Don't Choke on the Minnows

Though not a lot of upsets in the 4th round of the FA Cup, many of the favorites found that the minnows did not go down easy.  For Newcastle fans, the 4th Round was what we've become accustomed to - another weekend off. 

Middlesbrough got the round started with a Friday afternoon upset over Man United, at Old Trafford no less.  The Red Devils of course dominated on the stat sheet with 71% possession, 30 shots to 6, 9 shots on target to 3, etc.  But at the end of full time it was 1-1.  We should mention that Ronaldo missed a PK in the 20th minute and there was "controversy" (see below) on Middlesbrough's goal; it was that kind of day.  No scoring in added extra time so onto kicks from the spot.  Pretty high quality stuff through seven rounds - all well taken.  Lee Peltier converted number 8 for Middlesbrough but Elanga skied his over the cross bar and Man United were out.  Sort of funny to see Middlesbrough keeper Joe Lumley sprint the length of the field in celebration even though he didn't stop any of the kicks.  

No Stairway to Heaven (apologies to Led Zeppelin)

Robert Plant in the stands at Kidderminster watching the Harriers
 seek a stairway to heaven the 5th round of the FA Cup.
 Photo:Kieran McManus/REX/Shutterstock 

Saturday was much more of the same, with three Premier League sides pressed into added extra time to beat lower tier sides.  They all survived but it wasn't pretty.  Closest call of all was West Ham barely squeaking by sixth tier Kidderminster.  The Harriers were no doubt inspired by the presence of Robert Plant in the stands (see left).  The Hammers needed a goal in stoppage time from Declan Rice just to get to added extra time.  You had to figure that the late goal would take the life out of Kidderminster but it didn't; they played another tough 30 minutes and the match looked headed for kicks from the spot until Bowen scored during the added minute of stoppage time in extra time. Cruel, just cruel.  Nice two minute video highlights here.

At the same moment, Chelsea were being taken to extra time by League One's Plymouth Argyle.  Marcos Alonso's goal in the extra period cut down some of the drama there and Chelsea advanced to the 5th round.  Southampton found themselves similarly tested by Championship Division Coventry.  Kyle Walker-Peters saved Southampton's bacon with a goal in the 112th minute.  

So three close calls but no upsets.

Not So Lucky

Others were not so fortunate.  Wolves fell to Norwich 0-1.  Yeah, both are EPL but it's still an upset.  Everton "upset" Brentford 4-1.  That sounds strange but the Bees are ahead of the Toffees in the table.  We have chronicled Leicester's disappointing season so far and the 4-1 pasting by Championship Division Nottingham Forest certainly adds to the list.  Peterborough knocked off QPR 2-0, a mild upset for The Posh (seriously, that's their nickname) over their Championship Division rival.

Boreham Wood also has cool jersey

The stunner of the round though goes to fifth tier Boreham Wood beating second tier Bournemouth 1-0 on the road.  Using our ranking system this is like 23rd best side losing to the 97th ranked club.  The stat sheet is ridiculous; Bournemouth had 83% possession and outshot them 18-3.  Somewhat telling is that the Cherries only managed two shots on target.  Dennis notes that The Wood (that is their nickname) had just 64 completed passes the entire match.

The rest of the matches went basically according to form, including reasonably comfortable wins for Man City (4-1 over Fulham), Liverpool (3-1 over Cardiff) and Tottenham (3-1 over Brighton).  For the fourth round overall, here's how the divisions fared:

Premier League        9-5

Championship          6-6

League One              0-3

League Two              0-1

National League       1-0

National League (N) 0-1

Fifth round matches are set for Wednesday March 2; fixtures are listed here.

Handling - Part LXII

Before we dive into the pseudo-controversy over Middlesbrough's goal against Man United, we need to review the evolution of the handling rule.  A few years ago the rule was tweaked in response to a real or perceived belief that people found goals scored with even the accidental use of the hand unsavory.  In that iteration, accidental handling by the goal scorer or a teammate that created a goal scoring opportunity was an infraction.  What happened of course, after seeing a lot of goals chalked off because of accidental handling by a teammate which created a goal scoring opportunity, was that people decided that maybe that part wasn't so unsavory.  So the rule was tweaked again last July, with the new language limiting the part about accidental handling to the goal scorer only.  To complete the review, we include the language defining handling, which occurs when a player:

deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm, for example moving the hand/arm towards the ball

touches the ball with their hand/arm when it has made their body unnaturally bigger. A player is considered to have made their body unnaturally bigger when the position of their hand/arm is not a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player’s body movement for that specific situation. By having their hand/arm in such a position, the player takes a risk of their hand/arm being hit by the ball and being penalised

Now, here is the play.  Certainly not a case of moving the arm towards the ball.  So you are left with did he make his body unnaturally bigger?  Wait, that's not the entire question.  Did he make his body unnaturally bigger in a way that was not "a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player's body movement for that specific situation?"  Try to jump - naturally -  without raising your arms, especially in the context of settling a ball as opposed to, say, a defender jumping with arms outstretched to try and block the ball.  Craig Burley back in the studio is cementing his position of my go-to-guy of how not to interpret the rules when he read only the first sentence of the rule.  To his credit, Taylor Twellman said the call was correct given the way the law is written; he did express that he might not be a big fan of the rule.  But people didn't like the old way, didn't like the new old way and appear not to like it the new new way.  Appears there will be no pleasing people on this issue so my advice is ignore them.

Forest Green Sightings

Elliott scores on his return from injury;
he's been a force for Forest Green in FM

I counted five players from my FM Forest Green squad in action during the 4th round games.  Most gratifying was the return of Harvey Elliott for Liverpool after a nasty ankle injury earlier this season.  He came on in the 58th minute and scored on a well-placed volley in the 76th minute (seen here - sorry for the cheesy music). Looking forward to watching him the rest of the season.  In my FM game, he will likely win the MVP in the Championship Division playing for my Forest Green side.   Taylor Harwood-Bellis appeared at center back for Stoke in their 2-0 win over Wigan.  Adam May appeared again for the Cambridge side that frustrated Newcastle in the previous round; not as satisfying this time as they were dumped by Luton 3-0.  Well, you can't play Newcastle all the time.  Leif Davis showed an incredible work rate down the left side for Bournemouth with crosses and overlapping runs but they were all for naught in the defeat to Boreham Wood.  And Perry Ng was back in action for Cardiff as they fell to Liverpool.

Has It Come to This?

There was one EPL match as last place Burnley hosted 19th place Watford.  I'm ashamed to admit this but as a fan of 18th place Newcastle, I was rooting for a 0-0 draw.  I'm not ashamed to say that's exactly what unfolded, though I would say that as 0-0 draws go, this was pretty tepid.  Basically nothing happened.  I wasn't necessarily surprised by the score line but rather how gentle the whole thing seemed; often these relegation-relevant contests are high intensity even if low quality.  

Bonus Post?

Really scary fixture with Everton
this afternoon; I can barely watch

So I did a Tuesday post because the rest of the week looks crowded  with work and I didn't want to have to discuss both the FA Cup matches and the mid-week EPL fixtures in a big post.  We'll be back on Friday to report on league action, assuming I come out from under the covers to actually watch.  What if the transfers weren't enough and Newcastle still suck?