In football, as in life, the only constant is change. With the increase in the cash flowing through the game, clubs have started to concentrate more on finance, rather than on good old-fashioned romance. With many clubs preferring consistency and stability of league positions over cup runs, domestic cup competitions all over Europe have suffered as a result. But Saturday’s results proved just why the FA Cup is still the greatest domestic cup competition in the world.
The Barclays Premier League’s current top three were all dumped out of the FA Cup as Chelsea, Manchester City were knocked out by a League One, Championship and Premier League side respectively. Their results meant that Manchester United, who many thought were disappointing against Cambridge United on Friday, now are actually one of the favourites for the cup.
The magic of the FA Cup is still alive and kicking and Saturday’s set of results, demonstrated just that. While Leicester and Crystal Palace’s win over Tottenham and Southampton, two sides who are flying in the league, would have made the headlines on any other day, such was the magnitude of the other results that nobody even seems to notice their passage through to the next round.
Often when it comes to cup upsets, the formula is pretty straightforward. David takes on Goliath, Goliath has a bad day at the office, David gets lucky and scores either a magnificent goal or a scrappy one to secure a famous win. Lower league sides are often stereotyped as not playing attractive football, but Saturday’s two big results disproved that myth. Both Bradford and Middlesbrough showed there is more than one way to skin a cat and you don’t always need to be physical and rough to beat quality Premier League sides.
On face value, Premier League’s second-placed side, City, losing to the Championship’s second-placed team, Boro isn’t a particularly newsworthy story. But the home side’s expensively assembled attack struggled to break through a Championship defense, albeit the best-Championship defense, on a day when many will start questioning the club’s trip to Abu Dhabi and their late return.
Had City beaten Boro, which was what was expected, then nobody would have made much of a deal out of it and some might even call it a master stroke by the club. But back-to-back home defeats and being dumped out of the FA Cup, which was the side’s only other realistic chance of a trophy aside from the League now means that all the focus is shifted towards the club’s ill-advised trip to the Middle East to bask in some sunlight.
For Chelsea, it was slightly different. While City struggled to put away their chances in the first half, the Blues did. And once they went two-nil up, shades of the 5-0 defeat of Swansea started to come into their play. If Bradford had a tricky task at the start, they now had a mountain to climb. But a goal just before half-time, gave them the belief they needed to go on and win the game.
In the second half, the visitors got into the game and it was starting to look like a matter of when, and not if they would equalise. Not only did the Bantams equalise, they also went onto win the game in what was, probably the biggest upset in the history of the FA Cup.
If such a claim sounds outlandish, let’s face facts. The Blues are the best team in England while Bradford, who although got to the League Cup final in 2013, are currently not pulling any trees in League One. They went 2-0 down against a side that is renowned for its ruthlessness and ability to close out games. Although the team Jose Mourinho picked wasn’t his first XI, it was still a side that should have been enough to see off a Bradford side whose annual wage bill is less than what most Chelsea players earn individually in a year.
Often, when a lower league side wins in the cup, far too much attention is paid to the losing team and not enough to the side who won the game. So before Chelsea and City fans start claiming how they should have got this decision or that, let’s not forget that both Boro and Bradford were deserving winners.
In Boro’s case, they should have at least scored a few as Aitor Karanka’s side played with a defensive discipline, which showed just why they are one of the favourites to get promoted this season. If not for their football, which was exemplified in their last two goals, then for their passion and commitment at least, Bradford deserved something out of the game.
Whether it was complacency, fatigues or simply one of those weird coincidences, as a football fan, you can’t help but sit back and marvel at the idiosyncrasies of the FA Cup.
Will Arsenal and West Ham follow Chelsea and City out of the Cup? or will they be able to battle their way out of two tricky away assignments to Brighton and Bristol?
Whatever the result, the fourth round of the 2015 FA Cup will go down as one of the most memorable in recent memory. Not only due to the upsets, but also because of the quality of football played by the lower league sides, proving that the Premier League might not be the best league in the world, after all.