Losing The Plot

I have talked about the FA Cup being the 'Cup of the Underdogs' but this season has seen it more appropriately termed as the 'Cup of Madness'. Shocking Sunday saw not one, not two but three more huge upsets to add to the growing litany of disasters from the previous day.

So let's run through the fun: perhaps the worst shock of all was Premiership cellar-dwellers QPR being humbled at home 4-2 by League One side MK Dons. I love Harry Redknapp's quotes after the game (as always) when he mentioned things about his players such as other poeple saying they were good when he thought they were shite and how it all came to fruition during the match. Classic stuff that only the frank and straight-forward Redkanpp could utter. He then went through the list of his players on the pitch, such as ex-England No. 1 goalkeeper Robert Green, ex-Man Utd stars Fabio da Silva and Pak Ji Sung, and Israeli international Tal Ben Haim and basically condemned all of them, saying they had 'got their chance' and this was just about the last straw.

How about Norwich City, who lost at home to a team not even in the Football League, Luton Town, who were 85 places below them in the English football hierarchy. That's the equivalent of the Singapore national team losing to the Yusof Ishak Primary School team. Madness. Not forgetting Millwall's 2-1 win over heralded Aston Villa. Then Chelsea's close escape against  Brentford, Leeds' dynamic 2-1 win over high-flying Spurs and Oldham's 3-2 conquest of Liverpool?! It's madness all-round.

After all that furore, I'm just glad Everton survived the 'melt-down' and are through safely to the 5tth Round of the Cup. Goals from Pienaar and a last-minute one from Heitinga got us success at the Reebok Stadium against Bolton Wanderers. No game is easy in the Cup, that's for sure. Awaiting us in the 5th Round are Oldham. Surely they can't knock out both Merseyside giants in consecutive rounds?? Make a mark of it: 16 Feb 2013 (Sat).