Aston Villa (Away) 09.02.2025

Having crashed out of the League Cup in midweek at the semi-final stage, this match provided a chance to bounce back and progress in a different competition, with Villa suffering an injury crisis with seven players injured, although they brought in three in the transfer window.  That was in contrast to the Spurs injury list that had been extended to 11 with Richarlison ruled out after picking up a calf injury on Thursday, so meant starts for bot Mikey Moore and Lucas Bergvall, with Sarr and Bissouma starting on the bench.  

The Spurs support was in full voice as the game kicked off, but were soon silenced, as the ball was worked across from a throw-on on the right through Rogers in midfield to Ramsey on the left and his drive went through Kinsky to give Villa the lead inside the first minute.

Our passing was pretty bad, either giving the ball to a claret shirt or passing off the pitch and we just couldn’t get hold of the ball and when we did, we couldn’t keep it.  When a pass back to Kinsky got the ball stuck under his feet his hurried clearance resulted in the ball coming in to Malen on the edge of the box, which he blasted over the bar.  Toni had to make a full-length diving save to his right as Bailey came in off the Villa right wing to bend a shot on target.

You could see in the first 15 minutes how leg-heavy the Spurs players were as the press was poor, allowing Villa to time to pass the ball around.  The Villa press was forcing errors when Spurs were playing out to the edge of the box causing the ball to be turned over.  One ball out to Danso from Bentancur forced the new defender to hurriedly kick the ball off and then Tielemans was allowed to run from just inside his own half to shoot just wide from 25 yards when the defence backed off him.  Ramsey pulled a shot across goal from a position similar to the one he scored from as Tottenham were being too soft in tackles and not engaging Villa players who were on the ball.  When we won a tackle through Bergvall, Tel launched it forward for Son, but Kamara pulled him down way off the ball.  It was a free-kick, but no yellow card for what had nothing to do with football.  The referee was taken in by Bailey’s scream when tackled by Spence, who got to the ball first.

Spurs looked like they could be on level terms in the 24th minute when Mikey Moore got away on the left wing and squared the ball in front of Son, who was six yards out but his shot was straight into the diving body of Martinez, when anywhere to the side of him would have rippled the net.  As it was Konsa pulled up injured and had to go off, which was a shame, as he usually gifts us a goal.

Kinsky redeemed himself with a very good save when Bailey went through and the keeper had to push the ball away to his right and Ramsey followed in, hitting the base of the post from a tight angle before the ball went behind.  Toni was again plunging down to his right to push out a low drive by Rogers, who ran unchallenged.

When Dejan looked to find Son making a move into the box like the one he had saved earlier, Martinez rushed off his line to clear, colliding with his own defender.  When it looked like Villa would get away down their right wing after Spence dived in and the ball was played past him, Rodrigo covered and won a goal-kick when they reached the box.

Bergvall was the only one showing any aggression in the Spurs side, with Villa knocking Tottenham players over and getting away with it.  With the Spurs midfield so open, Ange brought on Yves Bissouma with Mikey Moore being the unlucky one to make way at half-time.  Bergvall was pulled up for a challenge on Rogers that the Villa man didn’t like, but there was little contact and when Kulusevski won the ball from Digne, he was pulled back three times as he tried to run away from the full-back without a whistle from the ref.

Dejan played a ball around the corner from the right wing for Son to get beyond the last man but Bogarde blocked his shot for a corner.  The ball was then cleared but recycled with Tel looking towards the far post, but the ball was headed out for another corner.  This went to the near post and was headed into Digne’s face by one of his own players and he went down with the game being stopped for treatment.

Porro broke beyond the Villa left-back and his pull back found Son, who laid it off to Bissouma to his right, whose shot was blocked.  The corner caused a bit of a mess in the Villa defence with Bergvall ending up with the ball, but his ball square was cleared.  Spurs broke from defence and Kulusevski came inside to try a curler that Martinez picked off.  Tottenham were pressing and Villa were looking more nervous in trying to play out.  However, breaking a tackle in midfield, McGinn played in Ramsey and his shot was blocked by Kinsky’s shoulder as he was out quickly to him and the ball rebounded off the Villa striker for a goal-kick.

