So, it was (most of) FA Cup 5th Round day today - Preston vs. Pompey and Boro vs. Sheffield United happen tomorrow - and as usual there was the usual assortment of shocks, drubbings and predictable valiant defeats. I don't know why they call them shock results now, as pretty much every time the FA Cup rolls around at least one 'big club' seems to get it in the neck against a bunch of car park attendants from Brinkley, but today's was one of the best in recent memory. Well, it would have been if the club that was defeated was playing to their potential and not behaving like the dire shower they've been playing like in recent weeks. Speaking of dire showers, Arsenal's untimely cock-up on the sodden Old Trafford turf against Manchester United turned what was supposed to be the showpiece of the round into a boring parade of abject failure. More on that later, though, because the real tie of the round was Liverpool vs. Barnsley.
Liverpool's famed cup manager Rafa Benitez has been kept out of the firing line recently by the fans because of his reputation of a knock-out miracle worker. Which is just as well, because if he was judged solely on his league form he'd be out on his ear. The shame of going behind twice to a bunch of postmen and labourers was dismissed as just a blip when they just snuck past Havant & Waterlooville in the previous round ('hey', I hear the Scousers cry, 'they've got a full international on their books' - yes, folks, Richard Pacquette has a whole 1 cap for that powerhouse of world football, Dominica - a Carribbean island with a population just slightly higher than a full house at Anfield who's main export is bananas), but the reality of his incompetence was laid very much to bare this afternoon as Liverpool lost 2 - 1 to Barnsley. Alright, so the Yorkshire lot's keeper had an absolute blinder, but there's serious issues when a team supposedly gunning for Premiership and Champion's League glory can't get at least a couple past a keeper only on loan at Barnsley because he can't get a game at West Brom. Either way, Benitez appeared shellshocked at the end and must be under real pressure now with only the Champion's League to aim for, and with an in-form Inter Milan looming in midweek the season is looking very close to being an abject disaster for Peter Crouch and co. Barnsley will be partying long into the night, though, and did play a huge part in this massively entertaining game, and reminded a lot of people that there's still some romance in the cup, even if it has in recent years largely run dry.
Elsewhere, results were of the much more boring variety. Arsenal just don't like February games, it's just a bit too chilly for their foreign contingent, and with the winter wind nipping away at William Gallas and his charges, they contrived to go completely to pieces on an Old Trafford pitch that could be readily compared to something you'd normally find in the Everglades. I'm not making excuses for Arsenal's shocking performance, as they look precariously close to going out of three competitions in three weeks the same way they did last February, but the pitch really was waterlogged, and it did impede their usual passing game. Of course, what also impeded their usual passing game was the fact every single player in a white Arsenal shirt looked like they'd rather be indoors sipping a mug of hot cocoa than kicking a ball about in a swamp. The boys seem just a bit spoiled to me. The worst part of it from Arsenal's point of view is that they deserved to lose by many more than the 4 they did lose by, and should by all rights have been on the end of a serious drubbing, as Manchester United, had they taken their chances, could and perhaps should have been in double figures well within a first 45 minutes in which Arsenal were barely on the pitch.
I'm not sure which side it's worse for that Manchester United played exceedingly poorly while still managing to put 4 without reply past Arsenal, but Sir Alex will surely be looking for his side to work on their finishing as they spent the entire first half taking shots at Lehmann without interference from any Arsenal players and still managed to only score 4 goals, while Arsene Wenger will have to get his phrasebook out to tell his players how terrible they were, as I doubt the kind of language required will have entered into the refined Frenchman's vocabulary until now, largely because he normally doesn't have to. It was schoolboy stuff and Emmanuel Eboue, who was just starting to get me to like him again after he stopped being a nasty diving little cunt, fully deserved his red card for aiming a thinly-disguised flying kick at Nani midway through the second half; if you want to kick anyone, Emmanuel, kick one of your lot, because it's not Man U's fault your boys played like chumps.
