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Winners
Luton Town
Only drawers on the pitch, a money-spinning replay at Anfield for the cash-strapped Hatters added up to the win of the weekend.
"Football-wise, I'm disappointed we haven't won, but for the survival of the football club, a fantastic result," reflected manager Kevin Blackwell. "With the things that are going on it was the perfect result."
Oldham Athletic
Whose players will receive a £75 win bonus for toppling Everton.
Coventry City
Iain Dowie has suddenly become a competent manager against Premiership opposition now that he is in the Championship.
Huddersfield Town
Revenge has been five years coming. On the last occasion that Town hosted Birmingham at the McAlpine Stadium in May 2001, a 2-1 win for the visitors condemned Huddersfield to relegation.
Sam Allardyce
Silent Sam had more to lose than anybody else in the third round and his emergence to fight another day thus constitutes a relative triumph.
Allardyce, if reports are to be believed, wouldn't have been dismissed if Newcastle were knocked out at Stoke but a repeat of the recent performance at Wigan may have prompted a rethink. Moreover, an extended run in the cup will (and it's still not certain yet that the Toon have avoided a giantkilling; recall Birmingham's 5-1 win at St James' last January after the Premiership outfit scraped a 2-2 draw in the first meeting) provide Allardyce with the kiss of life at St James'. Clear of the relegation zone, and neither in Europe not threatening entry, an early cup exit would kill off Newcastle's season and leave the club's populist hierarchy with no reason not to bury their manager.
Steven Taylor
The only outstanding player in Newcastle's obstinate rearguard action at Stoke. Nevertheless, the moniker of 'the new John Terry' seems to be based on his goalkeeping skills as much as his defending.
Manchester United
No surprise in ManYoo beating Aston Villa: the champions have won each of their last 13 matches against Villa and have a terrific record of success at Villa Park in the FA Cup. No surprise either in Ronaldo scoring: he has registered 19 this season in 24 matches. And no surprise that Wayne Rooney's introduction inspired the visitors: all of ManYoo's defeats this season have occurred in games he has missed.
The Fergusons
Ferguson dictated the tie at Villa masterfully, shutting up shop and then unleashing Rooney, long after it was predicted he would, to maximum effect.
The Manchester United boss, who continues to boycott the BBC due to allegations made against his son Mark, would have also taken immense satisfaction from the success of his second son, Darren, whose League Two side Peterborough triumphed 3-1 at the base of Championship club Colchester United.
There are currently four former Ferguson players managing in the Premiership. Darren has the added bonus of actually carrying the Ferguson genes and, based on football's long-standing belief in the power of nepotism, will surely be given a top-flight opportunity before long if he does not run Peterborough aground.
Eduardo da Silva
Having served the half-a-season apprenticeship that Arsene Wenger believes all new recruits to the Premiership require, the Croatian has made a critical contribution in recent weeks. With six goals in four consecutive matches, Eduardo's emergence has allowed Wenger to grant Robin van Persie a long rehabilitation from what supposed to be "a small muscular" injury rather than, as so often with Arsenal, rush the Dutchman back.
Chelski
In the battle of the billionaires, Chelski emerged in profit against QPR due to the benefits accrued from being drawn at home in the FA Cup for the seventh successive occasion. Yes, seven.
Wigan Athletic
Defeated in only one of their last six matches.
Dimitar Berbatov
Six of his 13 goals this season have been scored in two matches against Reading, with the others occurring in opposition to Fulham, Aston Villa, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Aalborg, Anderlecht, Arsenal and Portsmouth.
Valued at £31m by Juande Ramos on the basis that the Bulgarian is "the only great player who has not played in the Champions League", his record of just a solitary league goal in two seasons against Big Four opposition puts that accoloade in doubt - especially when it is considered that Tim Cahill has already scored against Manchester United, Chelski and Arsenal during the current campaign.
Portsmouth
Harry Redknapp's complaints against the African Nations Cup are becoming as tedious as Lawrie Sanchez's moaning. After all, the Pompey manager has had plenty of time to prepare for the shortage - the cup is not a new addition on the football calendar and none of his players have recently claimed African residency - and it's also worth asking just how Redknapp - and the footballing world at large - first became aware of the likes of John Utaka and a bountiful cheap market.
