Former Chelsea star has made a brutal assessment of Tottenham’s 3-2 defeat to Aston Villa.
Aston Villa piled more misery on Roberto De Zerbi by beating his Tottenham Hotspur side 3-2 in north London on Saturday afternoon.
Under Roberto De Zerbi’s demanding system, success relies on scrupulous positioning, rapid ball circulation, pristine passing angles and continuous pressing off the ball. Despite more than £300million worth of new players, Spurs look as bad as they did last season. The new signings are yet to settle in at the club; Sandro Tonali has looked laboured in midfield, Omar Marmoush is struggling to have an impact, and Savio has shown promise without any real end product.
The highly reinforced defensive unit managed back-to-back clean sheets in the last two weeks, but they fell apart against Aston Villa. The visitors’ first two goals were a perfect example.
Joe Cole rips apart summer signing after Tottenham’s humiliation at the hands of Aston Villa
Nicolas Jackson ran Tottenham’s defence ragged, playing an integral role in Aston Villa’s deserved success in N17. A second-half goal was the reward of Jackson’s hard work, persistence and commitment, with the Senegalese striker proving a handful for the centre-backs Jan Paul van Hecke and Micky van de Ven before rifling his shot past the outstretched Antonin Kinsky.
TalkSPORT commentator Stuart Pearce slammed Jan Paul van Hecke for his performance against Villa, highlighting his glaring error in Jackson’s goal. He also questioned the Dutchman’s price tag. Former Chelsea midfielder Joe Cole was also critical of the 26-year-old and made a grim prediction of how Tottenham’s season will pan out.
“I feel like they’ve overpaid for every player this summer,” Joe Cole told TNT Sports (h/t The Metro).
“You can’t rule them out of being in or around the relegation battle because they’re not scoring goals and they look so weak at the back.
“He [Van Hecke] scored the goal, but he has to be disappointed with his performance. Knowing the way that they play, they leave the centre-halves a little bit vulnerable; that’s why you buy centre-halves who can deal with those one-on-one challenges.
“I know he’s a handful, Jackson, but for the goal he’s not good enough, and I know he scored the goal, but they’ve got a real problem.
“Forget scoring goals, they look fragile. Put the two together, and it only comes up with one conclusion: that this is going to be a long season for Tottenham.”
Worst game in a Tottenham shirt for Van Hecke
Indeed, Van Hecke endured a torrid afternoon like the majority of his Tottenham teammates. He did not aggressively compete for the long ball with Jackson, which led to Villa’s second goal, whilst getting easily bypassed by Villa players a fair few times in the game.
Yes, the Netherlands international scored a stoppage-time header that reduced the deficit and made the scoreline look a bit respectable for his side, but the Lilywhites paid £52million for his services from Brighton in the summer to ‘defend first’. As a result, he was handed a 5/10 rating vs. Villa, and our fans would not have minded anything below that score as well in what was Van Hecke’s worst performance in a Tottenham shirt thus far.
