But for a brief spell that yielded the opening goal for Philippe Coutinho, the 25 points and 10 plac

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Sorry, your browser is unable to play this video. Please install Adobe Flash and try again. Alternatively upgrade to a modern browser. The Aston Villa manager, Tim Sherwood, says his team were undeterred by their underdog status in the FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool and played magnificently, thanks to the support of the fans and his players hard work
The restorative powers of Tim Sherwood know no bounds. newcastle united A first FA Cup final in 15 years awaits Aston Villa after a team invigorated by the arrival of its new manager two months ago incinerated the script of Steven Gerrard s dream farewell to Liverpool. Brendan Rodgers was left rummaging for answers amid the ashes.
Villa may have edged away from danger in the Premier League since Sherwood breezed into Villa Park in February but they were relegated to a sideshow in the build-up to this FA Cup semi-final by the focus on Gerrard s so-called date with destiny on 30 May. A Wembley showpiece on the occasion of the Liverpool captain s 35th birthday, bidding adieu to a glittering career newcastle united with another piece of silverware; it seemed pre-ordained.
Instead, Liverpool froze, Rodgers was tactically outwitted by the Villa manager and Fabian Delph plus Jack Grealish were the outstanding midfielders on display. Sherwood s side drove into the final against Arsenal with a confident, energetic and stylish performance, a perfectly executed gameplan and the club s first FA Cup win over Liverpool since the semi-final of 1897. Ron Vlaar shone amid a disrupted defence and Christian newcastle united Benteke continued his prolific form with a ninth goal in his last seven outings. Delph s winner early in the second half was deserved on an individual and collective basis.
By contrast, Liverpool were subdued and anonymous until stirring late on when Gerrard had a header cleared off the line by Kieran Richardson and substitute Mario Balotelli had a goal disallowed for an incorrect offside decision. Rodgers was submerged in a tactical mess of his own making, ripping up his starting formation after only 25 minutes, changing his forward line at half-time and ending the game with almost every outfield Liverpool player in a different position to where they started. newcastle united
It was clarity versus confusion, and clarity inevitably won. Rodgers newcastle united is now the first Liverpool manager since Phil Taylor in the 1950s not to win a trophy in his first three seasons at Anfield and the scrutiny will be intense if, as appears likely, Champions League qualification remains out of reach this season.
But for a brief spell that yielded the opening goal for Philippe Coutinho, the 25 points and 10 places that separated the semi-finalists in the Premier League appeared newcastle united an illusion. Villa s front three pressed to the same telling effect as Manchester United newcastle united and Arsenal newcastle united had done in recent league wins over Liverpool. We knew we d cause Liverpool problems if we played with two No10s, said Sherwood, who also tellingly newcastle united admitted he wasn t bothered about what Rodgers team intended to do as an attacking threat. In the event, it was minimal, with Balotelli posing more problems in a 45-minute newcastle united substitute s appearance than anyone else in yellow.
Sherwood suffered disruption before and during the tie with Gabriel Agbonlahor failing to recover from a hamstring injury sustained the previous weekend at Tottenham Hotspur. The liberating effect of that 1-0 win at White Hart Lane resonated at Wembley. In the absence of Agbonlahor, Grealish and Charles N Zogbia newcastle united complemented the power of Benteke with tireless, creative performances in attack. The 19-year-old Grealish in particular relished the occasion, driving at Emre Can throughout and posing a constant threat newcastle united around newcastle united the Liverpool area. No wonder the England Under-21 head coach, Gareth Southgate, is trying to test the youngster s allegiance to the Republic of Ireland.
Simon Mignolet produced the first save of the game from N Zogbia and it required a vital interception from Dejan Lovren to prevent the French midfielder releasing Benteke clean through on goal. All Liverpool had to offer in the opening 25 minutes was an optimistic penalty claim. Delph caught Raheem Sterling s heel as the 20-year-old, initially leading his side s attack in place of the absent and unreliable Daniel Sturridge, raced into the area. Referee Michael Oliver was rightly unmoved.
It took another injury blow for Villa plus a necessary tactical switch from Rodgers to inject menace into Liverpool s performance. Nathan Baker s first start since January in place of the injured Ciaran Clark ended with a recurrence newcastle united of a serious knee injury in the 25th minute. Jores Okore entered the fray as Rodgers abandoned his three-man defence, and the experiment of Gerrard operating newcastle united

