'Spursy' – Roy Keane hits out at Tottenham defending for Ollie Watkins winner in Aston Villa defeat

Ollie Watkins scores the winner for Aston Villa at Tottenham in November 2023.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Manchester United legend Roy Keane has taken quite a few digs at Tottenham over the years and the Irishman hit out at Spurs again following their 2-1 loss at home to Aston Villa on Sunday.

Ange Postecoglou's depleted team took the lead through Giovani Lo Celso after 22 minutes, but were pegged back by Villa's Pau Torres deep into added time at the end of the first half at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

The home side were made to pay for missing a number of chances as Ollie Watkins, who saw a first-half effort ruled out by VAR, hit a winner for he visitors just after the hour mark.

Spurs' back line was static as Watkins received a pass from Youri Tielemans and beat Guglielmo Vicario with a fine finish from the edge of the area.

Keane, who has admitted in the past that he supported Spurs as a boy in Ireland, was not impressed.

Speaking on Sky Sports in his role as a pundit, the 52-year-old said: Really poor defending from Spurs. You've got to get tight, got to be aggressive. They've just switched off at the wrong time.

"Lovely goal from Villa, brilliant ball, lovely finish, but defensively from Spurs, really… Spursy."

The defeat was Tottenham's third in a row after a superb start to the season which had seen them top the table in October.

But Postecoglou was missing a host of players through injury, including James Maddison, Micky van de Ven and Richarlison, while both Cristian Romero and Yves Bissouma were suspended.

And Spurs suffered another blow as midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur had to go off in the first half after he was clattered by Villa's Matty Cash.

The Uruguayan midfielder, who was recently returned from a long spell out after recovering from an anterior cruciate ligament injury, had been Tottenham's best player in the opening hald an hour.

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Ben Hayward
Weekend editor

Ben Hayward is a European football writer and Tottenham Hotspur fan with over 15 years’ experience, he has covered games all over the world - including three World Cups, several Champions League finals, Euros, Copa America - and has spent much of that time in Spain. Ben speaks English and Spanish, currently dividing his time between Barcelona and London, covering all the big talking points of the weekend on FFT: he’s also written several list features and interviewed Guglielmo Vicario for the magazine.