Key events
Half-time entertainment:
HALF-TIME: Preston North End 0-0 Aston Villa
A half-job well done by Preston. They’ve had the better chances, while Villa need to improve.
45 min Keane is late on Konsa, who doesn’t much enjoy the experience, but the challenge was nowhere near violent enough to incur a second booking.
44 min “So far, Heckingbottom has out-tacticked Emery, a manager who rarely in-tactics his opposite number,” returns Kári Tulinius. The Preston defence is wide across the field, denying space on the wings, and though that means they don’t defend in depths, so far Villa’s central attackers haven’t figured out how to thread their way through the line.”
Preston play like this most weeks so know what they’re doing, but yup, any blanket defence is difficult to pierce. Villa need to get their one-touch stuff going because that’s one way they might get in behind: moving the ball too quickly for the defenders to adjust.
43 min We’ve played nearly a full half and the Champions League quarter-finalists have yet to create a chance.
41 min Mings punches out to Asensio, whose cross is cleared, so Villa build again, looking to stretch Preston, before Kamara snaps a decent ball into the box that’s got just oo much on it for Asensio.
39 min “Personally, I hope they don’t clear the balloons off the field,” writes Kári Tulinius, “because then they’d remove the one interesting aspect of the game.”
They’re all gone now, so I’m afraid we’ve no choice but to focus on the football. Pah etc.
38 min This time it’s Rashford with it – Phil Jones must be unavailable – the cross driven into the middle of the six-yard box, but it’s behind Konsa who can only contort to head high.
36 min This one goes short to the near post, but Preston are wise to the ruse and clear easily enough. They’re growing in confidence but, as I type, Brady concedes yet another corner, Vill’a seventh (7th) of the half.
36 min Cash clips down the line and over the top, setting Rogers away, but Meghoma does really well to get back at him, for cost of another corner.
35 min It was a really good ball in from Brady, and I’m certain Preston will look to find him at every opportunity; perhaps they might load up on the back post even more heavily, because this looks their likeliest route to goal.
33 min A poor pass from Ramsey allows Preston to counter, Frokjaer moving through midfield and when the ball is again spread to Brady, he looks for the near post … but Mings heads away.
32 min Cash finds space down the right and crosses low, Rashford darting across to the front post, but Gibson defends well, then Whiteman concedes a corner which yields another, and again, Preston get the ball away.
30 min Better from Preston, Brady stepping infield and crossing towards the back post as expected. And though Martinez claws away acrobatically, when Frokjaer nods back across, Thodarson dashes in front of Keane and he’s got a clear sight of goal … but can’t get enough on the ball, heading weakly wide.
29 min …and Rashford tries the knuckle ball, but it hits Miongs and Preston clear.
28 min A quiet period, Preston shutting Villa down nicely, but when Rogers flicks a pass through midfield for Tielemans, Keane beings him down and is booked. Free-kick villa, 30 yards out, dead centre…
26 min “Do you think Jacob Ramsey can work his way into Tuchel’s squad?” wonders Gary Stover.
Er, perhaps. I’m not sure I see the quality of a regular, given how intense the competition is, but I’d not be surprised to see him a cap or two
24 min Thordarson works the ball out of defence nicely and though Brady’s pass into midfield is behind Jakobsen, Preston reset, clear a long ball, and attack down the right … before Frokjaer fouls Konsa.
23 min Stuart McCall is one of the Preston coaches, and of course he and the Cup have form:
21 min But it’s Digne going at it from the other side, swinging over the wall and over the bar. Waste.
20 min Digne into Ramsey who collects on the stretch via excellent first touch and slides by Gibson … who fouls him. Free-kick Villa, 25 yards out, left of centre and Rashford behind it..
19 min Rogers runs at Gibson, turning this way and that, but with the defender’s blood already fully twisted he tries once more when he has no need to and is robbed.
17 min “I can’t believe they havn’t been cleared,” says Dave Estherby of the balloons. “Sounds a bit silly but you can imagine the whinging if there’s an offside confusion between the ball and a white balloon or if either goalkeeper suffers a Pepe Reina style mishap…”
I promise I will cope with the whinging if we have so glorious an eternal moment bestowed upon us.
15 min Preston are really struggling to get out, but have yet to concede a proper chance. And the home fans want a free-kick when Meghoma is yanked back by Cash, but the ref disagrees.
14 min The corner is half-cleared at the front post, then Asensio spills a lush cross to the back post, but Konsa doesn’t get enough on his flick-header.
13 min Rigers feeds a ball forward to Rashford, now on the right, and his cross is blocked behind;pPressure on Preston is building.
12 min Heckingbottom will be broadly satisfied with his team’s start. Preston haven’t threatened, but nor have they really been threatened.
11 min Villa go short, the cross almost makes its way to Asensio at the back post, but Preston clear before it can.
10 min Fine long diag from Mings, driven for Ramsey at inside-right, and his cross, looking for Rashford, is kicked behind for a corner.
10 min Rashford goes over the wall, but straight at the keeper.
8 min Lots of the balloons released when the teams came out are still on the pitch, especially on the edge of the Preston box, and when Ramsey drives towards the box, Thordarson brings him down. Free-kick Vill, 25 yards out, to the left of the D.
7 min Villa flow nicely through midfield, Digne slipping Ramsey in behind, left side of the box, and his cross is well cleared by Gibson.
6 min Preston win a throw down the right, deep inside the Villa half, and Riis will hurl long and flat … for Martinez to collect.
6 min Also going on:
4 min Ah, it’s Rashford through the middle. Villa need men around him, so he can touch-off and go.
