Getting mildly excited about English football’s fifth most high-profile competition
UP FOR THE CUP?
With the quarter-finals looming, now is around the time of year that fans who aren’t generally fussed about Fizzy Cup start getting mildly excited about their team’s chances of winning it. While it may be English football’s fifth most high-profile competition after the Premier League, FA Cup and both transfer windows, this season it offers fans of several teams whose trophy cabinets resemble Old Mother Hubbard’s cupboard a realistic chance of seeing their team lift silverware, or at least the opportunity of a rare day out at Wembley to see a more famous club presented with it. The eight teams left in this season’s Fizzy Cup have won it 22 times between them, an impressively high number that remains exactly the same if you remove Crystal Palace, Brentford, Newcastle and Southampton from the equation, what with none of them ever having won it at all.
It is a situation all four clubs will be hoping to rectify this time around and given Newcastle’s match-up with Brentford at St James’ Park, at least one of these serial trophy non-winners is guaranteed a place in the semi-finals. A team who last won a major pot when Pérez Prado and his Orchestra occupied the UK No 1 spot with Cherry Pink (And Apple Blossom White) in 1955 hosting a team who hasn’t won one since Pythagoras first started experimenting with vibrating strings, theirs is an intriguing tie. Brentford subjected Newcastle to quite the humbling at the unlikely fortress that is the Gtech Community Stadium earlier this month, but given the appalling away form of Thomas Frank’s team, there’s every chance the tables could be turned. “We are facing a good team at one of the toughest away grounds, so it will be tough,” said Frank, whose team’s only away win this season came in Fizzy Cup at lowly Colchester. “But we’ve done it before, we’ve played away and won before.”
Meanwhile in London, stuttering Arsenal welcome Crystal Palace to the Emirates for a tie that should go a long way towards showing just how far down the Gooner pecking order Raheem Sterling has fallen. A starter in Arsenal’s two Fizzy Cup ties so far this season, the former England international is yet to be given a run-out this month despite the middling-to-poor form of many of those being selected ahead of him. “I don’t know if it’s confidence, but obviously he’s got that will that the ball goes in the back of the net and he starts to have some momentum in relation to that,” blathered Mikel Arteta, albeit in response to a question about the similarly out-of-sorts Gabriel Jesus. Unencumbered by the rigid philosophy of the recently deposed Russell Martin for the first time this season, we can almost certainly expect to see Southampton get the ball launched into the night sky over Hampshire when they host holders Liverpool, while their interim head coach, Simon Rusk, has confirmed he will not be channeling his inner Marty McFly and engaging in any sort of time travel.
“I’m a believer in staying present,” he told reporters in his maiden press conference. “Present for me is preparing the team to play Liverpool. The best thing I can do is prepare the team as best as I can, what falls out of that will fall out. I’ve been in the game long enough to know that.” In the Fizzy Cup’s last quarter-final tie, Tottenham host Manchester United on Thursday, with this tournament representing Big Ange’s best hope of maintaining his record of winning something shiny in each of his second seasons. “I want to win and want to play well,” he said, between straight-batting questions on whether or not he fancies signing Marcus Rashford. “I don’t think it’s anything new. We’ll go out there and try and play our football. If we do, we’ll be hard to stop.”
LIVE ON BIG WEBSITE
Join Barry Glendenning at 7.30pm (GMT) for live Milk Cup quarter-final updates on Arsenal 1-0 Crystal Palace, while Scott Murray will be on hand at 8pm for Southampton 1-2 Liverpool.
QUOTES OF THE DAY
Tuesday 17 December: “I think I’m ready for a new challenge and the next steps” – Marcus Rashford eyes the door marked Do One at Manchester United after being left out of the squad for the Manchester derby.
Wednesday 18 December: “We are better with Marcus Rashford, that is simple and we will try different things to push [him] to the best levels he showed in the past. And that’s all” – but Ruben Amorim suggests he wants the out-of-sorts striker to stay after all.
FOOTBALL DAILY LETTERS
Ten years ago Emiliano Martínez was just sitting on the Sheffield Wednesday bench (alongside Michail Antonio by the way) as a backup for Chris Kirkland, not playing in the Championship as we lost to Charlton Athletic. Now, he’s won a World Cup, two Copa Américas, two Yashin Trophies (the Ballon d’Or for goalkeepers) and a second Fifa best men’s goalkeeper. A doff of the cap to lad” – Noble Francis.
Given big Ange seemed to want everyone to know that he was ‘just copying Pep, mate’ last year, it really should not come as a surprise that both Spurs and Manchester City have had slumps at a similar stage of this season. Hopefully with Tottenham playing Manchester United on Thursday the similarity will not continue in the outcome of that game (speaking as a Tottenham supporter of course)“ – Greg Wynn.
One assumes TV writer Jack Thorne is indulging in a bit of nominative determinism when he states that ‘the city belongs to [Liverpool Football Club]’ (yesterday’s Shanks for the Memories section – full email edition). The blue half of town would beg to differ and if Jack would care to pop across Stanley Park for a beverage, I’m sure he’d find many friends willing to explain a few things to help his script development” – Nick Shimmin.
When I read in [yesterday’s] Football Daily that the mysterious forces behind the ESL were ‘back peddling’ I naturally assumed that this was another Grauniad misprint and that they were in fact back pedalling – hallelujah I thought. Imagine my disappointment when I read on and found that no misprint was involved – can I sue?” – Richard Hirst.
Just a quick one on yesterday’s David Squires cartoon about Nicolas Jover. Was that Timothée Chalamet as the fourth person on Graham Norton’s couch or Thomas Frank? Not that it actually matters, BUT it does give some casting ideas for any potential Brentford FC film” – Christian Lean.
Send letters to the.boss@theguardian.com. Today’s letter o’ the day winner is … Christian Lean, who wins a copy of the new David Squires book, Chaos in the Box. Terms and conditions for our competitions can be viewed here.
RECOMMENDED SHOPPING
David’s latest tome, Chaos in the Box, is out now! Order it at a £3 discount, here.
TOP 100!
Our men’s countdown continues with Nos 70-41. Here at Guardian Towers we played a game of picking the best row of players to form a five-a-side team. Ours was 61-65.
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