Ratings & Reactions: Villa v Spurs

[479Villan]

4 minutes ago, sharkyvilla said:

Yeah he can't be starting on Thursday.  We need to give Tim his chance and McGinn owes us a performance (to say the least), bring Doug on for half an hour if needed.

Was just thinking on this:

 

Dibu

cash

carlos

pau

moreno

 

tim

mcginn

ramsey/rogers

 

diaby

tielemans

watkins

Tim needs his time, he’s about to play 3 PL games against European competition essentially (Wolves are currently in great form)

Edited March 10 by 479Villan

[Jas10]

 

[foreveryoung]

At least they didn't beat us at our best, no excuse though. Not many 4th placed teams have poor games like ours, they just get outplayed like Liverpool at the moment. 

[ben1505]

We need to beat: West Ham, Wolves, Brentford, Bournemouth, Palace… that would put us on 70 points and will prob be enough for top 4/5

[foreveryoung]

Just now, ben1505 said:

We need to beat: West Ham, Wolves, Brentford, Bournemouth, Palace… that would put us on 70 points and will prob be enough for top 4/5

I think we'll lose to Wolves.

[ben1505]

1 minute ago, foreveryoung said:

I think we'll lose to Wolves.

That’s the spirit 

[Lerner's Driver]

3 minutes ago, Marka Ragnos said:

I agree. I also think we're running up against a reality that no one really wants to face and talk about, and that's simply that our player-quality -- whilst amazing -- falls slightly short, overall, of the clubs at the very top. It feels like we're doing a lot with dwindling resources, and it's starting to catch up? I actually think today could have gone either way before the post-HT collapse. I wouldn't rate Tottenham as the very top, but they and ManU are our closest rivals for fourth.

Yeah spot on. 

It comes back to the thing that Tro and I have been banging on about all season. Any team that harries us and stresses us out when in possession has a good chance of winning.

Our champagne football comes when the opposition lets us play. Spurs hassled us and we're much better on the ball when they had it and that is because on the whole, they have better players.

Doesn't stop our achievements this season from being amazing, but it does look to be the case that we are running out of steam as Spurs are gathering theirs.

[StefanAVFC]

1 hour ago, TheMightyVillans said:

a setup that limits spurs to just 1 shot and 0 shots on target at half time isn't that bad. We had a few moments in the first half to score on the counter but bailey and watkins were very poor with their touches.

Spurs first goal was a great cross and then the 2nd goal was a gift. Then mcginn puts the nail in the coffin with a stupid tackle.

I can take losing to spurs but losing mcginn for the 3 games at this time in the season when we have already lost kamara for rest of season is really depressing... He has really stuffed us up just like that kamara red did previously.

Why are we setting up to limit them at all? 

that’s the issue I have 

[sheepyvillian]

5 minutes ago, srsmithusa said:

I actually thought Dougie looked lethargic today.  

2nd half, definitely!

[meregreen]

Our performance was lacklustre, we really do miss Kamara. But credit Spurs, they were simply better than us today. How we react to this, May define our season.

[OutByEaster?]

I don't think there was that much in that game - four-nil certainly flatters them - but they defended brilliantly and were sharp enough to take their chances on the two goals that really mattered. The first from a fortunate deflection and the second from a mistake on our part - but even at two-nil with eleven against eleven I thought we were still in it and had a chance of getting something out of the game. I thought the performance was improved from the one against Ajax midweek.

I thought the move to five at the back worked to a large extent and until the extra time goals I don't think they beat the high line with a pass. That said I don't think we can complain about the loss, defensively they were really impressive, Van Den Ver especially so, completely negating Bailey in the first half - Udogie and Porro were very good, the defensive mids held the shape in front of the defence and we never really found a way to pick the lock.

We've now got a huge problem with McGinn out, it might have been a yellow for me, but it was definitely at least a yellow, we're going to miss him and it's hard to see any way around it other than playing Iroegbunam (who I thought did okay when he came on).

It's a defeat, one that looks worse than it was, and probably feels worse than it was too, we're two points ahead with ten games to go and Spurs have a game in hand - there's a long way to go and hopefully European results can make 5th a Champions League place too.

