Aston Villa's dismal defeat to Spurs in the Premier League left many fans questioning Unai Emery's surprising team selection, with a performance that was so bad it has been called an 'embarrassment'. Our Villa reporter, John Townley, delivered scathing criticism, simply stating that the performance 'stank' and it looked like nobody could be bothered.
Reporter's Verdict: 'I Was Embarrassed'
John blasted: 'I was embarrassed. You can talk about tactics, who could have played or in what position, but forget that. We didn't show any level of professionalism, and it felt like we just turned up. Played eleven players, lost the game, and crack on with it. I hadn't seen a first half like that from us for a long time. We were atrocious.'
Lack of Fundamentals
'We lacked the fundamentals. Tyrone Mings said that Villa lacked energy, passion, fight, and desire. He's right, so I'm not going to bother talking about formations, tactics, and systems - forget it - we had one touch in the Spurs box. We lacked all those fundamentals that are basic requirements at the top level of football. In Sunday League, you get shouted at if you don't put the effort in and track back - Unai didn't move on the touchline! That's not me saying the players should need him to do that, it just felt like this was bad, they knew it was bad, are they bothered?'
Seven Changes and No Excuse
'We made seven changes. You can talk about how that sends the wrong message, or maybe we shouldn't have done that. Forget it. The players who were playing showed nothing. It was that bad and that extreme. It almost felt like they were choosing to show nothing. It was genuinely like after 10 minutes or even at half time if you had said to Emery to shake hands and call it quits. I think they would have done that.'
Professional Responsibility
'If Villa get through in the Europa League, there's still no excuse for Spurs. That doesn't make up for it. That's not relevant. You show up in every game because you have a professional responsibility to do so. You're wearing a Villa shirt for a start and the players, they know the responsibility that that is because we've done so well over the last three years, but they let themselves down. The club let itself down. That whole thing was just, it stunk.'
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