Still, you might think that any FA Cup tie that features 4 goals and a sending off would be an exciting game of football, but it wasn't. Next time I want to watch Man U have a training session against a team of cardboard cut-outs, I'll subscribe to MUTV. At least that way I'd get to hear the wise words of the BBC-boycotting Sir Alex, and maybe work out what kind of spell he used to turn the Premiership's best pure passing team into a bunch of wallowing sulky hippos - it might come in handy for Sunday League.
In a far less news-worthy story, the other member of the Big 4 Brigade, Chelsea, smacked Huddersfield 3 - 1 at home, with Big Fat Frank on the scoresheet twice. What price a home draw against Barnsley for the Blues in the next round? You know, because the FA Cup isn't rigged or anything. It'll be them or Bristol Rovers, who triumphed over Southampton 1 - 0 with a massively deflected goal, with the other playing Man U at Old Trafford, unless Preston or Sheffield United get through tomorrow, in which case they'll be in the mix to face the Big 2 left in the competition as well, but I doubt whoever is in charge of drawing up the 'random' FA Cup fixture list at the Football Association will want either of them to play West Brom, who looked on Premiership form to thump Coventry 5 - 0 to seal their place in the next round. If any Championship team is likely to go all the way, on this form it's the Baggies, and Coventry simply looked all at sea against them today and, for them, Chris Coleman can't get back from his Spanish adventure fast enough, with the Welshman apparently the bookie's tip for the Sky Blues' management position.
In the other tie which I've forgotten to mention so far, and the final tie of the round other than those being played tomorrow, was Cardiff City's 2 - 0 victory over Wolves, which was nothing less than Dave Jones deserves after putting up with some horrible abuse from certain quarters. He genuinely seems a nice bloke and I'd love to see him go far, but I'm not sure how far the ageing legs of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink can take him. Jimmy's a top slice of class, but I still think West Brom have a better chance of succeeding as a Championship club in the FA Cup quarter finals; Roman Bednar isn't half the player Hasselbaink was in his prime, but you just never know when those 35-year-old lungs are going to run out of puff, and I think West Brom have more quality throughout the side, with players like Chris Brunt, Zoltan Gera, etc. I mean, they've even got bloody Pele on their books! (Not that Pele, but still, it must put the wind up any opposition players that are a wee bit thick, seeing that name on the back of an opponents' shirt).
Anyway, I was out on the lash last night and don't feel too great just at the moment, so that's it for this evening.
Goodnight.
Edit: Corrections, corrections, corrections.
Liverpool's famed cup manager Rafa Benitez has been kept out of the firing line recently by the fans because of his reputation of a knock-out miracle worker. Which is just as well, because if he was judged solely on his league form he'd be out on his ear. The shame of going behind twice to a bunch of postmen and labourers was dismissed as just a blip when they just snuck past Havant & Waterlooville in the previous round ('hey', I hear the Scousers cry, 'they've got a full international on their books' - yes, folks, Richard Pacquette has a whole 1 cap for that powerhouse of world football, Dominica - a Carribbean island with a population just slightly higher than a full house at Anfield who's main export is bananas), but the reality of his incompetence was laid very much to bare this afternoon as Liverpool lost 2 - 1 to Barnsley. Alright, so the Yorkshire lot's keeper had an absolute blinder, but there's serious issues when a team supposedly gunning for Premiership and Champion's League glory can't get at least a couple past a keeper only on loan at Barnsley because he can't get a game at West Brom. Either way, Benitez appeared shellshocked at the end and must be under real pressure now with only the Champion's League to aim for, and with an in-form Inter Milan looming in midweek the season is looking very close to being an abject disaster for Peter Crouch and co. Barnsley will be partying long into the night, though, and did play a huge part in this massively entertaining game, and reminded a lot of people that there's still some romance in the cup, even if it has in recent years largely run dry.
