And that’s all from me. Here’s Peter Lansley’s match report again. Bye!
Unai Emery’s reaction. I love the way he starts every interview with “good evening”. Beyond that, though, he rarely says very much and so it is here:
We were trying to dominate, keeping ball possession and trying to get chances as well. The most important was trying to be patient and we did it. We had chances, we weren’t clinical, but second half, after the first goal, we were thinking our work was going well. We are thinking of the next match. We’re in the quarter-final and we’re happy. The Cup is important for the club, for the supporters, for ourselves, and it’s a way for a trophy.
Peter Lansley has already filed his match report, the old pro. And here it is:
Omar Riza seems chirpy enough as he has a post-match chat:
I said to the lads today, the shift we put in out of possession, the amount of work we put in to try to contain Villa, and then to keep the ball at times and show some composure, it was just some bits of magic from them. We’re now heading into the league and hopefully we can take this performance into that.
I’ve always said the Cup run is great for the club and great for the fans. The momentum in the cup and the competition, we’ve been picking up some quite good results in the league and we just need to continue that.
Marco Asensio says some sensible words in a sensible order:
We are very happy. It was not an easy game. We knew it was a difficult game. So very happy for the goals, for the win, we’re in the next round and that’s most important. I’m very happy with the teammates, the staff. They give me a lot of confidence and it’s going well. We have a good level to try to do big things this season. We have to keep pushing. We are in the right way. Next step is the Champions League and now the focus is there.
Final score: Aston Villa 2-0 Cardiff City
90+5 mins: And it’s all over! Aston Villa are the first quarter-finalists in this season of his majesty’s Football Association Challenge Cup!
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90+4 mins: Villa break. Jumoh passes forwards to Ramsey, running into the area. A defender deflects the ball away from him but only to Rogers, who curls a shot over the bar.
90+3 mins: Garcia gets down the right and sends in a vicious cross that Horvath has to punch away. Then Cardiff carry the ball into Villa’s half and keep it there for a while. As I type they’ve got nine players in there helping out.
90+1 mins: Into stoppage time, of which there’ll be something in the region of four minutes.
87 mins: It feels like Villa have spent a good percentage of the game taking corners. They’ve had 12 of them – surprisingly they’ve had more than that twice this season, at home to Ipswich (16 corners) and Southampton (14).
85 mins: An inevitable air of will-this-do? has settled over proceedings now.
82 mins: A frenzy of substitutions. Villa bring on Digne, Jimoh, Rogers and Ramsey and take off Maatsen, Rashford, Watkins and Asensio. Davies and Ashford replace Lawlor and Willock for Cardiff. The whole thing takes about three minutes.
GOAL! Aston Villa 2-0 Cardiff (Asensio, 80 mins)
Another one for Marco Asensio! Bailey plays the ball infield from the right, Watkins lets it run through to Asensio just behind him, and he opens up his body to allow a shot across goal and then befuddles the keeper by shooting inside the near post!
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79 mins: The Cardiff fans have fallen a bit quiet now. They bay for a bit as Salech tries to spin past Bogarde and into the area and is held back, but he’s doing as much holding as he’s experiencing, and the referee waves play on.
76 mins: Kind-of-chance! Watkins is played through on the left of the area, and he goes past the keeper! But a) his touch takes him too wide to shoot; b) his cross doesn’t find a teammate; c) he was offside anywa.
75 mins: Villa have another corner, which after a bit of panic Cardiff boot clear. Suddenly it’s Garcia against Willock in a sprint from the halfway line, which the Villa defender wins.
72 mins: Cardiff now need a new gameplan, because the old one was entirely predicated on Villa not scoring. The 5-4-1 of half one has already been replaced by a five and then a bit of a jumble.
GOAL! Aston Villa 1-0 Cardiff (Asensio, 68 mins)
Um, perhaps not. Villa run down the other end, Tielemans plays a fine pass over the defence to a just-onside Rashford, and his first-time touch infield runs to Asensio, who sidefoots past Horvath!
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67 mins: Cardiff have another touch in the Villa penalty area! That’s two in a minute, one of them a shot. Is the game turning?
66 mins: Cardiff have a shot on target! It’s a super low ball in from Ng on the right and Salech slides in to divert it goalwards! Martinez saves it pretty easily, but still.
64 mins: Poor Luey Giles, that was his last kick of the night. Aaron Ramsey goes off too, and both Alex Robertson and Joel Bagan come on.
62 mins: Luey Giles with the miscued pass of the night, a big swing of his left foot that ends in him falling over and the ball spinning about two yards to his left, straight to a teammate.
60 mins: Rashford passes infield to Watkins, who controls well and shifts his weight nicely to give himself a chance to curl a shot towards the far post. It doesn’t actually curl, though. Goal kick.
