The Dangers of the FA Cup

The dangers of the FA Cup reared their head for Liverpool FC in their match against Blackburn Rovers.  The Reds are in the midst of a fight for a top four spot in the English Premier League with important fixtures approaching against Arsenal and Manchester United.  Now, with a 0-0 draw in the FA Cup quarterfinal, Liverpool are forced to find an open date to have the replay and expend more energy.

The FA Cup is a competition worth winning.  It is worth putting energy in to get to the finals.  Liverpool are one step away from getting to play in Wembley Stadium, which is something both the players and fans want - not just for the team, but for Steven Gerrard.  However, for a club trying so hard to put focus on one thing or the other, the FA Cup has presented Liverpool with almost as many problems as positives.

In the match itself, Blackburn deserves a lot of credit.  They came into the fixture with a gameplan and executed it perfectly.  It was a gameplan that many of us don't like.  Regardless of who you support, most fans of the game don't like when teams focus solely on defense and have 11 players behind the ball.  However, when there are 26 spots between two clubs then the gameplan makes sense.

Blackburn did not only play defense.  They managed a few attacks up the field in the first half.  Simon Mingolet came up with a huge save.  Alex Baptiste rose above the defenders, got solid contact from the header and hit the ball toward the upper corner of the goal.  Adam Lallana tried to head it away, but was too close to the effort to have sufficient reaction time.  Mingolet sprung to his left, stuck out the left pallm and struck the ball away.

Liverpool did not play a poor game, by any means.  The Reds held onto the ball fairly well, dealt with the Rovers' chances with efficiency and did create problems in the back end of Blackburn's defense.  The problem Liverpool ran up against was that final, critical ball just did not seem to find the mark.  Raheem Sterling and Coutinho were sublime in control of the ball.  The ball was often attached to their shoelaces so tightly that one could wonder if they had magnets in their boots.

Unfortunately, Blackburn's plan kept them at bay.  There were almost always two defenders on the ball.  If Liverpool's skill managed to get through the first wave, then there often a third or fourth defender collapsing on the ball as well.

As previously mentioned, credit has to go to Blackburn.  They defended how they needed and absorbed the speed and skill of the Liverpool wingers.  Let us not forget that they did knock off two Premier League teams to get to this quarterfinal stage as well.  Some will point out it was Swansea and Stoke, but the bottom line is that those sides are in the Premier League and Blackburn is a midtable side in the Championship.  Even manager, Brendan Rodgers agreed that Blackburn was to be credited.

"You've got to respect the opponent as well," said Rodgers.  "We've been on a great run of form, winning games.  It's difficult.  We've got to go to Blackburn now and win, but we're more than capable of doing that."

All things being equal, Liverpool played a decent game but just could not manage to find that final ball or cross or slip through that last hole to score.  It brings up the dangers of playing in a cup competition when you're in a situation such as Liverpool.

If they had no chance of reaching the top four or were solidly in, like Manchester City or Chelsea, the FA Cup would not be presenting any sort of problems.  It would simply be a chance at silverware with little other worries from it.  Instead, Liverpool are forced to divide resources.  They are forced to either rotate the squad more to keep players fresh or use the same squad again and risk either crashing out of the Cup or dropping an important fixture in the league.

These are not excuses if Liverpool fail to get into the top four or win the FA Cup.  These are simply the realities of football.  Liverpool failed to force the issue, failed to create that little bit of magic and will now have to play the replay.  The Reds have the skill to win on the road.  The problem now, outside of the obvious extra energy sapped from the legs comes with the scheduling issues.

Apparently, there is some sort of agreement that FA Cup games not be scheduled during Champions League fixtures.  Therefore, due to Liverpool's league match against Swansea being on a Monday the only open date falls between the clubs matches with Manchester United and Arsenal unless something else is worked out.  That could be the worst case scenario, but it is what it is.

Liverpool have set goals of winning a competition and getting back into the top four.  Both are still attainable.  Champions League is probably a bigger financial windfall, therefor the league would take a bit of priority.  But one match should not determine the rest of the season.  Liverpool have proven they are capable of going on the road and getting the job done.  The FA Cup is still a winnable competition.  The club has the skill to still accomplish both, but they've made it a little harder with two consecutive replays.

Random thoughts:

- I love the comment from Stewart Robson about the official.  Basically he said on another day, with another official there may have been as many as four penalties.  I agree that none were blatant and needed to be called.

- Liverpool do need to find more ways to get the strikers involved in central areas.  The Reds don't have the height to be looking for crosses, but they need to figure a way to get Sturridge and/or Balotelli involved more in the box.  Sturridge got himself into a few good places by his own accord and Balotelli was basically a nonfactor.  It's great to have the skill and speed of Sterling and Coutinho on the wings but you cannot expect them to create their own shots from those positions every game.

- It's good to see Mingolet playing so much better.  He was a bit apprehensive at times when the sun was in his eyes, as any keeper would be.  Outside of that, he has rebounded incredibly well after being taken out of the team.  Even as a defender of my fellow keepers, I admit that he will likely never enter the upper crust of world goalkeepers but if he keeps up his current form then there may not be a clear replacement that will be available.

Walk On.