Tottenham out of the FA Cup as Michel Vorm Proves He Is No Hugo Lloris

Leicester City's stunning 2-1 victory at White Hart Lane has seen Tottenham knocked out of the FA Cup at the fourth round, their first elimination from any competition this season. 

The fact that this milestone has come so late in the season will be little solace to Spurs fans who were dreaming another trip to Wembley. 

Indeed, with Chelsea and Manchester City both remarkably beaten, the draw appeared to be opening up for Spurs, but the late show from the Foxes will leave the supporters dreaming about what might have been. 

Leicester trailed deep into the match after Andros Townsend gave Spurs the lead on 19 minutes with another confident conversion from the penalty spot. Liam Moore, struggling with the pace of the game and apparently carrying an injury, lunged in on Roberto Soldado and gave the referee enough to award the penalty. 

"

5 - All five of Andros Townsend's goals this season have come from the penalty spot. Specialist.

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 24, 2015"

England winger Townsend hasn't scored from open play this season, but he has made himself useful with crucial penalties against Chelsea, Asteras and Sheffield United. 

Spurs may have been the better team, but the crucial moment came with Leicester on the attack. Andrej Kramaric surged into the penalty area, and Michel Vorm rushed out and appeared to foul the Croatian striker. 

The referee was unmoved, even booking Kramaric for perceived simulation. 

Given that Spurs' own spot-kick was awarded with questionable evidence, Leicester City will feel aggrieved having not gotten the same benefit of the doubt. 

As Tottenham found in their Boxing Day trip to Leicester City, the Foxes are no meek relegation fodder. They could—and perhaps should—have taken at least one point from that fixture, and they were similarly aggressive at White Hart Lane. 

Leonardo Ulloa's equaliser came with just six minutes to play after Spurs failed to clear from a Leicester corner. Vorm, Tottenham's deputising goalkeeper, should have done more at the corner, but Ulloa's shot was well-struck, and the equaliser not undeserved. 

Suddenly, Spurs were rocking, and Leicester, sensing their opportunity, pushed forward once again. 

Mauricio Pochettino turned to Harry Kane to rescue the match, but the winner eventually came from Leicester full-back Jeffrey Schlupp. Schlupp's scrappy volley beat Vorm, who dove early and was forced to watch as the decisive goal trickled past him. 

There was still time for Spurs, but with the impressive Mark Schwarzer in goal, they were unable to force a replay. 

Pochettino has happily rotated his team through this season, and he continued the habit against Leicester. Paulinho and Younes Kaboul enjoyed rare starts while Erik Lamela and Etienne Capoue made their returns from injury. 

The rotation policy hasn't bitten Pochettino yet this season, and his outfield players did enough to at least earn a replay, but handing Hugo Lloris a rest day has cost Tottenham dearly. 

Signed from Swansea in the summer, Vorm has had only a handful of opportunities to impress the Tottenham fans. He is in the difficult position of being the unquestioned number two and can have little hope of unseating Lloris. 

Against Sheffield United, Vorm gave a fine performance. Playing behind a composed and intelligent defensive line of Kyle Walker, Jan Vertonghen, Eric Dier and Ben Davies will have given him far more confidence than the comparatively calamitous Vlad Chiriches, Federico Fazio, Kaboul and Danny Rose. Apart from Fazio, they are certainly the reserve defence.

The mistake for the decisive goal could be partially blamed on a lack of chemistry with his defence, but it was simply a save Vorm needs to make, and it will be a painful lesson for him to learn.

Vorm is tactically similar to Lloris, so his presence in the squad makes sense, but nobody would make the mistake of comparing the two in terms of quality. 

Lloris is one of the finest goalkeepers in the world and was responsible for keeping Leicester at bay when Spurs beat them in December. Playing Vorm instead of Lloris, presumably to rest the Frenchman, has come at too high a cost. 

The FA Cup is inextricably linked with Tottenham Hotspur. The first great moment of the club's history was winning it as a non-league club in 1901, but they have now gone 24 years without winning it—the longest drought since the war. 

Tottenham's season is by no means shipwrecked by this result, but surrendering a lead is a particularly discouraging way to go out of the Cup. This, combined with similar results against Newcastle and Crystal Palace, do not yet add up to a trend but are disappointing nonetheless. 

Spurs will fight on, and a trip to Wembley still seems likely, with just one leg of the League Cup semi-final against the Blades remaining.

If this ends up the most disappointing moment of Pochettino's otherwise bright first season, most Spurs fans will probably be satisfied.