Instant reaction to Spurs being gifted three points against Villa

Well that was a weird match. And it sucked. And it was miserable. Six straight losses. Let's recap.

The first half started out almost as poorly as was possible, with Spurs getting a shot off inside of 45 seconds. The only good news was that the shot was wide and Spurs couldn't make anything from the opportunity. And that was the story of the half for the visitors, who had numerous chances thanks to a bad defense that left things wide open. Luckily for Villa, Spurs did what Spurs do and converted none of them.

But the real story of the first half was Aston Villa scoring for the first time in 546 minutes. Charles N'Zogbia placed a great pass into a sliding Andi Weimann and Villa had the lead. A LEAD. ASTON VILLA HAD A LEAD. That's a thing that happened. And it was actually a pretty nice goal, as you can see here.

The second half continued the same story. Spurs having chances go begging (thanks Emmanuel Adebayor for being terrible!) and Villa not able to do much with their own opportunities. And then things started getting chippy. In the 65th minute, Ryan Mason got into it with Christian Benteke. Mason clearly hit Benteke with his head, but that didn't get seen. What got seen (not by the ref, mind you) was Benteke putting his hand to Mason's face. I think the red was uncalled for, but it fits the letter of the law (EDIT: perhaps not). So whatever. But the fact that Mason got nothing infuriates me.

Regardless, it means that Benteke will likely be out for three matches (unless he wins an appeal, which I doubt will happen). And Villa had to continue on. Andi was obviously furious and began playing like a man with revenge on his mind. A few minutes after Benteke was off, Weimann got a yellow for a needless foul. But, then Villa started closing things up and defending better than they had during most of the match. It seemed as if they were consolidating their losses and playing for the win.

But a man down it was difficult, and Spurs managed to equalize in the 84th minute when Nacer Chadli slotted home a long, hanging corner. And then it was time for Villa to hang onto the point. And they couldn't. Carlos Sanchez gave away a stupid foul and Spurs had a free kick about 25 yards outside the box. Harry Kane took it, deflected off the wall, and gave Spurs the lead in the 90th.

The most infuriating thing was Paul Lambert substituting in this match as if he didn't want to lose. When Spurs got even, he added Kieran Richardson. If ever there were a match that fans would forgive a loss in, this was it. And yet Lambert still played for the draw. With three minutes gone in stoppage time, he finally brought on Darren Bent. Started playing for the win when a goal behind. I'm so sick and tired of this type of strategy from the gaffer.

And that's how it stayed. Screw Spurs. Screw the ref. Screw Paul Lambert. Screw football. I hate everything about this season.