2 min Poor pass from Digne and Keane seizes upon it, there ahead of Tielemans, well inside the box, and colliding with Tielemans; Preston want a penalty and Keane certainly plays for it, but the ref and VAR have no interest.
1 min With Brady patrolling the right flank, my sense is that Preston will be looking for inswinging crosses to the back post, to be attacked by Keane and Jakobsen. The former, twin brother of Michael, isn’t the quickest, but he’s got a lovely touch and is useful in the air.
1 min Aaaand away we go!
Emi Martínez had a busy international break. Of course he did.
As discussed earlier, Villa haven’t won the Cup since 1957. Here’s a little bit on that year’s final, from Joy of Six: fouls.
Our teams are tunnelled … and here they come!
We speak about them a lot less often, but Tielemans and Kamara are also doing a really good job for Villa, able to protect the back four and build attacks. Mings and Konsa aren’t the greatest defenders in the world, but Preston have a job to do in getting at them.
I’m looking forward to seeing Morgan Rogers today. I love his muscular intelligence and desire to gamble – he’s got work to do in terms of connective passing and general play contributions, but he could develop into a very serious performer.
Heckingbottom tells us that Woodman is out for the season with a nasty ankle injury. So it’s a great opportunity for Cornell and this is a day they must enjoy.
Emery, meanwhile, hopes his team returns from the break to play as well as before, and this is the first time he’s had the chance to take part in a quarter-final.
Worth noting: in the Preston goal, Dai Cornell plays as Freddie Woodman is injured. He’s only played twice this season, but will be eager for a Steve Cherry-style FA Cup fairytale.
Email! “Playing Asensio seems a bit harsh to me,” says Kieran McKintosh. “And considering PSG aren’t that far away, a bit questionable. My second-largest hope for today is a Rashford goal. It really has been a long time coming. My largest hope, though, has gotta be hoping someone, anyone, will sell me that Lego set I’ve wanted for years at a decent price. No, eBay, 604 pieces does NOT merit £140. Anyway, up the Villa and all that. I do have a soft spot for them after last season.”
This shark just trod on one of those 604 pieces.
Villa, meanwhile, will use Rashford and Ramsey to attack the outsides of the wide centre-backs, with Rogers making third-man runs into the box, with Asensio dropping off. This could well leave the Preston centre-backs with no one to mark, runners asked to target space in behind and get them turned. But I’d not be surprised to see Ollie Watkins introduced at some point, to offer a focal point.
Where is the game? Well, Preston’s intentions are plain: defend deep and limit space in the middle of the pitch, with the two centre-forwards looking to bother centre-backs more used to marking one man between then. They’ll also want to get at the space behind the Villa full-backs, who’ll be asked to supply much of their side’s attacking width.
It wasn’t the greatest of international breaks for Rashford. Cut a break by Thomas Tuchel, who quite rightly appreciates his quality – and, you’d have to imagine, his effectiveness of the bench – he was unable to make the most of a recall he didn’t really earn. But that was in a new team not yet settled into what the coach wants, whereas at Villa, he’ll know exactly what’s expected of him, and I’d not be at all surprised were he definitive this afternoon.
I’m assuming that Villa will be playing Rashford from the left, with Asensio through the middle. Really, the former ought by now to have matured into an effective centre-forward, but his hold-up play is no better now than when he broke through as a giggling teenager. Perhaps Emery has the smarts to coach him into the player he should be, but in the meantime, he’s far more effective coming off the flank.
As for Villa, Unai Emery leaves out Maatsen, McGinn and Watkins, with Digne, Ramsey and Asensio coming in.
Paul Heckingbottom makes five changes to the site that beat Portsmouth 2-1 two weeks ago. Out go the injured Woodman, the ineligible Kesler-Harden, the cup-tied Porteous, Lindsay and suspended Ledson; in come Cornell, Hughes, Storey, Brady and Whiteman.
I’m going to write these down, then we’ll consider how things might unfold.
Teams!
Preston North End (5-3-2): Cornell; Brady, Storey, Gibson, Hughes, Meghoma; Thordarson, Whniteman, Frokjaer; Keane, Jakobsen. Subs: Stowell, Lindsay, Bauer, Pasiek, Tarry, Carroll, Mawene, Evans, Osmajic.
Aston Villa (4-2-3-1): Martínez; Cash, Konsa, Mings, Digne; Tielemans, Kamara; Rashford, Rogers, Ramsey; Asensio. Subs: Olsen, Bogarde, Maatsen, Garcia, Torres, Onana, Malen, Watkins, McGinn.
Preamble
Football represents our connection to past and future, an eternal continuum that simultaneously teaches family history and the history of the world. And the stories we’re told, full-on sensory experiences with familiar grammar but idiosyncratic features, allow us to remember things that we don’t remember, part of something local and global, uniform and unique, personal and collective. Football makes us, and our planet, both bigger and smaller.
There are few names in our game more stirringly evocative than that of Preston North End, league champions in the first two seasons of English football, twice FA Cup winners and the club of Tom Finney, Alex Dawson and Bill Shankly. But it’s been a tricky 60 or so years since the last of those moved on, Championship mediocrity their current ennui – each of the last nine seasons have seen them finish between seventh and 14th, which happens to be where they sit at the time of writing.
Nor have the cups offered much joy, which makes this, their first quarter-final since 1966, a game of barely quantifiable resonance. Of course, Villa are nasty opponents, seven-time winners but not since 1957 and without a trophy since 1996; chances are that at some point this afternoon, they move into the last four. Preston, though – players and fans alike – will see the story of their lives as building to this moment and a once-in-a-generation shot at immortality.
Kick-off: 1.30pm BST, baby