Elsewhere, results were of the much more boring variety. Arsenal just don't like February games, it's just a bit too chilly for their foreign contingent, and with the winter wind nipping away at William Gallas and his charges, they contrived to go completely to pieces on an Old Trafford pitch that could be readily compared to something you'd normally find in the Everglades. I'm not making excuses for Arsenal's shocking performance, as they look precariously close to going out of three competitions in three weeks the same way they did last February, but the pitch really was waterlogged, and it did impede their usual passing game. Of course, what also impeded their usual passing game was the fact every single player in a white Arsenal shirt looked like they'd rather be indoors sipping a mug of hot cocoa than kicking a ball about in a swamp. The boys seem just a bit spoiled to me. The worst part of it from Arsenal's point of view is that they deserved to lose by many more than the 4 they did lose by, and should by all rights have been on the end of a serious drubbing, as Manchester United, had they taken their chances, could and perhaps should have been in double figures well within a first 45 minutes in which Arsenal were barely on the pitch.
I'm not sure which side it's worse for that Manchester United played exceedingly poorly while still managing to put 4 without reply past Arsenal, but Sir Alex will surely be looking for his side to work on their finishing as they spent the entire first half taking shots at Lehmann without interference from any Arsenal players and still managed to only score 4 goals, while Arsene Wenger will have to get his phrasebook out to tell his players how terrible they were, as I doubt the kind of language required will have entered into the refined Frenchman's vocabulary until now, largely because he normally doesn't have to. It was schoolboy stuff and Emmanuel Eboue, who was just starting to get me to like him again after he stopped being a nasty diving little cunt, fully deserved his red card for aiming a thinly-disguised flying kick at Nani midway through the second half; if you want to kick anyone, Emmanuel, kick one of your lot, because it's not Man U's fault your boys played like chumps.
Still, you might think that any FA Cup tie that features 4 goals and a sending off would be an exciting game of football, but it wasn't. Next time I want to watch Man U have a training session against a team of cardboard cut-outs, I'll subscribe to MUTV. At least that way I'd get to hear the wise words of the BBC-boycotting Sir Alex, and maybe work out what kind of spell he used to turn the Premiership's best pure passing team into a bunch of wallowing sulky hippos - it might come in handy for Sunday League.
In a far less news-worthy story, the other member of the Big 4 Brigade, Chelsea, smacked Huddersfield 3 - 1 at home, with Big Fat Frank on the scoresheet twice. What price a home draw against Barnsley for the Blues in the next round? You know, because the FA Cup isn't rigged or anything. It'll be them or Bristol Rovers, who triumphed over Southampton 1 - 0 with a massively deflected goal, with the other playing Man U at Old Trafford, unless Preston or Sheffield United get through tomorrow, in which case they'll be in the mix to face the Big 2 left in the competition as well, but I doubt whoever is in charge of drawing up the 'random' FA Cup fixture list at the Football Association will want either of them to play West Brom, who looked on Premiership form to thump Coventry 5 - 0 to seal their place in the next round. If any Championship team is likely to go all the way, on this form it's the Baggies, and Coventry simply looked all at sea against them today and, for them, Chris Coleman can't get back from his Spanish adventure fast enough, with the Welshman apparently the bookie's tip for the Sky Blues' management position.
In the other tie which I've forgotten to mention so far, and the final tie of the round other than those being played tomorrow, was Cardiff City's 2 - 0 victory over Wolves, which was nothing less than Dave Jones deserves after putting up with some horrible abuse from certain quarters. He genuinely seems a nice bloke and I'd love to see him go far, but I'm not sure how far the ageing legs of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink can take him. Jimmy's a top slice of class, but I still think West Brom have a better chance of succeeding as a Championship club in the FA Cup quarter finals; Roman Bednar isn't half the player Hasselbaink was in his prime, but you just never know when those 35-year-old lungs are going to run out of puff, and I think West Brom have more quality throughout the side, with players like Chris Brunt, Zoltan Gera, etc. I mean, they've even got bloody Pele on their books! (Not that Pele, but still, it must put the wind up any opposition players that are a wee bit thick, seeing that name on the back of an opponents' shirt).
Anyway, I was out on the lash last night and don't feel too great just at the moment, so that's it for this evening.
Goodnight.
Edit: Corrections, corrections, corrections.
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