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Pundit lambasts ‘awful’ Tottenham who ‘let fans down’ in Villa defeat

Tottenham looked ‘awful’ in their home defeat by Aston Villa on Wednesday night and let the club’s fans down, according to pundit Micah Richards.

Spurs took the lead through Steven Bergwijn on the night, but then a comical own goal from Sergio Reguilon and an Ollie Watkins strike after another mistake from the left-back sealed a deserved win for the visitors. The defeat saw Ryan Mason’s men drop out of the top six ahead of their final game of the league season away at Champions League-chasing Leicester.

They currently sit seventh, which would earn them a Europa Conference League play-off clash.

Star striker Harry Kane went on a lap of honour in front of around 10,000 fans after the match. The gesture, with Kane looking emotional, appears to suggest that it was his last home game for the club.

And speaking to Sky Sports following their disappointing loss, Richards was shocked at just how bad Tottenham were. He did feel, however, that concerns over Kane’s future may have played a part in the display.

“They were awful, they started well. They got the goal through Bergwijn and they looked in control for the first 10 minutes,” Richards said.

“Then Reguilon did not have his best game if I am totally honest. It just felt flat today, I don’t know why. They had their fans in stadium and so maybe there was more expectation.

“Reguilon makes a mistake, not once, but twice, and the fans felt let down. Villa were really good, but Spurs were really bad. I don’t know if talk of Kane potentially leaving if it had an effect on the squad or confidence.

“But Spurs were awful today. At least under Mason they have had a little bit of spirit and fight, but today there was none of that, which I was very surprised with to be honest.”

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Mason fed up with Kane questions

Meanwhile, Tottenham interim boss Ryan Mason claimed Harry Kane “means a lot” but refused to comment any further on the Spurs striker’s future.

Tottenham provided further evidence why Kane  might think he needs to leave to be successful after an abject display in a 2-1 loss to Aston Villa which severely hurts their Europa League chances. Kane has reportedly told the club he wants to be sold this summer and there is no surprise as this performance shows how far Spurs have fallen in recent years.

Mason told BBC Match of the Day: “We scored a good goal but we gave them a goal that they didn’t have to earn.

“When you give a Premier League team two goals it becomes very difficult to change the game. I’m very disappointed. It wasn’t how we wanted to finish the season at home in front of our fans.

“It’s a big game for us [on Sunday], it’s a big game for them [Leicester City]. We have to get over this. We will work tomorrow, there is no doubt we have to be ready and we know what we have to do.”

After claiming he was not “aware of” Kane asking to leave and the saying “I don’t know” when probed about the England man’s future earlier in the week, the interim boss refused to speak about him on Wednesday night.

On Kane, Mason said: “He means a lot. He’s a Tottenham player. I’ve answered so many questions on Harry Kane in the last 24 hours. I’m willing to speak about the game but not individuals. We were fully focused on the match and I’m very disappointed.

“There are so many emotions in football. I love representing this football club. Yes a lot has been going on. But our aim is to get results on the pitch and unfortunately we didn’t do that.”

READ MORE: Tottenham trying to deprive Mourinho of Roma talent as Arsenal watch on

 

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