Tim Sherwood says Ange Postecoglou ‘won’t be happy’ with Ben Davies and Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg following Tottenham Hotspur’s 2-1 defeat to Aston Villa on Sunday.
Despite Tottenham taking an early lead through a deflected effort from Giovani Lo Celso and having numerous chances to score more, it was Ollie Watkins wheeling away in celebration and scoring the winner for Aston Villa.
Unai Emery made two changes at half-time, including Youri Tielemans coming into the action, and he made a telling impact – Tim Sherwood thought he was the difference maker.
But what disappointed the former Tottenham boss was how the likes of Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg and Ben Davies stood like statues as Villa played around them.
As a result of it, Tim Sherwood thinks that Ange Postecoglou won’t be best pleased with those players, as he told Premier League Productions (26/11/23 at 4:15 pm).
The names of Micky van de Ven and Cristian Romero were brought up by Tim Sherwood, but he made it clear ‘you can’t cry over spilt milk’.
Tottenham beaten again
On Spurs dropping back for Watkins’ winner: “We don’t say that about Tottenham often,” said Sherwood
“Davies there, if he was van de Ven or Romero, as soon as Ollie Watkins there to the right comes off him, he would have come with him.
“But Hojbjerg has to shield. He has to be talking to him saying ‘step a couple of sides to the left. That ball can’t get played to Ollie Watkins’.
“If that was van de Ven or Romero, we can’t cry over spilt milk because they are not there, but they would have got Ollie Watkins. They would have stopped it at source before they would have played the ball off to Tielemans.
“The manager won’t be happy with that. He wouldn’t want them to have that amount of time on the ball.”
Tottenham’s lack of depth hurts them
Aston Villa were able to bring on the likes of Leon Bailey and Youri Tielemans when they were on the back foot.
In comparison, a young Argentine teenager, academy midfielder Oliver Skipp and Hojbjerg were brought on by Postecoglou.
And it needs to be noted that there was talk of the latter leaving in the summer, so come January, that is still one to look out for.
It’s the small matter of Manchester City next for Spurs, with Yves Bissouma and Romero set to return to the XI, which will be a big boost for the team.
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