Tottenham’s win over Aston Villa yesterday seemed fairly routine but after a long round trip to Greece last Thursday, Andre Villas-Boas hailed his players’ efforts as immense.
Many of those involved in yesterday’s game started the match against Panathinaikos and two of those – Steven Caulker and Aaron Lennon scored the goals that sealed the points.
“We were tremendous, bearing in mind the effort we put in in Greece,” AVB said after the game.
“To perform at this level and intensity is very gratifying for everyone and the players have been immense in their dedication and ambition. This is an important win.”
“Overall, the performance was great. We spoke at half-time for the players to persist with their level of intensity and ambition because they would get their efforts rewarded. I’m extremely happy for them.”
The win takes us to fifth – level on points with Everton and after the international break it’s Chelsea at home. The victory seemed comfortable but would post Europa League fatigue have counted against us, had we been playing stronger opposition?
‘would post Europa League fatigue have counted against us, had we been playing stronger opposition?’
If we had been playing stronger opposition we’d probably have had a different team out in Greece. Also, we finished much stronger than Villa. Great to see some big physical players at spurs. Contrast Dembele, Sandro & Dempsey with Modric, Parker and VdV, today’s team is probably better suited to the premier league.
AVB did the right thing to give a chance to Lloris to play, It was about time if only to get EPL experience. I would like to see him play again in our next match against Chelsea.
Agree with AVB, I thought the players were great yesterday.
While the performance was good, what impressed me more was the desire and commitment the players showed after their mid-week exertions in Europe.
The way the lads managed to somehow increase their intensity levels in the second half, playing in front of what sounded a fairly quiet and less than inspiring home crowd, was enough to make me very proud to be a Spurs man.
Sandro in particular deserves a special mention in my opinion after another display full of passion, hunger and no little quality either. the young Brazilian has been a revelation since first putting on a Spurs shirt and is without a doubt, one of the finest holding midfielders in Europe. At 22/23, Sandro’s potential to improve is mind-blowing and the fact that he is far more prepared to vary his passing (in terms of range) is evidence of that.
Not only happy with keeping his passes short in order to maintain possession, Sandro this season more than any other, is now showing that he is equally adept at playing the long 30/40 yard pass (often out wide to Lennon) just as effectively.
I also think that AVB playing strong line-ups in Europe has paid off so far, with the mid-week games allowing the team (with all the new signings) to build a real understanding amongst each other, and therefore displaying a greater cohesion in their performances in the EPL.
While we are still another playmaker (in the moutinho/Benega mould), winger and striker short of really pushing the two Manchester clubs for the title, we are certainly heading in the right direction.
Someone else heading in the right direction is Kyle Walker, who I have been very critical of this season.
Although his display yesterday was by no means flawless, you can see signs that he is SLOWLY regaining the kind of form that made him young PFA player of the year, last season. Yesterday it was clear that Villa had pinpointed him out as a potential weak link in the Spurs back line, regularly launching long balls in his direction in the hope that they could unsettle the right-back, and for the most part Walker dealt with those situations pretty comfortably.
All in all, it was a very good weekend. Onwards and Upwards!
Well, the opening three Premier League matches aside, AVB seems to be getting just about everything spot on. And rotating players like Lloris, Caulker, Naughton, Huddlestone and Townsend was always going to be important. Now let’s just have a break over the best over the international fixtures and hope for the best in regards to injuries and fatigue. Coys.
couple of wins and fleet street moves one! COYS…
or moves *on!! either way COYS!!!
you’ bunch of fucking cunts arn’t gonna see couple of wins, retarded small time vankers
we have already seen a couple of wins bell end… jog on sunshine xx
I have been advocating for Lloris in goal and now you know what I meant.Lloris is good at commanding the box and did a great job keeping the defense settled too.need to see him against Chelsea since they have fast players too.
Avb is steadily shifting the gears but needs to calm down alittle and not put pressure on the players.
Dembele and Sandro are doing the job well and wish we could get a playmaker to sit infront and distribute the ball to ease the pressure on them.I always wished Lennon would come to terms with others and start shooting where it’s needed and he did that and there was a goal.needs to do that more regularly now.
Come on SPURS, we need to beat Chelsea n Arsenal to know where we stand now.
All the best to AVB and the Lads.