VillaChris Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 Just seen on the local news we played Chelsea in 2000 final on this day. Regardless of it being a terrible negative performance I've always thought that was the last day we were really seen as a big player in the English game. Even though the 90s were seen as a period of underachievement we still won two cups, finished 2nd in the league and had many other top 6 finishes in that period. Also had many top international players in our squad. After that game I can remember Merson, Ugo, Southgate and David James all putting in transfer requests and wanting to leave although they were all still actually at the club for the start of the next season. You could see though they all sensed that was the end of the road for that squad. Even though Chelsea were only seen as big player in English game from Abramovich onwards their 11 that day had likes of Zola, Marcel Desailly and George Weah in it. They'd reach the champions league quarter finals that season and indeed had finished above us in the league for the previous three seasons (I don't think we've finished above Chelsea in the league since 96/97 season which is a sobering fact). Since that season I think we've only finished in the top half of premier league 7 times in over 20 seasons. The next two seasons we finished 8th twice so we slipped from the top 6 regulars we were for majority of the 90s. A hugely disappointing day that had a long term knock on impact for us. Also that summer the old Trinity was knocked down which also chipped away at our self esteem given it was one of those things that set us apart from many clubs. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thabucks Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 Wow times does fly! I had a ticket but was living in south Africa at the time and decided to stay out there ( luckily) J remember watching it at backpackers in Johannesburg and the locals were all routing for villa. The manner of the lose was so hard to take at time... And can now see the damage it did long term. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Steve Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 Never forgot James flapping at the ball into the box and allowing Di Matteo to score. Always felt like the Chelsea player dived to win the free kick too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
villaglint Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 I was 17 at the time and spent the night before getting hammered at a mates house. At the time it was the most expensive house in Coventry, proper mansion. Everyone got a bit carried away with the excitement and as 17yr olds do I had too much and ended up throwing up all over a white fluffy carpet in this mansion. I have vague memories of seeing a multi multi millionaire (my mates dad) getting on his hands and knees to clean up my sick in the middle of the night. In the morning I made a sharp exit to save the embarrassment and waited on the road for my old man to pick me up to drive down to Wembley. I was a bit worried about how I'd explain the state of me to my old man. However he'd been at a party the night before also got steaming drunk. He "didn't speak to my Mum enough" so she took a cab home without him and he had to walk about 5 miles back home on his own. Proper pair driving down to London. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nick76 Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 That game hurt. We have more downs than ups as Villa fans but I love this club but that day really hurt! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 A day to forget! It looked like we had a real chance to lift the trophy with the team we had back then, if we actually turned up. Chelsea were there for the taking on the day, but got a scrappy goal to win, what was a very poor game. We met up with my wife's cousin from Scotland after the game. He said he'd never seen such a miserable bunch in a pub after a game. He was 110% right my mates and myself, were as miserable as sin all night! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 Yep. That was the closing of the nearly years chapter of AVFC. With better management and a bit of luck we could have been a really big club by the end of the 90s but we have ended up regressing since then in comparison to probably half a dozen teams. Excluding the play offs we have lost the last 4 cup finals we have played in. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepyvillian Posted May 20, 2020 Share Posted May 20, 2020 Do we really want to remember arguably the worst performance of a team at an F.A Cup Final ? The semi final performance wasn't that much better. A Bolton team, managed by, big Sam, actually played the better football. My days, we really did play some awful stuff under that guitar, riffing poser. And, to think, it all began so rosy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjw63 Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 I vowed never to go back to that shithole again after this game. I went back on my word twice in 2010, and learned my lesson the hard way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
