Newcastle United Fan View: The FA Cup 3rd round is a welcome break

I love the FA Cup, some of my fondest football memories are from the FA Cup. In fact, the time I was most happy as a Newcastle United fan came in the duo of semi final victories against Tottenham Hotspur and Sheffield United at Old Trafford in the late 90’s. I remember openly weeping when we won both those games and I would give anything to have those times repeated.

Unfortunately, both those semi final successes ended in a fairly comprehensive and lackluster defeats in the final. I have traveled to the old Wembley 4 times; the final v Arsenal in 1998 where we lost 2-0, the final against Manchester United, again a 2-0 defeat. I also went to Wembley for the 2-1 defeat against Chelsea in 2000 (that 1998-2000 period was pretty special wasn’t it?!) and of course who can forget the 4-0 Charity Shield defeat against Manchester United in 1996. So 4 Wembley visits, 10 goals against, 1 for, 4 defeats. Still, football memories were made and will stay with me forever.

We may have had an FA Cup purple patch in the late 90’s, but since the turn of the millennium our FA Cup form has been nothing short of diabolical; if anything it has mirrored our league demise and the demise of the club as a whole over the last 16 years – there have been a couple of quarter final and semi final defeats but other than that, we have never made it passed the 4th round. In the last decade with have exited the competition 7 times at the first time of asking – that is a truly incredible and somewhat depressing stat!

However, as we all know, this season is incredibly different to previous seasons. Yes, we still have Mike Ashley at the helm and it has been well documented that “cups aren’t a priority” for big Mike but we have seen that not to be the case this season already with a decent run in the League Cup, culminating in an unlucky defeat away to Premiership Hull City on penalties; a game we could and should have won.

This Saturday sees Newcastle United travel to Birmingham City in the FA Cup 3rd round. We recently played Birmingham off the park in a home league fixture – possibly our best performance of the season – and despite a change in manager to the ex-Chelsea legend Gianfranco Zola, their form has not improved since then. Given that Birmingham are sitting fairly comfortably in mid-table, I would imagine they will play a full strength side at the weekend. However, I suspect there will be a slue of changes for us given the recent poor league form and Rafa’s desire to rotate. However, where that has been our downfall in seasons gone by – often playing so called weakened sides in the cups, rotating this season should not be a problem as we have a strong squad. No more does the term “fringe player” put the fear of god in to me, we now have a strong 22 and I am confident that whatever side Rafa picks, we will stand a good chance of winning.

Jonjo Shelvey will of course miss the game due to suspension and the AFCON players; Diame, Atsu and Mbemba will not be available either. Whether Sammy Ameobi is in contention is anyone’s guess given his surprise return to the club.

I feel like a broken record here but I do want to see Aleksandar Mitrovic play. I think deep down I know Rafa does not rate him; he hardly played when Rafa took over in the Premier League despite our need for goals and he has not been given much of a chance this season – although when he has, it has been a 10 minute cameo appearance at the end of the game. I think there are 2 Mitrovic camps emerging now; those who feel he needs to be given a chance, a run in the team, to prove himself (me) and the others who feel he has been given a fair crack of the whip and should be moved on (not me). I think there is another camp and that is of course Mitrovic himself. He has said he wants to stay and fight but how long is he prepared to wait? I would imagine if a substantial bid is made for him in January, or more likely in the summer, he will leave. A real shame.

So which Newcastle United are we going to see this Saturday? The one that doesn’t turn up for cup games or the new Rafa led side that want to win? Lets hope it is the latter!