David Bentley
Bentley is not afraid to make tough decisions. Just as he walked out of Arsenal, against Arsene Wenger's wishes, to further his career at Blackburn two years ago, he declined to represent the England B team last summer in order to take a break from football. His excellent form this season has justified both choices.
The problem for Rovers is that his rate of improvement is being matched by their own decline. Should Bentley suffer from 'unfashionable club syndrome' with England between now and the end of the season, Rovers may not appreciate the slant of his next tough decision.
Losers
Rafa Benitez
Sunday didn't break Benitez but hindsight may view it as the day that his increasingly-fractious relationship with the club became a terminal breach. An utterly abject performance - prompting, for the first time during his reign, talk of a lost dressing room - was a fitting postscript to a day that began with reports that even Benitez himself is reconciled to a summer departure.
Reports of the Spaniard's demise have proved premature in the past yet the difference this weekend was that Fleet Street were united in writing his obituary. A man boasting a goatee and a Spanish accent is reputed to be familiar with the practice of off-the-record briefings and, with a blinking eye and a twitchy elbow, it was noticeable that each report in the Sunday tabloids this weekend was sourced by a 'close friend' of the Liverpool manager.
Liverpool
The Rafalution has reached full circle. Starring Jon Arne Riise as Djimi Traore, Dirk Kuyt as Erik Meijer, Yossi Benayoun as Bruno Cheyrou, this was as bad as anything seen during the era of Gerard Houllier.
Without Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, Liverpool would struggle to stay in the top six.
Viewers Of Aston Villa v Manchester United
According to Paul Wilson of The Observer, those in attendance at Villa Park saw 'a rattling good Cup tie with both teams committed to attack, complete with the sort of frantic, end-to-end opening that fans enjoy but more sophisticated footballing cultures tend to laugh at'.
This column can only surmise that Mr Wilson did not actually watch the match. Or if he did, has no previous experience of what 'a rattling good cup tie' actually looks like. In what was an appalling excuse for a cup tie, Villa were feeble, pathetically so, barely mustering a meaningful attack let alone a consistent threat.
While credit must be given to Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic for the way in which they handled John Carew and Gabriel Agbonlahor - a shoo-in, surely, to be the first debutant under the reign of the watching Fabio Capello given the paucity of alternatives - it was made easy for the visitors by the home side's reluctance to press forward in numbers. The impression was of a team playing for set-pieces after their recent success in that department.
Their timid attitude was infectious, spreading into the defence as far as Wilfred Bouma who, two yards nearer the ball when Ryan Giggs crossed/shot for Cristiano Ronaldo's opener, would have been able to clear the danger with ease had he moved towards the ball. Villa fans continue to protest that Bouma is a top-class full back. Adopting the Gordon Taylor rule of thumb, which dictates that listeners should automatically believe the opposite of everything said, it would be fascinating to hear Mr Wilson's views on the matter.
Tottenham Hotspur
With a two-legged Carling Cup semi-final looming, Spurs' scheduled trip to Chelski on Monday January 14 has been postponed to accommodate the unwanted replay against Reading. Now deprived of the suspended Tom Huddlestone and the Africa-bound Didier Zokora, a hectic schedule must be coming a routine for an overstretched Spurs squad. Should they win at Reading, the club will play a total of 17 matches over 59 days in December and January.
Ashley Cole
Selected to carry the armband for Chelski's tie against QPR, Cole's afternoon quickly soured. According to The Times, Avram Grant spent 'much of the afternoon' 'berating' Cole on the touchline and then stripped the full-back of the captaincy when he introduced Didier Drogba. Afterwards, Grant, apparently willing to risk disharmony in the dressing-room in order to depict himself as a tough taskmaster, confirmed to reporters that Cole had been unable to provide the necessary "leadership".
Poor Ashley. It must have almost been enough to make him swerve in the road.
Blackburn Rovers
Ever since Mark Hughes described a top-four finish as "realistic this year" at the end of November, Rovers have been in free-fall. The 0-4 defeat to Aston Villa that followed 24 hours later was the first of six in ten games, including two cup exits on home soil. It is reasonable to assume that Hughes hasn't endured such a dire spell in either his managerial or playing career.
Hughes was justifiably aghast at his side's capitulation to Coventry. "Unacceptable," was his terse public description. Yet given Rovers' cup run last season, their elimination from the Carling Cup three weeks ago and mid-table whereabouts in the Premiership, it was perplexing - not to mention fatal - that Hughes selected fringe players such as Bruno Berner, Zurab Khizanishvili, Keith Treacy and Maceo Rigters against a side that won at Old Trafford in September.
