Don’t mention anything about the romance of the FA Cup to Huddersfield Town manager Andy Ritchie.
An opportunity for our Liverpool fans to point out why Scott Murray is wrong.
For those looking to get right into the African Cup of Nations the All Soccer Africa website has a Nations Cup fantasy league feature. The site also has country-by-country previews and squad lists and it looks to be going all out to cover the 2008 edition.
It’s the third round of the FA Cup this weekend and this is where the big teams get involved. Here is a rundown of a few Championship vs. Premiership games followed by predictions. I don’t do weekly league predictions but I thought it might be interesting to follow the Cup from the third round on. If you want to give it a go then post your predictions (eventual winners only count no draws) and keep score – it’s on the honour system right through to the final in May.
Ipswich Town v Portsmouth These two met in the third round two years ago and Portsmouth won 1-0. This time we have a side with a fantastic home record (Ipswich) against Portsmouth who have won eight of twelve Premiership away games this season. Former Southampton midfielder Jim Magilton has Ipswich unbeaten at home in the Championship with eleven wins from thirteen matches and scoring 33 goals and only conceding 7. Contrast that with an away record on no wins, four draws and nine losses and you can see why it is a case of “no place like home” for Ipswich. It is not often you come across a team that simultaneously hold s the best home record and worst away record in a league. Ipswich currently sits 6th in the fizzy-pop Championship and beat league leaders West Brom 2-0 on Wednesday. Former Canadian captain Jason De Vos scored.
Bristol City v Middlesbrough Former Yeovil and Latvia manager (how is that for an exotic career) Gary Johnson has Bristol City third in the Championship and with only one loss in their last nine league games. This tie brings together two teams that needed penalty kicks to separate them last season in the 4th round – Boro eventually winning. Neither club has ever won the FA Cup but both have been runners up – Bristol City 99 years ago and Boro in 1997. Boro will be without Woodgate who is suspended and Robert Huth (remember him?) might get the call. Huth missed the first four months of this season before finally returning from injury at the start of last month.
Stoke City v Newcastle United With only one point out of a possible 12 over the holiday period and Joey Barton seemingly intent on starring in Mean Machine 2 things are bleaker than ever for Sam Allardyce and Newcastle supporters. A push for a European spot would require a monumental effort especially given Newcastle’s January schedule. They have Manchester City h, Manchester United h and a, Arsenal a, Aston Villa a, and the other two games are against Bolton and Middlesbrough at St. James’ Park.
Despite pronouncements from owner Mike Ashley that he is not currently looking for a new boss it is clear that it all could change very quickly. But the FA Cup does offer an escape route and a run deep into the competition might be enough to salvage this season. However, Newcastle have not been given an easy task in the third round. They face a Stoke City side that is currently in fourth place in the Championship as well as knowing a thing or two about managerial turnover.
Regarded as the second oldest football club in the world Stoke in their first 103 years had 16 managers. In the last 30 years they have gone through 24 and have averaged a manager a year since 1991. Tony Pulis returned for his second stint in charge in 2006 and engineered a solid late run of results that saw Stoke finish just outside the promotion play-off spots.
Pulis carries a reputation as a no nonsense boss and has a few Premiership players in his squad. Former Southampton striker Ricardo Fuller is Stoke’s leading scorer with 11 and former Sunderland player Liam Lawrence has 8 goals so far. Steve Simonsen was once an expensive teenage signing from Tranmere for Everton but he now keeps goal for Stoke. Dominic Matteo (former Leeds and Liverpool) and Salif Diao (Liverpool) are other recognizable names. Stoke rarely blow teams away and vice versa so Newcastle are going to be in for a tough time of it.
Chelsea v Queens Park Rangers This is the seventh successive time that FA Cup holders Chelsea have been drawn at home in the FA Cup. Their opponents this time might as well be called “Mini-Chelsea”. With Chelsea backed by Abramovich’s billions, Queens Park Rangers have the financial clout of the world’s 5th richest man (Lakshi Mittal owns 20% of the club) as well as Formula One’s Flavio Briatore and Bernie Ecclestone. Former Napoli and Siena manager Luigi De Canio was appointed QPR boss in late October after John Gregory was sacked and has been given money to spend – and potentially there is lots more of it.
From his initial dealings the focus appears to be to generally upgrade the team rather blowing money on Premiership calibre players right from the off. One loss in the last seven league games has helped move QPR out of the relegation zone and it looks as if the ownership group is opting to build for long term success rather than risking a flame-out. It has been six seasons since QPR reached the 4th round and they are unlikely to improve on that this season. But there is every chance we are going to hear a lot more about the team in years to come.
FA Cup 3rd Round - predicted winners in bold Saturday - Aston Villa v Man Utd; Barnsley v Blackpool; Blackburn v Coventry; Bolton v Sheff Utd; Brighton v Mansfield; Bristol City v Middlesbrough; Charlton v West Brom; Chasetown v Cardiff; Chelsea v QPR; Colchester v Peterborough; Everton v Oldham; Huddersfield v Birmingham; Ipswich v Portsmouth; Norwich v Bury; Plymouth v Hull; Preston v Scunthorpe; Southampton v Leicester; Southend v Dagenham & Redbridge; Sunderland v Wigan; Swansea v Havant & Waterlooville; Swindon v Barnet; Tottenham v Reading; Tranmere v Hereford; Walsall v Millwall; Watford v Crystal Palace; West Ham v Man City; Wolverhampton v Cambridge Utd. Sunday - Burnley v Arsenal; Derby v Sheff Wed; Fulham v Bristol Rovers; Luton v Liverpool; Stoke v Newcastle.
Michael Grant pays tribute to Motherwell’s Phil O’Donnell.
With the transfer window opening tomorrow Richard Gillis report’s that baseball’s Billy Beane made a presentation on his talent evaluation model at the “Future of Football” conference last month.
Phil Ball takes a look at how things are going for Chris Coleman in Spain now that his washing machine has been fixed.
I am the soccer analyst for the Fox Soccer Report and appear twice a week - every Monday and Friday at 10:00 EST. I have also been a regular contributor to the Fox Soccer Channel website since the summer of 2004. Over the last twenty years I have contributed to various radio and television programs throughout North America as well writing about the game for newspapers, magazines and websites.
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