Analysis: FA Cup humiliation exposes uncomfortable truth about Aston Villa spending

For them, this 2-1 defeat to Stevenage was abject humiliation, players writing themselves into club history in the wrong way.

Maybe on balance, this was not Villa’s most embarrassing ever result. That probably remains the failure to beat another League Two opponent, Bradford City, over two legs in the League Cup 10 years ago this month.

But that should be no consolation for Unai Emery’s men. Rarely since 1874 can there have been a capitulation so humiliating as this.

With five minutes remaining, Villa appeared on course to win their first FA Cup tie for seven years courtesy of Morgan Sanson’s first goal for the club, albeit their performance had been some way from convincing.

Then Leander Dendoncker dallied on the edge of his own box, lost the ball to Dean Campbell and in the next movement pulled back the Stevenage substitute by his shirt. Jamie Reid thumped home the spot-kick and with Dendoncker dismissed, the turnaround was complete barely 120 seconds later when home players failed to react to a short corner and Campbell’s shot beat Robin Olsen at his near post.

After six minutes of stoppage time, boos rained down from every stand bar the corner which housed 3,000 jubilant travelling supporters. For them, this was a day which will never be forgotten. The same applies to Villa fans, though for entirely different reasons. Their wait for a major trophy is now guaranteed to extend into a 28th year. In recent seasons, the common feeling in cup competitions has been pain.

In the aftermath Emery, a head coach regarded as a cup specialist, did his best to remain philosophical, at one point appearing to suggest the experience could in the long-term prove beneficial.

Perhaps he will turn out to be correct. Any notion the Spaniard might have held the fragile mentality which has run through Villa’s team for several seasons can be fixed quickly was extinguished in the chaotic final minutes here. There is no chance of Emery now not being alive to the scale of the task ahead of him.

This result was made more shocking by how impressive Villa have generally been since his arrival. Just a week previously, they were comfortably winning at Tottenham.

Yet the uncomfortable truth, exposed so brutally here, is in the past couple of years Villa have spent an awful lot of money on players who have failed to move their team forward. Too many members of the squad are unable to deliver performances of the required standard consistently. Worse, too many fail to take responsibility when the chips are down.

Maybe Emery already knew that. If not, Sunday was a harsh lesson. It is unlikely, meanwhile, the club's owners have failed to notice some of the distinctly average performers who have been purchased with their cash.

Of course, the head coach must also take this share of the blame for the farce. Having made clear his desire to end Villa’s trophy drought upon his arrival two months ago, he still decided to make eight changes to the starting XI and his second half changes could not instil some much-needed drive into his team’s performance. The decision to keep Leon Bailey, a player who suddenly looks devoid of all confidence, on the pitch for the duration was also puzzling.

Still, Emery might reasonably have expected more from some of those he did select. Villa’s starting XI still cost comfortably more than £100million in transfer fees.

In Philippe Coutinho, it had a player who was involved in one of the most expensive transfers in history. And yet the Brazilian continues to look a shadow even of the player who first arrived at Villa 12 months ago, let alone his Liverpool heyday.

Coutinho rather set the tone when he sent a 25-yard shot about the same distance wide in the opening 10 minutes. Of the 17 efforts Villa had on goal, only three were on target. By the final whistle, meanwhile, they had held the ball for 79 per cent of the game but frequently lacked any kind of inspiration.

Stevenage, on the other hand, had got in behind the home defence the first time they tried, Danny Rose seeing his goal ruled out due to Luke Norris having strayed a fraction offside in the build-up. Norris had also sent an effort off the top of the bar late in the first half and while Reid’s penalty was their first effort on target, there had been enough about their performance to suggest they would fashion a chance the longer Villa’s lead remained a single goal. The hosts never seemed to heed the warning.

Their best chances of the second half came early, Bailey sending a close-range shot straight at Max Clark in the opening seconds, with Calum Chambers then stabbing a Coutinho cross just wide of the far post. But otherwise, they gave the impression of a team who thought one goal would be enough, Dendoncker’s lazy turn into the patch of Campbell perhaps symbolising the false security they felt.

The late collapse overshadowed Sanson’s brightest moment in a Villa shirt. Handed his first home start in almost 12 months, the French midfielder’s performance had already been one of the brightest spots for his team before he opened the scoring in the 33rd minute, finishing a move full of one-touch passes on what was one of the few occasions Villa demonstrated the gulf in class which should have existed between the teams.

It is quite possible Sanson will not be at Villa Park come the end of the month, though after this, he maybe won’t be the only one.

Injuries to both starting full-backs, Matty Cash and Ludwig Augustinsson, sustained prior to capitulation, added another unwanted footnote for the hosts.

Villa have the chance to quickly move on and lift the mood when they host Leeds on Friday in the Premier League. But this embarrassment will take some time to shift. Another sorry chapter has been written. Another opportunity to do something special has been so carelessly chucked away.