Blogs

Chalkboard For Villa

|
Image for Chalkboard For Villa

Good morning.

Here we go then. Our valiant boys return from a game I wish I hadn’t watched. A game I hope they were forced to watch the tape of.

Speaking of games you wouldn’t want to watch has anyone noticed that Paul Lambert, Bob Matthews and Brendan Rodgers are all sat in a row on 5 points on the League? Each of them spending most of their spare time talking down relegation battle talk.

All three were shortlisted by varying degree to take over by Spurs fans. All three I campaigned strongly against as none of them has a CV worth a damn. Yes, yes, it’s early doors to quote Big Ron and in fact I wouldn’t be shocked to see him brought in to manage any of them by Christmas.

In fact he’d be a great fit a Liverpool, go down well in Norwich and would get on like a house on fire with Dave Whelan. So don’t dismiss this prediction.

I’d like Hugo Lloris to get a break but expect Brad to start.

The back line sort of picks itself with Jan being first name on the team sheet. I want to see him use the channels either side of Defoe and Dempsey and let the the quietly impressive Caulker act as cover here.

Caulker is great for set pieces in the final third and should alternate with Jan for those if both go – then Sandro drops in . Villa are likely to give us some space and it’s vital that Moussa finds it and uses it to pull the strings in the midfield.

Kyle needs to get a grip. It would be great to see him seriously owning that whole part of the pitch I swathed in yellow arrows there. 1. Defend 2. Defend. 3. Supply. He is a liability making these Forrest Gump runs and I can’t cope with him getting so far out of position to then lose possession much more.

That said Villa may not be equipped to punish us if that happens, but who wants to prompt them and find out?  The lad needs good habits drummed into him sooner rather than later.

We can beat this lot handsomely or it can all end in boos as our players look gormlessly at each other. Villa aren’t much cop but they’re better than the mob that very nearly beat us on Thursday.

Oh yes and Bale needs to justify his central role. Y’know. A goal.

BIOYAVC!

Tottenham (from): Lloris, Friedel, Gomes, Cudicini, Smith, Gallas, Dawson, Walker, Vertonghen, Caulker, Falque, Huddlestone, Mason, Bale, Lennon, Sandro, Dembele, Dempsey, Sigurdsson, Carroll, Townsend, Defoe, Adebayor, Obika.

Aston Villa (from): Guzan, Given, Lowton, Bennett, Lichaj, Clark, Vlaar, Baker, Herd, El Ahmadi, Westwood, Bannan, Delph, Holman, N’Zogbia, Bent, Agbonlahor, Benteke, Bowery, Weimann, Burke, Johnson, Williams.

Referee: N Swarbrick Assistants: A Garratt, G Beswick Fourth Official: M Halsey

Share this article

294 comments

  • rich says:

    Lloris should start!

  • Astro Spur says:

    2 nil to us! Defoe and Bale on the score sheet again.

  • Jay says:

    Villas starting line up is ridiculously poor.

    There best 2 players Dunne and Ireland are injured, ive never like Bent and feel he wont get a chance from his team mates.

    They were probably the worst side we played last year and they have got worse since then.

    There young players are all average, wouldnt even make our academy side, Ciaran Clark is ok and Albrighton has potential but Moussa Dembele and Sandro should sompletely physically dominate this midfield battle

  • Richard says:

    I’d like to se Ade get some gametime today, with Azza being such great form it would be good those two linking up, not much point having two wingers if you don’t have a target.

    • essexian76 says:

      Yeah, it’s shocking how we managed 3 up at OT without a target man?

      • Richard says:

        Aye, and it’s also shocking how we only scored 1 v WBA, only scored 1 v Norwich and battered Panathaniakos and only scored once.

      • Ronnie Wolman says:

        Its true we opened Man U up with Bale,Vert and Lennon
        but in the second half they took control of midfield and we were pinned back.
        Defoe was totally ineffective. Adebayor needs to focus on shooting in the box not running outside and passing it even though thats ok too.His focus has to be us scoring more goals not relying on defenders and wingers to do that

        • essexian76 says:

          Genius-seeing as Defoe has been our only fit striker until today-perhaps dropping him and putting Dawson upfront with Huddlestone-Are they big enough?

    • TMWNN says:

      :daumen:

    • CptCaveman says:

      Agreed Richard. Why are we still playing this bloody formation at home to teams like Villa, Norwich, West Brom?? We dont need to bloody counter attack…we need to attack. Defoe is on good form, granted…but he needs someone with him to be truly effective in this formation or we drop him all together in favor of a target man (if you want to keep this system) Essexian, mate come on, away this is a good formation especially at places like Manu, Arsenal etc..but a home formation?? We’ve had all the possession and looked like doing f**k all with it. How long till Villa score, the fans boo and they put 11 Men behind the ball…Villa are poor and it shouldn’t be 0-0 at half time!
      I’d like to see Dempsey off at half time for Ade, switch to a 442 and watch the goals fly.

  • I heard Brad picked up an injury b4 europa league so that decision might be made easy for the boss. I’ve heard nothing since so who knows?

    • essexian76 says:

      Ask whoever you heard it from!

      • Minionas says:

        I think I would rather lloris between the sticks. He’s a bit more mobile than brad but BF has been so steady this season it would be unfair to change him. Do you know if Ade’s fit now?

    • Alfie Conn's jockstrap says:

      Yeah,well i heard the woman next door to me knobbed old Bert at number 64 last week but i’ve heard nothing since so who knows?

Leave a Reply to Richard Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *