Sometimes When You Tie, You Actually Lose

We are certain that when Rosie Perez said this to Woody Harrelson in White Men Can't Jump, she did not have the FA Cup in mind, but her philosophical take is spot on.  Look at the plight of Fleetwood, Wigan, Shrewsbury, Norwich, Carlisle, Stevenage, Wolverton and Mansfield.  All had home FA Cup matches with clubs from higher divisions.  All managed draws.  Their "reward?"  A replay at the home pitch of the higher division club.  Except for maybe the financial aspect, this feels more like a loss than a draw to me.  So you caught the favorite off guard - maybe they underestimated you, maybe they left many first-teamers out of the line up, whatever - and you held them to a draw.  Think they'll make that mistake again?  Imagine if the Battle of Trenton ended in a tie.  In the rematch, the Hessians will probably have a little more respect for Washington's army and maybe won't drink so much the night before.

I'd rather see them go right to extra time as opposed to a replay.  That's what happens if the replay ends in a draw anyway so it's not like they're going to keep replaying the match until some one wins in regulation (side note: they used to do that but got tired of the scheduling hassles).  At least if they go to extra time in the first game, the favored side doesn't get to make adjustments, like fielding a stronger lineup.  And how weird is it that there were eight draws in this round and every one involved teams from different divisions and all were at the home park of the lower division side?

Final stats for the round (W-D-L):

Premier 10-5-5
Championship 7-5-12
League One 3-3-4 (not 4-3-3 as originally published, geez, check your math)
League Two 4-3-3

Among the notable upsets were League Two Coventry over Stoke City (which got Mark Hughes sacked) and League Two Newport over Leeds.  Three League One sides (Fleetwood, Wigan and Shrewsbury) got draws against Premier League teams (Leicester, Bournemouth and West Ham respectively).

The biggest upset may have been Nottingham Forest 4-2 over Arsenal.  That was entertaining stuff, though not so much if you're a Gunners fan.  With Wenger in the stands serving a three-game touchline ban for criticizing referees, Arsenal went down 0-1 on a goal from US national Eric Lichaj (pronounced "smith Lee-high").  Per Mertesacker leveled things quickly but then another highlight reel goal from Lichaj (easily this week's YouTubeableMoment) put Forest back up; check out Lichaj's stumbling celebration effort - clearly a full back not used to doing this.  A PK made it 3-1 but Welbeck got one back at 79 minutes to set up a barnburner of a finish.  Except that Arsenal committed another foul in the box and the PK was safely deposited into the net for a 4-2 lead.  Or was it?  Replays hint that Kieran Dowell (which I kept reading as Do Well) may have had a double touch on the ball.  Would have been interesting if this had happened in the Brighton - Crystal Palace match as the FA employed VAR for that one.  Not 100% clear to me in replays that it was a double strike (though the ball flight suggests it had to be) so maybe VAR wouldn't have changed things. In any case, Arsenal went out 2-4.  Good for Arsene Wenger to be upset with his players rather than the referees after the loss.  And for his brace, Eric Lichaj's wife let him get a puppy, which he promptly named "Gunner."  I am not making this up.

Perez scored the opener from close range

Other results of note for regular readers?  Newcastle fairly easily handled Luton Town with Perez getting two goals and Tottenham seemed untroubled by AFC Wimbledon.  Man United had to work but took care of business 2-0 at home to Derby.   Liverpool took another Merseyside derby win from Everton 2-1 while Chelsea was one of Premier League sides to stumble, drawing 0-0 with Norwich.  Man City started slowly but eventually romped over Burnley 4-1.  Just a week after I was ready to crown Pep Guardiola with some kind of "good guy" award, he got into it a bit with Sean Dyche after the Burnley manager chided the referee for a confusing restart that led to a goal.  Guardiola apologized and Dyche didn't seem to think it was a big deal.  Still, this might weigh in the judges's minds come awards time.


The Black Knight Award (with apologies to Monty Python)

Mat Sadler and Josh Cullen needed treatment
 for nasty injuries during the game

Cullen needs uniform change

The Shrewsbury-West Ham match was particularly fiesty.  After a clash of heads in the first half Shrewsbury's Mat Sadler had to go off to get the bleeding stopped.  He had to go off again in the second half when the cut started to bleed again; he returned with a proper bandage this time.  The Hammers Josh Cullen took a boot to the face and lost a tooth; we were treated to medical person searching for and finding the lost item on the pitch (video here).  Cullen was off the pitch only briefly, by which we mean he was seen in his briefs.  Though we liked Sadler's Spirit of 1776 head wrap, we're going with Cullen for the Black Knight "Tis But A Scratch" Award.


Chester Advance

Wary after watching the Leicester, Chelsea and West Ham draws, I adjusted the lineup for Chester's FA Cup tie with Championship Division Bradford.  I still left many second teamers in the starting lineup but made some changes to the bench, putting back a few key players who I had planned to rest.  With the score 0-0 at 60 minutes, I'd seen enough.   Substitutions were made, goals were scored.  We went on to win 2-0.  Bullet dodged.

Not so smart in the first leg of the League Cup semi with Chelsea.  Somehow we let a 3-0 lead slip away and finished with a 3-3 draw, putting us at a big disadvantage for the second leg at Stamford Bridge.  Sounds like some really bad managing there, though we were somewhat lucky to be up at all given how badly we were tackling and taking fouls and getting yellow cards.  I told the players to be more cautious, stay on their feet, etc but we kept hacking and it eventually cost us.

What's up with Martin Skrtel?  He's supposed to be our number three center back but several times, including the match with Bradford, I've had to take him out because he was playing like sh struggling; not what I paid $8 million for.  Getting offers for several players in the January window.  Many of the bids are too far below their real value but a few are going to tempt me.  Like $42 million for my star striker.  Sure that's are huge profits over what I paid but does that really matter when it will cost as much to replace him? 


League Play Returns

Good news for us late risers - no 7:30 Saturday morning match this week. But there are six at 10 and only one on TV - that being Chelsea hosting Leicester.  Incredibly critical three points up for grab at St. James' Park with Newcastle hosting Swansea; this is a big chance to put a little distance between the Magpies and the relegation zone.

Best match of the weekend is probably Liverpool - Man City on Sunday at 11 (NBCSN).  Even if you've conceded the title to the Citizens, Liverpool are in a battle for a top four spot and need all available points.  Man United have what looks to be an easy fixture at home to Stoke; Magpie fans would be happy if they take care of business there.

You'll have to go to NBC Gold but Crystal Palace - Burnley at 10 am Saturday could be worth checking out.  Also, Tottenham taking on Everton at Wembley on Saturday at 12:30 (NBC) might be interesting.  Will be watching to see how Arsenal respond after FA Cup upset when they take on Bournemouth Sunday at 8:30 (NBCSN).

I used to spend this weekend watching the NFL division playoffs.  I'll still be watching a lot of football, just a different kind.