Arsenal 2 Huddersfield Town 1 in the 4th Round of the FA Cup

Herbert Chapman 1878-1934

If I tell you that Huddersfield Town and Arsenal have a lot of history I mean it in the nicest possible way. We were both managed by one of the legends of football, Herbert Chapman (above). Chapman took Huddersfield Town to the dizziest heights possible in the 1920s - the FA Cup Final of 1921-2 and as Division 1 Champions of 1923/4 and 1924/5. In 1925 he left Town for Arsenal, dazzled at the prospect of doubling his salary to £2,000 a year. He stayed with Arsenal until his untimely death from pneumonia aged 55. As a manager he was ahead of his time. Among many other things he introduced physiotherapists to help his players recover from injuries faster, floodlights for evening matches and, when Huddersfield came to Arsenal, the idea of the two walking abreast of each other out of the tunnel - something all sides do to this day.

So what would Herbert have made of today's fixture in the fourth round of the FA Cup?  His two clubs have followed different paths. Huddersfield are nowhere near as big as they were in his day, Arsenal have remained one of the top 5 clubs in England ever since his death.  He'd have had to bet on Arsenal.

Me too. Going in to the match, with our young keeper Alex Smithies and our main striker Jordan Rhodes both out injured, I was hoping only for damage limitation. Please don't humiliate us on telly, Gunners, is what I thought.

For the first 20 minutes my fears were realised. We were overawed and couldn't put two passes together; everyone sensed it was only a matter of time before we were punished. Whether Arshavin was feeling sorry for us or Bendtner was having a laugh I don't know but they missed some sitters. However, after another embarrassing air-shot by Bendtner, he redeemed himself in the 22nd minute by getting his shot deflected in by captain Peter Clarke for an own goal. The replay, however, showed the pass from Arsenal's Chamakh to Bendtner was a hand ball. 

As so often happens with Town, the goal against them helped to steady their nerves. Although up to that point they'd only had 18% possession, their passing became more assured, their marking more efficient. Nasri went off early in the game with a hamstring and then, amazingly, Squillaci was shown a red for a foul on Jack Hunt. After that we were a different team. Galvanised you could say. Game on!  

In the second half we took it to Arsenal; they seemed at a loss as to how to contain us and Town striker Alan Lee's equaliser on 66 minutes was well deserved.

Twenty minutes before the end we were shown the ultimate respect - Wenger brought on superstar Fabregas. But you know what? Even that didn't daunt the lads in blue and white. They just kept calm and carried on, having chance after chance. But then, as so often happens, the tops sides get that little bit of luck. An innocuous-looking block by McCombe in the box awarded Arsenal a penalty in the 87th minute.

Fabregas, naturally, buried it.

So 2-1 to Arsenal but Huddersfield Town, by the end, had 58% overall possession and more shots on target. Herbert would have been proud. I know I am. But our achievement makes our 0-4 drubbing by Carlisle United in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy last week all the more annoying...

Read the report here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/9379082.stm

- Helena Pielichaty

Unscientific Theory Alert! - Dan Tunstall

The recent sacking of Roy Keane as Ipswich manager got me thinking about one of my pet theories. Top players very rarely make top managers.

The one exception to the rule is Kenny Dalglish in his first spell as Liverpool manager and then at Blackburn. It will be interesting to see how he does back in the Anfield hotseat twenty years on. Dalglish apart though, most of the great players of the last twenty-five years who have made the step into the technical area have found success hard to come by.

Glenn Hoddle was let down by his man-management and PR gaffes. Kevin Keegan always seemed to be one hard-to-take result away from falling on his sword. John Barnes made little impact at Celtic and Tranmere. Alan Shearer's brief reign at Newcastle ended in relegation. Tony Adams, Stuart Pearce, Peter Shilton, Trevor Francis - the list goes on and on. Mark Hughes has had a steady career in the dug-out without ever really scaling the heights.

