FA Cup

NUNO ESPIRITO SANTO is taking the approach of his former manager when it comes to Cup football.
Jose Mourinho sees trophies as the ultimate status symbol of a manager and has been rewarded with a place in the final of the Carabao Cup after taking the competition seriously.

Adama Traore scored the only goal as Wolves beat Crystal PalaceCredit: Rex Features

And Santo, who played under the Spurs boss at Porto, was true to his word when promising a strong team and Adama Traore scored a first half belter for a deserved win over Palace.
Not many top-flight managers will be emulating Santo this weekend as they will be making excuses about a jam-packed season.
But the Wolves boss made two changes from the previous game at Brighton – with keeper John Ruddy and Leander Dendoncker – and they should have won by more.
Santo knows that Wolves, with no relegation issues, have a decent chance of doing well in the FA Cup.

And although they will look to sign a striker this January in place of the injured Raul Jimenez, they will be even more of a threat if Traore can score a few more.
His previous domestic goal was here at Molineux in the 3-2 win over Manchester City on December 27, 2019
Yet despite not winning by more, Santo will still have been happy with the performance which also included a substitute appearance for Patrick Cutrone, who has been recalled from a loan spell at Fiorentina. This was his first Wolves appearance for 13 months.
Santo’s side were semi-finalists in 2019 and had they reached the final, would probably have put up a better show than Watford who were hammered 6-0 by Manchester City.

Adama Traore has scored his first goal since February 2020 for Wolves across all competitions.His scoreless streak finally comes to an end. pic.twitter.com/YP1SlEvxwd
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) January 8, 2021

Palace struggled at times to create opportunitiesCredit: Reuters

In contrast, there were nine changes for Palace as manager Roy Hodgson shuffled his pack but they struggled to make much of an impression apart from Jack Butland, who enjoyed a decent debut with some good saves.
Yet although there was only one goal in it, Palace rarely threatened and did not manage a single shot on target. Wilf Zaha was not introduced until the 70th minute.
Wolves created numerous chances with Fabio Silva delivering a poor miss with a header and Nelson Semedo forcing a decent save from Butland, who was also given his England debut by Hodgson in 2012.  
Yet there was not much Butland could do about Wolves’ opener, a 35th minute thunderbolt from Traore. 
Palace did not help themselves with some feeble defending as he cut in from the right. Both Eze and Jairo Reidewald failed to show enough aggression but it was still a terrific left-footed effort from the edge of the box which had too much power for Butland.
At the break, Hodgson replaced Cheikhou Kouyate for Mamadou Sakho at the back but Wolves continued to cause a few problems before running out of steam.

Jack Butland made his Crystal Palace debutCredit: PA:Press Association

Fabio Silva didn’t have much luck in front of goalCredit: Reuters
Teenage forward Silva missed another easy header and Leander Dendoncker was denied by a brilliant save from Butland.
Christian Benteke, although having improved of late for Palace, had little impact and it was a surprise he lasted until the 70th minute, when Zaha was finally introduced.
Equally, Wolves forward Silva was no better and was put out of his misery with 10 minutes left for Cutrone.
Palace pressed for a leveller at the end but ultimately they were unable to test Ruddy who actually made his England debut in the same game as Butland eight years ago.
As for Wolves, they were rewarded for being positive and are worth a tenner for going all the way in the Cup this season.

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WELL, we needn’t have worried too much about the integrity of the FA Cup, after all.
Instead, without so much as ‘lend us your ball, Mister’, 17-year-old Louie Barry conjured a vintage example of this competition’s fabled magic and equalised against the champions of England.

