After an underwhelming performance against West Midlands foes Wolverhampton Wanderers, Aston Villa looked to put an end to their second worse run of form in the league since July 2020 on Saturday evening.
It was Antonio Conte’s buoyant Spurs who were the visitors as they looked to add a fourth successive league win and a ninth win in the last 11.
The pre-match numbers did not look favourable for the side in claret and blue. Villa have melted away into mid-table mediocrity, whilst Tottenham’s red-hot run has given them the upper hand in the gripping race for the top four.
This, coupled with the turgid home record when Spurs come to town. I attended the last home triumph over Tottenham with a friend from my Wordsley Wasps under 9’s team. Last week I turned 23.
Here’s how the two sides lined up for the game:
Villa made two changes from the defeat at Molineux, with Douglas Luiz and Danny Ings returning for Morgan Sanson and Leon Bailey. Spurs, on the other hand, remained unchanged from their 5-1 demolition of Newcastle last time out.
If the musings of pundits and fans before kick-off pointed to a Tottenham victory, then the first few minutes will not have done much for fuelling confidence in the claret and blue ranks.
On the third minute, Eric Dier hit an ambitious long ball up towards Villa’s perennial tormentors Son Heung-min and Harry Kane. The home side looked to be in control of the situation, until Ezri Konsa miscued a clearing header into the path of the England skipper. Kane skewed a volley which looked to be heading harmlessly wide. The ball struck the helpless Matty Cash and spun towards Son. The South Korean sensation caught the half-volley crisply as the ball arrowed in off the post.
Whilst it was an unbelievable finish, the poor clearance from Konsa, unknowing deflection by Cash and the high starting position of Douglas Luiz made the goal absolutely avoidable. The start had shades of West Ham at home and Southampton away earlier in the season, as when a team is short of confidence, bad decisions and moments of bad luck are compounded heavily.
The disastrous early start seemed to trigger a determined reaction from the Villans .There was a bite in the tackle and a swagger in the passing, as Villa started to bombard the goal of Hugo Lloris.
Spurs’ full backs have often been identified as weak links defensively, and Lucas Digne and Matty Cash looked threatening early on as they caught Doherty and Royal out. The left wing back Matt Doherty, in the spirit of Easter, performed his best impression of the stations of the cross, falling three times before he finally succumbed to injury in the 21st minute.
Villa’s domination of possession soon became something of an onslaught as McGinn, Ramsey, Ings and Coutinho all had efforts kept out superbly by the French international between the sticks. It was an effort from Danny Ings that seemed particularly gilt-edged as the former Saints man latched onto a cheeky Coutinho through ball from a free kick, but his effort was tame with the goal at his mercy.
Villa racked up 14 shots, with seven of those on target and a further four well blocked. Hugo Lloris is a fine goalkeeper, but even by his high standards this was an exceptional individual display, although Villa’s front men were once again concerningly wasteful when through on goal.
As the half-time whistle pierced the evening air, Villa somehow found themselves trailing. Second halves against Everton and Manchester United at home and a first half where Villa dismantled Southampton are among the finest 45 minute periods produced by the Villans this year, and this performance against a talented Spurs side has to be right up there.
But as Villa fans are becoming all too familiar with, and as gaffer Steven Gerrard declared after the match, the side are becoming far too inconsistent and erratic and often follow a really strong half, with a meagre second.
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After surviving a period of the match where they looked shell shocked, the visitors began to grow in confidence and assert their authority over a wilting Villa. Just five minutes after the restart, a realistic task became a whole lot trickier when Dejan Kulusevski guided a composed finish into the far corner.
Once again Ezri Konsa was caught in two minds, this time whether to let Cash compete with Kane for an aimless long ball, or whether to go up for the header with the England forward. Kane showed all his guile as Konsa lost out, as he flicked the ball intelligently into the path of the Swedish wideman. Kulusevski took the ball away from a lunging Matty Cash and unleashed a low drive past Martinez to double the Spurs advantage.
In the flash of the on-loan winger’s boot, Villa were once more plunged into a world of trouble. Rather than grabbing the match by the scruff of the neck as they had early on, though, Gerrard’s men started to look jaded and defeated as the game hit a bit of a lull.
On the 66th minute. However, Spurs sprung into life once more to catch their hosts horribly out of position. A half-hearted press allowed yet another route one ball to be delivered to the Spurs front line. Yet again the immaculate movement and vision of Harry Kane exposed Ezri Konsa positionally, and his delightful glance set his South Korean teammate away in another display of their eerie telepathy. Son was as fleet-footed and composed as ever, as he dispatched his second and his side’s third with unerring ease.
In truth, Villa had looked to be out of the game since the second, but Spurs killed the game off for good with a fourth five minutes later. With Villa’s left back not even in the same postcode, Kulusevski jinked his way towards Tyrone Mings, before sitting the Villa skipper down and feeding the rampant Son. The Spurs number seven continued his clinic in high-class finishing as he swung the ball in off the post once more.
If Villa’s misery had not yet been compounded, then the late injury to Lucas Digne surely would have done so. The full back must have spent the Premier League’s winter break walking under ladders and over cracks in the pavement, as he has had rotten luck in recent weeks. Whether it is a hamstring injury, a bad stomach, or the ball being canonned off his nose, the French international has not been able to catch a break of late. On Saturday, it was an innocuous looking barge from Romero which left the former Everton man in need of treatment on his shoulder and left Steven Gerrard worried about his availability for the remainder of the season.
For all Villa’s defensive frailties, it has to be conceded that this Tottenham front three should be savoured. The blend of pace, intelligence and ruthlessness has unsurprisingly demolished some really well-drilled backlines and they will continue to do so in the years to come, should Kulusevski sign permanently this summer.
But despite the obvious brilliance of the scintillating Spurs strikeforce, questions must be asked of the capitulation that saw Villa end well beaten in a game that for large parts they dominated.
The quality is there for all to see amongst the playing staff, but there is a growing concern that a few too many of the side do not have the mentality or adaptability for this club and this manager. And there are growing accusations being pointed at Gerrard, who lost four league games in a row for the first time in his professional footballing career and has overseen a turgid home return of three wins from 10 home matches.
The same problems seem to be cropping up time and time again, and Steven Gerrard himself has identified them publicly, yet critics have claimed that the manager continues to persist with the systems, and often the players, that are struggling.
Complete 90 minute performances have been few and far between during his tenure, and the dismal record against the top eight speaks for itself.
As difficult as it may be, because we know the players have the ability to trouble anyone on their day, there must be a degree of patience shown to the squad and the manager. There will be a substantial turnover in the summer, and Gerrard should be judged once he has sold the players he does not want and brought in those that he wants to take Villa into a new era.
But in the meantime the players and the manager must show that they have learned the lessons from this run of poor results. Villa is a grand club with grand expectations, and fans will ultimately not settle for those who down tools, or for a constant stream of soundbites that are not being backed up on the field. There were plenty of encouraging signs from the first half but the Villa must start producing that level of performance for 90 minutes. It’s time to put it right next time against Leicester.
JOEY MILLINGTON | UTV PODCAST
Author’s UTV PODCAST archive Joey Millington | UTV Podcast | An Aston Villa Blog
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