The one outstanding player of recent times to be making a decent go of management is Roberto Mancini. His record in Italy was excellent, and his Manchester City side are in with a shout of the Premier League title this year. The next few months will be the real acid test though.

But if top footballers hardly ever make top managers, what sort of people do? Well, the record shows that the great managers of recent times - Ferguson, Wenger, Mourinho - wer fairly average during their playing careers. In fact, virtually all of the established Premier League managers - Redknapp, Bruce, Coyle, Pulis, Moyes, McLeish, McCarthy - were solid if unspectacular pros. Certainly not superstars.

So will David Beckham be winning the Manager of the Year trophy in ten years' time? Not very likely. But of course, with Beckham, you just never know.

http://www.dantunstall.com/

Nat Lofthouse - Helena Pielichaty

1925-2011

'the Lion of Vienna'

legendary centre forward

played for Bolton Wanderers from 1946 -1960 (505 appearances, 285 goals)

England from 1950-1958 (33 appearances 30 goals)

RIP

Haves - v- Have Nots In The FA Cup - Dan Tunstall

My club, Leicester City, could hardly be described as footballing paupers. True, we nearly went bust a decade ago. But over the past few years, with buy-outs from Milan Mandaric and now the Thai-based King Power Group, we're doing OK, money-wise. But when Manchester City, the wealthiest club in the world, came to visit this weekend for the 3rd round of the FA Cup, it felt like you or I inviting rich relatives round for tea. Just the slightest bit self-conscious about the chipped plates and the sauce bottles out on the table.

In terms of what I wanted from the match itself, it was a case of mixed emotions. People talk about the magic of the FA Cup, but I'm a realist and I know clubs like Leicester don't win competitions like that. The last time a team from outside the top flight got their hands on the trophy was West Ham in 1980. Magic is in pretty short supply. Promotion is our real goal this season, so I was looking for a good performance, maybe forcing a replay. At the very least, a bit of honour in defeat.

The problem was, when the Manchester City team sheet was read out, my blood ran cold. No outings for the reserves here. The starting eleven included Joe Hart, Joleon Lescott, Jerome Boateng, Kolo Toure, Patrick Viera, James Milner, Adam Johnson, Jo and Carlos Tevez. They'd come to give us a spanking. And that was something I really didn't want to see.

As it turned out, I needn't have worried. In fact, we opened the scoring after 45 seconds, giving us the chance to sing "One-nil on your big day out" to the massed ranks of Man City fans. Although we'd fallen behind by half time, an error by Joe Hart gifted us an equaliser that was thoroughly deserved. When the ref blew the final whistle, I felt pretty satisfied. We hadn't won, but we'd come out with our heads held high.

So in the end, having the rich relatives round wasn't so bad after all. And now it's back to theirs in nine days' time. Let's just hope they've got all their silver cutlery nicely polished for us.

http://www.dantunstall.com/

So it's Arsenal v Huddersfield then?

Three cheers for us!  Huddersfield Town did not join Sunderland, Middlesbro' or Newcastle in being knocked out of the third round by lower or non-league sides yesterday. They had a comfortable win over Dover Athletic with goals from Scott Arfield and Gary Roberts in the 7th and 8th minute. Phew! So we take c. £64,000 as a reward for winning (thank you very much) and march on to the 4th round.

And guess who we've got?  The winners of the replay between Leeds and Arsenal. Leeds were unlucky not to win outright yesterday but Arsenal equalised in the 90th minute to make it one-all. No disrespect to Tom but I hope Arsenal win the replay. We know we probably won't beat Arsenal but going out to one of the top teams in the country makes it a spectacular exit. Going out to Leeds (should that happen)makes it irritating.
The 4th Round of the FA Cup will be interesting. All eyes will be on Paul Peschisolido's  League 2 side Burton Albion who beat Middlesbro 2-1 and Stevenage who beat Newcastle 3-1.
The full draw for the 4th round can be found on : 
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/9352244.stm

The FA Cup - Tom Palmer

The third round of the FA Cup is played tomorrow. Well, most of it.

