FA Cup - Winners and losers: Gerrard on song

Eurosport - Mon, 05 Jan 16:46:00 2009

The good and the bad from the weekend's FA Cup action, with Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard back to his old tricks in their 2-0 FA Cup win at Preston.

FOOTBALL 2008-2009 FA Cup Liverpool Preston-Liverpool Gerrard - 0

Click on individual result links for goalscorers, text comments and match reports!

WINNERS

Nottingham Forest: What a result. The once-great Forest have become a shell of the club they were and came to Eastlands with many expecting a hiding from the Premier League's rich-kids. But they handed fellow 'big' club Manchester City a 3-0 history lesson and earned a trip to struggling local rivals Derby County in the fourth round.

Andy Johnson: 'AJ' is hitting the form to justify his transfer fee, some of which he repaid with a brace - including a late winner - in the 2-1 victory at Sheffield Wednesday that extended Fulham's unbeaten run to 10 games.

James Milner: The former Leeds winger recently received praise from England boss Fabio Capello and he fired Aston Villa into the fourth round of the FA Cup with both goals in a 2-1 win at Gillingham.

Steven Gerrard: In the aftermath of his arrest for an alleged nightclub assault in Southport, Liverpool's captain weighed in with assists for both goals in the 2-0 win at Preston, unselfishly handing Fernando Torres a simple tap-in for the second.

Hartlepool United: The League One side managed to beat Premier League Stoke City with relative ease and set up a tantalising home clash with West Ham. The Potters barely raised a whimper while Hartlepool could have scored more.

LOSERS

Mark Hughes: Manchester City are woefully inconsistent, both in displaying their quality as players and in showing the spirit one takes for granted from Hughes's teams. A 3-0 home reverse to Championship relegation-battlers Nottingham Forest was "inexcusable" according to 'Sparky', who will count himself fortunate to see out the week let alone the season.

Mike Riley: Not the best performance from the Leeds official in Manchester United's 3-0 win at Southampton. He allowed Danny Wellbeck to score from an offside position and incorrectly awarded United a penalty when Nani's free-kick struck the head and not arm of Saints striker David McGoldrick. Incurred the post-match wrath of Saints' Dutch boss Jan Poortvliet.

Roy Carroll: The Derby keeper's side managed to come back twice to beat non-league Forest Green 4-3, but it was in spite of Carroll's performance. Shaky from the moment he was beaten by Jonathan Smith's 14th-minute rocket, the former Manchester United shot-stopper let Alex Lawless fool him at the near post and allowed a Paul Stonehouse drive to squirm into the bottom left.

Matthew Paterson: The 19-year-old Southampton striker's big day was ruined when he was sent off for a late, studs-up tackle that would have maimed anyone other than professional Serb Nemanja Vidic. The Scot was backed by his manager and even excused by Sir Alex Ferguson, but it was a clear red card.

Chelsea: Why are they so much worse at Stamford Bridge? Luiz Felipe Scolari's superstars could only manage a 1-0 lead over League One Southend and there was little surprise when former Everton trainee Peter Clarke headed a late equaliser. Could the attitude of the fair-weather element of Chelsea's support have something to do with it? The away fans certainly impact positively on performances.

Reda Maher / Eurosport

Comment 3 - 22 of 42

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  1. liverpool are going to win the league and champoins league and carling cup and fa cup

    From HEATHER, on Mon 5 Jan 3:39PM

  2. What a load of bull$hit about Gerrard, he did what was required for the team as he always does.

    I'm sure the guys who write these reports are plastic mancs.

    From H, on Mon 5 Jan 3:35PM

  3. liverpool are out 2 win

    From robin b, on Mon 5 Jan 3:35PM

  4. with that Steven Gerrard comments in the article they are basically saying that everyone who produced an assist and/or was being unselfish is being instantly marked as a hero. Next thing we are giving praised to goalies for saving the ball from time to time and to referees for flowing that whistle like a good old gay Mountie...

    So there was really nothing else going on in this FA cup round more worth mentioning?
    Really?

    sigh..

    cannot wait for the next round to begin...

    From Dave, on Mon 5 Jan 3:28PM

  5. liverpool are brill ,still got the top striker to come back yet bye bye man ure

    From si.runner, on Mon 5 Jan 3:14PM

  6. its time for the wba boss to sling his hook bloody idiot

    From ekka m, on Mon 5 Jan 3:04PM

  7. A bag of frozen peas could have been immense against Southampton, let alone a multi million pound rated Bulgarian hitman!

    From neil e, on Mon 5 Jan 2:38PM

  8. Usual luck when ur at the top - Offside goal, leads to frustration, down to 10 men, penalty awarded for heading the ball - what chance did we ever have - 3rd goal just rubbed salt into the already deep wounds - common Spurs (never thought Id say that)

    From ally.pitman, on Mon 5 Jan 2:33PM

  9. WHO ARE THE GINNERS??

    From sunlover, on Mon 5 Jan 2:28PM

  10. what about berbatov in the winners? he was immense against soton

    From Kirkus, on Mon 5 Jan 2:16PM

  11. van Persie scored twice and is not one of the winners? Is there a consipiracy against Ginners?

    From Nhamo, on Mon 5 Jan 2:12PM

  12. Ah-hahahahaha! Go down easy on the tackle! Now that WAS funny! Keep em 'coming!

    From JayR, on Mon 5 Jan 1:27PM

  13. Theres some real shakespearian qualities to todays posts.
    Thanks for pointing out guys that gerrard is a class player,i think that was established along time ago.
    These so-called journalists are right on the egde.
    Edge of what i dont know.
    But man they got their finger on the pulse,next you'll be telling us ronaldo is light on his feet,and no i wasnt questioning his sexual prefferences,we allready know he likes to go down easy on the tackle .

    From !, on Mon 5 Jan 1:03PM

  14. what about Jon Parkin from Preston as one of the losers. he had a howler of a first half, missed some chances in the second, and his rugby tackle on carragher denied their equaliser. without him preston probably would've forced a replay, reported to be worth around 600 000!

    From Ollie, on Mon 5 Jan 1:03PM

  15. Ooooooh! Dill.carver! 'Jury out'! 'Judged'! 'Criminal'! 'Police'! Did you see what s/he did there? I bet you spent all weekend thinking that up! Really, very, very clever!

    From JayR, on Mon 5 Jan 12:48PM

  16. It's amazing how ALL of some 50-50 decisions go in the favor of Manchester United. This thing's been happening over the years and I find it hard NOT TO BELIEVE that Alex Ferguson DOESN'T wield some power in the FA or the Refrees Appointment Committee for him to Bully his way through in games. And what HAPPENS to the Professional "diver" Man Utd's got in Cristiano Ronaldo, why isn't he booked all the time?

    From Erskine Sam, on Mon 5 Jan 12:29PM

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    CHAMPIONS LEAGUE – UEFA CUP

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    From , on Mon 5 Jan 12:07PM

  18. mattymanagh - what a comment, "They should be a winner even though they lost"... you're the winner, a really 'special' winner.

    From Ashley B, on Mon 5 Jan 11:54AM

  19. Was Gerrard that impressive? The jury is out. Can he be judged on that performance? A couple of his misses were criminal. Preston needed to police the box more effectively.

    From Dillidge, on Mon 5 Jan 11:52AM

  20. What?Invalid Comment?What the hell is this?So what is the right comment?

    From Rosen, on Mon 5 Jan 11:22AM
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