Why the FA Cup needs a Manchester United v Liverpool final

It's time for the upsets to stop

The FA Cup has just experienced one of its most memorable weekends in living memory, with Bradford City, Middlesbrough and Cambridge United all securing incredible results against the biggest teams in the country.

But if the 2015 FA Cup is to be remembered as one of the best ever, it needs the remaining heavyweights to put an end to the romance and ensure that the latter stages generate a Cup Final worthy of the competition.

Minnows are great in the early rounds, adding colour and surprise to a tournament that depends on upsets and new stories.

But if the FA Cup is to reclaim the end of season spotlight from the Premier League, it needs a Liverpool versus Manchester United showdown at Wembley or Arsenal defending their crown against West Ham.

The 2008 Cup Final between Portsmouth and Cardiff may be regarded as a classic on the south coast and in the Welsh capital but it was a turn-off for the rest of the country.

Perhaps staging the semi-finals at Wembley has taken the edge of the Cup Final with recent finalists such as Hull and Wigan having already experienced the stadium before playing in the final itself.

As a result, Cup Final day has become something of an afterthought, but a heavyweight clash at Wembley between two teams that have to win, rather than a game involving one just there to enjoy the day out, is what this season's competition needs.

Apologies to the all the romantics, but the cup deserves a final that will make the whole world sit and up take notice.

Mark Ogden

Bradford beating Chelsea is not quite the greatest upset ever

Already the humbling of Chelsea (starting XI’s total worth: £191 million) by Bradford City (total: nothing – they were a bunch of free transfers) can legitimately stake a claim to the greatest FA Cup upset in history.

But it pales into insignificance beside the victory in 1933 of Third Division Walsall over a team then regarded as the finest in the land, in the form of Herbert Chapman’s Arsenal.

While Arsenal would go on to achieve a treble of successive league titles, memory of the scalding embarrassment at Fellows Ground, where the people of post-industrial Walsall were suffering grievously amid the ravages of the Great Depression, would linger longer.

Even taking into account the players Chapman rested – Eddie Hapgood, Joe Hulme, Bob John, Jack Lambert – the Arsenal side had still cost a cumulative £30,000, as against £70 for Walsall.

Extrapolated to today’s money, the abacus reads: Arsenal £500 million, Walsall £1,000. Such a giant-killing should still be regarded as the litmus test for all others that follow. Oliver Brown

Neil Lennon deserves a chance in the Premier League

Neil Lennon was at his most humble when asked why – despite inspiring Celtic to Champions League victory over the greatest of Barcelona teams – Premier League chairman covered their faces and edged to the other side of the room instead of appointing him.

He suggested he had to earn the right to make the step up, regardless of his achievements at Celtic Park.

Unless Bolton are promoted soon, it is an ambition Lennon will eventually achieve – as he underlined by engineering a draw at Anfield on Saturday - but it’s worth reminding ourselves the real reason for the snub.

Scottish football is on its backside - a down and out swigging Buckfast, desperately in need of a shave, shower and all-round makeover.

You could win ten consecutive titles up there, but the majority of Premier League chairman will still be assessing the merits of the current flavour of the month from overseas ahead of you – no matter how qualified you are for the job.

Ally this with a broader pretentiousness and snobbishness across football that is dismissive of British managers and Lennon was always going to have to take a less scenic route to the top of the English game. The starting point for the majority of Premier League managerial searches for both boardrooms and fans is a look at the La Liga, Bundesliga or French top flight and working out who is available. Only when a cheaper option is required (happening more and more), or the annual Tony Pulis call is needed, will the British coaches get their chance

There are currently eleven British managers in the Premier League, which is probably a reflection of financial restrictions as much as a trend in their favour, but most find themselves fighting what they believe are misguided perceptions about their style of football or limited tactical variations. In the Championship, Lennon comes into the same category but there is every indication that will change quickly.

It should ensure when a Premier League is next preparing a round of interviews, the likes of Pepe Mel, Ole Gunnar Solksjaer and Felix Magath won’t be getting the call ahead of him. Chris Bascombe

Will Jose Mourinho give youth a chance?

The challenge at Chelsea has changed. Whereas once it just seemed to be about winning, the clear directive from Roman Abramovich is that they also want players to be developed.

We all know that the last homegrown Chelsea player to become a genuine regular in the team is John Terry – and how he was missed on Saturday.

But here’s the catch with young players. They make mistakes. Terry certainly did – they just mostly had already happened before 2003 when Abramoivch arrived and the culture at Chelsea was rather different.

Ask also Arsene Wenger. The list of players he has given chances to and persevered with – often at his own expense - is long.

The pay-back is that they might deliver for you when they mature.

Chelsea are now actually gaining the benefit of all Cesc Fabregas’ experience at a young age but, over the next three years, Wenger will hope to be rewarded for all the matches and mistakes by the likes of Wojciech Szczesny, Jack Wilshere, Kieran Gibbs, Theo Walcott, Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain over the past decade.

Mourinho played a 20-year-old and 18-year-old defender on Saturday in Kurt Zouma and Andreas Christensen as his team slid to the humiliation of a 4-2 defeat against Bradford City.

After his post-match press conference, you had to wonder if they will be seen again in the first-team any time soon. “It is easy for you to understand now why I play almost every game with the same players,” Mourinho said, pointedly. “I don’t make many changes. I try to keep stability in the team. Maybe now you can understand a bit better why.”

In fairness, Mourinho did also make it clear that the main focus for his frustrations were some of the more experienced fringe players. He did not name names but Loic Remy, Mohamed Salah, John-Obi Mikel and Ramires are hardly now banging down the door to start more matches.

Yet what will really be interesting is how Mourinho treats Christensen and Zouma. Does he conclude that they are not good enough and eventually look for ready-made understudies? Or does he persist and develop them over the next few years, mostly in the cup competitions, even if it risks more results like Saturday? The latter approach is the only philosophy if Chelsea are serious about developing their own talent.

Young players make mistakes. It is a necessary fact of their development and, for all the frustrations at Saturday’s upset, Chelsea must learn to accept this to achieve their wider aims.

Jeremy Wilson

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