As our FA Cup exit was confirmed with a 3-0 defeat to Crystal Palace in our semi-final tie at Wembley on Saturday, Aston Villa’s once promising season is now at real risk of fizzling out.
Eberechi Eze’s strike broke the deadlock and gave the Eagles the lead in the first half, and despite missing a penalty just after the break, Oliver Glasner’s side weren’t to be denied as an Ismaila Sarr double sealed their passage through to the Final next month.
READ MORE: Villa player ratings vs Crystal Palace: Woeful display ends in FA Cup disappointment
It’s important to give credit where it’s due. Palace were undoubtedly the better side and deserved to win and they certainly came up with a winning gameplan against us and Unai Emery once again, having been a real difficult assignment over the past year or so for us.
However, the Villa coaching staff and players will be fully aware that our performance was not acceptable and simply not good enough on the day, and so another semi-final ends in defeat after our heartbreak in the Europa Conference League last season.
Performance vs Palace simply not good enough
Taking the performance on Saturday in isolation, there surely won’t be too many supporters who disagree that it was both woeful and not good enough.
Our lack of aggression, intensity and urgency coupled with no real quality in our possession or movement off the ball and the inability to adapt and adjust as we were being outfought and outplayed was alarming and painful to watch at times as Palace continuously pressed us with energy and intent and put us on the back-foot.
Duels were lost all across the pitch and we didn’t learn our lesson from previous meetings, and so the responsibility for that has to be shared between the coaches and players.
Progress doesn’t excuse or lessen blow of missed opportunity
The response from within the Villa camp was one of disappointment and frustration, but also reiterating the progress we’ve made and how far we’ve come over the past two years or so.
There’s no disputing that the process has been incredible and thoroughly enjoyable, and we’ve strengthened the club to put ourselves in a position to compete at a higher level every season now.
Further, the players naturally have to portray a more positive tone and message, but all that isn’t an excuse nor does it make the blow any less painful having fallen short of our objective, particularly in the manner it happened.
Wrong approach? Players below level demanded?
As noted above, we’ve had troubles facing Palace under Glasner dating back to last season, and so to not have a better grip of the gameplan and what was required to beat them was bitterly frustrating.
Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but shouldn’t Tyrone Mings, Ian Maatsen and Amadou Onana have started to give us more physicality, athleticism and presence to try and be more effective in controlling the game?
It felt like the approach, mindset and application of our plan was all off. It was arguably clear following our defeat to Manchester City that with our season on the line, we had to attack and earn it in our six potential finals, take the handbrake off and don’t be passive while playing at the tempo and intensity levels that we’re most dangerous at. That, sadly, didn’t materialise in this encounter.
Trophy chances will come back round but Villa must learn
After our run to the semi-finals of the Europa Conference League last season, it was hoped that that experience would help us in our development and evolution into a side capable of challenging for major trophies.
We ultimately have no choice but to hope for the same again after this setback, and hopefully we won’t see the same mistakes made as we let the opportunity of reaching a Final pass us by without playing to the best of our ability.
Some argue that this was our best chance of winning a trophy in some time and potentially for a while, I disagree. Villa are continuing to become a threat under Emery and will win games consistently to be in contention, but overcoming those final hurdles are the most important, and we’ve not shown an ability to do that yet.
Last objective, all in on top-five Premier League finish
With our season slipping away after our Champions League and FA Cup exits, we have four massive Premier League games remaining now as we have ground to make up in the battle for a top-five finish.
With the standings as they are, it’s out of our hands currently as we’ll have to hope for favours elsewhere, but Emery and the players have to come out firing next weekend against Fulham to set the tone for how we’re going to approach these last games and put ourselves in contention.
A return to Europe is the minimum expectation, Champions League would be best-case scenario. Villa fans though will just want to see us be positive, play with intent and aggression, and give it everything we have. If we fall short, so be it. Rather that than the way in which we exited the FA Cup this weekend.