Everton
David Moyes has only a little to berate himself as he considers the weakened team selection that conspired to see Everton tumble out of the FA Cup to lowly Oldham. Unlike a number of his Premiership peers, most notably Mark Hughes, the Toffees boss had good reason to rest a number of key personnel with a Carling Cup semi-final on this week's horizon. And in any case, as Moyes said in his defence, "it wasn't a vastly weakened team". Everton had the players, and the balance of play, to win comfortably.
That they didn't owed much to the shortcomings of stand-in goalkeeper Steffan Wessels, beaten by a 30-yard chip on a day that a chip shop fire delayed kick-off by 40 minutes. The omission of Howard raised a couple of questions, the first of which should be 'do goalkeepers really require rest?'
A second must be what ever happened to Iain Turner, the goalkeeper called back from loan at Sheffield Wednesday as one-match cover when Howard was barred from facing Manchester United last April? He hasn't been since, just as he shouldn't have been seen that critical April day when Richard Wright was available and Howard was technically eligible. Turner's mistakes turned a 2-0 defeat into a 4-2 victory for the visitors and were pivotal in determining the destination of the title. It is a tale that reflects badly on the Premier League - particularly the league's administrators cowed into accepting the legality of the 'gentlemen's agreement' between Manchester United and Everton when Howard was sold.
The failure of stand-in goalkeepers is a familiar subject on Merseyside. Last year, the omission of Pepe Reina in favour of Jerzy Dudek was instrumental in Liveprool's third round defeat to Arsenal last January. Howard shouldn't expect another weekend off in 12 months' time.
Roy Keane
"The players will be disappointed. But sole responsibility lies on my shoulders, 100 per cent. I picked the team here and there are a lot I brought here."
Bolton Wanderers
Half-hearted and half-full. Without the Sheffield United followers packing out one end of the Reebok, the attendance probably wouldn't have reached 10,000.
Derby County
The devastating two-word riposte to the viewpoint that the Premiership is the best league in the world.
Pete Gill
Luton Town
Only drawers on the pitch, a money-spinning replay at Anfield for the cash-strapped Hatters added up to the win of the weekend.
"Football-wise, I'm disappointed we haven't won, but for the survival of the football club, a fantastic result," reflected manager Kevin Blackwell. "With the things that are going on it was the perfect result."
Oldham Athletic
Whose players will receive a £75 win bonus for toppling Everton.
Coventry City
Iain Dowie has suddenly become a competent manager against Premiership opposition now that he is in the Championship.
Huddersfield Town
Revenge has been five years coming. On the last occasion that Town hosted Birmingham at the McAlpine Stadium in May 2001, a 2-1 win for the visitors condemned Huddersfield to relegation.
Sam Allardyce
Silent Sam had more to lose than anybody else in the third round and his emergence to fight another day thus constitutes a relative triumph.
Allardyce, if reports are to be believed, wouldn't have been dismissed if Newcastle were knocked out at Stoke but a repeat of the recent performance at Wigan may have prompted a rethink. Moreover, an extended run in the cup will (and it's still not certain yet that the Toon have avoided a giantkilling; recall Birmingham's 5-1 win at St James' last January after the Premiership outfit scraped a 2-2 draw in the first meeting) provide Allardyce with the kiss of life at St James'. Clear of the relegation zone, and neither in Europe not threatening entry, an early cup exit would kill off Newcastle's season and leave the club's populist hierarchy with no reason not to bury their manager.
Steven Taylor
The only outstanding player in Newcastle's obstinate rearguard action at Stoke. Nevertheless, the moniker of 'the new John Terry' seems to be based on his goalkeeping skills as much as his defending.
Manchester United
No surprise in ManYoo beating Aston Villa: the champions have won each of their last 13 matches against Villa and have a terrific record of success at Villa Park in the FA Cup. No surprise either in Ronaldo scoring: he has registered 19 this season in 24 matches. And no surprise that Wayne Rooney's introduction inspired the visitors: all of ManYoo's defeats this season have occurred in games he has missed.
The Fergusons
Ferguson dictated the tie at Villa masterfully, shutting up shop and then unleashing Rooney, long after it was predicted he would, to maximum effect.