S-Platt Posted May 21, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted May 21, 2020 (edited) 2 hours ago, rjw63 said: I vowed never to go back to that shithole again after this game. I went back on my word twice in 2010, and learned my lesson the hard way. Different shithole in 2010 but I take your point! Old Wembley holds better memories for me than the new one! Edited May 21, 2020 by S-Platt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjw63 Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 42 minutes ago, S-Platt said: Different shithole in 2010 but I take your point! Old Wembley holds better memories for me than the new one! Didn't like either. Crap stadium built in the middle of a shit area. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
limpid Posted May 21, 2020 Administrator Share Posted May 21, 2020 See the bottom right hand corner not watching? That's me that is. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaJ100 Posted May 21, 2020 Share Posted May 21, 2020 My dad took me, still got the programme. Was still on a high from the 94 and 96 Cup finals. What a letdown Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted May 21, 2020 Author Share Posted May 21, 2020 4 hours ago, limpid said: See the bottom right hand corner not watching? That's me that is. Enjoy the 43 second Di Matteo goal? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 (edited) I wasn't quite into football then as much as now but i was convinced Villa would win the final. 20 years on they still disappoint me. They had a section on Midlands Today about it this week. I suppose we will always be associated with the last final at the old Wembley, but not really for the best reasons! I think it says it all that despite our illustrious history in the FA Cup Villa are not mentioned at all in the said competition top 50 moments on the beeb website. Apart from hosting a Man U-Arsenal match. Edited May 22, 2020 by The Fun Factory 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted May 22, 2020 VT Supporter Share Posted May 22, 2020 On 20/05/2020 at 19:01, sheepyvillian said: Do we really want to remember arguably the worst performance of a team at an F.A Cup Final ? Surely our performance in 2015 was massively worse than this one? I mean different planet kind of worse. You are correct, we were lucky to get past Bolton, they played way better than us, smash and grab from us. Weirdly despite being at Wembley I have no memories of this match. I have strong memories of the 2 League Cup wins and of being smashed by Chelsea in the semi final years later as well, but literally nothing of this final (which was my first FA Cup final). How odd. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sheepyvillian Posted May 22, 2020 Share Posted May 22, 2020 13 minutes ago, sidcow said: Surely our performance in 2015 was massively worse than this one? I mean different planet kind of worse. You are correct, we were lucky to get past Bolton, they played way better than us, smash and grab from us. Weirdly despite being at Wembley I have no memories of this match. I have strong memories of the 2 League Cup wins and of being smashed by Chelsea in the semi final years later as well, but literally nothing of this final (which was my first FA Cup final). How odd. We were just totally overwhelmed in 2015 by a rampant Arsenal. In the Chelsea game, we were playing for penalties from the first minute, Unforgivable. The sad thing was, Chelsea weren't all that on the day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted May 23, 2020 Share Posted May 23, 2020 We were outclassed by Arsenal, we had a great chance of beating Chelsea and I know hes a good keeper but calamity James cost us the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted May 23, 2020 Share Posted May 23, 2020 Was a dreadful error by James. From what I remember about the game is that it was absolutely crap similar to the Fulham game in 2018. Not much happened in the entire 90 minutes Found stats 5 corners in an entire game is pretty shocking. Chelsea had 5 shots to our 11. Doesnt say about on target Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted May 23, 2020 Author Share Posted May 23, 2020 (edited) Chelsea had the better chances. No interest obviously in watching the full game again but a few years back did have a quick look at highlights just to see if we actually had any shots. Nothing in first half bar a long ranger from Merse straight at De Goey. In second half Chelsea were well on top before the goal. Dennis Wise had offside goal that was actually onside (James spilled that aswell) and Weah missed open goal from 5 yards. Then the goal. In response Carbone scuffed a shot from near the penalty spot that was cleared off the line and that was it. Chelsea at the time were used to winning cup finals, that group of players with Zola, Leboeuf and Di Matteo had won FA cup in 1997 and league cup in 98 so were used to Wembley days out whereas our group were overawed yet again on the day. It was probably always going to be tight anyway given they'd been just 1 goal in the two league meetings that season. 2015 was a huge disappointment given around that time we could cause Arsenal trouble at the Emirates on the counter attack yet they completely nulified Benteke that day. Looking back now Gabby on the bench was also odd given his pace, was he coming back from injury at the time? Given his general record for us in big games up to 2015 it seems incredible to me he didn't start. N'zogbia was a real waste of a shirt that day and Sherwood then froze him out for the rest of his time. Edited May 23, 2020 by VillaChris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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