Alex McLeish bemoans sloppy defending

Aston Villa boss Alex McLeish has blamed sloppy defending for his side's 2-0 loss to Tottenham last night.

Two first-half goals from Emmanuel Adebayor shocked Villa and they were unable to recover in the second half.

"It's so frustrating that we should lose to such easy goals. We started so well, nearly scoring after 40 seconds," McLeish said. "We can't concede goals like that and expect to do well in the Premier League.

"It was a bad day at the office for a few of our players. They know that they owe the Villa fans and me a performance in the next game.

"Spurs are a fantastic team with a lot of pace and athleticism and great technical players. But you can't allow them to flourish the way we did."

Villa are currently eighth in the Premier League with 15 points from 12 games.