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League and FA Cup Thread

A

andyt

Canes Moderator
Staff member
We’re into the 2nd round of the EFL Cup, where the 11 Premier League clubs not playing in Europe enter the competition. And a giant has fallen.

Grimsby Town, 9th place in League Two last year, has knocked Man U out of the competition. Grimsby took a 2-0 first half lead, Man U got goals from Mbeumo in the 75th and Maguire in the 89th to equalize. It went to penalties, they were tied at 11, Grimsby potted their 12th and Mbuemo hit the crossbar on Man U’s 12th attempt.


View: https://x.com/meninblazers/status/1960814548434272335?s=61
 
Onana is a basket case now. He not only allowed that near post shot past him for the first goal, he got his hand to three PKs by Grimsby, and didn't keep any of them out.
United paid all that money for Sesko to go last on the shoot out, just before the keepers? And what's with Ruben Amorim hiding during PKs when your team needs to see you lifting them up? 🤷
They're a massive train wreck right now, and I'm here for it all. 🤣
 
The third round draw

Port Vale v Arsenal
Swansea City v Nottingham Forest
Lincoln City v Chelsea
Tottenham v Doncaster Rovers
Brentford v Aston Villa
Huddersfield Town v Manchester City
Liverpool v Southampton
Newcastle United v Bradford City
Sheffield Wednesday v Grimsby Town
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Everton
Crystal Palace v Millwall
Burnley v Cardiff City
Wrexham v Reading
Wigan Athletic v Wycombe Wanderers
Barnsley v Brighton & Hove Albion
Fulham v Cambridge United
 
andyt said:
Palace v. Millwall?!?!?! At least it’s not at the Den, but South London gonna burn that night
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Hell yeah. Getting a sleeping rivalry out of the draw is exactly what the FA Cup is all about. That and freaking Grismby beating (not so) mighty Man United at their little band box of a county stadium.
 
Third round results

Sheffield Wednesday 0–1 Grimsby Town
Brentford 1–1 (4–2 p) Aston Villa
Crystal Palace 1–1 (4–2 p) Millwall
Swansea City 3–2 Nottingham Forest
Barnsley 0–6 Brighton & Hove Albion
Burnley 1–2 Cardiff City
Fulham 1–0 Cambridge United
Lincoln City 1–2 Chelsea
Wigan Athletic 0–2 Wycombe Wanderers
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2–0 Everton
Wrexham 2–0 Reading
Liverpool 2–1 Southampton
Huddersfield Town 0–2 Manchester City
Newcastle United 4–1 Bradford City
Tottenham Hotspur 3–0 Doncaster Rovers
Port Vale 0–2 Arsenal
 
And here's the fourth round draw

Arsenal v Brighton&Hove Albion
Grimsby Town v Brentford
Liverpool v Crystal Palace
Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspur
Swansea City v Manchester City
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Chelsea
Wrexham v Cardiff City
Wycombe Wanderers v Fulham
 
Liverpool lost another match to Crystal Palace. That's become predictable, but given the previous matches, comes at an awful time for the club.
Playing a back three with Robertson, Gomez and Endo, with Kerkez and the kid Ramsey as wingbacks was always going to be a risk, and Ismaila Saar (who else?) made them pay with a late first half brace. Pino added salt to the wound near the end. 🤦
 
Ed H in Pasadena said:
Liverpool lost another match to Crystal Palace. That's become predictable, but given the previous matches, comes at an awful time for the club.
Playing a back three with Robertson, Gomez and Endo, with Kerkez and the kid Ramsey as wingbacks was always going to be a risk, and Ismaila Saar (who else?) made them pay with a late first half brace. Pino added salt to the wound near the end. 🤦
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Palace visits Arsenal in the next round. Man City hosts Brentford, Cardiff hosts Chelsea and a Newcastle hosts Fulham on December 16.
 
A giant killing in the FA Cup. Macclesfield FC, 14th in the National League North, the 6th tier on the pyramid, take out Crystal Palace 2-1. Palace’s first FA Cup defense is over in their first match. Macclesfield is a phoenix club, founded a few weeks after Macclesfield Town FC were liquidated in September 2020. They retained Town’s badge, with color alterations, and use The Silkmen as their nickname. Their Wikipedia page has already been updated to indicate they’re also known as “the owners of Crystal Palace”.


