LSTD EFL Final 2017 - Spurs 4-5 Villa Pens

League Cup Final:-
Tottenham Hotspur v Aston Villa – Wembley

Wembley Stadium! Sunday afternoon (shush)! It’s the first major trophy of the season to be contested between two of the most roundly improved sides of the season, looking to improve on so far successful league campaigns with cup glory!


The designated home side, Tottenham Hotspur, lined up in a solid 4-2-3-1 formation with the following players: Forster; Cedric; van Dijk; Kompany; Blind; Willian; Kante; Matic; Hakan; Barkley; Lukaku.
Villa lined up in a similar 4-2-3-1 shape with the following players: Oblak; Vrsaljko; Alderweireld; Boateng; Digne; Strootman; Modric; Robben; Mkhitaryan; Reus; Ibrahimovic.

With the referee content with both teams and the state of the pitch, the match was underway!

First Half:

The first half began as one might expect it would have done, given the respective league positions of the teams, as Aston Villa sought to dictate the tempo of the game and keep Spurs’ dangerous attacking options out of sight of the ball.

Villa did a good job of stroking the ball around with a good tempo and plenty of intent but the first half was one of large swathes of inactivity as the notoriously mean Spurs defence gave no ground to the highly respected attack of their opponents. In a real life example of the irresistible force versus the immovable object, both sides were unrelenting.

With little in the way of action, the key moments being a rare Spurs break that eventually fizzled in to nothing as Willian’s miscued cross struck the cross-bar and bounced over, and a pot-shot from Ibrahimovic that struck a child in the face, the deadlock looked nowhere like being broken – that is, until a clumsy challenge from Matic roughly 20 metres from goal gave Villa a free-kick in a central position. With Ibrahimovic towering over the ball, Spurs hearts were in Spurs mouth and they routinely broke as the resultant poorly-struck free-kick glanced off the wall and wrong-footed Forster in the Spurs goal.

As the whistle went, it was advantage Spurs.

Score: Spurs 0-1 Villa

Second Half:

With Spurs now trailing the game and Villa looking to keep hold of their advantage, the game began to open up a bit more as the Spurs’ managers half-time words of inspiration brought a new fire in to their play. In the centre of the pitch, Matic was stoic and Kante majestic as they routinely broke down Villa’s possession based game and forged forwards in numbers. This tenacity had the Villa defence reeling and turned the game completely on its head – the Villa defence, though resolute in its own rights, struggled to cope with the intensity of the Spurs attack.

The first attack of the half came from Willian collecting a stray ball in midfield and driving forwards at the retreating Digne, before beating him for speed down the byline and looping a high ball over to the waiting Lukaku. The ball was slightly overhit but Lukaku did a fantastic job in stretching to meet the ball and loop a header that Oblak did well to parry wide. Spurs had much more of the action in this half but Villa were still dangerous, with Cedric and Blind, in particular, struggling to cope with the Villa wingers cutting inside and curling shots at goal.

The Spurs equaliser came in the 65th minute (bringing about large scale changes from both teams) as a long ball upfield was poorly dealt with by Alderweirld and the loose ball bounced off the shoulder of Lukaku in to the path of Barkley. With the ball setting up nicely for him, he unleashed a long-range daisy cutter that weaselled its way under the outsretched arms of Oblak and in to the bottom right hand corner.

Score: Spurs 1-1 Villa

First Half Extra-Time:

The first half of extra-time showed both teams in a rather alternate dynamic to how they began the game. Villa were set up in a very aggressive attacking formation with 3 world class strikers occupying the pitch, whereas Spurs looked to be slightly more conservative but with younger, faster players up front to hit on the break.

The adventurous attack of Villa appeared to be more of a hindrance to them in this half as the more balanced Spurs side managed to find the gaps in their counterpart’s line up with unnering accuracy and punished them midway through the half when Raul Garcia managed to hold up play long enough to release the young Dembele. Dembele, in return, managed to squeeze the bll ahead of Boateng as he rushed to clear the ball and slotted home the one on one with a composure that belied his lack of experience.

Going behind in a game that they went ahead in spurred on the Villa attack but Spurs clung on to their slim advantage in to the break.

Score: Spurs 2-1 Villa


Second Half Extra-Time:

Well, knockout football is always an interesting beast and the game of multiple halves turned on its head once more in this one. With Spurs now leading and Villa chasing, it was up to the experienced attack in Claret and Blue to forge a way through the wall of white. Barrage after barrage came from from the chasing team but nothing come find a way through.

That is, however, until very late in proceedings as Villa resorted to more high balls and camped inside the Spurs half on this gigantic Wembley pitch. One such long ball from Boateng met the head of Ibrahimovic, the towering Swede who had caused all manner of problems, which resulted in the ball falling at the feet of Edinson Cavani inside the box. A scramble ensued but resulted in the Uruguayan poking the ball beyond Forster and in for the equaliser.

Final Score:

Spurs 2 – 2 Villa (After Extra Time)

Scorers:

Spurs: Barkley (Lukaku) 65 minutes; Dembele (Garcia) 97 minutes

Villa: Ibrahimovic (Free Kick) 45+3 minutes; Cavani (Ibrahimovic) 117 minutes

Man of the Match: Ibrahimovic


PENALTIES!

Villa win the toss and go first...

Ibrahimovic goes first.....AND SCORES! 0-1
Dembele second.....JUST ABOUT IN! 1-1
Cavani to take......SMASHES IN TO THE TOP CORNER! 1-2
Hakan steps up......SENDS THE KEEPER THE WRONG WAY! 2-2
Benzema doesn't look confident.......AND MISSES! 2-2
Garcia to put Spurs in the lead......HE DOES! 3-2
Reus is seventh......HE SCORES! 3-3
Gelson is next......OH WHAT A SAVE BY OBLAK! 3-3
One penalty each before sudden death...
Eriksen to put Villa back in the lead.....NEVER IN DOUBT! 4-3
Cedric has to score here.......YES HE DOES! 4-4
We are in to sudden death.....
Luka Modric to put Villa in a great position....OH IT'S ONLY JUST IN! 5-4
Virgil Van Dijk has the weight of the world on his shoulders....
OH NO! HEARTBREAK! THE BALL HITS THE POST AND GOES WIDE! 5-4


ASTON VILLA ARE THIS YEAR'S LEAGUE CUP CHAMPIONS!