Liverpool survived a scare to beat Aston Villa’s youngstersCredit: Reuters

Sadio Mane scored twice as the Reds eased into the fourth roundCredit: AFP

Villa’s young side had stunned Liverpool by going into half-time levelCredit: Reuters

Former Barcelona youth star Louie Barry, 17, calmly slotted home the levellerCredit: AFP

As if to emphasize the ridiculous inexperience of Aston Villa’s side, Barry had managed to combine two schoolboy haircuts – a pudding basin and a short back and sides.
Yet when he was sent through by a gorgeous Callum Rowe through-ball, Barry raced clear, lashed home and slid over to celebrate like a seasoned pro.
Every member of this fresh-faced Villa side were making their full debuts for the club, after a Covid outbreak had sidelined Dean Smith and his entire first-team squad.
Men against boys this may literally have been – with several of the home team having been dropped off at the ground by their parents – yet somehow Villa were level at half-time.

If Jurgen ‘Kindergarten’ Klopp had sent out a strong team hoping for them to act as ruthless playground bullies, then he was kept waiting anxiously for an hour before the kids were finally put to bed by a flurry of three goals in four minutes.
Whether this third-round match should have taken place was a matter of pre-match debate – and the Cup is certainly being treated as a second-class competition, not allowing for postponements when a club is ravaged by Covid.
Yet the first hour will never be forgotten by those academy youngsters sent out by Villa Under-23s boss Mark Delaney.
Tottenham’s visit to eighth-tier Marine on Sunday had been billed as the biggest FA Cup mismatch of all time.

Sadio Mane opened the scoring with an early headerCredit: PA:Press Association

Georginio Wijnaldum’s strike opened the floodgates at Villa ParkCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Yet that had reckoned without this, the product of ten positive Covid tests among Villa’s senior professionals – with boss Dean Smith and three of his coaching team also having to self-isolate.
Liverpool can rightly argue that they had been forced to field a youth team of their own here for a Carabao Cup quarter-final last season, while their first team contested the Club World Cup.
The domestic cup competitions were being squeezed into oblivion before Covid – but this weekend is bringing a whole new level of farce.
Klopp, in King Herod mode, named a stronger side than usual for the early rounds of a Cup – helped by a 13-day break in Premier League fixtures, culminating in next Sunday’s title six-pointer against Manchester United.
Several of Villa’s better academy players were not even available, as they had been training with the infected first team.
But Delaney’s lads strode out, squad numbers ranging from 37 to 70, as if a troupe of mascots had arrived without the actual footballers to escort them.
None had made a previous senior appearance for Villa, though wide-boy Ben Chrisene had played league football for Exeter last season, aged 15.
He was one of four Villa starters who hadn’t even been born when James Milner made his league debut for Leeds in 2002.
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Mohamed Salah grabbed his customary goalCredit: Reuters
Liverpool were ahead within four minutes, a Curtis Jones cross finding Sadio Mane, who had snuck in between Villa’s central defenders to score with a free header – yet this was a night when schoolboy errors were entirely forgivable.
Gini Wijnaldum was soon guilty of a horrible miss – attempting to be too flash when a simple finish would have sufficed.
But after Villa’s keeper Akos Onodi made a brilliant full-stretch one-handed save from Fabinho, the kids enjoyed a very decent spell, causing stress in the Liverpool defence and forcing a couple of corners.
Onodi pulled off another fine save to deny Salah and then suddenly, with astonishing cheek, Villa levelled five minutes before the break.
Rowe’s excellent through-ball caught Rhys Williams the wrong side of Barry – who’d had a short spell at Barcelona last season.
And the striker advanced to lash his shot past Caoimhin Kelleher and into the far corner.
In response to this impudence, Klopp sent on Thiago Alcantara – formerly of Barcelona and Bayern Munich – in a desperate attempt to restore order.
When Onodi made a rare blunder, Salah’s tap-in was ruled out for a foul.
But on the hour, Liverpool finally regained the lead when Salah and Takumi Minamino combined for Wijnaldum to side-foot home from the edge of the box.

Klopp sent on Roberto Firmino and Xherdan Shaqiri and within four minutes it was 4-1 – Shaqiri twice playing a support role as Mane added a looping header and Salah produced a cool finish.
Yet the parents of these Villa kids will have been proud when they picked up their boys.
And the kids would have been telling all the bedtime fairytales.