59 mins: Konsa is back on his feet and looks fit enough to continue.
57 mins: Salech chucks himself around a bit and downs a couple of defenders like skittles. Konsa has stayed down, and looks in actual genuine pain.
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55 mins: Cardiff clinging on a bit here. Villa seem to have upped the speed and intensity since half-time.
53 mins: Cracking save! Rashford’s shot is dipping, swerving and travelling, but Horvath tips it away for another corner!
49 mins: McGinn’s shot from just outside the area isn’t very firmly struck but is on its way into the corner until Horvath dives to turn it away, leading to 20 seconds of chaos while various people very nearly almost but not quite have good shooting chances.
48 mins: Salech goes on a good run down the left, but eventually runs out of steam and loses the ball.
46 mins: Peeeeep! Villa start half two.
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The players are back out and ready to resume. There’s one halftimely change: Yousef Salech has come on for Cardiff, and Callum Robinson has gone off.
That has been statistically very, very one-sided, but Cardiff have done their jobs well: defending in numbers and with focus, and with Villa’s high defensive line offering the vaguest sniff of promise at the other end. Ollie Watkins has had two decent chances and should certainly have scored one: could this be one of those nights?
Half time: Aston Villa 0-0 Cardiff City
45+2 mins: Rashford sends in a corner, which falls at the feet of a Villa player but he’s facing the wrong direction and backheels into a defener. And that is basically that.
45+1 mins: There will be one minute of stoppage time.
45 mins: I’ve now seen a replay of that Cardiff penalty appeal and, well, I’ve seen them given. Bogarde kicks Ng’s foot, and maybe he was a little overkeen to go down, but it looked a bit fouly to me.
44 mins: And the 27th and 28th should have brought the breakthrough! Rashford heads the ball through to Watkins, who should have sent it either side of Horvath but instead sidefoots into him!
43 mins: Villa are now 26-1 up on touches-in-opponents’-penalty-area.
Cardiff touch the ball in the Villa penalty area!
42 mins: This is not a drill. The ball is chipped through to Ng, running into the box, who takes a touch and then goes down as Lamare Bogarde challenges. The referee hasn’t given the penalty, and play has continued.
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41 mins: Cardiff do an attack! Giles leads it on the left, and the ball is worked to El Ghazi, about 25 yards out, who gets a little excited and takes a rubbish shot that rolls wide.
38 mins: I don’t know if ITV have placed their microphones a little mischievously, but I’ve only been able to hear Cardiff’s fans so far.
34 mins: Bailey gets to the byline and thumps the ball across goal. It flies to Rashford at the back post, but he can’t get his foot over the ball and as a result does get the ball over the bar!
33 mins: Save! A long diagonal pass to Asensio, whose control is ludicrously good but whose pass infield goes straight to Goutas. He half-clears to Bailey, who lashes a shot goalwards that Horvath beats away.
31 mins: A third of the game has been played, and Villa have had a lot of the ball but just one chance. “Is it just me or is there a kit clash here? I’m finding it hard to distinguish between the dark tops and white shorts. Why are they allowed to wear such similar colours?” wails Katharine. “Or maybe it’s just that Specsavers is calling me. I might book an appointment just to be on the safe side.” Both teams are wearing white shorts, but I’m finding the Cardiff blue and the Villa claret different enough not to get very confused.
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29 mins: A pause while Robinson receives treatment after running into El Ghazi.
28 mins: Horvath dallies on the ball and then very nearly sidefoots it straight into Watkins with his left foot. Luckily the ball only grazes the Villa striker, and he gets away with it.
25 mins: The ball is played over the top of Villa’s defence towards El Ghazi, who goes down in the area under challenge from Maatsen. Cardiff look to the referee hoping for a penalty; he signals an offside.
24 mins: Villa have executed 74 successful passes in the final third. Cardiff have had one.
21 mins: Another pull-back from Rashford, but this time he’s pulling back Ng and Cardiff have a free kick and a bit of a breather.
20 mins: The ball is spending almost all of its time in Cardiff’s defensive third. Rashford does well on the left again and pulls back to Tielemans, but Ramsey throws himself in the way of the shot!
18 mins: Chance! Watkins is played in to the left of goal and tries to prod a shot past Horvath, but the keeper gets something on it and the ball dribbles wide!
17 mins: Another clever corner from Villa. It drops to Rashford, a couple of yards inside the penalty area, but he misses his kick.
15 mins: Cardiff continue to defend their area pretty well, but Villa’s attacking has been a bit imprecise so far – it feels like they’ve been as responsible for their moves breaking down as Cardiff’s defenders, but at some point they’re going to go a whole move without messing up.
