I’m not going to be at the game today, due to the imminent arrival of my first child. I’ve got a feeling that I’m going to miss an absolute classic, but at least I’ll be able to watch it on TV. Unless that is, he/she decides to pitch up sometime between now and this evening’s kick off. Please just let Daddy watch this one game and then you’ll have my undivided attention.
The match earlier this season at Villa Park saw us taking the game to them for much of the match, whilst they tried to hang on to their one goal lead, employing just one man up front and a packed midfield.
Lately Villa have been playing James Milner in central midfield, with Young and Downing on the flanks, and Heskey and Agbonlahor in attack. It’s a very attacking line up and if they play that way against us, then it may play into our hands.
We’ve looked at our best at White Hart Lane, when teams have tried to attack us and play football. I think that Villa will play on the break a fair bit, but the attacking talent in their team will surely necessitate them showing some intent.
If they’re playing attacking football, then they can’t stop us doing the same. Still, I’ve my doubts as to whether O’Neill will pick such an attacking team against us, so we’ll have to wait and see.
In terms of the team, I’d expect to see King, Modric and Palacios return to the team that beat Leeds, in place of Bassong, Kranjcar and Jenas. All eyes will be on David Bentley to see if he can continue his return to form, while Defoe will be going into this match with plenty of confidence. We might even see a glimpse of Eidur Gudjohnsen and Younes Kaboul, though I’d assume that both will start on the bench.
Liverpool have already won as I type this, so even though it’s Villa, we really need a win. We proved at Villa Park that we can dominate them, but we didn’t pull off the win that we deserved. It’s been a familiar story this season, but tonight we need to prove that we’re mentally tough and claim all three points.
Come on you Spurs!
excellent article Good Luck with the immenant arrival i was like that praying he didnt come on cup final day 2008
Congratulations mate,lets hope it’s a good day on the pitch aswell.
yeh I completely agree, why would Martin O’Neill play such an attacking line up away to tottenham.. oh wait there, he played 4-4-2 away to manchester united with oh wait there, with milner, young and downing all playing in midfield.. but yeh your completely right, tottenham are better than man united so i think it’ll be the 8-1-1 formation today
tosser…
Dan, just got back from the game,if your missus was watching this game it would of put her into labour. Good luck mate, hope all goes well for you both and congratulations on the birth of your spurs baby.
Well more points dropped to the same thing Defenders outstanding saves and plenty of Blocks is the new Football all you need is a name and a pair of boots. The weaker the team the better Harry why cant he see if you play your best side you only make the other team Copy the Liverpool method when your in dept your best players are injured top up your energy. If Uk sport and the Fa and the premiership don’t stop this energy abuse like rugby league have been plagued with i will go to the papers because last year there where at least 8 or nine deaths between codes and i blame a drug that is deadly if over used in some Sportsmen and Women. I would not do this for money but the love of my team and cheats should not prosper these American owners are bringing there cocktails of drugs in to football and watching players run at full speed then don’t gasps for breath would be fantastic if it was real i have told you how games would be played and fans have slagged me of .Yet they will call crouch for not scoring yet the cheating gets in goals and defences have got enough energy to play twice or the team could run the flood lights.One last word to make you think and then i will let things take its course and the top four will stay the same and you can call the next whipping boy crouch now Keane has gone.We have always done badly against Liverpool with Torres and Gerrard and Alonso and Hypia all four where missing yet they beat us two nil then they failed to score at Wolves our next opponents Reading beat them at home with Gerrard and Torres .How come Lennon is missing for ages yet Liverpool get Gerrard back quickly and Why his Rafa confident they can archive top fourth when they where in disarray at the time. Well thre man at the FA may have the answers he is standing down but i don’t now if he has gone yet can someone find out for me its important to my rant and could be the differents whether they get in to the top four.MR Barwick is the name please let me no he runs the FA with is Liverpool Tye on. Then i will tell you why Raffa has a sickly grin of a man whose team could beat Utd one week and lose to Reading the next and beat us CHELSEA HULL STOKE WOLVES LIVERPOOL VILLA ARSENAL HAVE ALL GOT ONE THING IN COMMON THEY HAVE ALL TAKEN POINTS OF EACH OTHER WITH (ENERGY)