please log in to view this image Tottenham The greatest win in our premier league era? Tactics flawed overall but luck ran on our side for once?......whichever view you take of the Man Utd win, this home game against Aston Villa, is the type of game we have to be winning, if we're to stand any chance of challenging for top four. We come into this game sitting in a comfortable 5th, which is a decent position at this stage, especially now we have faced two of the hardest away games (Newcastle & Man Utd), so with a struggling Aston Villa side visiting the lane, this should be an easy win, on paper, yet we know that won't be the case. In terms of formation, AVB clearly has his set formation, 4-2-3-1, with Sandro & Dembele in the centre being key to the success of this formation, as regardless of which players we use on the wing, or upfront, if we don't compete or provide drive or creativity from centre mid, then the formation simply doesn't work. The main point of debate seems to focus on our back four, as with Vertonghen on his way to becoming our most important player at the back, what is his best position? he is a class act at centre back or left back. He has awareness & vision in making runs forward, so clearly there is less risk involved if he plays at left back and ventures forward. That leaves the centre back pairing, Gallas won over many of his doubters against Utd, yet regardless of his performance, he is nearing the end of his career, but clearly his experience can benefit Caulker if he puts in performances like he done against Man utd, yet if he struggles outside of the big games then we can't keep him in the side based on experience alone. I expect us to start with the same team that faced Man Utd, with possibly Sigurdsson coming into the side, yet he doesn't seem to link up well with Defoe in the 4-2-3-1, but his passing range is superior to Dempsey. please log in to view this image Aston Villa Villa are somewhat of a non existence in football fans views, does anyone take notice of them? if they got relegated, would anyone be shocked, or miss their "stylish" football? Yet this is why they sacked McLeish, as they wanted to bring in a young, vibrant manager, with energy and a view to playing attractive football again. Hard to be to too critical of Lambert yet, as what did he inherit? Darren Bent, Stephen Ireland (although I hear he is a doubt for the game) & Charles N'Zogbia, three players who on their day can punish any team in this league, either in terms of chances scored or creativity, yet is that enough to provide the spark to moving up the table? One of their summer signings, Matthew Lowton has hit the ground running, he is an attacking full back, which is technically sound and will be Villa's main threat from deep and I expect he will look to expose any gaps on our left hand side. With Aston Villa sitting in 16th, with 5 points, lack of firepower and prone to leaking goals, I would say they could be in for a long hard season, yet regardless of this, they have players in their side who can win games, which is why I believe they won't be a pushover. Match Facts Tottenham have had a player sent off in each of their last two Premier League visits to Villa Park. Emmanuel Adebayor has scored six goals in eight Premier League starts against Aston Villa including four in his last three. The six goals netted by Adebayor against Aston Villa is his joint-highest haul against any opponent in the Premier League, along with Blackburn, Derby and Tottenham. Spurs have lost none of their last seven Premier League games against Aston Villa (W4 D3 L0). Spurs have won 14 and lost just two of their last 21 Premier League matches at White Hart Lane. One of those defeats was masterminded by then Norwich boss Paul Lambert (2-1 in April). Aston Villa have scored just five goals in their last 11 Premier League away matches, winning none and losing six in that run. Spurs have conceded the highest proportion of second half goals in the Premier League (88%). Tottenham have won six and lost one of their last 10 Premier League matches. Aston Villa have won just one of their last 16 Premier League games (W1 D7 L8). Five points after six games is Aston Villa’s worst start to a Premier League season. Previous Meeting please log in to view this image Aston Villa 1 Tottenham 1 Aston Villa vs Tottenham 2012 attendance:- 36,008 ( Referee- Probert) Aston Villa starting lineup vs Tottenham 2012:- Given, Hutton, Collins, Warnock, Dunne, Clark, Cuellar, Lichaj, Ireland, N’Zogbia, Herd, Heskey and Weimann Tottenham starting lineup v Aston Villa 2012:- Friedel; Walker, Gallas, Kaboul, Rose; Lennon, Modric, Sandro, Bale; Van der Vaart; Adebayor Highlights of game: [flash=450,259,http://static.video.yandex.ru/lite/mrzackon/jlsj8sor7y.3315]
Another good match thread, Boss. Inclusion of the highlights of last season's fixture was a nice touch. (Wrong game, though!) Adebayor's supposedly back in contention for this one, but I wouldn't expect him to start. We desperately need some players back soon, though. Need to start some rotation.
PNP am I going senile? the 1-1 draw away to aston villa, our last away game of previous season?.....ah you mean the fixture at the lane? I'll try and dig out highlights for that one!
