Ratings & Reactions: Spurs v Villa

[TRO]

I think Heaton will be THE inspired signing this season.

[romavillan]

Overall, superb, 20 mins from a rel shock. First half much better than the second so maybe something to look at that there mentally. Very tough start and gave a very good account of ourselves. The next 3 games will be more important for our season than this one. Very good signs though despite the step up in class.

[Fairy In Boots]

I think on the whole plenty of positives to take from this game, firstly Mings, Heaton & Engles look solid. 

I think Smith dropped one by taking Trezequet off as he was a real outlet for us and we sat too deep in the second half and invited pressure. I do however think Smith recognised this in his post match analysis so that bodes well because I’m confident we’ll improve. 

 

[Keener window-cleaner]

Its games like this I think we should have kept Jedi, would have loved seeing him come in and destroy the last 20 mins

[fightoffyour]

We’re going to ruin Bournemouth no worries

[Awol]

22 minutes ago, Keener window-cleaner said:

Its games like this I think we should have kept Jedi, would have loved seeing him come in and destroy the last 20 mins

We’ve got a Marvelous solution for that. 

[John]

Not many teams will come away from Liverpool, Manchester City or even Spurs with anything this season. Some teams will concede three goals or more. Our season will be defined by our results against the rest of the league.

Anything gained against these three clubs would be a major bonus. For quite some time, despite the increasing pressure upon us, it seemed possible that we might unexpectedly hold onto at least a point. We were eventually undone by a striker that if made available for transfer, would cost more than all of the new players that we have just bought.

It is perhaps early days to judge how effective this new look Villa team can become. It will need to settle and quickly look to minimise errors that are punished more often than not in the PL. The two teams that did battle today have differing objectives this season. Spurs are looking to qualify for the CL again. Our initial target has to be safety. Today's game suggested to me, that both clubs may well hit their targets.

[terrytini]

3 hours ago, Robbie09 said:

On the train back from the game and quite surprised how negative some fans are. Despite their possession until the equaliser Heaton wasn’t too busy and we didn’t look troubled.

Not sure about the hype about the stadium, might be state of the art but long queues to get a beer so no different to many other grounds. 

Agree with all that. I didn’t hear a single fan complain about the first half, we felt in control. Second half the Champions League Finalists, in their 6 th year under their Manager, took control. That didn’t surprise anyone, nor should it have. 

Having now read a few of the comments in this Forum, I think I will steer clear, as it seems to have taken some no time at all to lose all sense of perspective.

As for the stadium, I thought it was very average. Appalling service, cashless not working, seats not under cover, and really just a glorified version of the same ground that has cropped up everywhere. 

[terrytini]

5 hours ago, R.Bear said:

Awful. But it away to Spurs 

Ludicrous comment.

[terrytini]

5 hours ago, Spoony said:

Can’t understand the above comments. That was a good performance with a team that isn’t full strength agains the team that finished fourth and were runners up in the CL and have improved since then!!!

Good effort. This team isn’t getting relegated. 

I’m so relieved as I read through to see over 30 likes for this Post, to counteract some of the ‘ insight’ that preceded it.

[terrytini]

5 hours ago, HanoiVillan said:

We should have lost about 10-1. We were absolutely schooled and anybody who thinks otherwise is kidding themselves. 

Ok.

[terrytini]

5 hours ago, sexbelowsound said:

Some of the comments on the first page. Good god.

Proud of them all today. That's a strong base to go from.

We will be absolutely fine in this league and we'll give some of these teams a real shock. 

UTV

Agree.

Really am not at all clear what some were expecting.

[Delphinho123]

Let’s be honest, they ran the game from start to finish and they were very impressive. Mcginn took his goal well but we didn’t really deserve it.

A point would have been daylight robbery. They were much better than us and to be honest, I’m worried. Why is Taylor starting ahead of a 14m left back? Wesley looked poor. Hourihane was powderpuff and Jota looked average.

Maybe it was Spurs but I’m still worried about our forward line. Wesley looked poor (pains me to say it) but who can we bring in? We were a striker away from it being a great window.

Positives - Engels, Trez, Mings.

Worries - Targett, Wesley, Jota, Kodjia. 

[gurru991]

1 hour ago, John said:

Not many teams will come away from Liverpool, Manchester City or even Spurs with anything this season. Some teams will concede three goals or more. Our season will be defined by our results against the rest of the league.

Anything gained against these three clubs would be a major bonus. For quite some time, despite the increasing pressure upon us, it seemed possible that we might unexpectedly hold onto at least a point. We were eventually undone by a striker that if made available for transfer, would cost more than all of the new players that we have just bought.

It is perhaps early days to judge how effective this new look Villa team can become. It will need to settle and quickly look to minimise errors that are punished more often than not in the PL. The two teams that did battle today have differing objectives this season. Spurs are looking to qualify for the CL again. Our initial target has to be safety. Today's game suggested to me, that both clubs may well hit their targets.

