Source: TheGuardian
Newport County v Tottenham Hotspur: FA Cup fourth round - live!
Minute-by-minute updates from the 17.30 kick-off at Rodney ParadeLamela: ‘My brother is in a wheelchair … you realise what is important’Email your thoughts to Nick | Or tweet him @NickMiller79 4.54pm GMT Who fancies a chat about tactics? That team is set out below as 4-4-2, but given the midfield would be incredibly narrow if so, on reflection it will probably be a 3-5-2 with Eric Dier at the back and Kyle Walker-Peters on the left. 4.46pm GMT Neither team have yet announced their substitutes. Perhaps they’re both trying to add a little tension to proceedings. It’s working. I’m tense. 4.38pm GMT Day; Pipe, Demetriou, White, Bennett, Butler, Willmott, Tozer, Labadie, Nouble, Amond. Subs: Bittner, Dolan, McCoulsky, Reid, O’Brien, Sheehan, Hayes. 3.17pm GMT If you’ve got yourself into such a funk of cynicism that you think that games like this, which will almost certainly end in a victory for the big boys, that’s understandable. But if you ignore the notion that all human endeavour is essentially pointless because one day we will all die so why bother, then there’s plenty to be gained for both of these teams.For Newport, this is obviously the sort of giddy distraction that smaller teams might enjoy; the chance to play against the best (and also perhaps Moussa Sissoko), as well as the outside chance that they might actually win, of course. It’s also a staging post on their journey back from the grimmer end of life, as they recover from being minutes away from relegation out of the Football League last year, to now sniffing around the playoff places.Eight months later Newport’s story keeps getting better. They are pushing for a play-off place, Leeds were vanquished at Rodney Parade in the previous round of the FA Cup and the stage is set for Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham. Temporary stands have been erected at either end of the ground, increasing capacity to around 10,000 for a game that is being televised and, according to Gavin Foxall, the club’s chairman, will take Newport’s earnings from the FA Cup this season to between £400,000 and £500,000.“When you think as a business we turn over £2.2m a year, when you start looking at monies like that, you realise the impact,” Foxall says. Continue reading......read full article