There were two quick bookings for Spurs when Bentancur pulled back Rogers on the halfway line and Bergvall’s totting up of fouls caught up with him.  When it looked as though Spurs were getting a basis to work from, a ball out to the right to Bailey from Malen saw the Dutchman run outside him.  His low ball into the goalmouth was cut out by Porro but fell for Rodgers to put into an empty net.  It was a killer as the home side had shown little in the second half until then and straight away Rashford and Asensio coming on.

Danso then got caught in the forehead by Rashford’s vicious elbow, but with no VAR the referee couldn’t make a decision and the blood from the cut that resulted ensured that it was Danso who had to leave the field.  Asensio and Rodgers played the ball between them down the Villa right and Rodgers finished the move with a shot into the side-netting.

Sarr replaced Bentancur in midfield as Villa were getting on top of the game again.  Rashford nut-megged Porro and when Pedro got back at him, he whinged that he should have had a free-kick and he might have had a point, but at least it was some fight shown by white shirt.  Villa played the ball from their own penalty box to the right and then through the middle of the pitch and only Kinksy’s save coming out to meet Ramsey stopped the score-line getting worse.

Porro’s forward pass was well fought for by Tel, who played it inside to Kulusevski in the box, but his cross was blocked.  The corner went beyond the far post and it was played back to Bissouma to shoot.  The block took the ball spinning out to Porro in the box and he fizzed a low ball across the face of goal that was deflected, and Danso could re-adjust in time to guide his shot on target, putting it a couple of feet wide.

When Kulusevski was taken down from behind, Villa played the ball left to Ramsey, who was brought down by Porro with a forceful tackle.  That was deemed to be a yellow card.  Yet, when Bogarde drags his studs down the back of Tel’s calf, it was only a free-kick.  Amazing.

A bodged free-kick routine was played out with Son’s ball along the 18 yard line was intended for Dejan, but Pedro got there too and it was he who ended up poling a shot towards the top corner that the keeper grabbed.  Then Spurs were in a good position on the right but Pape’s pass was far too heavy for Porro to reach and the ball went off for a goal-kick.

Rashford was played through and only a brilliant interception from Gray stopped him getting a shot away.  As it was he was offside anyway and Gray got caught with a late kick across his shin, but only the offside was awarded.  Porro and Kulusevski played the ball between them before Dejan put in a cross beyond Bogarde and Mathys Tel stuck out a leg to volley the ball past Martinez.  It was late, but was it too late ?

As Villa got panicky at the back, Kulusevski put in a similar cross, but too close to the keeper, who took as much time as the referee allowed him.  A free kick out on the left wing was played straight into the keeper’s hands as time ticked away.  A foul on Tielemens by Sarr virtually finished the game with a minute of added time left.  Asensio put a ball across goal in the final seconds, but only good defending by Spence stopped another goal as Rogers ran in to try to put the ball over the line with that the last action of the match.

The first half was disappointing, but many first halves have been this season.  The second half was better but not good enough to come back to win, as Villa had so many first half chances, with only Kinsky keeping us in it in the second period.  With the team lacking confidence while being on this poor run, player off form and youngsters thrown in the solutions are limited until some reinforcements return from the injury list.  Thank goodness that the win over Elfsborg gives us a free week to get in some R&R.  Hopefully that might bring some benefits to the team.

Ona day when Liverpool lost at Plymouth Argyle 0-1 after leaving out nine first team players who faced Spurs three days before, it shows just how difficult things can be when a first choice XI cannot be fielded.  For all the Carraghers, O’Haras, Redknapps and Shearers, Postecoglou is right about their views.  Lazy punditry for headlines is easy money for them and gets them the notoriety they seek, but how successful have any of them been in management ?  It is easy to criticise, but like so many fans who think they know what’s best for the team, very few answers are put forward to get us out of this mess.  That is down to the manager to resolve and I can’t imagine that anyone would want to take over his current position.

Mal Travers

• Mathys Tel scores his first goal for Tottenham.
• Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio made their debuts for Aston Villa.
• Tottenham lose an away FA Cup tie to Aston Villa for the first time.