Urgent Message to Spurs Fans: Don’t Panic!

There can’t be many Spurs fans this morning willing to look on the bright side of life. The worst start to a season in thirty-four years, your star midfielder crocked after 24 minutes, your new signing looking more at home in the dressing room than in the penalty area, but as a Villa fan, I’m here to tell you that good times are around the corner.

I can’t pretend Villa’s victory wasn’t deserved, because it was. In fact, the scoreline makes it look a lot closer than it really was. Villa ought to have been home and dry by half-time, and if it weren’t for the acrobatics by Heurelho Gomes, they would have been. But this isn’t a lionisation (no pun intended) of Aston Villa, it’s a dissection of what Spurs can take heart from after Monday night’s game.

Let’s look at the weaknesses first. Primarily, Spurs are aching for goals. Pavlyuchenko can be excused to a certain extent as it was his debut, he was feeling his way into Premier League life and despite a bright start, he didn’t receive much in the way of service. Darren Bent, despite that lucky deflection, isn’t looking like the great hope he did in pre-season and one or both of them need a clean strike past the keeper to get the confidence flowing.

At the back, Spurs were ripped apart by Villa’s width. Like most full-backs, Vedran Corluka was turned inside-out by Ashley Young and that, to be honest, was expected. Having played against (and been outplayed by) Young for Manchester City, Corluka gave up in the end and doubled up with Michael Dawson, but it didn’t exactly matter. Gabby Agbonlahor and John Carew played with an energy and inventiveness that hasn’t been apparent in earlier games. However, it’s not as if they hadn’t played that way last season. It suggests that Ramos concentrated more on what his team could offer than nullifying the threat of the opposition, which is a fatal mistake against Villa’s potent forward line.

And in midfield, where Tottenham’s strength lay, they were simply outplayed in the first half. Luka Modric’s injury might go some way to papering over that crack, but to be fair, the man looked out of sorts and dominated by Gareth Barry and Stilyan Petrov. In fact, the only player to emerge with any credit from the match as a whole was ‘keeper Gomes, which sounds absurd after the howler that came from Ashley Young’s shot.

But it might sound like an assassination, but plainly speaking, Juande Ramos was outthought by Martin O’Neill. The Villa manager sent out a team with a gameplan that dominated Spurs. And we all know the result.

So where are the positives? Well, it’s not a massive leap of faith to assume that Tottenham’s strikeforce will start scoring sooner rather than later, preferably against Wisla Krakow this week. Pavlyuchenko is a decent striker, make no bones about it. As soon as he gets the pace of the Premier, Spurs will have a new hero.

In defence, Spurs are stronger and have more strength than last season. Corluka is a decent player, and has demonstrated that going forward. And what is a bonus for Spurs is that none of their defence is afraid of going forward. They work so hard that box-to-box play is not a struggle, and Woodgate is finally showing just what he can do with a sustained run as captain.

But it’s in midfield where Tottenham can really pull things around. Jenas was irresistible after his early introduction, and nobody could have failed to be impressed by Giovanni Dos Santos, who showed more flair and invention in forty-five minutes than Modric has shown all season. Both came with big reputations, but Modric seems overwhelmed by it thus far, whereas Giovanni plays like a kid who just loves the ball. Should Ramos find a way to incorporate the talent of both, they could dominate big four midfields.

Let’s not forget two minor but important points. Firstly, Villa have been playing competitive football since July. They might not have scorched out of the blocks but on Monday night Martin O’Neill’s team came together to show what they could do. Secondly, while Villa had only four of their starting line-up on International duty over the past week, Tottenham had over double that, including new signing Pavlyuchenko. That’s no kind of time to bed in two major signings.

Ramos shouldn’t be under pressure, if he is at all. It’s painful when things aren’t going your way, and Tottenham fans might feel aggrieved they didn’t manage to get one penalty last night, but there will be easier games and better forward play, so I wouldn’t be panicking just yet.

One note of concern is the plan B of Tottenham to try and over-run Villa. Spurs ended up playing five in midfield to try and pick Villa apart but it was very much an ersatz tactic. It becomes clear that until the team settle, Tottenham need to dominate games from the first whistle because they don’t seem to have the wit to change it around at the moment. But when confidence is low, it’s rock-bottom.

So food for though but we’re not into chopping block territory just yet. Anybody who thinks Tottenham will struggle with that squad is a fool, and while Spurs miss Robbie Keane marginally more than Dimitar Berbatov, after Keane’s slow start to his Liverpool career, he might be forgiven for casting one or two lasting glances towards the Seven Sisters Road. But improvement must come swiftly, otherwise that top four place might remain closed for another season.

Chris Stanley