A Tale of One City

With just FoxSports 1 to work with, the only FA Cup ties I got to see were the two Manchester matches. As Dickens might have said, it was the mediocre-est of times, it was the worst of times for the fans of the two Manchester sides.

Friday's David and Goliath match featured Cambridge (12th  place in League 2) hosting Moribund Manchester United.  The home side played well in the first half and probably had the best chance of the period.  The second half was strictly a case of hanging on for dear life.  Man United had 75% possession and six shots on target to none for Cambridge.  But hang on they did, walking away with a 0-0 draw.  And their reward? A mid-week replay at Old Trafford in a few weeks! Kind of reminds me of the end of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.  They fought gamely but, well, you know how that ended...

Clearly not the result Manchester United was looking for but they fared much better than their cross town rivals.  Manchester City squared off against Championship (2nd division) Middlesbrough  - in second at the time of the match, i.e. not a patsy and a possible EPL team next year.  Exciting, open match with both sides having chances.  Boro broke through in the 53rd minute as Patrick Bamford cleaned up a mess in front of the net.  The game got even more stretched and interesting as Man City sought to level the score but it was Middlesbrough getting an insurance goal in stoppage time, ending the Citizens FA Cup hopes.

Middlesbrough’s Patrick Bamford celebrates his side’s fortuitous opening goal in a famous victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup fourth round. Photograph: Darren Staples/Reuters

 

 

Does Anybody Want to Win the FA Cup?

Turns out the Manchester experience was being played out all over England.  Not a good weekend if you were in the top 10 in the EPL.

1st - Chelsea go down to Bradford (a League One [3rd division] side), at Stamford Bridge no less
2nd - Man City's loss chronicled above
3rd - Southampton  down 2-3 to Crystal Palace, another come-from-behind win for Pardew
4th - Man United discussed above
5th - Arsenal best Brighton 3-2
6th - Tottenham down 1-2 to Leicester
7th - West Ham 1-0 over Bristol
8th - Liverpool drawn 0-0 by Bolton
9th - Swansea down 1-2 to Blackburn
10th - Stoke best Rochdale 3-1

In other scores, Aston Villa scored two goals (18 percent of their EPL output) in one game and bested Bournemouth 2-1.  Perhaps Lambert needs to convince his side that every match is an FA Cup contest.

Not sure if it's feasible but maybe the prize for winning the FA Cup needs to be a spot in the Champions League (as opposed to Europa Cup) .  Might not have much of an impact on a Chelsea or Man City but it would likely perk up the interest of the other top EPL sides in winning the FA Cup.


Chester Blues

Almost caught up to real time.  Four straight league draws, some good (Newcastle and Arsenal away), some bad (QPR at home).  Two FA Cup victories have us to the 5th Round.  The draws have pretty much put an end to both league title hopes (15 points behind the leaders Manchester City) and relegation fears (now sitting with 40 points).  What remains in the balance is possible qualification for Champions League or Europa Cup.


Back to the Real Competition

Marquee match of the weekend is easily Chelsea vs Man City from Stamford Bridge at 12:30 on Saturday.  Chelsea may be without leading scorer Diego Costa, pending his appeal against a three-match ban for stomping Liverpool's Emre Can during the Blues win (and advancement) in League Cup play on Tuesday.  Other top of the table matches include Southampton hosting Swansea (Swans have looked awful since losing Bony) and Man United hosting Leicester (a chance to right the ship maybe).

We have BFS derby with Aston Villa taking on Arsenal at the Emirates; tough time to be playing the Gunners and the Villans may have used up their goals for the month with the FA Cup performance.  Inconsistent but still in contention for Europe, Tottenham travel to West Brom for a hoped for three points.  Everton are in London to face the surging Crystal Palace; off of recent performances, I would warn the Toffees that no lead looks safe against the Eagles right now.

Farther down the table, Burnley travel to the Stadium of Light to take on Sunderland; both have 20 points and sit one point out of the relegation zone.

And then there is Newcastle traveling to Hull City.  As expected, John Carver has been name permanent interim manager until the summer.  Hull City are sitting in the relegation zone with just 19 points.  But if I read the odds right, Hull City are favored.  Figures.  On the other hand, in the last seven matches between these two teams the home side has failed to come away with a win - drawing three and losing four.  Also we note that there have been 19 goals in the last five matches between these two.  But, a high scoring affair seems unlikely given the inability of either to find the net recently.  For me, this will be an important barometer of how much of a struggle the run-in to the finish is going to be.  A win or draw will likely indicate that we won't be looking over our shoulders at relegation; a loss means anything's possible.  Oh, and if they lose, it will likely be too late to do anything in the January transfer window to shore the team up.