BirminghamWorld reporter Charlie Haffenden reacts to Aston Villa's heavy 4-1 defeat to Tottenham Hotspur in the Premier League.
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00:00Aston Villa have just been thrashed 4-1 here away at Tottenham Hotspur. It's only the second
00:06time this season that Unai Emery's men have lost in the Premier League but it's an incredibly
00:10disappointing day at the office and quite a humbling one really. Villa started this
00:14season so well and still in the contention for the Champions League spots. Of course
00:18it's still very early days, ten matches into this new season but today will be a big moment
00:24perhaps in the season to come, especially as Tottenham will be fighting for the same
00:27kind of positions come the end of the campaign. Morgan Rodgers opened the scoring in quite
00:32a slow and feisty first half of football, tapping in from about one yard after a Lucadena
00:38corner was deflected off two Tottenham defenders. Ficario the goalkeeper tried to keep it out
00:43but just couldn't. It was in the goal mouth, it was deflecting all over the place. Rodgers
00:46was there to poke it home and Villa didn't exactly deserve to be in the lead at half
00:51time. They hardly had the ball. Tottenham had most of the possession, were controlling
00:55proceedings but Villa, the way they defended, it meant that Tottenham had to shoot from
00:59range. They couldn't really develop any clear cut opportunities and to be fair Villa going
01:04up 1-0 at the break. It could have been either team that had it and probably more likely
01:08to be goalless but Villa did have that advantage. Crucially though, they couldn't hold onto
01:12it. In that second half, it just showed no kind of concentration whatsoever. The game
01:17plan fell apart and a couple of enforced substitutions didn't help Emery's case. Morgan Rodgers
01:23got kicked a couple of times and was probably okay to carry on but Emery decided to give
01:28some minutes to John Duran. But essentially the more important one today was Matty Cash
01:33going off. Yes, maybe not the most incredible Villa player. He's definitely not a star man.
01:38He can quite often be the person to make the mistakes but today he looked very solid. He
01:42looked composed. He had the concentration at right back and when he went off, Ezri
01:46Konza who played so well in the middle had to go off to the right. Diego Carlos comes
01:50into the centre and we've seen quite often this season, and last to be fair, when he
01:55comes on into a high tempo situation, he struggles to meet that tempo and we definitely saw that
02:00today. Not just him, Pau Torres as well passing out from the back, nowhere near as composed,
02:06gave away the ball on several occasions. Lucas Dean let Brennan Johnson in behind for the
02:10equalising goal which proved crucial. It was a bit of a turning point in this match. Dominic
02:14Solanke scored twice, the first goal. It was a decent pass from Dejan Kulishevski but Pau
02:21Torres and Lucas Dean were both dragged into that situation when they didn't need to be.
02:25Ezri Konza played Solanke on the side, allowed Tottenham to go 2-1 up. Just a few minutes later,
02:31Richarlison's low cross goes through Pau Torres' legs. Diego Carlos completely wrong-footed in
02:36that situation and then Solanke passes it home. And then Diego Carlos again at fault in added
02:42time, giving away the free kick that James Madison converted emphatically into the top
02:47right-hand corner. So 4-1 is the final score and you can't really argue with that considering
02:53Tottenham were on top possession-wise in the first half and then had so many more chances
02:57in the second. Villa just one shot on target in this match. That was Rodgers' goal in the
03:02first half from just a yard out. 12 shots altogether, nowhere near clinical enough,
03:06too many mistakes at the back and it has cost them. It's the second time in 12 months that Villa have
03:11been thrashed here at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and there's plenty to learn if Unai Emery's men
03:15are going to get Champions League football yet again. But still, very early days, a trip in the
03:20Champions League to Club Bruges midweek, a trip to Liverpool in the Premier League next week.
03:23They can get redemption. They just need to source out their concentration issues.