I For Ai (Your Beef Is Mines)

First things first and as it's FA Cup weekend it's time for the traditional "devaluing the FA Cup" articles. There's this one on The Guardian's sport blog, by David Lacey, who argues that the Champions League being good and popular makes the FA Cup less popular, and that having 2 legged ties would make them better. There's certain things I feel are wrong with this article, first off he spends more time on the subject of replays no longer being used for the semi-finals being a bad thing than he does looking at the 2 legs idea, as if they were close to the same thing. The more obvious point is that if people are no longer interested in the FA Cup, surely the last thing we should do is double up all the matches that get played, just giving everyone more chances to be bored by it. Here's the crux of his argument

this year's semis are encounters to savour: Arsenal against Chelsea today, Manchester United against Everton tomorrow. Trouble is, the public palate has already been thoroughly tickled not so much by three of these four reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League, which is hardly a novelty, but the manner of their victories in quarter-finals which have held the nation's football followers in thrall over the last 10 days.

And here he seems to putting on to the abstract "public" the feeling of tiredness, while himself maintaining an interest. I personally am really looking forward to the games, even the Arsenal Chelsea tie. It seems a rather odd idea that two great games of football should somehow put people off watching football. Surely the great games midweek make football itself more attractive, meaning there'll be an appetite for more (potentially) exciting football.
Kevin Garside in The Telegraph manages to link in the day's big story to the FA Cup bashing:

It was almost preferable to lose in the final than a semi, at least you had your day at Wembley.

Now it simply slots into place, reduced in importance and meaning by the omnipotence of the Premier League and the Champions League.

And so this once glorious showpiece is subsumed into the routine scheme of things, no more than a weekend platform for rival managers duelling for more significant crowns to take strategic pot-shots at each other.

Thus, instead of assessing the relative threat posed by Everton to Manchester United's FA Cup aspirations tomorrow, Sir Alex Ferguson used the opportunity to manage the real business at hand, keeping Liverpool behind in the Premier League.

I find this a little hypocritical. First for my usual point that the media constantly talking down the FA Cup becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, "they constantly tell me it's rubbish, it must be rubbish". Secondly, he goes on about Sir Alex not paying attention to the tie and having a go at Benitez instead, which is hypocritical in two ways: I have only seen snippets of the press conference, but the journalists presents were certainly egging Sir Alex on to say more, so to portray it as Sir Alex setting the agenda is only half true; secondly it's Kevin Garside who's writing about the attack on Benitez, why doesn't he just ignore it or have it as an aside, and concentrate on what was said about Everton, if it bothers him so, this devaluing of the Cup?
Onto the attack on Benitez then. It must be said that I find it a little odd that Sir Alex should have another go at Benitez a week after suggesting that Benitez should have been concentrating on his own game rather than talking about Man Utd. I suppose the difference would be that Sir Alex as a big friend of Sam Allardyce felt obliged to get involved. Having said that a lot of the papers link it to Benitez's criticism of Everton as a "small club", and Sir Alex then bigging up Everton in some sort of mind game. Whatever the reason, funny though Sir Alex's comments are, I think they are perhaps a little misguided in their timing. Not least because the papers get to write stuff like this:

Like his team, Rafael Benitez is beginning to exert serious pressure on Sir Alex Ferguson. The Manchester United manager's latest lambasting of his Spanish rival is proof that Ferguson is genuinely concerned about Liverpool's challenge to the champions' defence of the Premier League. ...
It is a distraction they could do without. Wednesday's victory in Portugal should have restored Manchester United's swagger, but suddenly it seems that while Ferguson stirs the pot it is Liverpool who are driving the plot.

I prefer this version, except for the beginning, from The Telegraph:

Benitez had fallen for the oldest trick in the book. Ferguson's verbal jabs had knocked him off guard and shifted his focus, just as the real priority, the Chelsea game, zoomed into view.

But it is funny how positions can change within a week. With Liverpool inactive this weekend and Ferguson plotting a route past Everton in Sunday's FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, it is the United manager who is now re-engaging with his Anfield rival by unleashing a withering condemnation of his behaviour towards his managerial colleagues.

Among his peers, particularly those managers who have laboriously climbed the ladder to reach the top, Ferguson is viewed as the 'Godfather'. He commands, and receives, staunch loyalty and it is often repaid with the odd player loan here and morale-lifting phone call there.

