Sunday, 27 January 08, 10:28 PM
There were a few upsets in this round of the cup, although 11 of the 20 Premiership sides had already been eliminated in the previous round.
Two Premierleague sides went out this time, although only one of them was really an upset.
Derby lost 1-4 away to Preston, and it's been a tradition over the years for teams at the foot of the Premier league table to lose clubs that are doing well in the Championship. This was one such case, and I think Paul Jewell will already be looking at how best to mount a challenge in the Championship next season.
The other upset, which was significantly more shocking, not just for the result, but the events of the match as well, was Sheffield United beating Man City 2-1 at Bramall Lane. City have an awful record there, having not won in 6 games, but no one could have expected to see what happen.
The incident, in case you haven't seen/heard about it yet, was caused by several balloons thrown onto the pitch by the travelling Man City fans. Joe Hart dealt with whatever crosses and shots came his way, but unfortunately failed to deal with the balloons, and they just lay around in the home penalty area. The eventual irony was of course majestic - a cross coming in from the left hit two sets of balloons in the area, the path of the ball went wonky, and it ballooned (haha) away to evade the foot of Michael Ball(oon), sitting up nicely for Luton Shelton to pop home. Jonathan Stead scored a neat second, and City were in trouble. Elano came close, hitting the post with a free-kick, but it was his second-half replacement, youngster Daniel Sturridge, who scored City's consolation with an excellent strike.
The unfortunate Man City squad had more misery heaped on them after it was found that the dressing room had been robbed, with money being stolen from the players and staff.
Arsenal and Emmanuel Adebayor recovered from the Spurs' debacle, beating Newcastle 3-0. Keegan's men started quite promisingly, but were outplayed by the end of the encounter with two top quality goals from Adebayor, and and own goal from Nicky Butt.
Cristiano Ronaldo meanwhile continued his amazing form, scoring a brace to give Man United a 3-1 win over Tottenham, and giving him 25 goals for the season. Robbie Keane had scored first for Spurs, but Carlos Tevez equalised, before Ronaldo scored a penalty and then the winner.
Chelsea had a few hiccups against a decent Wigan side, but easily prevailed as 2-1 winners, with Nicolas Anelka scoring his first for Chelsea. Shaun Wright-Phillips scored their second, and Atoine Sibierski scored a consolation.
In other news (apologies for not going into detail, but I can't be bothered), Cardiff just edged out Hereford in a 2-1 win, Wolves absolutely hammered Championship title challengers Watford 4-1 away, and in Saturday's "fairytale" fixture of non-league Havant & Waterlooville vs Liverpool at Anfield, the Hawks actually took the lead twice before being put down 5-1.
The full list of Round 4 results is listed below. The amazing thing about this round is that all the matches were conclusive (wins), meaning no 4th round replays for the first time in 57 years.
Southend 0-1 Barnsley
Mansfield 0-2 Middlesborough
Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle
Barnet 0-1 Bristol Rovers
Coventry 2-1 Millwall
Derby 1-4 Preston
Liverpool 5-2 Havant & Waterlooville
Oldham 0-1 Huddersfield
Peterborough 0-3 West Brom
Portsmouth 2-1 Plymouth
Southampton 2-0 Bury
Watford 1-4 Wolves
Wigan 1-2 Chelsea
Hereford 1-2 Cardiff
Man Utd 3-1 Tottenham
Sheff Utd 2-1 Man City
Friday, 29 June 07, 09:43 PM
Sorry to interrupt everyone's Copa America fever (who would have thunk it eh?), but I just thought I'd take a quick look around what's been happening in the transfer market. Please note that this
is more or less just what is on my mind, so sorry if I miss out on discussing any transfers that people want, but you can always add on in the comments, or discuss it on the forums.
David Rozehnal
From PSG to Newcastle - £2.9 million
This is an interesting signing, and the type of signing you continually find with the German or French leagues - decent players being sold at decent prices, without the ridiculous
over-hypedness/over-pricing(England) or buyout clause nonsense (Spain) or just general bickering, corruption and co-ownership (Italy and South America). Lyon, Marseille and Bayern Munich aside, all
the clubs in those leagues seem perfectly content to transfer players between each other, irrespective of nationality or rivalries.
Newcastle have acquired a very solid, decent defender at an excellent price. 26 year old Czech centre-back Rozehnal is good in the air, has decent pace, and is a great reader of the game who can play the ball out of defence as well. It's one of those situations where the bigger clubs have busied themselves going after defenders who are quicker, stronger, and bigger, and Newcastle managed to strike a quick deal with struggling PSG, and Rozehnal was probably more-than-happy to come to a well-supported club in the "almighty" Premier League. Good luck to him, and Sam "I am the Walrus" Allardyce has added solidity to a backline that was about as stable as a jellyfish when featuring the talents of Titus Bramble, Ogyuchi Onyewu, Jean-Alain Boumsong and Craig Moore. NEXT.