The big worry for me is that we've now got two massive games, without two of our three key midfielders against teams that are chasing European places - if we don't get at least a couple of points out of West Ham and Wolves, we're going to be in a huge battle with Man Utd for 5th - and that could easily happen.

Crap day at the office, not the worst performance, but the result hurts in a couple of different ways, both in terms of how it feels and in terms of what it does to the table - we now need to refocus on the two tough games coming up and make sure we don't let this wonderful season fizzle out.

 

[PaulC]

I don't think it's about quality. We have shown thsts the quality is there but Spurs looked a lot fresher thsn us particularly 2nd half. It was the same under MON. Come March we faded away because of the lack of a squad.

[Talldarkandransome]

Losing McGinn for 3 games isn't ideal. Someone will need to step up.

We can concentrate on conference league now

[El Segundo]

Bailey should have been key for us to day but he looked either not fully fit or unwell or something, he just wasn't his usual self today.  He still looked more likely to make something happen than Diaby  or Zaniolo.   Watkins seemed strangely reluctant to shoot.

Gave Cash MoM just because he did some good things as well as some bad, whereas most others were just bad.  Would possibly have been McGinn but he threw away any chance of us coming back with a stupid challenge, and we're now without him for three games.

I actually think Emery needs to take responsibility for two things. 

One, we once again came out after half time half asleep and lacking focus and quickly conceded.  It's happened so many times this season I've lost count and I think teams have cottoned on and step it up the first five to ten minutes after half time to take advantage of an obvious weakness. 

Two, sticking to your principles is all well and good but surely there's a case for going long if you've been closed down by a swarm of attackers - it's better to concede possession by hitting it long into their half than it is to concede possession in the final third trying to pass it out through them when the odds are stacked against you.  It's cost us against Newcastle, Chelsea in the Cup and again today.   

[sheepyvillian]

Aside from that misplaced pass that led to their 2nd goal, I thought Konsa was excellent. 

[Don_Simon]

I noticed it when we played them at WHL and again today, their players are so much bigger than ours. We get bullied so easily and in a game of fine margins, that can make a significant difference.

[TRO]

Ouch!!!

I saw nothing in that game from us, that surprised me.

[TRO]

Just now, Don_Simon said:

I noticed it when we played them at WHL and again today, their players are so much bigger than ours. We get bullied so easily and in a game of fine margins, that can make a significant difference.

It sure can....but we have allowed that to happen, over a given period of time.....Most teams players are bigger than ours....we are lightweight.

Just now, Don_Simon said:

I noticed it when we played them at WHL and again today, their players are so much bigger than ours. We get bullied so easily and in a game of fine margins, that can make a significant difference.

 

[sheepyvillian]

We could do with three points before "Big Nose" weekend. 

[sheepyvillian]

Just now, El Segundo said:

Bailey should have been key for us to day but he looked either not fully fit or unwell or something, he just wasn't his usual self today.  He still looked more likely to make something happen than Diaby  or Zaniolo.   Watkins seemed strangely reluctant to shoot.

Gave Cash MoM just because he did some good things as well as some bad, whereas most others were just bad.  Would possibly have been McGinn but he threw away any chance of us coming back with a stupid challenge, and we're now without him for three games.

I actually think Emery needs to take responsibility for two things. 

One, we once again came out after half time half asleep and lacking focus and quickly conceded.  It's happened so many times this season I've lost count and I think teams have cottoned on and step it up the first five to ten minutes after half time to take advantage of an obvious weakness. 

Two, sticking to your principles is all well and good but surely there's a case for going long if you've been closed down by a swarm of attackers - it's better to concede possession by hitting it long into their half than it is to concede possession in the final third trying to pass it out through them when the odds are stacked against you.  It's cost us against Newcastle, Chelsea in the Cup and again today.   

I think that's a tad unfair on Zanilolo, although I agree in regards to Diaby.

If our starting 11 had shown the fiery spirit that Zani showed when coming on, it may well have been a different outcome. The effort to make something happen is sometimes what gives a team the catalyst it desires.