100% right..Taking points from any of the top six will be extremely difficult & unlikely. To survive in the Prem its all about taking points from the clubs like Newcastle, Sheffield & Southampton. Beat the clubs around you.

Edited August 11, 2019 by gurru991

[granto]

I thought we were pretty good, especially across the back. Clear we need more steel in the midfield, our lack of possession cost us as chasing the ball for 70 mins tired us.

We won't hopefully be doing that against most teams.

I could see Marv and Luiz playing together against the top teams, just not sure who would give way.

The real test comes next week.

Edited August 11, 2019 by granto

[flamingsombrero]

Showed how far we have come and how far we still have left to go. 

Overall still look alright for the season ahead based on that. Bit concerned Wesley may not be the real deal though.

[Monsieur Hazdazler]

Interesting game, eventually disappointing. The second half was tough watching. 

We played well in the first half but Spurs changed things up in the second half and we didn’t deal well with it at all. That being said, we gave a very good side a scare at their place, that’s a good effort. We will improve off the back of this game.

player thoughts:

Shame not to see Guilbert and surprising, but I thought elmo did well, as did Taylor at LB

Mings and Engels looked great, could make a motm argument for either!

Grealish had a solid game, shame he made the error at the end. I’ve seen some saying he was poor but I thought he was good personally.

Wesley looked isolated, could have been tee’d up for an easy chance by Trezeguet but the latter took the shot on. His hold up play was so so at times, I couldn’t help but think we needed Davis to help hold the ball up and relieve pressure at the end.

McGinn, usual from him and a very well taken goal.

Good to see Douglas come on, more to come from him I’m sure.

Trezeguet lacked the finishing today but thought he did well overall. Jota was a poor choice to bring on at the end, looked nothing like what we saw in preseason.

Overall plenty of positive signs and look forward to the back to back home games coming up 

Edited August 11, 2019 by Monsieur Hazdazler

[bojong]

Heaton 8

Elmo 7

Engels 8

Mings 8 - MOTM

Taylor 7

Hourihane 6

McGinn 8

Grealish 7

Trezeguet 7

El Ghazi 6

Wesley 6

[PieFacE]

Engles looked class.

[VillaCas]

1 hour ago, Monsieur Hazdazler said:

Interesting game, eventually disappointing. The second half was tough watching. 

We played well in the first half but Spurs changed things up in the second half and we didn’t deal well with it at all. That being said, we gave a very good side a scare at their place, that’s a good effort. We will improve off the back of this game.

player thoughts:

Shame not to see Guilbert and surprising, but I thought elmo did well, as did Taylor at LB

Mings and Engels looked great, could make a motm argument for either!

Grealish had a solid game, shame he made the error at the end. I’ve seen some saying he was poor but I thought he was good personally.

Wesley looked isolated, could have been tee’d up for an easy chance by Trezeguet but the latter took the shot on. His hold up play was so so at times, I couldn’t help but think we needed Davis to help hold the ball up and relieve pressure at the end.

McGinn, usual from him and a very well taken goal.

Good to see Douglas come on, more to come from him I’m sure.

Trezeguet lacked the finishing today but thought he did well overall. Jota was a poor choice to bring on at the end, looked nothing like what we saw in preseason.

Overall plenty of positive signs and look forward to the back to back home games coming up 

I agree with a lot of this. 

A difficult game to assess where we are at the moment - we were under pressure the entire game from one of the top teams in Europe

What this did do was to put our transfer window (and pre-season) in perspective and will perhaps damp down some of the hyperbole and expectation - in reality we have made some incremental improvement to the team but it doesn’t look like the step change many were touting

Heaton, Mings and Engels looked our most accomplished players but given the opposition and the need for many last ditch challenges and stops they were in the most likely position to impress - good that they did though

I thought Grealish and McGinn did well. Grealish gave the ball away a couple of times (in bad situations!) but for me that was a function of him trying to do something positive with the ball rather than just boot it. He will learn a lot from that game about the step up to the Prem and it will serve him well.  

Contrary to many, I thought Wesley did ok and improved as he went on - I’m sure the pace of the game and the strength and speed of PL defenders came as a shock to him but he had little support and was fighting for many 50/50 balls. Very early to judge him yet 

Trez looked decent given the circumstances -  my worry with him is that against Spurs, in his debut, with his mate Elmo around, he had a fairly disciplined game - he looks to me like the sort of player who might get a bit selfish and/or elaborate against less opponents - we’ll see!

Elmo and Taylor did ok but offered nothing going forward (difficult against spuds I know). Hourihane looked lightweight and out of his depth

As I expected Jota did not look (anything like) the same player as against Shrewsbury or Walsall (Obvs!) and for me looks like a bit part player

Much to early to judge yet but although we spent a lot during the transfer window for me we are left short a couple of players - I’d really thought we would be in for Benhrama and Maupay - I don’t think Jota, Davis and Kodija offer anything like enough from the bench

Big game against Bournemouth - a good performance and a point (or three) and we’re off and running. A bit of a chasing and alarm bells!

In Deano we trust!!