Analysis: FA Cup capitulation leaves Aston Villa treading Europa League tightrope

For a fair of the evening it seemed the officials - and to a lesser extent their rather toothless opponents - were trying to gift Villa a passage into the fifth round.

The home side took the lead thanks to a Tammy Abraham goal which should have been flagged offside, saw Lucas Digne escape with only a yellow card for a rash challenge and then watched on with disbelief as the same player avoided conceding a penalty despite handling the ball a good yard or two inside the box.

And yet Villa failed to reap the benefit of those calls due to a decision not even referee Chris Kavanagh and his assistants could get wrong.

Seconds before half-time - and just seconds after a Villa corner - goalkeeper Marco Bizot took out Jacob Murphy 40 yards from goal to leave Emery’s men defending their one-goal lead for the entire second half a man down.

It was a task which proved beyond them, though even then there was frustration at the manner of Newcastle’s comeback.

Emi Martinez’s poor punch from the free-kick which should have been a penalty allowed Sandro Tonali to equalise with the visiting side’s first shot on target of the match.

Tonali then produced the night’s one true moment of quality 14 minutes from time, a rasping drive into the bottom corner from 25 yards out, to put his team in front, before a chaotic, scrambled effort from Nick Woltemade completed Villa’s capitulation.

For the Magpies there was a sense of justice done after they were on the receiving end of some seriously rough officiating calls.

From Villa’s perspective, the fortune which went their way only added to the feeling of a defeat where the damage was self-inflicted.

Prior to Bizot’s dismissal, Newcastle had looked no nearer to scoring than they had in their two previous matches with Villa this season.

The keeper’s dismissal - freakishly similar in manner to that of Martinez on the final day of last season at Manchester United - completely changed the course of the night and provided mitigation to any analysis of Villa’s second half showing.

Emery, speaking in the aftermath, was surprisingly - almost jarringly - chipper, referencing “a lot of very good news” despite the result.

It is true the overall performance contained several impressive individual showings, most notably from Victor Lindelof and Abraham, who got off the mark in his second spell at the club.

Yet it was hard to marry the manager’s mood with his words just 24 hours previously, when he spoke of the motivation of bringing silverware back to Villa Park for the first time since 1996.

The Europa League still offers a great opportunity. In truth, it has always been Villa’s easiest route to a trophy this season. Though the route to glory may be longer than both domestic cup competitions, the standard of opponents is considerably less taxing, even in the latter stages. Exiting the FA Cup means Villa will have a full week to prepare for the first leg of next month’s last-16 tie.

Saturday, however, was a reminder that in cup competitions it only takes one moment, one horrendously poor decision, to scupper your chances. In terms of winning silverware this term, Villa are suddenly walking a tightrope.

Bizot was not completely to blame. Leon Bailey, starting for the first time since being recalled last month from his loan spell at Roma, must also take a significant share of the responsibility.

Had he played the ball back to the goalkeeper, when Villa’s corner was initially cleared, his team would almost certainly have gone in at half-time a goal to the good.

Instead, his risky attempt at a crossfield ball only presented Newcastle with the chance to counter, with no Villa player bar Bizot back.

Even then, there may have been a chance to escape the danger. Murphy’s ball around the keeper, like many of his touches in the first half, was poor and with defenders racing back, a goal was not certain.

But rather than take the risk of him scoring, Bizot decided to take him out. Just like Bailey, the keeper made a poor decision based on the percentages.    

This was the first real blot on his copybook since joining Villa last summer. As Martinez showed at Old Trafford last May, when things go wrong for keepers, it is usually in spectacular fashion.

While the incident may prompt questions about Villa’s temperament and decision-making under pressure, of perhaps greater concern was a third defeat in four home matches. Emery’s men have lost as many times in the last four weeks on home turf as they had done in the previous 16 months.

That speaks of a team for whom, just right now, nothing is coming easy as key men remain absent and new ones work to get up to speed. Next Saturday’s visit of Leeds offers another chance to return to something like familiar form.