The Manchester United boss, who continues to boycott the BBC due to allegations made against his son Mark, would have also taken immense satisfaction from the success of his second son, Darren, whose League Two side Peterborough triumphed 3-1 at the base of Championship club Colchester United.
There are currently four former Ferguson players managing in the Premiership. Darren has the added bonus of actually carrying the Ferguson genes and, based on football's long-standing belief in the power of nepotism, will surely be given a top-flight opportunity before long if he does not run Peterborough aground.
Eduardo da Silva
Having served the half-a-season apprenticeship that Arsene Wenger believes all new recruits to the Premiership require, the Croatian has made a critical contribution in recent weeks. With six goals in four consecutive matches, Eduardo's emergence has allowed Wenger to grant Robin van Persie a long rehabilitation from what supposed to be "a small muscular" injury rather than, as so often with Arsenal, rush the Dutchman back.
Chelski
In the battle of the billionaires, Chelski emerged in profit against QPR due to the benefits accrued from being drawn at home in the FA Cup for the seventh successive occasion. Yes, seven.
Wigan Athletic
Defeated in only one of their last six matches.
Dimitar Berbatov
Six of his 13 goals this season have been scored in two matches against Reading, with the others occurring in opposition to Fulham, Aston Villa, Hapoel Tel Aviv, Aalborg, Anderlecht, Arsenal and Portsmouth.
Valued at £31m by Juande Ramos on the basis that the Bulgarian is "the only great player who has not played in the Champions League", his record of just a solitary league goal in two seasons against Big Four opposition puts that accoloade in doubt - especially when it is considered that Tim Cahill has already scored against Manchester United, Chelski and Arsenal during the current campaign.
Portsmouth
Harry Redknapp's complaints against the African Nations Cup are becoming as tedious as Lawrie Sanchez's moaning. After all, the Pompey manager has had plenty of time to prepare for the shortage - the cup is not a new addition on the football calendar and none of his players have recently claimed African residency - and it's also worth asking just how Redknapp - and the footballing world at large - first became aware of the likes of John Utaka and a bountiful cheap market.
David Bentley
Bentley is not afraid to make tough decisions. Just as he walked out of Arsenal, against Arsene Wenger's wishes, to further his career at Blackburn two years ago, he declined to represent the England B team last summer in order to take a break from football. His excellent form this season has justified both choices.
The problem for Rovers is that his rate of improvement is being matched by their own decline. Should Bentley suffer from 'unfashionable club syndrome' with England between now and the end of the season, Rovers may not appreciate the slant of his next tough decision.
Losers
Rafa Benitez
Sunday didn't break Benitez but hindsight may view it as the day that his increasingly-fractious relationship with the club became a terminal breach. An utterly abject performance - prompting, for the first time during his reign, talk of a lost dressing room - was a fitting postscript to a day that began with reports that even Benitez himself is reconciled to a summer departure.
Reports of the Spaniard's demise have proved premature in the past yet the difference this weekend was that Fleet Street were united in writing his obituary. A man boasting a goatee and a Spanish accent is reputed to be familiar with the practice of off-the-record briefings and, with a blinking eye and a twitchy elbow, it was noticeable that each report in the Sunday tabloids this weekend was sourced by a 'close friend' of the Liverpool manager.
Liverpool
The Rafalution has reached full circle. Starring Jon Arne Riise as Djimi Traore, Dirk Kuyt as Erik Meijer, Yossi Benayoun as Bruno Cheyrou, this was as bad as anything seen during the era of Gerard Houllier.
Without Fernando Torres and Steven Gerrard, Liverpool would struggle to stay in the top six.
Viewers Of Aston Villa v Manchester United
According to Paul Wilson of The Observer, those in attendance at Villa Park saw 'a rattling good Cup tie with both teams committed to attack, complete with the sort of frantic, end-to-end opening that fans enjoy but more sophisticated footballing cultures tend to laugh at'.
This column can only surmise that Mr Wilson did not actually watch the match. Or if he did, has no previous experience of what 'a rattling good cup tie' actually looks like. In what was an appalling excuse for a cup tie, Villa were feeble, pathetically so, barely mustering a meaningful attack let alone a consistent threat.
While credit must be given to Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic for the way in which they handled John Carew and Gabriel Agbonlahor - a shoo-in, surely, to be the first debutant under the reign of the watching Fabio Capello given the paucity of alternatives - it was made easy for the visitors by the home side's reluctance to press forward in numbers. The impression was of a team playing for set-pieces after their recent success in that department.
