Nuno Espirito Santo has been forced to scrap a team trip to St George’s Park after becoming the latest Premier League manager to demand FA Cup replays be scrapped.
Nottingham Forest face a replay against League One side Blackpool next week after a 2-2 draw, leaving Nuno with no choice but to abandon his winter break plans.
Nuno was due to take his new squad to England’s training headquarters in St George’s for three days from Monday, with the stay aimed at helping him further impose his philosophy after replacing Steve Cooper as manager last month.
Yet the Portuguese showed his frustration with training camp now canceled and joining other top managers Jurgen Klopp, Mikel Arteta and Thomas Frank in calling for replays to be removed.
“It is a reality, everyone is aware that there is a big build-up of matches, the matches are every day, so it is something we have to look at,” he said.
“If you ask me personally, I think it should be done on the day itself, with extra time and penalties, so that the players have a little more time to recover.
“Premier League teams suffer from that, you know the problems with injuries and one of the things is the number of games.
Blackpool now get a second chance to knock Forest out of the competition for the second successive season at Bloomfield Road.
Twelve months ago, under former manager Michael Appleton, they defeated Forest 4-1 to reach the fourth round for the first time since 1971.
Blackpool took a two-goal lead in less than three minutes here and Neil Critchley, the League One club’s manager, insisted replays are part of the magic.
“It’s so important for football in general. The level between the Premier League and the rest is increasing and it’s becoming more and more difficult to cause a cup upset,” he said.
“I think it’s such an achievement to cause a stir, so if you get the second chance to do it, we’ll take your hand off that.
“Yes, it’s a busy schedule, but so what, keep going. This is like our 36th game this season, the Premier League teams don’t understand that.
“Tough, it’s football, let’s keep going. There is something magical about this cup match, so why can’t we create a nice memory for ourselves?”
Eighth in League One, and four points outside the play-off positions, Blackpool silenced the City Ground in a span of two minutes and 46 seconds.
With Nuno forced into a defensive reshuffle and Willy Boly and Moussa Niakhate missing for the Africa Cup of Nations, it was two poor goals for Forest to concede.
The first came after Karamoko Dembele’s cross into the penalty area was headed away by Gonzalo Montiel into the path of Jordan Gabriel, who had a simple task of nodding the ball into the net from eight yards.
A former Forest Academy graduate, Gabriel was sold to Blackpool in 2021 after just seven appearances and refused to celebrate.
Blackpool increased their lead in the 27th minute, exposing even more sloppy defending as CJ Hamilton evaded Forest captain Joe Worrall to cross in the penalty area and Albie Morgan waited at the far post to head home.
As frustration began to mount among the home fans, Forest responded six minutes before half-time with Nicolas Dominguez heading Montiel’s cross into the corner.
Nuno sent his players off early for the second half and whatever he said in the dressing room provoked a reaction.
Forest improved immensely and played with more urgency and control. The equalizer came after eleven minutes and was an excellent finish from Morgan Gibbs-White.
He collected the ball just inside Callum Hudson-Odoi’s penalty area and then blasted a shot into the top corner.
Blackpool goalkeeper Daniel Grimshaw then took center stage and produced a fine save from Ryan Yates as the pressure became relentless in the final 15 minutes.
Neco Williams, a substitute, was denied by Grimshaw and then, in the dying seconds, Chris Wood could not stretch to convert Hudson-Odoi’s low cross at the far post.
They meet again in a repeat that one manager can do without, while the other cannot wait.
Luton held a match that had the championship written all over it
If you want to get a sense of the difference between the Premier League and the rest, it is most evident in the reaction to the need for an FA Cup replay.
After a goalless draw against League One Bolton, a stalemate as stale as a leftover Christmas cake, Luton’s manager Rob Edwards grinned widely when asked if he was looking forward to another match that would broaden his schedule.
“Thanks to Bolton, they got a result,” he said. “I was disappointed that we didn’t manage to get the job done today. We have a different schedule now. That’s the reality. We have to deal with it.”