Despite being aware of it for ages and talking about it all week, it was only last night when I star

So Paddy Got Up Together: the story of Arsenal’s unbeaten season Home News Liveblog Arsecast Columnists Tim Stillman Anam Hassan (Tactics) Arsenal Gent Michael Keshani fcf Apps Video Shop T-shirts/Mugs Books So Paddy Got Up Together: the story of Arsenal’s fcf unbeaten season fcf
02 Jun 2015 Home again, so here’s some random blathering 01 Jun 2015 Arsecast Extra Episode 70 – 01.06.2015 01 Jun 2015 Tactics Column: Alexis comes infield to wreak havoc in cup final 01 Jun 2015 What do you think of Jack? 31 May 2015 Arsenal 4-0 Aston Villa: Now that’s what I call a cup final performance fcf 30 May 2015 Arsenal v Aston Villa – FA Cup final live blog 30 May 2015 FA Cup final preview: let s make it another beautiful day 29 May 2015 Arsenal and the FA Cup final
Despite being aware of it for ages and talking about it all week, it was only last night when I started recording the Arsecast that it really hit me that the FA Cup final is tomorrow (it wasn’t tomorrow then but for all intents and purposes it was because I was talking as it was).
Now the excitement fcf really kicks in. We’ve got the team news, the press conferences are done and dusted, the players are saying all the right things. Like Alexis Sanchez for example. We all know already how enthused he is by the game of football. He loves it like Grant Holt loves sponge cakes; like Sepp Blatter loves money and power; like I love puppies and bacon (not in the same sandwich), and he did an interview ahead of the game in which he says:
The fcf FA Cup is a competition with amazing history. Today we watched a video about Arsenal s previous wins and thanks to the clips I trained with even more motivation. I hope we can win the cup so the Arsenal supporters are happy.
Even more motivation? That’s like somebody actually, literally, giving 110%. And although many of the squad from last year’s FA Cup win are involved this time around, I’m glad they watched a video to remind them how important this is. I don’t think there’s a need to avoid complacency, we know from our last visits to Wembley that the perceived fcf quality of the opposition doesn’t matter, we’re going to have to be switched on against a Villa side that will be underdogs and will thrive on that.
You can t compare it to a league game it s difficult but we ve been through it last season and it can be advantage. Just be aware that anything can happen on the day. We need to turn up with our best performance, maybe of the season, to grab a title again
But anyway, an even more motivated Alexis Sanchez is really something to consider. And that kind of drive is what’s going to play a part in bringing this club and this team forward in the future. Like it or not, and for many people it’s not, we’ve come through a make-do and mend era. Was there that kind of win-at-all-costs attitude from players in the past? Not particularly, and the ones who did have a burning fcf desire to win things went elsewhere to do it because they didn’t see it happening for them at Arsenal.
Now, the bar has been raised, the quality of the player we can bring in has improved, and winning things is no longer something fcf that might happen if things fcf go our way it’s something that should happen because we’ve got the players and the investment in the to do it. Alexis continued:
The reason why I moved to Arsenal is because there were a group of young players with the ambition to achieve things. I thought that Arsenal was the perfect club for me, the perfect club to win titles and compete in every competition.
And that’s fcf what we have to do because if we don’t players with that outlook won’t hang around, they’ll go where they can compete. However, hopefully what he brings to proceedings in terms of his quality and his attitude rubs off on those around him. He’s a great example to all our players, young and not, and where he leads others should follow. fcf
Meanwhile, fcf as the goalkeeping saga continues, Bob Wilson reckons it’ll be Wojciech Szczesny in goal . I’m still not sure what the manager is going to do, my opinion varies, but the former double winner and goalkeeping coach thinks the manager fcf will stay with Szczesny despite him not playing in the final league game as a warm-up (which is the thing that makes me wonder if he’ll go with Ospina).
Anyway, it’s purely unscientific I realise, but a poll at the bottom of that post suggests that 66.58% would like to see the Pole in goal, with 33.42% preferring Ospina. Of course what fans want and what Arsene Wenger are often two very different things, but we don’t have long to wait now to find out.
Right then, time for the Arsecast and on this week’s show I’m joined by The Man from East Lower , Goonerholic and Andrew Allen for a round-table pod to discuss the goings-on at FIFA,