12 mins: … from which Villa attempt to produce something they presumably worked on on the training pitches, and which presumably worked a bit better when they did. This time it’s played to Bailey, but badly enough for a Cardiff player to intercept it and boot clear.
11 mins: Now Rashford jinks and sprints to the byline, but his cross is cut out and deflects behind for a corner.
9 mins: Ethan Horvath makes his first save of the night, stopping Rashford’s 30-odd-yard free-kick with some ease.
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6 mins: A nice cross from the left almost does the trick, but Bailey can’t quite reach it at the far post.
5 mins: Cardiff have dropped into a 5-4-1 formation when Villa have the ball, two lines on the edge of their penalty area, challenging Villa to find a way through them.
3 mins: The ball breaks to Bailey in the box, and he executes a very snazzy 360-degree spin. Doesn’t lead to much, but must have felt awesome.
2 mins: Perry Ng takes an age over a throw-in, and then chucks it at a teammate off whom it bounces into touch.
1 min: Peeeeeeep! Cardiff get the ball rolling.
The players are no longer in the tunnel. They’re on the pitch and Cardiff are huddling as I type. Villa don’t bother with that kind of thing. Anyway, football imminent!
The players are in the tunnel, where the referee is laying down some ground rules for the two captains.
Aaron Ramsey, who captains Cardiff after recovering from a hamstring injury, has a chat: “It’s a great competition and we’re really looking forward to this challenge. We know how tough it’s going to be. Hopefully it’ll be a memorable night for us. We know how difficult it’ll be but hopefully we’ll have one of those special FA Cup evenings.”
“We want to be as competitive as we can be in this game,” says the Cardiff manager Omer Riza, who has given the 19-year-old defender Dylan Lawlor a full debut. “They’ve put out a strong side so … it should be interesting. Anything can happen in the FA Cup. It’s a one-off situation. If we turn up and we do everything right that we can, you never know. It’s good character building.”
As exclusively revealed in the Guardian earlier this month, semi-automated offside technology is being trialled in this season’s FA Cup from the fifth round onwards. That means this will be the first game in the country to use it.
Team news
The teams are in, and these are the players who will decide this tie, with Emi Martinez declared fit to take his place in a strong Aston Villa side:
Aston Villa: Martinez, Garcia, Konsa, Bogarde, Maatsen, McGinn, Tielemans, Bailey, Asensio, Rashford, Watkins. Subs: Olsen, Digne, Rogers, Ramsey, Kamara, Rowe, Zych, Jimoh.
Cardiff: Horvath, Fish, Goutas, Lawlor, Ng, Ramsey, Colwill, Giles, El Ghazi, Willock, Robinson. Subs: Turner, O’Dowda, Mannsverk, Robertson, Salech, Bagan, Davies, Ashford, Nyakuhwa.
Referee: Peter Bankes.
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Hello world!
“We are not a contender in the FA Cup to win the title,” said Villa boss Unai Emery ahead of this game. “We are not contenders. Why? Because there are other teams with more options than us to win this competition.”
Oh.
Ahead of this fifth-round tie it’s hard to read those comments and not just think, oh well sod it then, I’ll just read my book. But wait until you hear what Omer Riza had to say about his Cardiff side, enjoying a brief breather from the battle for Championship survival (they’re 19th, six points and quite a lot of goal difference above the bottom three):
“I’d like to put my strongest team out so you can have a real go at it - and if we were 12th in the league I’d have no issues with that,” Riza said. “But we have just got too many far more important games coming up, which are about surviving and staying in the Championship. Sometimes I think it [would have been] best that we went out in the third round. We’re definitely not rolling over and saying ‘take the game’, but it’s frustrating we can’t be at full-strength and have a real go at it.”
So what we have here is a game between a team that doesn’t want to be in the competition and another that thinks they might as well not be in it. And if that doesn’t get your juices flowing at the end of a long week I don’t know what will.
For what it’s worth I think Emery is wrong: the two best teams in the country (according to the league table) are already out of the Cup, Chelsea likewise, and the teams in sixth and eighth are playing each other on Sunday. Sure, Manchester City are still involved, have a helpful draw and look a bit ominous, but Villa look like very feasible cup-winners to me.
There are some injury issues right now, though. “Matty Cash, close, but we will see,” Emery said. “Pau [Torres] not, Tyrone Mings doubt, Emiliano Martinez doubt, Barkley not, Onana doubt, Kamara doubt, they are close to a come back but we will see. Malen is sick, hopefully he can recover. Being sick is different.” Their line-up tonight could be fearsome, or it could be a bit feeble.
None of this is very promising, I can’t lie. But stay with me! It’s a funny old game, and maybe this will turn out to be a good one.
