enhanced by google



Phil Brown

ITV Spy: Phil Brown's Arsenal rant, FA Cup semi-finals, Redknapp's target & Tevez again

Published: Wednesday, 18 March 2009, 10:33AM

Did Phil Brown go over the top last night?

The Hull boss was clearly seething following the FA Cup defeat at The Emirates last night and didn't hold back in his post-match interview. William Gallas was well offside for the winning goal but claims that the referee was taking instruction from the home dug-out were a bit far-fetched.

Taking a leaf out of mentor Sam Allardyce's book, the Tigers went into the game with a plan to frustrate, annoy and generally niggle the Gunners until they lost it. Instead it seemed to go the other way and it was Hull who were left fuming at the end.

After seeming to be a breath of fresh air when he entered the Premier League in August, Brown has slowly transformed into a bleating manager ready to look everywhere but at himself for reasons behind his side's demise. Of course he may have had a point last night, but his general demeanour does his club no favours.

How good will the FA Cup semi-finals be?

It's fair to say this season's FA Cup has failed to deliver the excitement and shocks of last year's, but if you can't have giantkillings the next best thing is to see the big guns go at it and that's what we've got in the semi-finals.

Arsenal v Chelsea is a London derby which always produces excitement and controversy while Manchester United's hopes for a quintuple will be severely tested by an Everton side always capable of beating the best on their day. A lot could happen between now and the middle of April when the matches take place but with the line-up now complete it should be a wonderful weekend at Wembley.

How many points will teams need to stay up?

Spurs boss Harry Redknapp says he thinks 39 points will be enough for side to avoid relegation, which is good for him as Tottenham already have 34! But with seven teams now between them and the bottom three I think we can confidently say they won't go down.

As for the group below them, Bolton and Hull on 33 are not out of the woods, while Sunderland with a point less are also still looking over their shoulder. With so many teams involved and so many playing against each other before the end of the season maybe 36 or 37 points should be enough.

Will the Tevez saga ever end?

Today's revelation in the Express that Leeds are now thinking of suing West Ham is another example of how this sorry saga is in danger of spiralling out of control. The paper reports that Leeds are unhappy because they feel they would have received more money for three players they sold to United if the Blades had still been in the top flight.

What next? Can Championship sides who lost to Sheffield United last season sue the Hammers because they believe the club shouldn't have been in that division in the first place? How about loss of earnings for finishing lower in the table than they could have done? It's quite amazing that from originally being seen as the club who cheated their way into staying in the Premier League, West Ham are now, rightly, being seen as the victims.

Where can I have my say on the burning issues on the day?

Well there's always your colleagues at work or your family at home, but when they become bored of your endless tirades, how about our football forum?

As well as having your say on issues in every division and beyond, there's also a hotline to the ITV Spy where you can hit back at today's blog. Very soon, the best posts of the day will start appearing on this page so get ranting.

You can also follow the ITV Spy all day on Twitter at www.twitter.com/itvfootball