What a weekend of FA Cup football that was?
Three out of the four games were FA Cup classics. Manchester City v Newcastle the only damp squib.
The FA Cup is the greatest domestic cup competition in the world, and the weekend of football that we have just had shows why. 3 absolute thrillers that could have gone either way. Comebacks and late goals. It was simply thrilling.
And this is why I have a huge dislike for the likes of Jurgen Klopp.
Klopp, and other foreign managers, are merely visitors to this country. They plan to say for 6 or 8 years, maybe 10, and then disappear to their new challenge. But during their stay here, they will continually complain about our game and propose change. Change that they will often not still be here for.
Over the years, Klopp has shown a huge disdain for the FA Cup. He hates the competition.
In his 9 seasons in England, Liverpool have won just 1 FA Cup. That was also the only time they made the final, and the only time they made the semi-final. Yesterday was just his 2nd FA Cup quarter-final appearance in 9 years. In 6 of the 9 years Liverpool have failed to get past the 4th round.
Klopp has openly spoken out about how many games we play in England. He has been vocal against us have 2 domestic cup competitions, he has demanded a winter break and questioned the need for cup replays. He suggested the Premier League be reduced in numbers.
The simple answer is if he wants a 34 team league, just 1 cup competition and a winter break, he should have stayed in Germany. But no. He wanted to come to England, to earn the Premier League salary, and then has done everything he can to turn the English structure into the German.
Had he planned to spend his career in England ala Arsene Wenger, you could kind of understand his wish to change the game, improve it in his vision. But Klopp is disappearing after less than 9 seasons. He does not care about English football. About the FA Cup.
Jurgen Klopp and his complaints about our game will not be missed.
The FA Cup is a brilliant competition. The authorities need to protect it against managers like Klopp who only care about the 6-9 years they will be here, and not the 100-years that went before and the 100-years that will come after.
A final note on this.
With Klopp now out of the FA Cup, that leaves his honours board with Liverpool as 1 League title, 1 Champions League, 1 FA Cup, 2 League Cups. 5 trophies in 9 years (with a chance they win 2 more). I am not sure he has been the rip-roaring success some make out.
As expected with us being in the middle of nearly 3 weeks without an Arsenal game, there really is not much club news about.
We bought a 16-year-old centre back over the weekend. Braydon Clarke went straight into the U18 team that then thrashed Crystal Palace 8-3. 16-year-old Chido Obi scored 4.
I will be honest, Obi is someone I have never heard of before, but scoring 4 in a game will always lead me to research a player a bit more.
A quick Google shows he joined in 2022 and Danish U17 international. He has 8 goals in 10 games in the U18 Premier League. At 6′ 2″, it is up for debate whether he is a danger at that level because he is a big boy, or because he actually has talent. One to keep an eye on I guess.
The other thing I found out today during the research on the game is that London Colney has been renamed the Sobha Realty Training Centre. The news of the sponsorship deal completely passed me by in February.
The deal is reportedly worth £15m a year, and the luxury Dubai-based real estate company will sponsor the training ground and training kit until the end of the 2027/28 season. In simple terms, the new deal pays the transfer fee for or a new £75m player this summer.
Enjoy your Monday!
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 
What a dim witted article.
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As the previous comment said, this is very poor form.
Klopp’s been here for almost a decade and you act like it was a weekend. He’s just a bloomin’ foreigner here to disrespect English traditions innit? What a daft, boring take.
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Spent 10 years in England, moaning about how many games we play in England, trying to lead the change in English football to reduce games, whilst being paid English money.
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