FA Cup Review - Arsenal chase the double

Spurs and Leicester keep their focus on the Champions League

You could tell it was the FA Cup, because Premier League sides dropped first-team players, admitting that the league is now far more important to them than the cup will be. Unless anything serious changes, like a Champions League place for the winners, there is no compelling reason, beyond tradition, for the sides to try to win. The only reason Arsene Wenger did was desperation for a trophy after so long without one, and the fans were getting sick of him.

For other clubs, like Spurs and Leicester City, they are both chasing Champions League qualification, and the cash that would bring is more appealing. It gives the chance to attract better players and retain those who might otherwise move up the ladder. Everyone gets more money, everyone is happier.

At Spurs, you could argue that they rested about seven or eight of their first choice eleven. For Leicester, nine or 10. Neither side was especially poor, but it was clear that the managers had no great concerns about remaining in the tournament. As it ended up, it is both of them who remain, and they will now have to go through a replay to settle the tie.

Despite the aspirations of both sides to succeed in the league, it is the FA Cup that remains their best chance of winning something this season. That neither of them will consider this a decision to be ruminated upon shows how far the FA Cup has fallen in the last decade. The attention of fans, players and clubs has shifted up the food chain. Oxford United’s victory over Swansea City might lead some news packages, but few associated with Swansea will not already be thinking of their next league match.

Van Gaal now not just hated, but mocked

There are not many men who can make an injury time winner boring, but it seems Louis van Gaal is one of them. Things have got so bad, and the fans are so desperate for a change, that many of them sighed when Memphis won the penalty. When Wayne Rooney scored, hearts sank further about United’s prospects. Another win would mean that Van Gaal would remain in a job for at least another week. The reports of an imminent sacking have receded significantly, and it seems the manager is going to be there for the foreseeable future. They expect so little that Memphis won a standing ovation for actually having a shot.

United fans had endured almost an hour and three-quarters of the worst football of the season. There was seemingly endless possession, but it was slow, ponderous and clueless. There was captain Rooney stinking out the place, only matched for prosaic nothingness by Marouane Fellaini behind him. Juan Mata and Ander Herrera were removed, and as poor as they were, it is meaningful that Van Gaal’s inclination is to remove the creative players. He would rather reorganise the chairs on the most boring sinking of a ship imaginable, than change the vehicle or direction he is travelling in.

That’s why United fans have given up, and rightly so. There is obviously another way to be tried, and there’s no way it can be worse than one which sees almost a quarter of a billion pounds struggle to beat a League One straggler. Yet this is it. Edward Woodward isn’t going to sack him. There is nobody lined up to replace him anymore. Manchester United have decided that this is what they want. Only the fans and the players want something new, and they count for little when the money keeps coming in.

Arsenal continue their impressive 2016

Arsene Wenger not only did the sensible thing for his team, but he also had some luck with it. Without Per Mertesacker and Mesut Ozil, as well as the injured Alexis Sanchez, previous incarnations of Arsenal may have struggled. Nacho Monreal was also left on the bench in place of Kieran Gibbs, who has failed to justify early hype about him, of late. If there was a match for Arsenal to really be Arsenal, it would be this one.

However, Gibbs was threatening on the left, which he had to be after a defensive mistake, in conjunction with the mind-bogglingly overrated Laurent Koscielny, allow Jeremain Lens to put Sunderland ahead. Lens showed, as he had earlier this season, the kind of goal threat and pace that few others in the squad do, and Sam Allardyce should find room for him the Premier League. However, Arsenal had enough to come back and take victory, and even emerged without another injury.

It wasn’t that they edged past Sunderland, but that they equalised early through the improving Joel Campbell, a player who had earlier seemed scared of playing even at the Emirates. Aaron Ramsey came with another decisive goal, from the subs’ bench, and even football’s Ian Bell - Olivier Giroud - contributed a meaningless third. Alex Iwobi was another highlight, perhaps the best player on the pitch after Hector Bellerin, who was close to faultless at right back.

Arsenal have found success in the FA Cup of late, and there’s no decisive reason to think that they can’t win it for a third consecutive season. However, with this confidence and refusal to be beaten, there’s a growing possibility that it won’t be the only trophy they lift in 2016.

Chelsea readjust expectations under Hiddink

Had Jose Mourinho started a FA Cup match against Scunthorpe with no youngsters, full of experienced first-team members, many would have been ready with criticism. It would have been an example of Mourinho’s reluctance to give minutes to younger players, and his commitment to a lack of rotation. Both things were held against Mourinho. Using the same few players had led in part to a burnout in his side at the turn of 2015 that he never really recovered from, and only became worse as players seemed exhausted with the same methods as ever. Additionally, it was expected that he would create a legacy at Chelsea by introducing new and younger players who would grow into the next spine of the side, as John Terry, Petr Cech and Frank Lampard had done earlier. That attempt failed.

Things for Guus Hiddink are different. He has only six months, and is operating on a short-term approach. That’s exacerbated because the situation became so grim under Mourinho that the most pressing concern is that they leap up the table, youngsters be damned. Lastly, having not lost since Mourinho’s sacking, Hiddink can be expected to simply try to keep a positive run going - they cannot afford to risk the recent improvement.

Nevertheless, Ruben Loftus-Cheek scored for Chelsea, and Bertrand Traore also got a few minutes. They were able to play the youngsters because they were winning, a chance that Mourinho used to rarely in his time at the club. The improvement is slight but visible, with room and reason to continue. Even if Diego Costa’s injury is more serious than it looks tonight, then Chelsea have finally found a stretch of decent performances and happiness to build upon.