Tim Sherwood is a silly man. Between the touchline celebrations and outerwear throwing, the self-aggrandizing talk of win ratios, keeping Harry Kane at Spurs and trying to sign Raheem Sterling at 14, the guy mockingly referred to as “Tactics Tim” seems to revel in making people notice him — even if it’s as the butt of a joke. But a curious thing is happening while everyone is making fun him: he’s getting results.
Tag: FA Cup
Brendan Rodgers thinks Liverpool lost their FA Cup semifinal because they wanted to win too much
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers has a habit of saying things that sound like David Brent quotes and after his side’s 2-1 loss to Aston Villa in the FA Cup semifinals, he added another line to the collection.
Arsenal reach FA Cup final on pitiful goalkeeping error
Arsenal required extra time to beat Reading 2-1 in the FA Cup semifinals. Alexis Sanchez scored both of Arsenal’s goals, but the second was a gift that will haunt Reading keeper Adam Federici until he jams a pencil into his ear in a desperate attempt to forget the pain.
Having already made several fine stops on the day to force Arsenal into extra time, Federici let a routine save squirt through his legs. To make it even more excruciating, he tried to make the full-reach, last ditch attempt to pull it off the goal line, but he just couldn’t do it (3:48 into the video below).
This is the FA Cup riding a roller coaster
Ahead of the FA Cup semifinals, the trophy was strapped to a roller coaster and sent for a spin. If you attempt to parse a rational explanation for this, your brain will leak out of your ear.
This is a 93-year-old Reading fan making fun of Arsene Wenger
Reading will face Arsenal in the FA Cup semifinals on Saturday and 93-year-old Royals fan Ciss Platten will be in attendance at Wembley. Platten was alive when Reading last reached the FA Cup semifinals in 1927, when they lost 3-0 to Cardiff City. So this match could bring (very) long awaited satisfaction for her — satisfaction made all the sweeter since she doesn’t care much for Arsenal or their manager.
From the Guardian:
For her, that the opponents are Arsenal has added extra spice to the tie. She is not the greatest admirer of the north London team nor of their manager, Arsène Wenger, a notoriously poor loser. “We call him ‘Arsène Whinger’,” Platten says. “Funny thing, it was in the paper the other day – ‘Whinger’. He’s always whinging, he’s always having a moan.” Platten laughs mischievously. As she does a lot.
Yet her distaste for all things Arsenal runs a bit deeper, right back to the late 1920s. Blame her father, Arthur. “I didn’t really know about football then but dad used to stand by the window on a Sunday morning checking his Pools coupon,” Platten says. “And he’d say: ‘Bloody hell, Arsenal have let me down again.’
“He was always grumbling about them. ‘That blasted team’ he called them. I think that’s maybe why I’ve always disliked Arsenal.”
Yes, Arsene — you just got burned by a great-great grandmother. That’s a mind game even Jose Mourinho can’t match.
Mario Balotelli is Instagramming his sick notes now
Four days after missing Liverpool’s disastrous trip to London (where they lost 4-1 to Arsenal) with minor training ground injury, Mario Balotelli also skipped their trip to Blackburn for the FA Cup quarterfinal replay. Though a Philippe Coutinho goal was enough to send Liverpool to Wembley and a semifinal date with Aston Villa, Balo’s absence was enough for yet another pundit to criticize him.
All the madness of Aston Villa’s FA Cup quarterfinal pitch invasion
It’s been a while since Aston Villa had something to really celebrate. So, fully in the grips of Tim Sherwood Madness, Villa fans invaded the pitch after beating rivals West Brom for the second time in a week to book a trip to Wembley for the FA Cup semifinals.
Villa won 2-0 and as soon as the final whistle sounded, the home crowd stormed the pitch, releasing the tension of the season’s relegation fight in the process.
Daniel Sturridge and Alberto Moreno attempt synchronized goal dance, look ridiculous
Liverpool came from behind to beat Crystal Palace 2-1 to reach the FA Cup quarterfinals, with their first goal coming from Daniel Sturridge, who had teammate Alberto Moreno as a guest back-up dancer on his trademark celebration.
This wasn’t a spontaneous expression of tandem joy, though. Moreno had to audition for his part during Liverpool’s training session on Friday.
Letters from Bojan: A dream shatters
The earnest question of whether Lionel Messi could do it on a cold, wet night in Stoke has persisted as a cliched joke for a few years now. So when Barcelona surprisingly sold Bojan, a 24-year-old once hyped as the next Messi, to Stoke City, the only explanation was that Messi personally asked him to go there on an expedition to see if the conditions in this mythical place are as challenging as the fables suggest. This is Bojan’s fifth letter back to his friend.
Terrible son vows to egg his mother if Boro beat City, then actually does it
For reasons that cannot be explained nor comprehended by a properly functioning mind, one Manchester City fan declared on Twitter that if Middlesbrough could beat City in the fourth round of the FA Cup, he would egg his own mother. And he was not bluffing.