Before the match I strongly felt that we had the capability of grabbing a point at Spurs, and until the 80th minute, I was pretty well convinced that's what we'd do. Sometimes the Spurs' quality seemed to demand that they'd win, but the Villa's fine defensive organisation (no doubt substantially due to John Terry) remained intact. Until late on.
We unfortunately wilted, and a lot of that was due, sadly, to our midfield, who did not deal with the ball as it should have been and mistakes were made. Most sad of all was that our skipper failed to clear on two occasions and those non-clearances led to two of their goals. Our skipper, clearly, must learn from those situations. As Dean Smith said after the match: "...We’re always learning lessons, today’s game has set a standard for us.” But there's no getting around the fact that the skipper has to set the example; Jack's tendency to dither at times can be fatal at this level.
Although we were only playing half a first-choice Spurs side, today's fixture was probably just the benchmark that Villa needed. But despite that being the case, I did not see enough in El Ghazi and Jota to believe they would thrive at this level. Wesley was mostly on his own, and it would be callous to throw criticism at him, although he, too, will have learnt a lot. I am a bit worried, though, as to whether we have enough punch up front.
Engels, I thought, was magnificent until the last 10 minutes. But, again, I am loathed to throw criticism at him. For most of the time he was simply great, as indeed was Mings, who also showed his constructive abilities in that fine long pass that enabled our goal to be scored. Ably supported by our keeper, of course, who made a couple of great saves.
It's too early to properly assess most of the other Villa players in this match, but I do think we still have a problem at left-back, and Elmo is not consistently the assured defender that we really need at right-back, in my opinion.
The effect of all the new team-building must take awhile yet to settle down, but experience tells us that it's wise to start getting some points on the board pretty quickly. Next week's home game, then, will be an equally big test, but one that we should pass. We need to.
Nevertheless, that was a brave start to the season. We are all disappointed, but not totally dejected.
UTV!
We unfortunately wilted, and a lot of that was due, sadly, to our midfield, who did not deal with the ball as it should have been and mistakes were made. Most sad of all was that our skipper failed to clear on two occasions and those non-clearances led to two of their goals. Our skipper, clearly, must learn from those situations. As Dean Smith said after the match: "...We’re always learning lessons, today’s game has set a standard for us.” But there's no getting around the fact that the skipper has to set the example; Jack's tendency to dither at times can be fatal at this level.
Although we were only playing half a first-choice Spurs side, today's fixture was probably just the benchmark that Villa needed. But despite that being the case, I did not see enough in El Ghazi and Jota to believe they would thrive at this level. Wesley was mostly on his own, and it would be callous to throw criticism at him, although he, too, will have learnt a lot. I am a bit worried, though, as to whether we have enough punch up front.
Engels, I thought, was magnificent until the last 10 minutes. But, again, I am loathed to throw criticism at him. For most of the time he was simply great, as indeed was Mings, who also showed his constructive abilities in that fine long pass that enabled our goal to be scored. Ably supported by our keeper, of course, who made a couple of great saves.
It's too early to properly assess most of the other Villa players in this match, but I do think we still have a problem at left-back, and Elmo is not consistently the assured defender that we really need at right-back, in my opinion.
The effect of all the new team-building must take awhile yet to settle down, but experience tells us that it's wise to start getting some points on the board pretty quickly. Next week's home game, then, will be an equally big test, but one that we should pass. We need to.
Nevertheless, that was a brave start to the season. We are all disappointed, but not totally dejected.
UTV!
