A 24th minute goal from Rafael van der Vaart has sent visiting Tottenham Hotspur into halftime up 1-0 on Aston Villa. A 27th red card shown Jermaine Defoe has left Spurs down a man for the next 45 minutes. So what do these sides do now?
Aston Villa Vs. Tottenham Hotspur, Halftime: Villa Down A Goal, Up A Man - Now What?
Before we get to that, let's talk about the red card. Jermain Defoe jumped into a man with a raised elbow and made contact above the shoulders. On a lucky day, that's a yellow card, but officials are asked to show red for that play. Regardless or intent or effect, Defoe got an expected penalty. A clearly didn't intend to raise his elbow, but the penalty is in place so that players are more conscious about keeping their arms down. Defoe failed to do that.
As a result, Harry Redknapp has a decision to make. He didn’t make any chances for the first half’s last 18 minutes, using his 4-4-1-1 as a 4-4-1 with van der Vaart as their most advanced player. At some point in the second half, that will likely have to change. Spurs were able to hold a large part of the possession once playing 10-on-11, but Gèrard Houllier is going to adjust.
The question is whether Spurs should beat him to the punch. Do you put in Roman Pavlyuchenko or Peter Crouch at 46', put in that outlet man you're going to eventually need? And if so, who do you take off? I like the idea of swapping Pavlychenko for Aaron Lennon.
For Gèrard Houllier, having to burn a sub to take off Emile Heskey (for Nathan Delfouneso) handcuffs you a bit, but Barry Bannan for Jonathan Hogg should be obligatory. Get the little Scot on, use his ability to spray the ball around, and relay on him to stretch-out the out-manned Tottenham defense. Be more aggressive about getting Stephen Warnock and Eric Lichaj down the sides, particularly away from the play, so Bannan will have targets.
At some point, if that doesn’t work, we may see Robert Pìres. Assuming the Frenchman has some of his composure left, he’ll be a need presence on the edge of the penalty area should Spurs start packing in the defense.
The other options on Villa's bench - Stiliyan Petrov, Ciaran Clark, Nigel Reo-Coker and Brad Guzan - are of little use. Even if Villa were to take a lead, you would think players better on the ball would be needed to retain possession against an outnumbered side.
If Villa were to take a late lead, you could see the argument for bringing no a player like Clark in the match’s final moments, but by that time, hopefully Houllier has brought on both Bannan and Pires, using his last substitutes. If the Villa boss has waited until late to bring both of them on, he’s probably being too conservative.
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