Tottenham Hotspur   1    Aston Villa   2      (Half-time score : 0-1)

  1  Gomes

22  Corluka
39  Woodgate (c)
20  Dawson       (17  Giovani 62)
  3  Bale

  7  Lennon
  4  Zokora (  5  Bentley 46)
  6  Huddlestone
14  Modric (  8  Jenas 29)

  9  Pavlyuchenko
10  Bent 

Unused subs: 
21  Cesar Sanchez
11  Gilberto
18  Campbell
24  O'Hara 

  1  Friedel

  2  L. Young
  5  Laursen
15  Davies
21  Shorey      (26  Gardner 88)

  7  A. Young      
19  Petrov
20  Reo-Coker (c) 
  6  Barry

11  Agbonlahor      (  9  Harewood 84)
10  Carew      (  8  Milner 63)

Unused subs: 
22  Guzan
16  Knight
18  Routledge
24  Cuellar

Bent 87

Reo-Coker 5
A. Young 54

     
Dawson (foul) 60


   

      
Shorey (foul) 21
Carew (foul) 51
Agbonlahor (feigning injury) 83
Young (time-wasting) 90  

Spurs looked disjointed in their play and for all the change of formation to two up front with two banks of four behind them, there was a lack of cover for players going forward.  Villa played some good football, but the key to their success was their closing down, which is something you would have hoped Tottenham were capable of after their long pre-season fitness training.

But an early goal conceded left Tottenham chasing the game.  Both goals were soft ones to give away.  Space on the Villa left gave Agbonlahor the chance to pull the ball back low behind the Spurs defenders for Carew to step over and leave Bale torn between trying to get to Barry or Reo-Coker at the far post and it fell to the captain to side foot home for a simple finish.  Five minutes gone and Spurs were behind again.

The second goal came in the second half, when the possession was conceded far too easily (and not for the first time) and Ashley Young used his pace to run unchallenged from the halfway line and around a square on Dawson before letting go a shot from 25 yards out.  It was low, but should have been saved, but Gomes (who had played very well until that point) failed to get a good hand to the ball and could only palm it as it went into the net.  Once more the old failing of letting players run at our defenders and shooting without a challenge came back to haunt us.

To be honest, Villa could have won by five or six.  In the first half a deflected Reo-Coker cross wrong-footed Gomes and hit the outside of the near post and the Brazilian keeper made two very good one handed saves from close-in headers by Barry and Agbonlahor to keep the score down to 0-1 at the break.  Towards the end as Spurs sought to get a goal to get back into the game, Aston Villa hit on the break using the pace of Agbonlahor and Young, causing problems for our back men.  Better use of the ball by Reo-Coker when Tottenham were outnumbered at the back could have created two more good chances and one amazing scramble saw Bale and Jenas thwart Harewood, who should really have scored.

For Spurs, there were few positives to take from the game.  Modric looked frail as the lack of a midfield general causes this part of our team to look light-weight.  Lennon and Bentley failed to deliver enough quality balls into the box, leaving the front two without a decent supply of chances and their link-up play looked evidently undeveloped.

Any opportunities Spurs did create were few and far between.  When Friedel dropped a cross, nobody was there to capitalise and when Pavlyuchenko tried an overhead kick, Bennett (who had a poor game) ruled it dangerous play.  Funny that when Ashley Young did the same to clear the ball in his own area, nothing was given.  Roman manoeuvred himself a shooting chance, it was blocked, although his movement was good despite him fading in the second half.

Tottenham failed to play on Lennon's running on Shorey after the former Reading man crudely chopped Aaron down as he skipped past him.  With another mis-times tackle meaning a dismissal for the full-back, he was given some respite, as Spurs failed to feed Lennon.  Jenas looked an improvement on Modric, who was playing out of position on the left and Giovani at least was willing to run at players when he came on, although his final ball lacked the right choice sometimes.  Tom Huddlestone needs to start dominating games and proving he can be the player we all know he can be.  Too often he was playing in a different manner to how he plays for England Under-21s, when he imposes himself on the game.  There was far too little movement and that left players without a pass on and with Villa working hard, quite often the ball had to be released early ... straight to a claret and blue shirt.

Despite pushing for an equaliser at the end, few players were willing to have a shot, instead choosing to pass the responsibility on.  This meant that some chances were lost and a couple of corners in added time almost conjured up a repeat of last season, with some goalmouth scrambles coming to nothing.  Other than the goal, which came when Jenas' volley from outside the box struck Bent and without him knowing it, deflected into the net with Friedel left standing, there were few other shots.  Huddlestone's first half drive on 35 minutes brought a first save from the Villa keeper, although it was at a nice height for the American.  Lennon's shot might have just dipped under the bar before Friedel touched it over.  At the end, Woodgate's back-pass without looking where Gomes was almost went past the keeper into the net, but luckily went wide and Bale had to make amends for the first goal by making two good last ditch blocks to prevent Villa getting shots on target.

Vedran Corluka looked poor on this showing, but he has not been at the club long, so hopefully he will settle in and get better.  Modric needs to be played in his best position, like he did at Chelsea and the partnership between Pavlyuchenko and Bent can only get better as they play more together.  That won't be in Thursday's game as the Russian is cup-tied and Campbell might well partner Bent up front.

With one point from five games, it is, as every media outlet is telling us, the worst start for 34 years.  Nobody should think the game on Sunday will be a stroll, as Wigan will be determined to deny Spurs space and time to play.  A lot of planning will need to go into the training before then to make sure we get something out of the game.

THE HEATHROW SPUR