So his latest attack on Benitez, sparked by perceived slights by the Spaniard against Sam Allardyce and David Moyes – two of Ferguson's closest managerial allies – is no surprise. The Godfather is looking after the 'family,' but there is no lack of self-interest on Ferguson's part.

To the comments themselves:

“Benitez said Everton are a small club, which points to his arrogance. But it is one thing to show arrogance that way. What you cannot forgive is the contempt for Sam Allardyce when Liverpool scored the second goal.
“I don’t think Sam deserved that. He is a guy who has worked hard for the LMA (League Managers’ Association), looking after young players.
“He had a weakened team and to get that kind of contempt ... I don’t think any other Liverpool manager would have done that. It was beyond the pale.
“You should respect your fellow managers. You would never get me doing something like that. You have to have humility. I don’t know what he does in his spare time, but he’s certainly not using it the right way.”

“I saw the gesture on TV. I saw it. I am surprised nobody picked up on it. I have never had any issues like that with him.
“He’s put himself in a powerful position. He wants control of all the transfers. For whatever reason, I don’t know. It’s the last thing I’d want.”

That, "I don’t know what he does in his spare time, but he’s certainly not using it the right way,"
is a really funny line, whatever the motivation for the attack was.
The Kevin Garside article I mentioned earlier has these strange lines:

A cursory glance at the fixture list reveals that Tuesday's match against Arsenal is arguably the only one remaining for which a case can be made for Liverpool dropping points.

A cursory glance at the league table shows Liverpool have drawn ten games and lost two, a case can certainly be made for Liverpool dropping points in several of their remaining games...
Onto the actual FA Cup tie and The Mirror tell us that, "Federico Macheda ... is set to be handed a first start in tomorrow's last-four clash." Based on absolutely nothing, according to the rest of the article, but the fact that Sir Alex said the team won't be like the one against Porto, and it'll be younger.
The Times report that Rooney won't play because of injury:

Wayne Rooney appears certain to miss Manchester United’s FA Cup semi-final against Everton tomorrow. The forward had expected to face his former club, but is extremely unlikely to be fit for the game at Wembley after a scan yesterday, having suffered a blow to his foot during the Champions League victory over Porto in midweek.

Sir Alex Ferguson, the United manager, played down concerns over Rooney at his pre-match press conference yesterday, saying that the forward and Michael Carrick had “knocks, but nothing serious”, but it emerged last night, after the player had a scan, that the injury was more serious. Although initial diagnosis in Oporto on Wednesday ruled out yet another metatarsal fracture, it appears that there is damage, which could restrict Rooney’s involvement in the final weeks of the season unless he rests immediately.

I'm hoping that this is merely an over reaction on The Times' part, especially the last sentence. Really hoping...

Michael Carrick is interviewed, by The Independent's Ian Herbert, or The Guardian's Daniel Taylor, they both claim to have the interview, and the quotes are the same, so maybe he spoke to them at the same time...

Even at Old Trafford, where the supporters have come to regard him as Paul Scholes's natural successor (and there is no greater compliment than that at Manchester United) you won't hear his name being sung. They still serenade Roy Keane at home matches but the man who took his No16 shirt is still waiting to find out what it is like, that adrenaline rush, when 70,000 fans start chanting your name. ...

As for the man himself, there is just a shrug of the shoulders. "It doesn't bother me," Carrick says. "I suppose there isn't much that rhymes with Carrick. I've spent a few hours trying to think up something myself, but I haven't come up with one yet either. What can you do?"

And on The FA Cup:

"It is something I have been desperate to win for as long as I can remember," he says firmly.

"It was always the biggest day of the season when I was growing up – the build-up, everything that surrounded it. I used to spend the whole day in front of the telly. The Champions League and the Premier League are now both huge, but the tradition and history of the FA Cup is still very special."

It is also the one medal that has eluded the 27-year-old since moving to Old Trafford. "But it's not just me. There is a mixed bag in the changing room really. Some of the lads have won it a number of times but some haven't won it once. Wayne [Rooney] hasn't got one. Rio has missed out for other reasons and is desperate to put that right.

"This is a good chance; it is another semi-final and anything can happen now."

Both them quotes were from The Guardian, by the way...