Their timid attitude was infectious, spreading into the defence as far as Wilfred Bouma who, two yards nearer the ball when Ryan Giggs crossed/shot for Cristiano Ronaldo's opener, would have been able to clear the danger with ease had he moved towards the ball. Villa fans continue to protest that Bouma is a top-class full back. Adopting the Gordon Taylor rule of thumb, which dictates that listeners should automatically believe the opposite of everything said, it would be fascinating to hear Mr Wilson's views on the matter.
Tottenham Hotspur
With a two-legged Carling Cup semi-final looming, Spurs' scheduled trip to Chelski on Monday January 14 has been postponed to accommodate the unwanted replay against Reading. Now deprived of the suspended Tom Huddlestone and the Africa-bound Didier Zokora, a hectic schedule must be coming a routine for an overstretched Spurs squad. Should they win at Reading, the club will play a total of 17 matches over 59 days in December and January.
Ashley Cole
Selected to carry the armband for Chelski's tie against QPR, Cole's afternoon quickly soured. According to The Times, Avram Grant spent 'much of the afternoon' 'berating' Cole on the touchline and then stripped the full-back of the captaincy when he introduced Didier Drogba. Afterwards, Grant, apparently willing to risk disharmony in the dressing-room in order to depict himself as a tough taskmaster, confirmed to reporters that Cole had been unable to provide the necessary "leadership".
Poor Ashley. It must have almost been enough to make him swerve in the road.
Blackburn Rovers
Ever since Mark Hughes described a top-four finish as "realistic this year" at the end of November, Rovers have been in free-fall. The 0-4 defeat to Aston Villa that followed 24 hours later was the first of six in ten games, including two cup exits on home soil. It is reasonable to assume that Hughes hasn't endured such a dire spell in either his managerial or playing career.
Hughes was justifiably aghast at his side's capitulation to Coventry. "Unacceptable," was his terse public description. Yet given Rovers' cup run last season, their elimination from the Carling Cup three weeks ago and mid-table whereabouts in the Premiership, it was perplexing - not to mention fatal - that Hughes selected fringe players such as Bruno Berner, Zurab Khizanishvili, Keith Treacy and Maceo Rigters against a side that won at Old Trafford in September.
Everton
David Moyes has only a little to berate himself as he considers the weakened team selection that conspired to see Everton tumble out of the FA Cup to lowly Oldham. Unlike a number of his Premiership peers, most notably Mark Hughes, the Toffees boss had good reason to rest a number of key personnel with a Carling Cup semi-final on this week's horizon. And in any case, as Moyes said in his defence, "it wasn't a vastly weakened team". Everton had the players, and the balance of play, to win comfortably.
That they didn't owed much to the shortcomings of stand-in goalkeeper Steffan Wessels, beaten by a 30-yard chip on a day that a chip shop fire delayed kick-off by 40 minutes. The omission of Howard raised a couple of questions, the first of which should be 'do goalkeepers really require rest?'
A second must be what ever happened to Iain Turner, the goalkeeper called back from loan at Sheffield Wednesday as one-match cover when Howard was barred from facing Manchester United last April? He hasn't been since, just as he shouldn't have been seen that critical April day when Richard Wright was available and Howard was technically eligible. Turner's mistakes turned a 2-0 defeat into a 4-2 victory for the visitors and were pivotal in determining the destination of the title. It is a tale that reflects badly on the Premier League - particularly the league's administrators cowed into accepting the legality of the 'gentlemen's agreement' between Manchester United and Everton when Howard was sold.
The failure of stand-in goalkeepers is a familiar subject on Merseyside. Last year, the omission of Pepe Reina in favour of Jerzy Dudek was instrumental in Liveprool's third round defeat to Arsenal last January. Howard shouldn't expect another weekend off in 12 months' time.
Roy Keane
"The players will be disappointed. But sole responsibility lies on my shoulders, 100 per cent. I picked the team here and there are a lot I brought here."
Bolton Wanderers
Half-hearted and half-full. Without the Sheffield United followers packing out one end of the Reebok, the attendance probably wouldn't have reached 10,000.
Derby County
The devastating two-word riposte to the viewpoint that the Premiership is the best league in the world.
Pete Gill
Really seems such a bizarre thing to do. Who does it benefit? Cole must have felt humilated, cant see him liking Grant after that.
