Result: Fulham 1 Aston Villa 0
Having passed their way to the brink of the Premier League, earning all the praise that comes with being the Championship’s prettiest team, Fulham were forced to show their nasty side when it mattered most.
Slavisa Jokanovic’s side snapped into challenges and cracked bone upon bone. They ran, tackled, blocked and cleared. Reduced to 10 men for much of the second half, they abandoned everything that had taken them this far, everything that had carried them to a 23-game unbeaten run this year, and simply ground it out.
It was not the Fulham we have grown used to this season. But it was, in the end, enough to carry them all the way back to the promised land. The riches of the Premier League, which will be at least £160 million, are theirs to savour, and their concerns over keeping this side together next year will have been washed away by the champagne that flowed last night.
There is no denying that a team of this quality deserved to be promoted, although Aston Villa and Steve Bruce will feel their second-half showing merited more.
Villa chased the ball in the first half, then chased the game after Tom Cairney’s 23rd-minute strike, but they were the dominant side and, in Jack Grealish, possessed the game’s standout player.
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TRIBUNNEWS.COM - Final Liga Champions musim 2017/2018 sudah berada di depan mata.
Adalah Liverpool yang akan bertemu Real Madrid pada babak final Liga Champions, Sabtu (26/5/2018) di Stadion NSC Olimpiyskiy, Kiev, Ukraina.
Laga antara 2 tim besar di jagat eropa ini tentu saja menarik para pelaku industri sepakbola.
Euforia laga final ini tentu saja lebih dirasakan lagi bagi para publik Inggris.
Final kali ini menjadi obat dahaga eksisnya tim-tim asal Britania Raya di final Liga Champions.
Terakhir kali ada tim asal Inggris yang menapakkan kakinya di final Liga Champions sendiri terjadi di musim 2011-2012 atau sekitar 6 tahun yang lalu.
Adalah Chelsea yang menjadi perwakilan terakhir Inggris di ajang final Champions.
Pada musim tersebut, anak asuh Roberto DiMatteo sukses menggondol si kuping besar lewat drama adu penalti menghadapi Bayern Munchen.
Nah, mengingat absennya kehadiran tim inggris di final selama lebih dari setengah dasawarsa ini, tentu saja publik negeri Ratu Elisabeth ini pun dilanda euforia pada hari ini.
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"Gutted. Sorry for all fans for this difficult moment. Have to stay stronger. UTV"
That was the message from Aston Villa Dr Tony Xia after he watched his club fail to get into the Premier League at Wembley.
Villa lost out in a 1-0 defeat to Fulham at Wembley, and now the club have to rebuild once again for another Championship campaign.
Steve Bruce says:
Steve Bruce has vowed to fight on at Aston Villa providing the powers-that-be want him around.
The Villa boss was broken and bruised after the play-off defeat to Fulham but quickly fronted up at Wembley.
When asked if he wants to stick around and help the rebuild next term, Bruce said:
“I will roll my sleeves up and get stuck into it again next season as long as the people above me see that I’m fit to do it.
“I will carry on.
“I’ve been doing it for a long time and I’m in charge of a great club with a big history and tradition.”
Bruce admits there will need to be big changes this summer, though.
The loan players - Sam Johnstone, Robert Snodgrass, Josh Onomah and Lewis Grabban will return to their parent clubs.
Inevitable bids for Jack Grealish and James Chester will follow.
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And the option that John Terry had to extend his stay for another season is now void following the failure to secure promotion.
“The feeling is disappointment for everybody,” he added.
“The hard part is where do we go from here?
“We will try to move forward.
“We’ve got five loan players going and two or three out of contract.
“There’s a lot of discussions to be had.
“But we had to balance the books last summer.
“It’s something I’ve come to get used to over the last fee transfer windows.
“There’s going to have to be a change of course but we’ll ask those questions in the next few weeks.
Report
Aston Villa suffered Wembley heartache in the most crushing of circumstances as they were beaten by Fulham in the play-off final.
Tom Cairney - a man Steve Bruce once let go when he was manager of Hull City - scored the only goal of the game that proved to be the difference.
But the richest and most important game in world football had so much more.
A sending off for Denis Odoi, crunching challenges that could have warranted further dismissals. penalty appeals at either end, and an almight battle from start to finish.
This was a game both sides were desperate not to lose but after 90 minutes of gripping, fast-paced action it was Fulham who progressed to the Premier League with Villa left wondering what might have been.
