The Magic (Roundabout) of the Cup and a Trip Down Memory Lane
The Magic (Roundabout) of the Cup and a Trip Down Memory Lane
"It's only 3-0, that's how shit you are"
The Week In Ball
European football returned this weekend. England saw the FA Cup 'proper' start with the third round matches being played. AFCON started on Sunday.
So where to begin?
Let's start with the FA Cup. You know the drill, the third round is where the Premier League teams enter the fray and the games start being shown on TV. All the cliches are rolled out, cardboard cutouts of the trophy covered in foil are wielded, Ian Wright digs into the tweeds in his wardrobe.
The ties began on Friday with Man City away to minnows Swindon Town. For those of you who aren't on Twitter 24/7 like I am or haven't been around since the beginning of this newsletter, Swindon is where I grew up and supporting the Robins is how I got into football in the first place.
I found that I was much more excited than I had anticipated, given that these days I very much put all my energy into Arsenal and various other European teams who continue to disappoint me, and was almost vibrating by the time kick off arrived.
Now I haven't lived in Swindon since I was 18 (I last left on my way back to uni in January 1998, a few weeks before my 19th birthday, by the time I came 'home' again at Easter my mum had moved to Salisbury for work) but those are your formative years and there will always be that emotional attachment to the place for me.
Seeing the County Ground and the stand I was in aged 15 when a stray shot from Brian McClair hit me square in the face after everyone else ducked and I was too awestruck by Cantona, the ground I'd drive past almost every day on my way to college (yes, through the Magic Roundabout), the only place I ever put aside the hatred I felt towards my Mum's husband because he was the one who got me in and bought my ticket, was a real nostalgia fest. I found myself desperately wanting the Town to win or at least not embarrass themselves and for the most part, they didn't.
Sure, they shouldn't have persisted with playing out from the back against one of the greatest passing teams in the world but what I saw was a well coached, disciplined team trying to play attractive, attacking football. I think I said this during the Euros but I still haven't got quite to grips with noticing formations and the shape of teams except for a game where Finland were so exceptionally rigid in their shape even a noob like me could see it and I felt like that watching Swindon, especially their back line. It too was rigid and neat, moving up and down the pitch as one and I think their midfield and forward players looked pretty structured too. Yes they lost 1-4 but this was City playing a League 2 team and it didn't feel like they lost by that margin, it was actually a really entertaining, well fought game. And they (we? I keep wanting to type 'we' but it feels false!) scored! A lovely goal by Harry McKirdy which was well deserved and more than a consolation.
Sadly there have since been reports that Ashley Cole was racially abused after the match. Now, I don't know the exact details, like when it happened, but I remember thinking to myself that at one point in the post match analysis that Eni Aluko was looking very angrily into the crowd and I wondered what it was she was hearing or seeing. It was striking that after I spotted that they moved the pundits to the centre circle during the next ad break and honestly, it's just so depressing but sadly unsurprising. I went to school with people who were known to not just be racist but in racist organisations and so I know it's part of the town (as it is everywhere let's be honest, there's nothing to say the perpetrator was anything but a bog standard racist) and it really is disgusting that people run the risk of exposure to this when they're just trying to do their jobs. Similarly, though less directly personal, we could talk about Millwall not taking the knee v Palace and the crowd booing and how that makes the Black players, staff and supporters of the club feel.
Likewise, there was very clear homophobic chanting directed at Conor Gallagher at the same match (interestingly this was swiftly condemned by Millwall when they've been so keen to end their knee-taking) and on Sunday, out player Josh Cavallo tweeted and posted on instagram that he'd heard homophobic chanting during one of his games.
It's a continual and horrible blot on the football landscape and I would urge everyone to keep talking about it, support groups who fight against racism and homphobia in football and sport in general and if you do attend games and you hear any offensive chants, even if it's not racist or homphobic (Liverpool get a lot of disgusting stuff that isn't either of these things directed their way for example), you report it and ensure the perpetrators are sanctioned appropriately.
Back to the football and there were still plenty of talking points during the weekend. Most, though not all, Premier League teams went through to the fourth round of the FA Cup easily. Of course Arsenal didn't and I simply don't have the desire or energy to talk about our performance, I felt worse after that than I have after almost any other game we've lost this season.
The other big scalp though was Cambridge United beating cash cows Newcastle United 1-0 at St James's Park. I feel bad for Toon fans, it's not their fault the club is in this position, however it's just too delicious watching them fail and seeing the new owners look increasingly uncomfortable in their fancy match day box.
Shout out to Cambridge however, who battled for the win admirably, with a number of excellent saves from their Bulgarian goalie Dimitar Mitrov. If you watched Match of the Day you'll have seen his adorable interview where he praised the whole team and the goalscorer Joe Ironside before yelling about how they live together and what a great person he is. Honestly my heart.
Can we also give some love to their kit while we're here. Not putting this in the Merch Stand section as there are other things for there this week but it needs a mention. It looks like the seat covers on the London Overground, really stylish and unusual and such a jolly marigold. I also love the Seventies style badge and how simple and graphic it is. In fact the whole vibe reminds me of 70s Staffordshire pottery, look at this and tell me I'm wrong!
So that was the FA Cup, but as I mentioned at the top, European football also came back with a bang this weekend.
We started on Thursday with a farcical day of Serie A, which did see some games, including Milan winning 3-1 against Jose Mourinho's Roma and a breathless match between Juve and Napoli which ended 1-1 after goals by Napoli legend and personal favourite Dries Mertens and the Bianconeri's star of the future Federico Chiesa.