View: https://x.com/footballontnt/status/2009993011971740039?s=61
 
The English sure do love a wikipedia vandalism, though the whole "ownership" vandalism has been a bit overdone. I do so absolutely love that wikipedia vandalism led to Sepp receiving an award that said "Joseph Sepp Bellend Blatter" on it, because they clearly just looked up his full name on Wikipedia and didn't know what "Bellend" meant.
 
The last match of the third round saw my LFC see off Barnsley with two late goals, a flattering 4-1 win at Anfield. But for the goalpost, we would've been 1-0 within 30 seconds. Two thumping goals and we're up 2-0 heading into the 40th minute.
Then Dom Szoboszlai tries to backheel the ball to the keeper from two yards in front of his own goal, and Barnsley pounced. From that moment on, they were in the match until Florian Wirtz calmly slotted in #3 in the 84th minute. Not the most encouraging effort except for the result
 
Oh, and before the match, the fourth round draw for the FA Cup was held.

FA Cup fourth round draw results
Manchester City vs Salford or Swindon Town
Birmingham City vs Leeds United
Macclesfield vs Brentford
Aston Villa vs Newcastle United
Grimsby Town vs Wolves
Port Vale vs Bristol City
Norwich City vs West Bromwich Albion
Burnley vs Mansfield Town
Burton Albion vs West Ham United
Hull City vs Chelsea
Arsenal vs Wigan Athletic
Wrexham vs Ipswich Town
Southampton vs Leicester City
Oxford United vs Sunderland
Stoke City vs Fulham
Liverpool vs Brighton & Hove Albion

Only two all-Prem fixtures. Interesting to note that Wrexham drew a home fixture vs Ipswich Town, exactly one week before they play a home league match vs Ipswich. 🤔
 
The League Cup final is set, it’s Arsenal v. Man City on March 22. Arsenal wrapped up their semi-final tie against Chelsea yesterday, scoring a goal in the 7th minute of 2nd half stoppage time to win 4-2 on aggregate. Man City beat Newcastle today 3-1, winning the tie 5-1 on aggregate. Arsenal has only won it twice, the last time in 1993 and were losing finalists to Man City in 2018, the most recent of their 6 finals losses. Man City has won it 8 times, trailing only Liverpool. They won 4 straight from 2018-21.
 
Macclesfield’s Cinderella run in the FA Cup ended today, losing to Brentford on a 70th minute own goal. The 5th Round Proper draw was held today, with matches to be held the weekend of March 7-8.

Fulham v. Southampton
Port Vale or Bristol City v. Sunderland (Port Vale v. Bristol City on 3/3]
Newcastle v. Man City
Leeds v. Norwich
Mansfield Town v. Arsenal
Wolves v. Liverpool (Wolves can’t win a league match but made the final 16?)
Wrexham v. Chelsea
West Ham v. Brentford

Port Vale is the lowest level team left, they’re at the foot of League One. Mansfield is 13th in League One. Wrexham, Bristol City and Southampton are 8-10 in the Championship, Norwich is 17th.
 
Results so far

Wolves 1-3 Liverpool
(looked like a completely different squad than the side that looked so poor in the league match earlier in the week with Wolves)
Mansfield Town 1-2 Arsenal (Eze with the match winner in the 66th minute)
Wrexham 2-4 Chelsea (AET)
(HT) Newcastle 1-1 Manchester City

Edit: straight red in the fourth minute of injury time for Wrexham's George Dobson. Then in injury time, Alejandro Garnacho scored in the 97th minute, Lewis Brunt's header to level was ruled out for offside (by VAR) in the 27th minute of extra time, and Joao Pedro scored with virtually the last touch of the match. That said, thought that Wrexham outplayed Chelsea for large parts of this match. Better finishing, particularly in the first 90, and they could have pulled the massive upset.
 
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The FA Cup quarterfinal draw was held. The datws and times are TBD.

Southampton v Arsenal
Chelsea v Port Vale
Manchester City v Liverpool
West Ham United v Leeds United

Port Vale beat Sunderland yesterday to advance. They’re at the bottom of the League One table, 10 points from safety with 2 to 4 matches in hand on the clubs above them.
 
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