Aston Villa boss Paul Lambert has hit back at Tottenham rival Andre Villas-Boas over criticism of his tactics.

Villas-Boas was the latest to have a go after Tottenham's 4-0 Capital One Cup win at Villa on Tuesday and Jose Mourinho did the same after Villa pushed Chelsea hard at Stamford Bridge.

"It's detrimental to say things like that," said Lambert.

"If you look at your stats, how many long balls Chelsea played against us, I'm pretty sure we weren't ahead of them.

"We might play a long pass but we don't just kick it up front and hope for the best. It's not right to say that about us. We try to pass it and try to play football in the right way."