Aston Villa knock out Spurs from the FA Cup third round and Macclesfield are giant killers.
Wow! This may be the time for a sharp intake of breath. The FA Cup third round is rather like some old fashioned cabaret show, a burlesque that draws rapturous applause from its audience but then rubs its eyes with bewilderment. Saturday afternoons were designed to keep football supporters on the edge of their seats. Yesterday they were biting on their fingernails while delivering a steady supply of intrigue, pathos and bathos, the kind of mystery and mystique that never fails to be anything less than enchanting.
Last night at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, Spurs were once again shooting themselves in the foot, trundling awkwardly, painfully and ultimately out of the exit door of the FA Cup. This was not Tottenham's evening and for some of the more hardened Spurs fans this was rather like watching the same cowboy film over and over again. You almost expected a whole cavalry of horses to charge stampeding through the Wild West saloon doors and just firing bullets from guns that were clearly not loaded.
From the kick off, Spurs were on the back foot, the home team but only in name since Aston Villa simply played Tottenham off the park quite literally at times. This has been one horrendous season for Thomas Frank's team so far. They will certainly not be relegated but, at the moment, are just treading water and going nowhere fast. Next weekend Spurs play their most loathed London rivals West Ham at home and this will not be a game for those of a nervous disposition. There are gloating derby rights at stake but, for both, this should be an opportune moment to hide behind the sofa.
By the end of a ludicrously one sided match during the first half, Villa were just taunting and spinning around white Tottenham shirts rather like that silver ball on a pinball machine that just leaves you breathless and disbelieving. Under Villa boss Unai Emery, Aston Villa have grown into the season and now find themselves playing the most breath taking football ever seen at Villa Park. After a sluggish start to the season, Villa are a side liberated, independent, carefree, boastful and brazen, moving the ball around with an almost joyous abandon, neat, short passing that has been nothing short of invigorating.
During the first half, Aston Villa were quite literally running rings around the Spurs defence rather like a fairground carousel that just keeps getting faster and faster. There is the sweetest fluency about some of Villa's football that reminds you of the Ron Saunders years. Admittedly, Saunders was the strictest of disciplinarians and there was still something of the military sergeant major in his managerial approach. But the likes of Tony Morley, Gordon Cowans, Denis Mortimer and Gary Shaw still prospered with easy going, pleasant, sedate and measured football that often had a mind of its own.
But this is the Villa of the 2026 class. Villa's League championship winning year of 1981 may sound like medieval history but the victorious European Cup winning year the following year may have been mentioned by somebody at Villa. If this was the case then no more motivation was needed for Aston Villa since their 2-1 FA Cup third round victory was a masterclass. For Villa, an FA Cup Final victory at Wembley may come as blessed relief since the last time Villa won the Cup, Eddie Cochran was at the height of his career and Bill Hayley and the Comets were rocking around the clock.
The FA Cup does like to leave us hanging in suspense at times but for Villa, this game was all but over by half time. Aston Villa scored two of the most sensational and sumptuous goals seen on any British football ground for quite a while. They were both the result of passing of the most spectacular order, passes coated with the most gleaming emulsion paint and passes that had the finest texture and breeding about them. For years English football has been crying out for the kind of football that Villa produced last night against Spurs. It had simplicity, purity and an idealistic romance to it.
From Ezri Konsa to Pau Torres always searching, foraging and linking to delicious effect, Villa were simply weaving in and out of Spurs shirts rather like a spider hard at work with its web. In the middle of the park, the stunning playmaking talents of Youri Tielemans consistently opened up the home side rather like a child tearing apart the wrapping paper on Christmas Day. Matty Cash and Ian Maatsen were piercing holes in the Spurs defence with the most beautiful flourishes while John McCginn continues to give the impression that he may be the best and most effective player Scottish football has given us for many years.
McCguinn carries the ball into the opponents half with a style and panache that is so rare in the Grampians that even the most optimistic Scottish supporter must be dreaming of success in this World Cup year. McCguinn is full of passion and purpose, vision and perception, seeing things in front of him that lesser players would find impossible to fathom. Yesterday evening, McCguinn and the superb Morgan Rogers were making their respective cases for World Cup inclusion.
Villa's opening goal had an air of inevitability about it. Spurs were like startled rabbits in the headlights so great was Villa's attacking superiority. A four man pincer movement from Aston Villa sliced open the tattered remnants of a dwindling Spurs defence. Through Lamare Malen, John McGinn and finally Emiliano Buendia, Spurs were turned inside out and left gasping at oxygen. The passes were quickfire and spontaneous, as if somebody had just flicked a switch before Buendia drove home the goal for Villa.
For at least an hour, Villa just sent out a veritable Morse Code of passes along the ground that had Tottenham speechless and dumbfounded. Then in the second half, Villa relaxed their hold on the game and the balance began to tilt in the home side's favour. There was a noticeable sea change and Spurs began to find their players and feet with a gratifying accuracy. It was another optical illusion though and the home side were well and truly beaten at the final whistle.
Now it was that cultured midfielder Joao Palhinha, still capable of floating through games like the vastly experienced that he is, was joined by Archie Gray, one for Spurs future, Micky Van De Ven, neat and classy. Then there was Ben Davies who always looked good on the ball and perpetual in motion. Kevin Danso and Mathys Tel were doing their collective utmost to drag Spurs back into the match but by now Villa were digging in obstinately and refusing to be beaten to the first ball.
Then the same combination of Rogers, Malen and Buendia found Morgan Rogers twisting around the Spurs penalty area like candy floss at the seaside. Rogers found space for himself and slammed the ball low past a helpless Spurs keeper. That, you might have thought, was definitely that. But then Spurs launched an impressive comeback in the second half. When Xavi Simons drilled the ball wide of the Villa keeper and into the net, Spurs looked to be clinging onto unexpected lifelines but the moment had already passed. Villa hung on grimly for their victory and a place in the fourth round of the FA Cup.
So it's Aston Villa who progress to the next round of the FA Cup. Spurs may just have to console themselves with now distant memories of their 1991 FA Cup Final Wembley triumph against Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest. It may not be much but somewhere in there is an excellent team struggling to get out. How Spurs miss the likes of somebody like the late and great Martin Chivers. Big Chiv would have known the route to goal but Spurs will find their stylish rhythm again. But Thomas Frank's men may have to go back to the drawing board.
No comments:
Post a Comment