It may have lost some lustre along the way, but the FA Cup remains the ultimate consolation prize in English football. For different reasons, the four remaining sides – and, in particular, their managers – will all now be treating it with the utmost respect, whether they admit it or not…
Poch keeps Cup at arm’s length
Mauricio Pochettino was first into the hat, after Spurs disposed easily of a distracted Swansea, but he still won’t be fully seduced by the prospect of any old silverware. “There are competitions that if you win, fantastic, but if you don’t win, nothing changes,” he insisted, keeping his powder bone-dry ahead of a semi-final against Manchester United.
The debate over whether a trophy – literally, any trophy – makes you a winner (with a capital W) seems to have adopted Pochettino’s Tottenham as its case study. For now, the man himself is not rising to the emotional bait of the FA Cup.
‘You played very bad’: Mourinho goes full Mourinho
The next beaming semi-finalist was Jose Mourinho, who delved deep into his tattered Jose Mourinho Managerial Playbook for the chapter marked “Turn on Your Players Even After Winning”. Few of his United side were spared after a second-gear win over Brighton at Old Trafford.
“I’m not happy. There was a lack of personality, a lack of class, and a lack of desire,” Jose grumbled. “You played very bad but you did the basic things that one player has to do,” was his feedback for young Scott McTominay, whose honeymoon period in the United midfield came to an emphatic end.
“But to feel not comfortable to play, saying: ‘Please Mister, take me from the pitch,’ I felt that,” sighed Mourinho once more, this time in the vague direction of Luke Shaw, whose bizarre United existence continued by being hauled off at half time.
Saint Mark books his first managerial visit to Wembley
Then there was Mark Hughes. His first assignment in charge of Southampton was to negotiate the Wigan fairytale but, for 45 minutes, the League One promotion hopefuls looked more like the Goliath of the piece. Southampton were battered 0-0 in the first half at the DW Stadium, before Hughes chucked a few figurative teacups to coerce some purpose out of his ball-players. “Wembley will be a nice occasion,” he said afterwards – almost breaking into a smile – “and hopefully it will help us in our league form as well.”
Hughes would not have had to look far for the only example of a club winning the FA Cup and being relegated from the top flight in the same season. The FA Cup, whether you’re a title challenger or a relegation scrapper, can only ever be a side dish.
Conte counts on Cup climax
Finally, there was Antonio Conte. His Chelsea career, like all the others before him, is coming to a widely accepted end, with no guarantees that the next in the queue will fare any better. With Champions League qualification hopes fading – only a win against Spurs on April Fools’ Day will realistically keep them alive – Chelsea may have to accept Cup final redemption as success for a stuttering season.
Having edged past Leicester in extra time on Sunday, Conte might, at least privately, be imagining the dignified farewell of a Wembley lap of honour.
