FA Cup third round: 10 talking points from the weekend’s football
BROTHERLY LOVE: BBC Sport pundit Wayne Rooney alongside his brother, Macclesfield Town manager, John Rooney. Pic: Martin Rickett/PA Wire.
Playing against lower-league opposition as a top-flight side in the FA Cup is like batting on the first morning of a Test match – you cannot really win and failure can prompt humiliation and reputational damage.
To that end, some members of the Crystal Palace side deservedly beaten by Macclesfield perhaps learned a valuable lesson at Moss Rose. Marc Guéhi and Adam Wharton are linked regularly with big moves away from Palace, but part of succeeding at elite clubs – the pair are admired by Manchester City and Manchester United respectively – is coping with being overwhelming favourites.
Oliver Glasner, too, may have designs on bigger things, with United again a possible destination, but to see his side schooled by part-timers was a blow to his burgeoning reputation.
Glasner slammed his players after the defeat but the Austrian must take a portion of the blame. They must all do better.
In only his second senior game for Manchester City since being recalled on Monday from his loan at Watford, Max Alleyne scored the opener and cruised through the trouncing of Exeter until being replaced on 64 minutes.
“The last week’s been kind of crazy,” the 20-year-old said. “But I really enjoyed every second I’ve been back. I was at Watford and was recalled, so I was straight in on Wednesday [for the 1-1 draw with Brighton] and then again on Saturday. My family are down south so I haven’t seen them much [since].”
His 17 games in the first half of the season for the Hornets have aided Alleyne’s development.
“There’s such a different style of football that I was asked to play there. It really helped me in duels and just learning little tricks in the game. You don’t get many options to do that in the academy,” he said.
If Jim Ratcliffe was thinking of sticking with Darren Fletcher as a cut-price interim manager until the end of the season – and it would hardly be the first time such an option has been on the table – then the Manchester United co-owner will surely reconsider.
United have been listless in defence in Fletcher’s two games in charge, clearly lacking structure. Going forward, they have mustered some bright moments without being ruthless in front of goal. That was evidenced in the first couple of minutes against Brighton when Diogo Dalot fluffed his lines when bearing down on Jason Steele’s net.
Fletcher has done something similar in the manager’s hot seat. After holding talks with Ole Gunnar Solskjær and Michael Carrick, United must appoint an interim manager with more tactical experience. Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-3 was much maligned but at least it gave United some cohesion out of possession.
Before victory against Derby, Wilfried Gnonto had started just once for Leeds since August and in that game, at Manchester City, he was removed at half-time with his side trailing 2-0.
The Italian has now made almost as many substitute appearances for the club as he has started games, his progress stalling after an exciting breakthrough campaign as a teenager in 2022-23. Gnonto’s emphatic strike to finish a slick Leeds move to equalise at Pride Park was a timely reminder of his abilities, capping an impressive performance from the 22-year-old.
If he can continue his return to form, it will only bolster Daniel Farke’s attacking options for the rest of the season. Many Leeds fans would like to see Gnonto receive more opportunities.
At the start of a run of four away fixtures in different competitions that continues with the first leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, Mikel Arteta could not have asked for more from his much-changed side at Portsmouth.
It says a lot for Arsenal’s strength in depth that they were able to start with almost an entirely different team to the 0-0 draw against Liverpool and still come away from Fratton Park with a comfortable victory, courtesy of Gabriel Martinelli’s hat-trick.
The return of Kai Havertz after 150 days on the sidelines is another boost, while Ethan Nwaneri put in an excellent performance after spending most of the season on the bench.
“He deserved that, basically,” Arteta said. With a trip to Nottingham Forest up next in the Premier League before Inter away in the Champions League, Arsenal’s only weakness could be a shortage of defensive cover as they await positive news on Piero Hincapié’s and Riccardo Calafiori’s injuries.
West Ham fans, many times bitten, did not greet the January additions of Pablo Felipe and Taty Castellanos with rapture. The club’s transfer business has been spotty, to put it politely, in recent years.
