The Football Insider with Mikael Silvestre: The magic of FA Cup lives on

FA Cup

This weekend in England we had the typical FA Cup round where smaller teams tried to upset big names and where, as Manchester United versus Arsenal, you had two of the nation’s best known names. 

Like everyone knows I was at United as well as at Arsenal and to this day I am still very fond of them both once I am retired. 

I also like the FA Cup and when I was a boy I remember watching in France because back then they didn’t have English league but they had Cup. 

Going back to this game I was happy to see United slam home for the first time after their performance against Liverpool last week. As you can see the players are learning the manager’s new regime and defensively they were fantastic. Not that I will say they have come around the bend now as there has been way too much of that in recent years. But let’s just say this is improvement. 

Arsenal will be mad they missed the Cup but there is a broader issue for them that is going to get them into trouble in the league and that is not getting enough goals.

There were plenty of chances against United but guys like Kai Havertz failed to convert and I would say now Mikel Arteta really needs to look into signing a striker in the January window. 

That won’t be an easy thing and the clout really belongs to Liverpool right now so Arsenal fans will be expecting the team to do a miracle in the transfer market. 

But in recent seasons I feel the FA Cup has recovered some of that prestige and it can be a kind of springboard into other major awards. 

As any player will tell you, medals are all about so at the end of your career you have real things to celebrate. 

You know it’s the old adage nobody remembers second and every team will this season be fighting for an FA Cup this year I believe – it might give them a reason to aim higher next season. 

So much is known about the trophy, that winning a winner’s medal is something to celebrate. I can remember at United we had to pull one season out of the FA Cup and play the Fifa Club World Cup in Brazil and it was national madness! 

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