Yeah, that's what I meant Boss. Just being picky, though. Those BBC highlights really weren't reflective of the game. I think that most Villa fans would admit that they were getting battered after we went down to 10 men, but it's not reflected in the clip. Typical.
Nice one Boss I'll be surprised if there are any changes from the team that beat United too, although I think Sigurdsson's set pieces could be very beneficial for us.
Video Highlights http://www.soccer-blogger.com/2011/...lla-highlights-2-0-video-goals-adebayor-2011/ Spurs vs Aston Villa 2011 attendance:- 35,818 Tottenham lineup vs Aston Villa:- Friedel, Walker, King, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto, Lennon, Parker, Modric, Bale, Adebayor, Van der Vaart Aston Villa lineup vs Tottenham Hotspur:-Given, Cuellar, Dunne, Collins, Warnock, Hutton, Herd, Petrov, Agbonlahor, Bent, Heskey Looking at that team, it was Arrys famous 4-4-1-1 with all the main players, cracking team!
THFC6061's threads are now a distant memory thanks to Boss I'm hoping to see: Lloris, Walker, Dawson, Caulker, Vertonghen Sandro, Dembele Lennon, Dempsey/ Sig, Bale Defoe Though expecting Friedel and Gallas to be in for Lloris and Daws. If we don't win this we really need shooting. Villa have been on the decline for the past 18 months+ and don't look like they're going to be turning a corner anytime soon. I'll stick my neck out and say 3-0/ 4-0 to us.
Cracking thread again Boss, keep it up mate! on paper, this game should be a home win. My fear is that we're due a defeat and Villa could end up being the "party poopers". As PNP says, we're in need to rotate already, despite it being so early on in the season. These midweek games, training sessions and prem games are already exposing certain players to a lot of game time at the moment which could result in injuries. Unfortunately, we don't have a lot of options for this game due to injuries, so it's a catch 22! team for me is: Brad Walker Gallas Caulker Verts Sandro Dembele Lennon Sig Bale Defoe There's not a lot of changes we can make IMO. I think Sig needs 90 mins, especially against "weaker" opposition. - (no disrespect to villa fans intended). He needs to find some rhythm, which he is struggling with at the mo. If things are going according to plan, I'd be temped to get Bale and Lennon off after 55-65mins and get Dempsey and Townsend on to keep legs as fresh as poss. perhaps the same with Dawson for Gallas, especially if he has any sort of problem, which was rumoured during the United game.
Cheers for the thread Boss, probably the same team that beat Utd, maybe one or two changes I expect it to be a very tough game.
I hope that Villa put in a similar amount of effort to that which they displayed in the same fixture last season. None. Can't see it, though.
I like the idea of playing Gylfi the whole game. I think the team has greater potential with him in it than Dempsey. No disrespect to Dempsey, but Gylfi's more of a creative CM. If they need goals, maybe sub in Dempsey.
I was lucky enough to go to the 125 v Villa back in October 2007. I was on a tube with a mate from work ... they muttered the immortal line " we're making good time ain't we"...the train then stopped in the tunnel for the next 50 mins! Once the packed carriage had sweltered, struggled to get coats off and almost died of dehydration we pulled into Seven Sisters ... we were then crammed onto the over line train to the Lane where we missed all the pre match build up (loads of legends from the 60's, 70's 80's and 90's were introduced to the crowd) and the first 5 mins of the match. Berbatov put us one up after we'd played quite well for 20 mins...and then the wheels came off. Paul Robinson had one of his horror shows and we found ourselve 3-1 down at HT with Villa fans sing Happy Birthday Dear Tottenham to us! After 60 mins we were 4-1 and looking like we were relegation fodder. Villa fans were singing "getting sacked in the morning" to BMJ who was sat looking like death warmed up Then from the 70th minute we seemed to remember that we were supposed to be celebrating 125 years of history...and started to play football. Kaboul scored the equaliser in the 92nd minute...and led the whole team to celebrate with Jol and we all left stunned at the 4-4 score...we'd scored 3 goals in the final 19 minutes. The Villa fans looked gutted and were just sitting on their coaches shacking their heads wondering where it had all gone wrong. That match summed up spurs a treat!
Very good stuff Bossanova baby. I can't see us losing this one even if Bent scores against us which I'm sure he'd love to do. He's unsettled. I'll go for a solid home win with no goals conceded. Who was the prick of a Villa supporter that you all hated on the old BBC606?
It didn't matter what you threw at him, he would always, without fail, chuck a load of stats back at you. I don't know if he still posts on here or on JA606, but he must be out there somewhere because it would take more than the inconvenience of the BBC606 closing down to shut him up !!
