FA Cup fourth round highlights & review: United save Solskjaer & should replays be scrapped highlight cup action

Should FA Cup replays be scrapped?

It seems to be the big topic of discussion this weekend with the consensus being that yes they should be scrapped. Steve Bruce isn’t happy (see below) and Brentford boss Thomas Frank even said that they’re ‘killing’ the competition.

Neither Southampton nor Tottenham were happy with having another game to play after they couldn’t be separated, while Pep Guardiola was bemused by the fact that there were still replays in the cup competition.

Of course, lower league clubs who manage a draw, such as Oxford at Newcastle, won’t agree as they now have all eyes on them for the second game in the hope of producing an upset, while on the flip side a draw against one of the big guns at home would grab a ‘smaller’ side a lucrative replay that could almost pay for their season in one go.

The FA have been in the news for seemingly being ready to stand-up to the big boys who want them scrapped, and grass roots lovers will insist they retain them and let Premier League sides worry about European football on their own time.

This one will run and run.

Bruce has break interrupted

Newcastle boss Steve Bruce is one of those not too keen on FA Cup replays as their stalemate against Oxford not only means a tricky trip to the League One side but also sees the club having their winter break cut short.

With the staggered Premier League winter break coming into action in February, Newcastle were set to enjoy two weeks off but instead will have a trip to the Kassam Stadium thrown into the mix the first week of their ‘break’.

It’s the second replay is as many rounds for Newcastle as they needed two goes to get rid of Rochdale, and with his injury problems Bruce will be kicking himself that his side have yet another game.

His players only have themselves to blame of course for cutting their own holidays short.

Solskjaer’s Mark Robbins moment?

It was January 1990 that has been pinpointed by many as the game that saved Sir Alex Ferguson’s job after Mark Robins scored an FA Cup winner against Nottingham Forest with the manager’s job on the line. Could the same sort of thing have happened to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer 30 years later?

It had FA Cup upset written all over it, as Tranmere Rovers won a Thursday night replay to book a date with a deflated Man Utd to then host the Red Devils on Sunday on a pitch that looked more than a bit spicy.

This too, then, could well have been Solskjaer’s swansong had things gone pear-shaped, but his side responded and may have well kept the wolf from the door the same way as Robins did, albeit in far more emphatic fashion.

Despite the pitch, United ran out 6-0 winners and put away a League One side in exactly the manner they should be putting them away, giving Solskjaer a rare reason to smile. Could that be the boost he needed?

Can Cup provide spark for Canaries?

Norwich would be one of those teams you’d fancy would want to be out of the FA Cup as soon as possible with relegation staring them in the face in the Premier League.

Daniel Farke though, despite making changes, feels that the FA Cup can help them to perform a ‘little miracle’ and stay in the Premier League on the back of their cup success.

Norwich won at Burnley despite seven changes and although they’re six points from Premier League safety, the Canaries boss isn’t giving up without a fight, and believes the FA Cup can help them in their quest.

“We want to be as successful as possible in the FA Cup,” said Farke. “And from next week to work our little miracle to surprise everyone and to stay in the Premier League."

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