Five of Villa’s starting XI weren’t even born for James Milner’s debutCredit: EPA

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TEENAGER Louie Barry lit up Villa Park by capping off a fine team move as Aston Villa’s kids stunned Liverpool.
The former Barcelona youngster, 17, equalised in the FA Cup third-round clash just before half-time.

Louie Barry, 17, kept his cool to score for Aston Villa in the FA Cup against LiverpoolCredit: AFP

Dean Smith and his entire first-team squad are self-isolating, meaning Mark Delaney was left in charge to field a team made up of Under-23 and U18 players.
The average age of the starting XI was just 18 years and 294 days.
But despite falling behind to Sadio Mane’s early header, the youngsters kept battling and got their reward on 41 minutes.
Callum Rowe collected the ball at left-back from Hungarian teenage goalkeeper Akos Onodi as the kids knocked it around confidently.

Rowe came infield before threading an inch-perfect through ball between Rhys Williams and Fabinho in Liverpool’s defence.
And Barry, who signed for Villa from Barcelona last January, raced on to it, getting across Williams who did not dare touch the pacey forward.
Facing Caoimhin Kelleher one on one, the former West Brom academy star made no mistake.
He kept his cool to tuck it home into the bottom corner and celebrated wildly with his fellow Villa youngsters in an empty stadium.

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Unsurprisingly, Barry appeared to be welling up slightly with emotion as the magnitude of his finish started to hit.
Jurgen Klopp looked shell-shocked on the sidelines as experienced senior players like James Milner, Jordan Henderson and Mo Salah tried to rally the Premier League champions – desperate to avoid an embarrassing exit.
And Liverpool ensured there was no further humiliation as they put the kids to the sword in the second half.
The Reds scored three goals in just five minutes to crush Villa’s hope, Wijnaldum, Mane again and Salah on target in a 4-1 win.

The 17-year-old sprinted away to celebrate his memorable finishCredit: AFP

Rhys Williams could not afford to make contact with the pacey forward as he raced clearCredit: Getty Images – Getty

His team-mates – all from Villa’s youth teams due to a Covid-19 outbreak – mobbed the former Barcelona kidCredit: Getty Images – Getty

Senior players like Fabinho and James Milner could barely believe what they witnessedCredit: AP:Associated Press

Newcastle boss Steve Bruce says Aston Villa’s clash vs Liverpool is ‘morally wrong’ More

SO you probably think that the FA Cup has lost its magic.
You probably think that professional footballers, managers and their clubs no longer care too much about the world’s oldest knockout competition.

SunSport columnist Troy Deeney recalls his experience of playing in an FA Cup final – and says it’s one of his proudest days despite a thrashingCredit: Getty Images – Getty

Arsenal players, either from home or abroad, showed what it meant to win the trophy last seasonCredit: PA:Press Association

That we see it as an unwelcome distraction or an afterthought — nowhere near as important as the league.
Well, personally, I don’t think you could be more wrong.
Even with the threats posed by Covid and even without fans the FA Cup remains a unique competition, bringing opportunities and creating memories for players at all levels.
To tell you what the Cup means to me, I’ll take you back to Watford’s run all the way to the final in 2019.

It started with a non-league captain calling me out on a radio phone-in and it ended with me getting banter from our future king — and what else in football can give you that?
When Watford were drawn at National League Woking in the third round our manager, Javi Gracia, gave me the option of having a weekend off.
We had just come off a busy Christmas period, so I was tempted to take him up on it.
But then a few days before the tie, I went on a radio phone-in and the Woking skipper came on and said something along the lines of “I’m looking forward to smashing you, Deeney”.

I can remember chatting to a couple of Woking fans and I thought how nice it was to have that interaction at a non-league ground.