Helena's team - Huddersfield Town - have drawn Dover at home. The easiest tie of the round.

My team - Leeds United - have Arsenal away. And, to make it worse, it is live on ITV. We could be beaten 7-0, humilited on national TV...

... but ...

... but, what if...

... what if we went to the Emirates and played really well and got a result. How would that be? I mean... we're fourth in the Championship... only 21 places behind Arsenal... it's possible...

That's why I love the FA Cup. However good or bad your team is, it could happen...

After all, last year a third division team went to Old Trafford and won 1-0...

Wolves 1 Chelsea 0

I am so happy! I wanted to go to this game, but I had something else on which meant I had to go to Cambridge (where we used to live until six months ago). I didn't get back until late-ish evening, and then spent the last half hour of the game watching Gillette Soccer Special on Sky and willing the team to hang on, jumping up and down and yelling, and pulling baubles off the Xmas tree and chucking them at my husband in my agitation as the minutes ticked past soooo slowly. By the time the game finished, the Xmas tree had been de-baubled (one less job to do today, hurrah) and I was one very happy, very tired bunny. We're not out of the woods yet though as the bottom half of the table is still incredibly tight. I think we're only four points behind Everton who are 11th, and they beat Spurs yesterday (husband not at all pleased).
Oh, and in other news, the last book in The Beautiful Game series (Katy's Real Life) comes out today.

'The second half was so ugly it had warts' - Helena Pielichaty

                                          image courtesy of The Huddersfield Examiner plc

Well I'd be rubbish as Mystic Meg, wouldn't I?  Before Christmas I predicted Huddersfield Town would come away with 6 points out of 12 during the Christmas period with wins over Hartlepool and Southampton and losses against Carlisle and Sheffield Wednesday. What happened? We lost 1-0 against Hartlepool and 4-1 against the Saints. We then went on to throw away a 2-0 lead at Carlisle to draw 2-2 and eventually managed a win against Wednesday. So 4 points out of 12.  As things stand, Town are second in the league but only until 5.00pm today when the other results come in.

I've just finished watching the Town v Sheffield Wednesday game on TV. This was the one I'd planned to watch at the Galpharm but I had flu over Christmas and am still recovering so 90 minutes on the terraces was not an option.

I was worried that after defeats against lower sides like Hartlepool we'd be trampled by Wednesday, who hadn't had any matches over the Christmas period and were just above us in the league. I should have had more faith. Huddersfield were amazing in the first half. They played excellent passing football that was a joy to watch. The icing on the cake was Anthony Pilkington's beautiful goal on 27 minutes from about 23 yards out. It was a superbly taken shot that flew into the top left hand corner of the net. Game on!  The Owls rose to the challenge and their sturdy-looking forwards Mellor and Morrison were always a threat. Both sides knew the three points were up for grabs when the whistle blew at half time.

Then, as so often happens, it all fell apart.  If the first half showed why Town are in the top six of the table the second half showed why they aren't (yet) contenders for automatic promotion. Talk about inconsistent. I don't know what happened in the dressing room at half time but it was as if they'd decided en masse that they'd shown enough class for one day, thank you very much. The sweet passing disappeared and it was all painful hoof and run and hope-for-the-best stuff. It was catching, too, because Wednesday were just as bad. As commentator Peter Beagrie said at the end '... the second half was so ugly it had warts.' 

I'm not downhearted though. It's good to end the Christmas period with a win and to begin the New Year with confidence. We've got depth to the squad, especially now experienced journeyman Kevin Kilbane has been brought in to shore up the midfield. Antony Kay needs to up his game and the usually dependable Gary Roberts looked out of sorts but all in all there's room for optimism.  I'll keep Saturdays in late May free, just in case there's a trip to Wembley for the Play-offs in the offing.

- Helena Pielichaty

PS: Best trivia from the match: Sheffield Wednesday 'keeper Nicky Weaver's career was saved after cartilage from a dead donor was grafted into his knee.  No jokes about dead legs etc please. That would be wrong.