On Sunday there was a rash of red cards, at Verona, Venezia, Juventus and Empoli and a rash of goals with Milan winning 3-1, Sass 5-1, Atalanta 6-2 and in a match that exploded my phone with notifications from LiveScore (a match I should have watched instead of the all-white Arsenal debacle), Juve beat Roma 3-4, despite the aforementioned red card and a subsequent missed penalty (which I must've clicked on because it doesn't appear down here, but then neither does Tammy Abraham's opener).
I would highly recommend watching the highlights as it was a truly wild game and Dybala, Mkhitarayn and Pellegrini's goals are worth seeing. As is, to call back to last week, Chiellini on one and battered, with a bandage around his head...
In Spain there were also four red cards, for Levante, Betis, Atleti and my wayward son Pablo Gavira (yes, he deserves his full name being invoked, this is what happens when your mother is angry!), a boy I've never seen playing with anything other than a scowl, sliding in on two reckless tackles and getting a second yellow... on his return from suspension...
Betis in particular seemed unhappy with the refereeing of their match and their English language Twitter put out some very fiery tweets in the aftermath. To act like players in the post match interview when there's been a controversial decision, I didn't see it, so I don't know but it seems it's not only England where the standard of refereeing needs taking a look at. Or Betis might be being dramatic. I don't know.
There didn't seem to be any really notable results in LaLiga, Real won 4-1 to retain their top spot, Sevilla pulled clear of Betis with their win and Betis's draw and Barca drew, dropping them to 6th. Apart from 1st and 2nd however the European places are so extremely tight, much like the Premier League, so the second half of the year could get interesting.
Over in Germany the weekend began on Friday with a defeat for Bayern at the hands of Gladbach who have now twice managed to get the better of them. This put the ball in 2nd place Dortmund's court and for a while it looked like they'd fumbled it with Eintracht leading 2-0, but then the boys came good with goals from Thorgan Hazard, Jude Bellingham (whose brother Jobe made his debut for Birmingham in the Cup this weekend incidentally) and absolute BVB trooper Mo Dahoud. I just love Mo.
I've lost the thread of the Bundesliga a bit this season, the blame for which I put squarely at Sky's feet due to their appallingly minimal coverage, and so I just have to say that Hoffenheim are 3rd? Hoffenheim? That's really crept up on me and made me look at the table quite askance just now. I mean, good luck to them I guess. Would rather it was Koln, Union or Augsburg but OK.
Finally, despite drawing on Sunday, PSG are still 11 points ahead of everyone else, even though Nice won in the second best Ligue 1 fixture of the season (Brest v Nice, Nice v Brest is obviously the best) and even though they're the worst best team around right now, so that's all there is to say about that really.
Kick Off
OK so I didn't get a single bit of feedback about this section so I'm just going to plough on using it to discuss tactics, formations and anything I think deserves a deeper look.
I did decide, however, to put the question to my FPL group chat, who only ignore me every four of five posts so I felt confident of getting a response and the always fabulous EwaSR suggested talking about the rules I find most annoying or stupid.
Now, I've been thinking about this long and hard and I don't know if I can think of anything specific? One that did spring to mind is having to exit the pitch at the nearest point. I don't know why but seeing a player jog around the perimeter while play is continuing really irks me.
Another is yellow cards for taking your shirt off when you score a goal. This should never be punished.
Alternatively, I can't argue against the way offside is policed and I will always stand by the fact that it is, or it isn't, it's a black and white decision. However, I think there needs to be a big rethink about what offside actually is and how it's measured.
Now I'm on a roll, I'd also scrap extra time in most competitions and just go straight to penalties. I know we've all seen some amazing extra times and sometimes you want a game to just keep going but generally someone either scores really early on and then park a million buses or no-one does and you get penalties anyway. With all the talk about player welfare and the number of games played this is a very small way to reduce minutes on the pitch and would make for better penalties I think because the players would be less tired and more sharp. And everyone loves pens, the peril! The creation of heroes and villains!
Finally, though it's not a rule per se, I'd ban any gambling or crypto sites/apps/whatever they are from being shirt sponsors. It would also be nice if the FA had a good long think about who they let own football teams. Of course I'm referencing the Saudi PIF at Newcastle but there's also an issue lower down the pyramid with unscrupulous people rinsing clubs for their own benefit. Perhaps my thoughts on this are best left for its own piece in the future!
The {Offside} Thirst Trap
There is no specific reason for this week's thirst trap. He's not linked to anything I've mentioned so far, he's not done anything special recently (apart from scoring for Chelsea in the Cup), I just really really fancy him.
Readers, Hakim Ziyech.
Merch Stand
You'll note that at the top of the newsletter I mentioned AFCON then didn't talk about it at all. Well, I haven't watched any yet so didn't really have anything I felt worth contributing, however what I can do is offer one of my trademark tournament threads, where I comment on the kits that will be in play across the competition. There's some really delicious ones to look at.
Highlights for me are Mali, Malawi, Ghana away, Egypt home and Nigeria away.
Extra Time
More AFCON content here, with a lovely primer on the teams
And here about the Comoros, or the Coelacanths, who have qualified for the first time this year.
Arsenal launched the No More Red campaign last week and I'm going to keep quiet about the shirts (I HATE THEM!) because it's a good cause
Federico Chiesa went off injured in the epic Roma Juve match and it's been confirmed he's torn his ACL. He'll be a real miss for Juve and Italy.
FC Barcelona have confirmed that with the extension of Samuel Umtiti's contract which includes a wage cut, they are now free to register (the injured and Covid positive) Ferran Torres.
Salima Mukansanga makes history as the first woman to referee at Africa Cup of Nations.
That's all for this week, I feel more in the swing of things now we're properly into 2022 so I hope you've enjoyed this edition. Remember, spread the word if you do ❤️
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