting to hear why some of the selection decisions were made, as I cannot work them out at all), as it is going to be a steep learning curve for the entire squad this season, but to be honest I was hoping for a little better. Anyway, 37 more games!

[useless]

I think some are overplaying how good Spurs are, but even so they're way ahead of us and today shouldn't haven been a reality check for anyone today's score was always a possibility, they constantly finish in the top four of the Premier league, whilst we have struggled to get promoted from the Championship and even when we did manage it we spent most of that season as a midtable team, until putting together a run of form at the end of the season. On the other hand it's hard not to be disappointed with a Villa defeat, whoever the opposition might be, just have to hope we can put it right in the coming fixtures, one of the good things about being in the championship was if you did lose a game there usually another one in a few days time to get it out of your system.