He said it in a humorous way but once he’d said it, I told the gaffer that I wanted to be part of the squad.
I ended up coming off the bench and scoring the second in a 2-0 win to kill the tie and it was a thoroughly good day out.
I can remember chatting to a couple of Woking fans, while one of their players received treatment, and I thought how nice it was to have that interaction at a non-league ground as it wasn’t something you’d get in the Premier League bubble.
That Woking match was the start of something special.
When we came from two down to beat Wolves 3-2 in the semi-final at Wembley, it was absolutely one of my career highlights.
To be part of such a great Cup match and to score the equalising penalty in injury-time was unforgettable.
Now you may recall that the final against Manchester City didn’t go too well for us — a 6-0 defeat, which was the worst thrashing ever suffered in a major Wembley final.
But that doesn’t stop me remembering the whole day — the occasion rather than the result — as probably the proudest of my career.
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Manchester City demolished Watford in the 2019 finalCredit: AFP – Getty

Deeney remembers the day fondly, if not the resultCredit: Times Newspapers Ltd
My old nan was in the stands and she loves the Royal Family. So, as Watford captain, to get to introduce Prince William — the FA president — to the team before kick-off was a massive thrill for me. And for my nan.
I’ve been lucky enough to meet William since, as part of his mental health charity work, and he is a proper Aston Villa fan and a genuinely good, down-to-earth bloke.
He knew full well that I am a Birmingham City supporter because when I shook his hand and prepared to introduce him to our team, William said: “I can’t believe I’m having to do this with a Bluenose!”
We’d stayed in a hotel right next to Wembley on the eve of the final, so a couple of hours before kick-off, I asked a security guard if he could take me out on to Wembley Way to soak up the atmosphere and see Watford and City fans mingling.
It was an experience I’ll never forget. I grew up wanting to play in an FA Cup final, and there I was properly feeling the sense of occasion, the anticipation among the fans.
Like I said, I enjoyed the day right up until the match started.
Although, weirdly enough, we had a great chance to score when it was still 0-0 — we’d identified that City might be vulnerable to counter-attacks from their own corners and we almost scored from one such break, Roberto Pereyra having a shot saved by Ederson.
I’m not going to say we’d have won if Pereyra had scored but it would have been a very different game — though in hindsight, I’d rather we lost 6-0 than 1-0 or 2-0 as there aren’t any real regrets.

When you play at lower levels, like I did at Walsall, you are well aware that a Cup run can make all the difference to your club’s finances.
Like Tranmere, who beat Watford last season, then played Manchester United — they may have lost 6-0 but the TV money will have funded their wage bill for months.
As a player in the lower leagues, you know a big performance in the Cup can earn you a move or simply provide the highlight of your career.
You may think foreign players don’t understand the meaning of the Cup like the British lads do — but believe me, they soon realise and they soon get into it.
They will be watching Sky Sports News this week and hearing about Marine, from the eighth tier of English football, playing Tottenham and they will go, ‘Wow, how does that happen? This is amazing’.
This isn’t an easy year for the Cup, it isn’t an easy year for anyone or anything.
But the Cup is a tradition worth fighting for, a tradition worth preserving, and please don’t imagine that us players don’t value it.
OD TO JOY
When Watford visit Old Trafford in the FA Cup on Saturday, there is one name I’m hoping to see on the Manchester United team-sheet — Odion Ighalo.
I have never enjoyed such chemistry with a strike partner as I did with Ighalo at Watford — we just complemented each other perfectly.
When he went on loan last January, there was surprise and a few sneers but not from Watford fans, who loved him during his two-and-a-half years at Vicarage Road, and certainly not from me.

Odion Ighalo is set for a reunion with Watford on Saturday nightCredit: AP:Associated Press

I was delighted for Odion. He was a United supporter as a kid in Nigeria and this was a dream move for him.
He did a great job for them last season — scoring five goals and proving a really valuable squad player.
Now it looks as though he may be moving on this January, back to China or to the Middle East, so it would be great if Ole Gunnar Solskjaer could give him a United swansong against us.
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