The FA Cup third round provided a chance for Premier League teams to test their squads. An Arsenal signing and one entire side was among those to mess up.
Brentford
It seems pointless drilling down into the nuts and bolts of what technically qualified as the biggest shock of the FA Cup third round: a meeting of League One contemporaries in 2010/11.
But how fundamentally disappointing it is to see Brentford and Thomas Frank, a champion of FA Cup replay-scrapping, avoid any potentially uncomfortable conversations by simply losing to a managerless side battling Championship relegation.
That same fate is vanishingly unlikely to befall the Bees but six changes were made to the starting line-up, Frank having already made five for the Carabao Cup defeat to Newcastle in December.
Brentford reached a League Cup semi-final in the season they achieved promotion but that knack for balancing priorities has deserted them in the top flight. As a Premier League team they have won nine of their 18 domestic cup ties, beating Port Vale, Forest Green, Oldham, Stoke, Newport, Leyton Orient, Sheffield Wednesday and Colchester (twice) before invariably losing to the first vaguely competent team they face.
Their elimination coming against a side which recently sacked Wayne Rooney and in the middle of a run of one win in seven does not look great.
Danny Ings
Thrown in cold after an early injury to Niclas Fullkrug, Ings did nothing against former club Aston Villa – his career path catches us off guard each time we check as he approaches 33 – to convince Graham Potter he can form any reliable part of a solution to their increasing problems in attack.
Only six Premier League clubs have scored fewer goals than West Ham this season. Their £27.5m summer striker signing is out for a few months with a hamstring injury. Their record scorer might never play again after undergoing surgery on a lower leg fracture. Their top scorer is sidelined for the foreseeable. Their second top scorer is Tomas Soucek.
So Ings had an opportunity to shoulder the burden when introduced after a quarter of an hour; he summarily failed with a thoroughly ineffective performance which has apparently convinced the West Ham brains trust to either sign another new forward in January or simply give Mohammed Kudus an extended run through the middle.
READ MORE: Eight West Ham moves for Graham Potter’s perfect January transfer window
Hwang Hee-chan
Sharing third place in the all-time Premier League top scorer stakes for Wolves with Steven Fletcher implies Hwang is well beyond the point of wasting chances to show his worth, but he certainly skied a couple from presentable positions against Bristol City.
The point Hwang had to prove was that he could be trusted to carry this attack in the absence of Matheus Cunha. But he had no input in the two Wolves goals, conceded the free-kick from which Scott Twine scored and generally looked disjointed from the rest of the team ahead of Cunha’s return.
Perhaps he should have followed Fletcher in moving to Marseille when personal terms were agreed in the summer, because it does seem his head has truly gone.
Jakub Stolarczyk
The bizarre generosity of Harry Winks was a far bigger problem for Leicester in an otherwise serene victory but their lack of depth in midfield hands him the sort of reprieve which Stolarczyk surely cannot benefit from for much longer.
Ruud van Nistelrooy has been coy when asked in public and privately the Foxes are thought to be focusing on other positions, but their goalkeeping situation will get them relegated if unaddressed. While Mads Hermansen is one of the best shot-stoppers in the division, his injury has exposed how Leicester also apparently employ some of the worst.
Danny Ward conceded seven goals in a game and a half and Stolarczyk, although able to pick that bar off the floor and raise it, has been unconvincing. There was a fog-based caveat but the first goal seemed saveable and one errant kick ought to have been properly punished too.
Filip Jorgensen
Not all clean sheets are created equal, as Jorgensen’s five for the season coming against Servette, Barrow, FC Noah, Heidenheim and now Morecambe in games in which Chelsea have scored 22 goals suggests.
It requires immense effort to look shaky in a 5-0 win but that was the fate of one of Chelsea’s great many keepers, whose internal struggle with crosses and set-pieces did more for the reputation of Robert Sanchez than anything Robert Sanchez himself has done in the last couple of years.
Kaoru Mitoma
Fabian Hurzeler used seven outwardly attacking players against Norwich, five of whom either scored or assisted in a resounding win. The exceptions were Danny Welbeck, returning after almost a month out through injury with a half-hour cameo, and Mitoma, who disappointed across the full 90 minutes.
No shots and a single chance created against Championship opposition is sub-optimal, not least for a player with six goals and seven assists since the start of last season.
Mitoma brings more to the Brighton table than such raw numbers but it might be time to either revisit that dribbling thesis or take up another course entirely. Brighton are blessed with abundant forward options and the Japan international is not currently nearly among the best of them.
Timo Werner
Only a second Spurs start for Werner since Ange Postecoglou derided his “unacceptable” showing against Rangers, yet this was hardly a performance to silence the critics.
The German led the line and Spurs needed extra-time to overcome fifth-tier Tamworth, a feat they achieved after Werner was substituted in the 90th minute. That tells not only the whole story but the foreword, table of contents and glossary, as well as a one-star review from some random on Amazon whose Caps Lock is broken.
Things will never deteriorate to the extent that Werner’s loan is terminated early, but their option to make the deal permanent will remain unused as long as he continues to disappoint in the middle of an injury epidemic.
Werner was among the handful of players embarrassed by Haydn ‘Zinedine’ Hollis while also missing a host of chances, including a one-on-one. Even Carlos Vinicius scored an FA Cup hat-trick against non-league opposition.
Raheem Sterling
Far from the most culpable on another miserable Arsenal afternoon. Sterling was probably even their best forward but that damns the rest as much as it reflects well on him.
There can be no doubting Sterling’s desire and application. Whether trying to prove a point to and earn the trust of his manager or simply through professional pride, the 30-year-old was short of neither energy nor drive, completing five dribbles when his teammates only managed six between them.
But after not even being given the nod to start it feels like Sterling already has greater expectation and far less leeway than certain teammates, with only goals or assists able to properly correct that imbalance. Tidiness is enough for some but not Mikel Arteta’s former Manchester City pet project.
MORE ON ARSENAL v MAN UTD FROM F365:
👉 16 Conclusions from Arsenal 1-1 Man Utd (3-5): Havertz blows big chance, Amorim progress continues
👉 Mikel Arteta is ‘overpaid jester’ and Arsenal are just ‘expensive Stoke’
👉 Man Utd star facing ban after FA Cup brawl in penalty shootout win over Arsenal
Eddie Nketiah
Oliver Glasner might have expected a better return on a £30m investment than a whole lot of running, which is essentially what Nketiah provided against Stockport.
The frustration at Jefferson Lerma choosing to shoot rather than square the ball for a late simple tap-in was palpable and understandable as Nketiah did everything right, sensing the opportunity, sprinting into space and waiting for the pass. But it never came and still the striker’s only two goals for Palace came in the League Cup.
Harvey Barnes
“Harvey’s been really unfortunate this year because he has played very well when he has been given the opportunity so I’ve got no issue with Harvey’s performances – and that’s quite rare when a player’s not playing, that I can say he’s performed really well,” said Eddie Howe, who added: “All he can do is when he plays is continue to do what he does, and that’s score goals create chances for the team.”
Four off-target shots and no chances created before being taken off at half-time against Bromley is not exactly the level his manager demanded.
Ali Al-Hamadi
Truly a historically atrocious penalty.