Bolton manager Ian Evatt, on the other hand, seemed excited about another match. Not so much that he was given another chance for his side to test themselves against Premier League opposition, but for the money.
“This football club has really suffered,” he said. “To get it back to where we want it to be, we need revenue. Hopefully a televised game will get us back on the path to where we want to be.”
The way things are going, with Luton in the Premier League relegation zone and Bolton in second place in League One, this could well be a match that takes place in the Championship next season. In that case, not many people will lick their lips. An excellent strike from Alfie Doughty that rasped against the Bolton post, this was a match of few chances, few chances, few moments to drive the paying customer to the edge of his seat.
The gulf between the two teams was perhaps most apparent when Luton’s midfield produced a brilliant series of short, sharp passes, which ultimately led to Albert Sambi Lokonga hitting a shot just wide. Bolton never came close to that level. But then they didn’t have Ross Barkley on their side.
Perhaps the biggest difference between the two line-ups, however, came after Teden Mengi appeared to bring down Dion Charles in the area and the Bolton fans sang for VAR’s intervention. Fans who actually want VAR? That was new. But neither Andy Madley nor VAR were interested. And perhaps a more standard response to the lawsuit was Edwards’s. He wasn’t happy when Doughty was brought down trying to reach the rebound after his shot hit the post.
“I’m not sure what the VAR thought, a big mistake,” was his conclusion. “We didn’t lose the game, we can’t think negatively that we are still in the competition, the frustration is that we didn’t get things done that day. And the VAR didn’t help.”
So some things don’t change, regardless of the competition.
Bamford stunner lights Leeds to victory
Patrick Bamford’s moment of brilliance illuminated Leeds’ smooth passage as they cruised to a 3-0 win in Peterborough.
The forward was handed just his second start of the season when boss Daniel Farke announced the changes.
And Bamford responded by launching a stunning strike shortly after half-time, doubling the lead provided by Ethan Ampadu’s first goal in Leeds colours.
Captain Ampadu sealed the victory late on as his sudden taste for scoring continued.
“It was okay,” Farke joked when asked about the quality of Bamford’s goal.
“The whole world will praise this goal as something world-class. There are no other words for it.
“I am happy for him and he deserves it, but for me it is more important that he is back in shape, in a good rhythm and can work for the team.
“Goals are always invaluable for the confidence of attacking players and I’m sure he would take a rebound from two yards, but to score in this fantastic way is of course even better and he is on the right track.
“We rested some players and gave valuable minutes to others, but it was clear to us that we wanted to win this match and go into the fourth round.
“It’s never easy when you have six substitutes and two players who also play in different positions, but it was a concentrated performance.
“It was a tight match, but we won it comfortably with three goals and a clean sheet.”
West Brom knocks minnows aside
West Brom went into the fourth round after a first-half blitz against Aldershot.
Early goals from Nathaniel Chalobah and Jovan Malcolm put the Baggies on course for a 4-1 victory and ended any thoughts the National League visitors had of an upset.
Daryl Dike – making his first appearance since April after a serious Achilles injury – added a third before half-time, with the gulf between the Championship promotion chasers and the Shots evident.
West Brom boss Carlos Corberan saluted the returning Dike after the striker ended his eight-month injury nightmare.
Corberan said: “The way he celebrated the goal says a lot about how much he suffered, how important it was to score, how important he is for us in the dressing room.
“Afterwards the players gave him a big applause. They celebrated him coming back with the group and scored the goal, because dealing with the injury after eight months is difficult, especially for him after injuries.
“Coming back was an important step for us. It’s a huge step. We have to continue to work on his adaptation to football again, hopefully we can continue to grow in the process.
“To achieve something in the championship you don’t have to have many injuries. It’s always positive to have Dike as a striker.”
There was never any hope of a comeback and Tom Fellows’ first goal completed the scoring late on for Ollie Bray’s consolation.