Matt Maher: FA Cups runneth over – but romance in short supply

Barely a fortnight after taking charge of Wolves for the first time, the Spaniard has his first experience of that familiar scourge of Premier League managers: Fixture congestion.

His complaint, delivered in the most polite way imaginable after Wednesday’s 1-1 draw at Villa, is understandable. Wolves have just 72 hours of rest between the derby and Saturday’s FA Cup third round tie at Liverpool. Their opponents have 48 hours more, with the added benefit of playing at home. It does not seem particularly fair.

But then again, in a crowded calendar, something has to give. All too regularly, at this time of year, it is the FA Cup, which once more sees its third round scheduled just days – or to be more precise hours – after the conclusion of a busy festive league programme.

On this occasion, Wolves are simply the unlucky victims of circumstance, the third round draw having been made more than a month after Premier League fixtures were mapped out and broadcast choices made. There was no chance of Sky Sports moving Liverpool’s trip to Brentford back from Monday to make things fairer in the Cup. Likewise, Villa’s visit to Tottenham being moved to Sunday meant the derby was always going to remain on Wednesday.

When the top-flight fixture list was first released back in June, every team was due to play on New Year’s Eve and January 2, a gap of just 48 hours. In practice, the schedule has been spread further out, both to soften the pace of the season’s resumption after the World Cup but most importantly to satisfy broadcasters. Good for the Premier League, less so for the FA Cup which will see Manchester City v Chelsea, its tie of the round, take place less than 72 hours after the pair have met in the league. No prizes for guessing which will take precedence in the minds of the managers.

For Wolves and Lopetegui, there is also the matter of a Carabao Cup quarter-final at Nottingham Forest next Wednesday and an opportunity to move within one win of the club’s first domestic final for 43 years. Unfortunate though the quick turnaround for Liverpool is, it is preferable Wolves have longer to prepare for a tie in the competition where they are far more advanced.

With his team also still in the Premier League relegation zone, Lopetegui would have more reason than most for resting key players tomorrow night for the battles ahead.

The frustration is he will be far from the only one doing so, on a weekend which has gone from being a highlight of the season to the most glaring reminder of how the necessity for money has disrupted the pursuit of glory, a weekend of weakened line-ups and considerably reduced crowds.

For any team outside the Premier League’s top two or three no longer in another cup competition, the FA Cup represents the season’s final opportunity to win silverware. Yet it is one most managers in the bottom half of the table – and even some of those in the top – will happily risk or shun if they believe it will help in securing top-flight survival months down the line.

So skewed are the game’s finances toward the Premier League, questioning the logic becomes difficult. Albion boss Carlos Corberan will know the danger of an embarrassing exit is increased by naming a much changed line-up at Chesterfield. But with promotion possibly essential to avoid serious financial pain at The Hawthorns, the Spaniard could quite reasonably claim to merely be exercising common sense.

Not that it does much for us sentimentalists. Neither does a generation of younger supporters who increasingly see the Cup as an inconvenience allay fears the competition’s gloss can never be fully restored.

Where magic can still be found this weekend is in the ties involving those clubs further down the divisions, albeit this is not a draw which has been overly kind in delivering much in the way of genuine David v Goliath battles. There will be plenty on the line, however, at Stockport, where Walsall will aim to reach the fourth round for the first time in seven years and at Shrewsbury Town, who have the chance to take down Sunderland.

There’s a pretty big game at Villa Park too, one of only two ties which pits Premier League against League Two opposition (the other being Gillingham v Leicester). The thousands of Stevenage supporters who will travel north for what is the first ever competitive meeting between the clubs will, of course, hope to witness a giant-killing.

But this is a significant match for Villa too. Their winless run in the FA Cup since 2016 rather sums up everything argued above. For three years in the Championship and the first season in the Premier League, there were bigger priorities. For the past two years they have been unlucky, first when a Covid outbreak forced them to field the youth team against Liverpool, then when they were drawn away at Manchester United last term. This year offers a golden chance to progress and then, with a favourable draw or two, who knows?

In appointing Unai Emery, Villa have a manager regarded as something of a cup expert and at his November unveiling, he did not hide his desire to end the club’s long trophy drought. Winning silverware, after all, is what it’s all supposed to be about. Quite often on third round weekend, it pays to be reminded of that.