Aston Villa vs. Tottenham: Winners and Losers from Premier League Game
Aston Villa and Tottenham Hotspur played out an entertaining match in the Premier League on Sunday, with Spurs emerging victorious courtesy of a comeback and a 2-1 scoreline.
The match saw goals, a red card and a late turnaround in fortunes for the away team after Villa had looked the better and more comfortable side in the first half.
We've taken a look at the game and picked all our winners and losers, as Villa went to six defeats in a row and Spurs moved back into the top half.
Loser: Roberto Soldado
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Understatement time: Spurs forward Roberto Soldado hasn't been good since signing in 2013.
The Spanish attacker was deployed just off striker Emmanuel Adebayor against Villa and got off to a promising start, picking the ball up in space twice, shooting just off target once and threading a through ball to give Adebayor a chance on goal with the other.
Thereafter, though, he reverted to the Soldado Spurs fans have had to put up with—slow in possession, no threat in the box and woefully, horrendously off-target with any attempts to shoot. You can catch his worst effort right here.
Winner: Andi Weimann
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Villa had gone five games without so much as a goal, let alone a win, so it was a massive relief when Austrian forward Andi Weimann escaped his marker in the box and side-footed home a low finish to give his side a first-half lead.
His pace and work rate troubled Spurs non-stop in the first hour of the game. He linked well with team-mate Christian Benteke in attack and generally looked the best out ball for his side, even if most of his runs were similar and the end product hopeful rather than purposeful.
With Spurs in forgiving mood at the back, his runs went untracked and his impact was impressive.
Loser: Christian Benteke
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All of Weimann and co.'s efforts, though, went to waste once Christian Benteke saw red.
The Belgian striker, just back to full fitness, was on course to be on a "winner" slide after a great first-half performance where he rocked the frame of the goal with one shot and headed just wide with another, but a mindless minute or so saw him barge into two challenges and then push Ryan Mason in the face.
The red card was immediate and expected and had a profound impact on the rest of the contest, absolutely costing Villa both in this match and for the three more to come where he will be suspended.
Villa boss Paul Lambert felt Benteke’s dismissal was the turning point in the contest.
"I thought we were excellent and could have been two or three up at half-time," Lambert told Aston Villa’s official website. "We looked good, and the sending off has changed the course of the game."
Winner: Harry Kane
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Current supporter favourite Harry Kane came off the bench to score the winner for Spurs in the last minute, sparking wild scenes, "crazy man of the match" awards and, probably, somewhere, the proclamation that he'll lead the line for England at Euro 2016.
The Spurs forward isn't the most technical or brilliant, and he isn't full of blinding pace or proven in the top flight—this was his first league goal of the season—but he absolutely is chock-full to the brim of confidence, athleticism, energy and self-belief.
And sometimes, that's better than experience, technique or anything else, at least in the final third of the pitch.
His deflected free-kick gave Spurs the points and keeps Kane riding the crest of a wave, and full marks should go to him for that. The challenge, of course, is in how long he can keep that going for.
Loser: Pochettino's Entire System, so Far
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Tottenham might have taken all three points, but that masks the reality of the match: They were largely poor at Villa Park and would have been beaten if not for Benteke's red card.
Spurs were open at the back, gifting Villa far too much space to run into and play through and were misfiring in the final third, even though Villa were just as open and exposed. Later in the match when they had the man advantage, all Spurs really did was get the ball wide and attempt to cross—it was so, so easy for Villa to repel them, time and time again.
The late goals that turned the points totally came off set pieces, nothing more impressive or intelligent than that: one corner, missed by everybody until Nacer Chadli at the far post, and a deflected free-kick in the last minute.
Spurs took the three points and, in the context of this game, that's all that matters—job done, no matter how it was achieved. But in terms of the ongoing Mauricio Pochettino project, the Spurs boss cannot be even remotely satisfied with his team's performance or ability to get itself back into the game against an opponent in dire form heading into this fixture.
