I’ll keep it short and sweet. I like to keep my match reports professional, level-headed and concise, but tonight – it’ll just be concise.
Aston Villa capitulated against League Two Stevenage at home, just shortly after fans had been booking their coach travel for a trip to Stoke City in the fourth round. A truly humbling Sunday afternoon – Emery fielded a much changed eleven from midweek against Wolves, with many of those awarded a start failing to make a positive impression.
The first half was stale, sluggish and unimaginative. One slight shining light was the appearance of Morgan Sanson, the banished Frenchman who had barely kicked a ball in claret and blue since his arrival in 2021. His goal came from a pretty tidy spell of passing in tight space just outside the penalty area, with Danny Ings setting it up for Sanson to score his first Aston Villa goal. It was all downhill thereafter.
Villa’s passing was laboured and Stevenage looked more than happy to sit back and defend, hoping to catch Villa out with an occasional counter attack. The visitors kept their shape well and, following an offside goal early on, kept their heads up and managed a decent attempt on goal through number 9, Luke Norris, whose long range shot glanced the crossbar.
The second half was much the same. Villa did come out slightly brighter after the break, but were toothless in attack, and quickly reverted back to type. Bailey was weak on the ball and could not beat his man on the right side. Coutinho’s attempts looked lazy, desperate and failed to inspire – disappointing given his movement was decent in the first half. Ings was also pretty invisible; granted without much service.
With just five minutes to go, holding on to a one goal lead, Villa looked like they would manage to drag themselves to full time. However, Olsen’s awful pass out of the back left Dendonker under pressure, losing the ball on the edge of the area. In a desperate attempt to regain possession, the Belgian pulled down his man and was quickly shown a red card, making him a bystander to the inevitable conversion from the penalty spot.
A real slump at Villa Park on the 88th minute. However, things were about to get much worse. Stevenage were encouraged by their late entry back into the fixture, attacking again down the middle and earning a corner on the 90th minute. In what can only be described as a moment of sheer naivety, Aston Villa failed to anticipate the short corner from the visitors, leaving a spare Stevenage body in the box, unchallenged, ready to tidy away the winner.
A whopping seven years since Villa won an FA Cup game. This is a shocking record for a club like ours. It’s hard to write this report – the performance was so uninspiring that my fingers and brain are finding it hard to conjure up the words. Emery looked deflated and the crowd certainly were. A cup run out the window for another season.
Aston Villa were humbled – there’s no other way to say it. Stevenage executed a master plan in their first ever meeting with Villa, and exposed the remaining and abundant problem with mentality and attitude in B6. Players underestimating the underdog, putting in maximum effort only once facing a goal deficit, and at some points just a total lack of in-game intelligence.
We’re frustrated. On to Leeds on Friday…
UTV.
AUTHOR | HANNAH GOWEN
Author’s UTV PODCAST archive Hannah Gowen – UTV Podcast | An Aston Villa Blog
On Twitter? Drop the author a follow…
Thumbnail Media Credit: www.avfc.co.uk
SUBSCRIBE
Enjoying this article? It’s FREE to subscribe to UTVPODCAST | An Aston Villa Blog; you’ll receive instant email notifications of all released articles.
If you’ve found this post via Facebook, then please follow our blog page to support our fan-led content – https://www.facebook.com/UTVPODCAST
DONATE
UTVPODCAST | An Aston Villa Blogβ is now accepting small donations, which will help to support the site’s ongoing evolution.
Thank you so much for your support.
HUGE SAVINGS ON ASTON VILLA MERCHANDISE @ KITBAG
UTVPODCAST is pleased to partner with Official AVFC Store, Fanatics, and Kitbag. Throughout the season, we will bring you exclusive offers and discount codes.
HIT THE IMAGE – to be diverted.
