Results matter: Aston Villa v Tottenham

Everyone has to take responsibility for the defeat last time out. Players and manager are equal in blame and there can not be a repeat today.

Today is about setting the record straight and what better way than three points on Boxing Day at Villa Park? And much like Liverpool, I think we can get something today.

I'm not saying we are going to win, but I think Spurs are for the taking. It wont be easy and I know they are doing well this season, but there are some matches we go into knowing something is possible and for me, today is one of those matches.

Spurs are an all or nothing side away from home having lost four and won four and I think that will be good for us. It suggests that if a team goes at them you can get something and after the last match, there can only be one response from our team.

Performances are important, results matter

For some though, the defeat last time out and what can only be described as not really good enough season, is all the same thing and Lambert needs to get this team playing in a way that gets us results. Football is no longer about having a season or three, the first is often the most important and while silverware shows the results of a season, would you accept a League Cup win to be relegated?

I wouldn't, but that is just me. Some and for the life of me I don't understand this, think that relegation could be a good thing for Aston Villa. Relegation is never a good thing. Having a blog about your football club and writing about isn't even a good thing and it really does show how far we have slipped the last few years.

But it isn't because of Lambert. His signings could be better and the speculation that I'm reading at the moment surprises me a lot. I think it's clear we have enough players that could make it. We now need to be adding the spice to this team, not filling it up with more Championship players the manager thinks might make it.

And we're still two games away from Wembley and then we have to beat Swansea or Chelsea. It isn't a certainty that we'll win anything and Chelsea are the clear favourites with the bookmakers.

Spurs at Villa Park

So, I think it fair to say that having had our worst ever defeat in top-flight football last time out that maybe, just maybe our manager started to believe the hype.

The result last time out shows that you can not believe what others write and maybe it isn't just him or any individual, maybe everyone at the club started to believe it just a little, but when you add all that up and put it together, it's quite a lot and maybe it meant we took our eye off the ball for a moment. Eight moments if you want to get technical and I know there is a lot of ifs and maybes in that, but it was a freak result and nobody can point to one thing as the reason.

My point is that we can not take our eye of the ball today and we have to be fully committed to the match, the performance and getting the right result and that starts from the top down. The manager has to shave today and not look like he rolled in from a London nightclub at 5am and the players have to not give that extra yard of space, as well as quite a few other things that this post isn't about.

Team news and prediction

So, with all that said and done, I hope you had a nice Christmas and I hope you'll be back later for the match. I'm going out for a couple of hours but as soon as we have team news, it will be posted and I'm going to be bold and make a prediction today; a score draw.

Not the best result, but after the last one, I think one everyone will be happy with. One thing is for sure; defeat today would not be good for Lambert.