Aston Villa 1-2 Tottenham

[SomersetYiddo]

That whole second half went by so slowly especially after we conceded! VDV 2nd goal was a fantastic attacking move finished brilliantly by the dutch master. We showed that winning mentality and strength to hold on throughout the whole 90 minutes. Villa are going down hill and are not the side they were last season, but its always a tough place to go and very, very pleased with the 3 points! YID ARMY

[SomersetYiddo]

Also what was going on inbetween Harry and Pires? Pires can go f**k off the prick!

[Colspur66]

This team has now got so much spirit that we can work so hard and grind out a win however hard the ref tried to stop us. He was terrible throughout. So good to see Dawson back in there, Kaboul brilliant again and I though Ekotto was great as well. With wins over Newcastle  and Fulham win can be in the top 4 new years day. This is just such a good time to be a yiddo.

[SomersetYiddo]

^^Your right mate, we have alot of spirit and belief and we can grind out 'ugly' wins that we use to not know how to do. Dawson and Kaboul were terrific, Daws really is Spurs through and through. BAE and Palacios had great games as did VDV. With 2 home games coming up hopefully we will pick up maximum points and hope other results go our way. YID ARMY

[bigv]

Great performance all round the pitch. Cant think of any player who didnt put in a good shift today. Great to see palacious back playing to his strengths. Felt sorry for defoe as it was harsh and he never took his eyes off the ball. Reminiscent of an early sending off of mido  against chelsea a few years back. Can see how without the benefit of video replay evidence how the ref can mistake challenges like that for deliberate ones though. Great win and great defensive quality shown today. Vital win for us and we need to keep the pressure on the top four. Its going to be tight.

[aspursfan]

I really don't understand the sending off. You see what Defoe did about 1,000 times per game. Especially with him being shorter than practically everyone. There's no way a referee can send someone off for that and then aim to be consistent with their decisions. There wouldn't be anyone left on the pitch to play football if that was a mandatory red.

I would say the same thing if it was a Villa player.

Did anyone else lose their patience with Gomes a little bit today? He was good in goal and made lots of saves, but I'm getting a bit annoyed with his injuries. I think someone else was talking about this a week or two ago on here and I kind of see their point now. You want your keeper to be imperious in goal regardless of whether or not they're a nice guy. Cech for example is imperious in goal even though he's very nice.

If Gomes was doing that to waste time, I think it's out of order. It he was doing it because of an injury, I think he needs to look at how other top keepers react in similar situations. Either that or he simply is not built for the premier league. That would be a shame because he produces some amazing saves.

[AuburnSpur]

Great performance all round the pitch. Cant think of any player who didnt put in a good shift today. Great to see palacious back playing to his strengths. Felt sorry for defoe as it was harsh and he never took his eyes off the ball. Reminiscent of an early sending off of mido  against chelsea a few years back. Can see how without the benefit of video replay evidence how the ref can mistake challenges like that for deliberate ones though. Great win and great defensive quality shown today. Vital win for us and we need to keep the pressure on the top four. Its going to be tight.

Amazingly enough, Bale probably had the worst performance overall, although he played better late.  He has a lot of errant/poorly-controlled touches.  VDV's finishing is just ridiculously accurate, and I was VERY glad to see Kaboul not miss a step coming back from injury.  I was worried he might have lost a little of the confidence he'd been playing with before the injury.

[pukekohespur]

Agree with most comments here. Thought Kaboul came on with a determination to say that he's first choice regardless of who else is available. Pretty much achieved his goal there.
As for Daws i just find the mere sight of him fills me with confidence.
Even when Bale has a bad game [by his standards] he is still able to change the course of the game with one surging run. Good thing is after Bale has an ordinary game his next outing is usuaLLY EPIC.
I'm as huge Gomes fan but I do get tired of his constant turning a minor knock into a life and death struggle.
The big thing is that we adapted to the sending off and played accordingly and an average Villa team could not take advantege.
I have been supporting Tottenham for 35 years through thick and thin and it feels that we have a side here that is bordering on great. It feels that heere is a team that could match those magical teams of the 60's.

[CountPuchi]

Commentator was saying Harry was complaining at him for falling down too easy and Pires went and shouted back. No love lost between a through and through gooner and our manager

[ugs]

I actually thought Gomes did well and apart from his theatrical injury towards the end he played confidently and with some 'balls'. He is coming for crosses now and starting to get too them on a regular basis now also taking the bumps and knocks alot better.
 
Good result yesterday against Villa away from home, just shows how good Van der Vaart really is just a shame that Defoe got sent off because I think they would of caused Villa alot of problems.
 
 

[SomersetYiddo]

By looking at that performance last night, what extra player in which position in January would improve that side? Its very hard to think of any really but a striker. Also Kaboul has been awesome this season, a true un sung hero. COYS

[Gareth Keown]

Defoe now banned for next 3 games, so we can now relax and forget about the great Defoe-Vaart pairing...

Defoe as a lone-striker sucks....he looked a shadow of his former self in the Chavski game where we were a 4-4-2.... luckily the transfer-window should bring in a decent lone-striker for when we play Vaart as an attacking-midfielder again...

[AuburnSpur]

By looking at that performance last night, what extra player in which position in January would improve that side? Its very hard to think of any really but a striker. Also Kaboul has been awesome this season, a true un sung hero. COYS

Without a striker, we're like a great techincal boxer with no knockout punch.  You can outbox a fighter for 10 rounds, but if you don't put him away, it only takes one punch from him for you to lose the fight. 

Our back line is looking much better with Kaboul's emergence, and our midfield is as good as there is in EPL.  A striker who can finish is the difference between fighting to get into and stay in the top 4 all season and fighting for 2nd or 3rd (nobody's catching ManU).

[Gareth Keown]

a few weeks back, same ppl were saying nobody's gonna catch Chavski... now its ManUre...

things can change very quickly.... without proper CB cover Utd could nose-dive with 1-2 injuries... not playing greatly and lucky with other teams taking pts off each other..

with the right TYPE of striker bought in January, and 1-2 secondary additions as cover, we can challenge for the title.... thres no team with stronger squads at GK, defence, midfield areas.... its only the BALANCE in the strikeforce that needs to be created..

its gonna come.