What if Jack Grealish had scored one of his two wonderful opportunities?
What if Steve Bruce had set up more attack-minded in the first-half rather than trying to contain Fulham?
What if Robert Snodgrass has tested the goalkeeper with a free-kick in the last minute?
All ifs, buts and maybes now, of course, as the real question is how to Villa recover from this - a fourth successive final defeat at Wembley.
The FA Cup and League Cup no-shows were painful but this latest setback was the toughest to take and arguably the most damaging.
What happens to this group of players next season as Villa face another season in the Championship?
Loanees Robert Snodgrass, Lewis Grabban and Sam Johnstone will head back to their parents clubs and are unlikely to return.
John Terry’s future is now uncertain, and both Grealish and James Chester will be the subject of increased interest from the top-flight.
There was a clear game-plan that Villa tried to stick to early on but it just didn’t work.
Fulham dominated possession and quickly wore down the ageing claret and blue legs, taking the lead in the 23rd-minute.
Stefan Johansen fired a diagonal ball into Ryan Sessegnon and he skipped past Conor Hourihane’s challenge.
The flying winger then ripped Villa’s defence apart, slotting a pass in between Alan Hutton and John Terry for Cairney to run onto.
Fulham’s top performer timed his run perfectly before opening up his body and sliding past Sam Johnstone.
It was a cruel blow that silenced those who had travelled down from Birmingham and there was to be no recovery,
Slavisa Jokanovic’s talented side continued to dominate thereafter as Villa relied too heavily on Grealish to make an impact.
The Villa man carried the ball out of dangerous areas, won fouls all over the pitch, but just didn’t have enough creative support around him.
By the midway point of the first-half he had been up-ended five times and Ryan Fredericks was seriously lucky to avoid a sending-off when he appeared to stamp on his shin close to the dugout.
Grealish rolled around in pain, Bruce and his assistants questioned the officials but no punishment was issued.
It was almost double-trouble soon after when Terry diverted a cross into Sessegnon’s path at the back-post but the teenager headed straight into Johnstone’s hands.
Villa’s first sight at goal quickly followed.
A well-worked free-kick from Robert Snodgrasss found Grealish but his half-volley flew over the crossbar.
By half-time Villa were reeling.
They looked distinctly average against a fired-up Fulham side who stuck to their principles of playing attractive, attacking football.
Whether they had the guts and guile to grind out the victory was the only question, but a professional performance after the break proved they had.
Villa had chances to make a difference.
Adomah crossed for Grealish who looked certain to score but the ball cannoned off his shoulder rather than his head and then over the bar.
Then Villa’s main man went on a weaving run but his close-range effort was deflected off Tim Ream allowing Marcus Bettinelli to save.
After Villa had a penalty appeal turned down, despite Odoi appearing to handle in the box, Grealish was lucky to stay on the pitch himself.
He crunched into Cairney - clearly frustrated from being kicked from pillar to post himself - creating a melee between both sets of players.
Referee Anthony Taylor decided that it was only a yellow card and Grealish survived,
Ironically it was a challenge on Grealish that then saw Odoi dismissed for a second yellow.
That was supposed to make life easier for Villa but they just couldn’t make the man advantage count.
Josh Onomah, Jonathan Kodjia and Scott Hogan were all introduced to spark further life into the trailing side but they couldn’t turn things around.
Snodgrass had a free-kick late on that he sent wide and Hogan headed off-target, too.
Grealish also had another penalty appeal as he was bundled over but it was given.
When the final whistle was blown, the pain and realisation kicked in.
Grealish dropped to his knees, Terry looked to be holding back the tears and Bruce cut a lonely forlon figure on the sidelines.
Another year in the Championship now beckons.
TEAMS:
Villa (4-5-1) Johnstone, Elmohamady (Onomah, 77) Chester, Terry, Hutton, Snodgrass, Hourihane (Hogan, 82) Jedinak. Adomah, Grealish, Grabban (Kodjia, 77) Subs: Bunn, Bree, Whelan, Bjarnason.
Fulham (4-3-3-) - Bettinelli, Fredericks (Christie, 82) Ream, Odoi, Targett, McDonald, Cairney, Johansen, Kamara, Mitrovic, Sessegnon. Subs: Button, Fonte, Ayite, Piazon,
STAR MAN: Grealish
