Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert admits it will take time to get his squad to gel.

Lambert was forced to confront the fact that his work in progress is going to advance at a much slower pace than Tottenham's cash-fuelled revamp.

"There is a hell of a long way to go," said Lambert afterwards - and he was not referring to the length of the remaining fixture list but to the time he believes it is going to take to burn his imprint on Villa Park.

"I cannot fault the effort of the players here, though. In fact, apart from when we were well beaten by Everton and for a mad 20 minutes against Southampton, we have been in games."