With the caveat that they were facing Championship opposition in QPR, both made worthy contributions, Pablo playing his part in Crysencio Summerville’s opener while Castellanos nodded in a striker’s header for the extra-time winner. The curious case of Callum Wilson, underused by both Graham Potter and now Nuno Espirito Santo, appears likely to conclude with a move elsewhere.
The burden on Jarrod Bowen, who found himself on the margins against QPR, has been too heavy for too long. It has also taken Summerville too long to show off his capabilities. Nuno talked of other signings coming in, suggesting the club’s owners are prepared to spend at least some money in attempts to avoid the relegation trap door.
”The sooner the better,” he said.
Two diminutive No 10s caught the eye at Tottenham on Saturday evening, their performances encapsulating the situations their sides are now in. As Spurs looked to claw back a two-goal deficit in the second half, Xavi Simons was to the fore. His driving runs were the standout, earning the home side territory they were unable to achieve otherwise, but he also created three chances and had two shots on target.
If the Dutchman was playing in a team with more cohesion, he could have determined the outcome. For Villa, Emi Buendía was many people’s man of the match, scoring a beautiful goal and missing another great chance, but he played less like a soloist and more another member of Unai Emery’s high-functioning orchestra.
His most impressive statistic was the seven ball recoveries he made out of possession, a consistent feature of his game this season. Spurs have talent but are not functioning as a team. With Villa, there is ability across the pitch, but it’s the collective that comes first.
It was only Charlton. They are 19th in the Championship and adopted a passive approach against Chelsea.
Even so it was still a good start for Liam Rosenior. It is worth remembering that Enzo Maresca’s Chelsea suffered when they made changes against lower-league opposition and toiled against Lincoln and Cardiff in the Carabao Cup.
This was different. Chelsea adopted a 3-2-2-3 system in possession, which was similar to Maresca’s approach, but they played with more adventure. Jorrel Hato, drifting in from left-back to operate as a No 10 at times, scored his first goal for the club. Chelsea had 30 shots.
The rarely spotted Facundo Buonanotte was bright, Jamie Gittens was lively on the right and Marc Guiu offered plenty of hustle up front. The obligatory caveat is that tougher tests await. But Chelsea looked freer in attack. They were often quite restrained under Maresca; Rosenior, on the other hand, said control is not enough. He wants incision.
Much was made of Weston-super-Mare’s stirring run to the FA Cup third round for the first time in their 139-year history, but it was Grimsby who left dreaming of another fairytale.
The Mariners scraped past their plucky National League South opponents to secure their place in Monday’s fourth-round draw. Having bundled Manchester United and Sheffield Wednesday out of the Carabao Cup before losing against Brentford earlier this season, Dave Artell’s League Two promotion-chasers have the scent of another giantkilling.
Charles Vernam, who scored a spectacular opener against Weston, said: “Like all the fans, we’d hope for a big tie because we experienced what it was like against Manchester United, Brentford and Sheffield Wednesday.
"Financially, we know how important it is to the club and I’d love to play at Anfield because I’ve never been. But anyone, anywhere, let’s have a good crack at it. It’s our aim to keep putting the club on the map because we know how important it is to the community.”
Selecting which three players to withdraw at half-time was a difficult task for Sean Dyche against Wrexham on Friday night. Nottingham Forest were appalling in the opening 45 minutes of the tie, with none of their fringe players making a positive impression on the head coach on their way to being knocked out by the Championship side.
One of those taken off was James McAtee, who has struggled since moving to the City Ground from Manchester City. It is a tough task trying to oust Morgan Gibbs-White from the No 10 role, leading McAtee to become a bit-part player.
It can’t have helped that he’s already on his third head coach in just six months at Forest, offering little stability. The situation is not working for McAtee, who was deployed in a deeper midfield role at Wrexham with disappointing results, and a move abroad may suit his technical abilities.
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