Barney Ronay

You can even see some of this baiting the press there, particularly in the second half.

And Kinski's willingness to play the ball into what you would say were difficult positions, the midfield's willingness to deal with that.

All of that is very positive.

And I think...

And there's reasons for Spurs to be optimistic for the first time in months.

But you can't overlook the fact that Villa were disgracefully awful.

I mean, really shamefully awful.

And to an extent, it's fair enough.

They've got themselves in a position where they've almost achieved their objectives.

And part of your reward for that is you can rest players if you have other priorities.

But still, they were dreadful.

And what was really on this game for them?

Their objectives for this game were to come through unscathed in terms of injuries, keep players fit for the second leg of the Europa League semi.

And it's a happy by-product for them that the team they play in that Europa League semi, more pressure is applied to them by the fact that they lost it on them.

Now, that is not for seconds suggesting they threw the game.

I'm just saying that Villa's motivations were not there and that really showed.

Yeah, I mean, it was right over on the edge of the box.

I guess from his point of view, he doesn't want to let him have time to measure across.

But still, it's one of those instinctive fouls, isn't it?

I guess it's quite hard to stop yourself from doing.