Smal

Spurs gone 4 atb by the looks of it. Don't like it.

Hope we are looking at this kid; especially if the Chelsea home grown fire sale rumours are true. He's obviously more attacking in these videos than Burn is, but I think he could play a similar role. Brilliant in build up phase, moves inside quite often, both-footed, quick...

I don’t think any team has made 5-3-2 work in the prem. Opposition full backs have all the time in the world and can just dictate the game. Steve Bruce used to play it ffs

Those challenges really need to be reds

Wouldn't be surprised to see Wilson back in for this.

Upamecano is absolutely tragic

Joao Felix is absolutely rubbish isn’t he

Yeah, I get the impression that even if the opposition works him out he still occupies them in a way that frees up Wilock/Joelinton/Bruno etc. The drop off from him to the other wide players in our squad is monumental.

Wish he'd stayed fit this season. Who knows what we could've done.

Agreed. Contract is up in June 2024 though so that might come into it.

Assuming we keep the same system, if we can get pace and athleticism in at left back I think that would be sufficient. Don’t think replacing Schar is a good idea yet despite his performance at the weekend.

I think it has to be 3 years between the ages of 15-21, but not fully sure.

dangerous scoreline

I don't know what the stats are now, but earlier in the season he had covered more ground than anyone else in the league. He might not be the best on the ball, but he is always available for it whether it's in deeper areas or further up the field. His understanding of the press is probably the best in the side. He is much, much better at running back than Willock is. Maybe these aren't overtly obvious things, but they were all missing yesterday.

After a sleep I don't think we need to twist for the Spurs game. Bring Longstaff and Miggy back into the team, get the midfield and pressing structure right and keep doing what has worked for us all season. Write this off as a one off. We had too many players who didn't know what they were doing yesterday tactically - primarily Gordon and whoever was playing right central midfield (first Willock, then Joelinton). If you have two out of 6 front players not pressing correctly it will always be a disaster. He completely outcoached Conte in the reverse fixture - played the full backs deep and narrow and Spurs couldn't deal with it. He knows how to be flexible.

This could end up being 10+ the way it's going

Stones is just an unbelievable footballer. So good.

Our average touches on the ball today. This doesn't show you where they were without the ball but it does show you that you're probably gonna get fucked in transition. edit: you cannot just leave nowt in front of the defence.

If you play a high line with slow defenders you need really good pressure on the ball, which is what we've had most of the season. Our press got absolutely schooled today. They always had a man free and we didn't seem to have the athleticism to get near them.

I swear most of the season a normal feature of our defensive play is playing a reasonably high line and Pope sweeping everything up that goes in behind. Pope was bad in every aspect today. I'm so annoyed

They were horrendous. Couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Didn’t seem ready for the ball in behind them all game and it’s been the most obvious feature of Villa’s attacking play.

Love Bruno but today was the kind of game where you need a player like him with his quality to step up and try to get a foothold on it. Can't do it on his own but he wasn't anywhere near sadly.

Absolutely. I also thought he was shit at Everton, he's not done anything to change my mind unfortunately. I don't know what we see in his game at all.

I think it was worth trying this midfield, but now with hindsight he would've made quite a significant difference imo. Trippier was badly exposed, didn't have the same passes available and Bruno needs someone to drop in for him when he goes wandering, which just didn't happen today.

Or just a proper 6. None of our midfield got anywhere near them today defensively and Bruno abandons the position quite regularly, which is where Longstaff usually comes in I guess.