Analysis: Tottenham defeat confirms Aston Villa still a work in progress

But their performance in Sunday’s 2-1 defeat was confirmation of how much further Dean Smith’s team have left to go.

Villa had travelled to north London eager to make another statement by following up the previous weekend’s 1-0 win at Manchester United.

Instead, they served up their most lacklustre display since the opening day defeat at Watford back in August.

Only briefly, for around four second half minutes, did it look as though Villa might grasp something from the game when Ollie Watkins turned home Matt Targett’s low cross to bring the visitors level against the run of play.

But Tottenham were quickly back ahead, the unlucky Targett adjudged to have got the final touch on Heung-Min Son’s low cross and Villa never seriously looked like restoring parity again. In truth, they would have lost by more were it not for excellent last-ditch defending from Tyrone Mings and Emi Martinez’s fine goalkeeping.

Defeat at Tottenham is no disgrace. For all the hosts might have entered the match on a three-match losing streak in the Premier League, they still have the likes of Harry Kane and Son in their ranks. The latter in particular was exceptional, setting up both goals, including Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg’s 27th minute opener.

But Villa are a team with major aspirations and if they want to become serious challengers to the top-six, they know big wins like the one at United need to be followed up. On this evidence, they are still lacking the consistency of the top flight’s elite though granted it remains very much early days, both in terms of the season and evolution of Smith’s new-look unit.

With Spurs on song Villa also needed to be good if they were going to take anything from the match and to be blunt they were a long way from that. Players who have rightly earned praise in recent weeks weren’t on their game, with Jacob Ramsey and Douglas Luiz experiencing their toughest afternoon’s of the season to date, albeit the former was involved in the move to set up Watkins’ equaliser.

The goal was the result of a fine move, completely out of keeping with the rest of Villa’s play. Otherwise, when the visitors got into positions where it looked as though they could hurt the hosts, they invariably picked the wrong option. Not even the introduction of Emi Buendia, immediately after they had drawn level, could change that. The Argentine's Villa career continues to be something of a slow burn.

With three wins, three defeats and a draw from their opening seven fixtures, Villa's start to the season now appears little better than average.

Perhaps that is unfair, considering the disruption which blighted the early weeks of the campaign and the calibre of their most recent opponents. On the flip side, Villa had still been some way from perfect even when recording victories over Everton and United and Sunday’s defeat again featured some of the more disappointing aspects of those performances.

While Watkins will undoubtedly benefit from having found the net for the first time this season, his relationship with new strike partner Danny Ings still looks some way from clicking. You might also question whether the three-man defensive system utilised by Smith since the last international break at times hampers his team as a creative force? At least in previous matches it has brought Villa some defensive solidity. Against Tottenham, by contrast, they were cut apart far too often.

Perspective is always important. Had Villa won on Sunday they would have been heralded genuine top-six contenders. But though it would be an exaggeration to claim the result has sent Smith back to the drawing board, the head coach certainly some thinking to do during the international break.

It is a long time since Villa headed into this fixture with so much optimism and the opening five minutes were encouraging as they pressed and the hosts found it difficult to escape their own half.

But quickly it was Tottenham who began to take control and when Hojbjerg fired them into the lead it was deserved. The Dane started and finished the move, winning the ball off John McGinn in midfield and then collecting the return pass from Son, taking advantage of the acres of space afforded him by Villa’s defence on the edge of the area to stroke a finish into the far corner.

There were times when it was backs-to-the-wall stuff from Villa. Ezri Konsa dived in to deny Son a tap-in while the South Korean, whose performance had everything but the goal, was denied by Martinez one-on-one.

When Villa scored you wondered whether momentum would shift. From almost nothing, the visitors strung together their best move of the match, Konsa stepping out of defence and finding Ramsey, who was brought down by Cristian Romero as he moved the ball on to Ings. Referee Chris Kavanagh waved play on and when Ings found Targett on the left, the wing-back fizzed in a low cross which Watkins turned home at the near post.

Tottenham, however, hit back quickly. Son escaped once again down the left and with the Villa defence all running back toward their own goal his low cross was poked home by the sliding Targett, with Lucas Moura waiting just behind.

For a few minutes Villa looked in the mood to set up a grandstand finish but after Ings, starved off clear-cut chances in recent weeks, had shot too close to Hugo Lloris they never seriously threatened again.

The anti-climatic finish felt fitting on a day which for Villa promised much but delivered disappointingly little.