Aston Villa at Spurs, the manager decision and highlights from the news conference

Spurs are not the same Spurs they were a few seasons ago and they’ve spent an awful lot of money this year to try and make themselves better.

And they have most of the ingredients. I was at the new stadium recently and it’s impressive and everyone loves London. So why, with such a wonderful stadium and all this money to spend do you let a manager like Roberto De Zerbi spend it?

Don’t get me wrong, I could be wrong but when I look at where he’s managed and what he’s achieved, I have to say I’m stumped.

He’s been managing since 2013 and Spurs is his ninth job. What can anyone have seen with an average of less than 2 seasons in a job that warrants giving him the fourth biggest job in London? I have to tell you, I’m baffled.

And when you look at the sides he has managed, Brighton for example, all he really did there was coach. And because he hasn’t spent any real time at any side, how much has he really managed?

I think the bigger question is how long will Spurs fans accept a manager with a win every three games?

Yes, I’ve put myself front and center for abuse if we don’t win tomorrow and I don’t think in this League you can expect to beat anyone and they have as good a chance as us at getting three points, but if they do win, it’s still only five wins in 14 games and we have Unai Emery as manager.

But Spurs fans won’t be happy unless he wins the next two. And even then, he’s two defeats away from getting talked of as the next manager to go. I just don’t know how he managed to get the job in the first place and I can’t imagine for a moment there are many Spurs fans that think he’ll be in the job next season.

But enough about Spurs. We haven’t exactly set the world alight yet either this season and despite beating Coventry the other night we didn’t look that great. I had spent the afternoon in the pub but from what I saw, it felt like we were a little too sloppy. It looked like we were not as decisive as we should be when every game matters.

That might all change tomorrow and who am I to question the manager. I know he knows what he’s doing, but simple passes are simple and we should be more certain with what we are doing.

Watch now, we’ll not give the ball away tomorrow and we’ll score four.

News conference highlights from the BBC

• Marco Asensio, Amadou Onana, Modou Cisse, Pau Torres, Ian Maatsen, Leon Goretzka and Brian Madjo are all out through injury and will not feature against Tottenham.

• He said their younger players - Ibrahim Mbaye, George Hemmings and Brian Madjo - “until now, have not been good enough in the Premier League”.

• The Villa boss insisted the Premier League “is the most difficult league in the world” and that “the balance is very difficult for every team” when it comes to buying and selling players in order to compete in the top flight.

• On the games they have played so far: “We are performing differently for the demands and, for how, we are in our process. In the Premier League, we had a lack of good results, a lack of enough performance collectively and even individually, but we are lack of the process to build the team as well. Hopefully tomorrow, we’ll watch the team improving.”

• On facing Tottenham, who have yet to win or score a goal in the league: “Their potential is huge. They signed a lot of very good players, but they need time to get everything compact, and to achieve understanding their idea.”

• Emery said he expects Spurs “to be in the top four”, despite the difficult start they have had.

• He praised opposition boss Roberto de Zerbi: “A fantastic manager. He played fantastic football here and performed fantastic here with Brighton. He did a fantastic job before in Italy and Marseille. They [Spurs] are getting better. They compete fantastic, even losing against Liverpool.”