Darren Bent
From Charlton to Tottenham - £16.5 million
Tottenham have continued their policy of "If it's English and runs, buy it". Livewire striker Darren Bent has signed from Charlton for a colossal feel of 16.5 meeyun quid. It's basically got most
of England asking - "Did I hear correctly? Is Darren Bent actually more expensive than Thierry Henry?" I don't think that there will ever be an end to this ridiculous intra-England policy of
deciding that English players are 100 times more valuable than their foreign counterparts (most of whom speak better English than them anyways). What is only slightly more bizarre is that West Ham
had bid £18 million, and offered Bent £75,000 per week (he eventually signed for Spurs on £45,000 a week).
Still, Bent is a really good young player, very quick, subtly powerful, and with a real enthusiasm to score goals. He's still very raw, but will inject much needed pace into Spurs' front line. He
will complement Berbatov well, but there are rumours that Berbatov is being lined up by Manchester United. His arrival will put into doubt the future of fellow Arsenal fan and Spurs teammate
Jermain Defoe, who has gone from being a 20-goal a season man to a 20-minutes from the end substitute.
Olivier Kapo
From Juventus to Birmingham City - £3 million
Almost 4 years ago, Olivier Kapo was touted as being one of the biggest talents in France. Kapo, one of those weird attacking players who has never really been allowed to settle in any role (an AM
LC/FC on FM), was a product of Auxerre's acclaimed youth system, and a member of the "golden generation" that saw the emergence of Philippe Mexes, Jean-Alain Boumsong, Khalilou Fadiga and Djibril
Cisse (admittedly, some a bit less "golden" than others).
Unfortunately, instead of taking gradual steps up, he made the mistake of signing for Juventus (who promptly signed about a dozen other midfielders the next day), and never saw any first team
football. He went on loan to Monaco and Levante, but seemed to be in limbo, and now has the chance to resurrect his talents in the midlands. If Birmingham do manage to sign Mathieu Flamini from
Arsenal, then Flamini's workrate and running, and Fabrice Muamba's covering and tackling should provide a great base for Kapo to attack freely. Of course this is all dependent on Steve Bruce
showing at least a little bit of tactical ability, and I have no faith in that.
And in the realm of rumours:
Djibril Cisse from Liverpool to Marseille (rumoured fee of £7 million)
About time really. All Cisse has done at Liverpool (apart from scoring in the FA Cup final) is break his legs. We all know the biggest part of Cisse's game is his hair, and he made the massive
mistake of marrying his hairdresser on Merseyside... a marriage clearly not made in heaven, because in almost Samson-like fashion his hair and football ability both went to shit, and he was later
arrested for assaulting his wife. Off you go.
Fernando Torres from Atletico Madrid to Liverpool (rumoured fee of £27 million)
If Rafa Benitez wants to sign El Niño, he is going to have to pay a hefty fee. The iconic young no. 9 is supposed to have a release clause of about £25 million pounds, and Atletico also want
Liverpool to pay the £2 million loyalty bonus that Torres is supposed to be receiving from the Madrid club. Loyalty bonus. Can you believe that?
Anyways, although Torres has a lot going for him, he is very overrated. He has the potential to be a great player, but so far has always flattered to deceive. I wonder if he will flourish under
Rafa Benitez, because Rafa doesn't really have a great record for grooming young players (or playing attacking football for that matter). He might have done better under the tutelage of Wenger or
Ferguson, but it looks like Liverpool it is. Torres is talented, he's got bags of potential, and he's got great charisma and marketing value, but he is VERY overrated. When Djibril Cisse arrived,
he was an expensive, overrated player, but one who had scored bags of goals. Torres arrives(?) as an expensive, overrated player as well, but one who really hasn't scored many goals.
Juninho Paulista to Hull City
THIS IS THE STRANGEST RUMOUR OF THEM ALL. Juninho, once the darling of the Middlesborough fans, one of the most talented players to have played in the Premiership, and one of the stars for Brazil
in their 2002 World Cup triumph, is going to end up in the orange strip of Hull City FC. Bizarreness. In a career that has taken him from Sao Paulo to Boro to Atletico to Boro to Vasco to Flamengo,
back to Boro AGAIN, and then Celtic and then back to Brazil with Vasco and then Flamengo (I AM COMPLETELY CONFUSED BY THIS MERRY-GO-ROUND NOW), Juninho is now set to go back to England.
He seems to have a special place for the English fans in his heart, and English fans all over remember him fondly as well. Hull City would be an interesting option. They are one-tier below the
Premiership, and if Juninho was to help them get promoted, he might enjoy one last-love affair with the Premiership, and it might be worth it just for the reception at Boro vs Hull alone. That's
assuming that Hull get promoted. Or that Boro get relegated :) Either way, it'll be the only way that Middlesborough manage to fill up their stadium for the first time in years.
Aaaaaaaaaaaaaand, i'm done. That was long. Hope you enjoyed it.
On English players produced at Manchester United and Chelsea? Rubbish