Travel savvy Spurs restore confidence with classy win at the Villa

This was no thriller at the Villa, but the Spurs faithful would not mind one bit. AVB’s boys needed a good performance and result after their last outing against West Ham. Aston Villa did not hand Spurs victory on a plate. However, Tottenham never looked like losing this match. The only questions were whether they would score the goals needed given their relatively poor scoring record and whether keeper – sweeper Hugo Lloris would give supporters another heart in mouth moment.

In the circumstances, Andros Townsend (more on him later) rounded off a dream week by scoring direct from a cross and gave a strong all round performance. Roberto Soldado also looked sharper than he has recently as he clinically finished off a slick Spurs move, scoring his first premier league goal from open play in the process. Other players to impress were Kyle Walker who linked well with Townsend down the right flank, Lewis Holtby who was busy in the creative role as Eriksson was left out. Sandro protected his back four with bristling aggression and Paulinho cruised through the game without breaking sweat. It was also good to see Vlad Chirices start a premiership game. Undoubtedly, the Romanian international will get roughed up in the premiership in the coming months as he adapts to the English game, however, given time and space, he has intelligent ball distribution skills that can only enhance Tottenham’s possession play.  

So as we approach the first quarter of an interesting season, Andre Villa Boas, who turned 36 last Thursday, can reflect on the fact that despite defeats to West Ham and Arsenal, his team have made their best start to a premiership season. That start has been necessary because despite being one of the most open seasons in premiership history and some surprising early results, the main protagonists (Manchester united excepted) have moved menacingly to the top of table. No prizes are won in October, but you can put yourself in contention and create good momentum going into November and December.  Spurs have the joint second best defensive record in the premiership. That is a solid foundation and deserves credit. However, they also have the joint fifth worst scoring record in the premiership. That needs to improve as some teams already have a goal difference buffer that is almost worth an extra point and Spurs will probably need to break their premiership points record again to be sure of champions’ league qualification. Still, the squad looks strong, has great potential and there remains much room for optimism.

It’s been a quite remarkable six months in the life of young Andros Townsend.  May 2013 must seem a life time ago.  Back then, he had come back from his ninth loan spell, he was charged by the FA with a breach of betting rules, given a three month ban (suspended till 2016). Aaron Lennon was ahead of him in Spurs first team, Gareth Bale was not going to be sold. He had voluntarily withdrawn from the England under - 21 squad for the ill - fated European championships and he faced a battle just to get back in the under - 21 squad, never mind the senior England squad.

Given the array of midfield talent that pitched up at Tottenham over the summer, Andros had every right to worry about his Tottenham future. However, he has raised his game brilliantly and he is now a realistic contender for a place in the England squad for the world cup in Brazil. For Spurs followers, there is something really heart warming about seeing a proper home grown player (Andros has been with Tottenham since he was eight) coming through the ranks and succeeding at the highest level. His maturity in the spotlight, especially over England Manager, Roy Hodgson’s comments was very impressive. Well done Andros. Long may it continue.

A word on Roy Hodgson, who bravely gave Andros Townsend his big chance against the better judgement of some, including Spurs coach AVB. Roy Hodgson is not racist and there was nothing inappropriate about his comments. He would have made the exact comment if Gareth Bale had been playing instead of Andros Townsend and no one would have batted an eyelid. That settles it for me. I actually find it quite endearing that in the middle of a tense game, Roy Hodgson sought to lighten the mood in the dressing room by joking and Andros Townsend had it right when he stated that he took it as a compliment. He got the context and it should never have even been a story. To paraphrase a legendary sports journalist, ‘enough of that crap. Let’s get on with the football’.