FA Cup Preview: Would Cup Glory Keep Hiddink at Chelsea, Can LvG Tame Shrews?

It was back in January when Guus Hiddink borrowed from Oscar Wilde. After ruling himself out of the Chelsea job on a permanent basis, he then backtracked without missing a beat when pressed on whether there was anything that could change his mind.

"I'm human. You can tempt every human being," the Dutchman said, per ESPN's Liam Twomey, in an echo of the playwright’s famous quip: "I can resist everything except temptation."

Wilde too, like Hiddink, did much of his best work as a resident of Chelsea.

Hiddink is not a man prone to playing games. It’s the closest you are going to get to the Dutchman throwing his hat into the ring. At 69, this would be the final furlong trod on a long and decorated career.

Disinclination towards theatrics is one of the characteristics that will have appealed to Roman Abramovich when he brought Hiddink back to Stamford Bridge for a second stint on an interim basis.

If Jose Mourinho provided both the mother of all parties, and the accompanying morning after the night before to boot, Hiddink is the paracetamol. Not just for the club’s board, but for the players, too.

An amiable demeanour and avuncular presence on the training ground, he certainly seems to have alleviated the pressure Chelsea’s most underperforming stars were experiencing under Mourinho. Diego Costa and Cesc Fabregas in particular look like totally different players. From rats to lions in the space of 77 days. 

Hiddink may lack the A-list box-office appeal of purported front-runners Massimiliano Allegri, Diego Simeone and Antonio Conte, but on the flip side, he represents less risk. In the case of the latter two in particular, Chelsea’s board would have to accept they would be appointing characters who march to the beat of their own drum, a la Mourinho.

Disregarding whom they would like to appoint, Chelsea would still have to convince any of the aforementioned trio to give up coveted roles at Juventus, Atletico Madrid and the Italian national team, respectively.

In terms of job security, you’d be loath to take the Chelsea gig if you were worried about meeting your mortgage payments.

With other European heavyweights Pep Guardiola, Carlo Ancelotti, Jurgen Klopp and Mauricio Pochettino (so Tottenham Hotspur hope) tied to long-term projects elsewhere, it is a rapidly diminishing pool of talent Chelsea have to choose from.

As the old adage goes, sometimes you can’t see what is under your nose. Just as he did seven years ago, Hiddink has not only steadied the ship, he's steered it in a new direction. To say he’s done a patchwork job on Chelsea—a deluxe Tony Parkes if you will—would do disservice to a rare alchemist touch he possesses.

He has lost just two games out of 35 across his two spells as caretaker boss in 2009 and this season. In terms of an easy fit, he’s the training shoes you have worn for five-a-side for the past 10 years. Dog-eared perhaps, but oh so comfortable.

In 2009, after stepping in to tidy the mess left during Luiz Felipe Scolari’s ill-fated tenure, he guided Chelsea to FA Cup glory and secured a top-four place that looked in jeopardy. After beating Everton in the FA Cup final, he was serenaded by the club’s players with a chorus of: "We want you to stay."

Should he do likewise this season, expect similar strains to be heard rising from Wembley’s underbelly.

Chelsea vs. Manchester City, Sunday at 4 p.m. GMT

A friends-with-benefits relationship has suited both parties over the years, yet should Manchester City be dispensed with on Sunday—in the most eye-catching of the weekend’s FA Cup fifth-round ties—it would be hard to pick too many holes in Hiddink’s credentials for the job on a permanent basis.

Even a defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, the first Hiddink has endured since returning to west London, failed to punch a hole in soaring morale. A sterling performance in the French capital saw Chelsea return to London with a 2-1 loss but in custody of an away goal that keeps the club’s UEFA Champions League aspirations very much alive.

Sunday’s game at Stamford Bridge is intriguing in that it pits two clubs seemingly caught in a perpetual state of stasis. Caretaker managers are effectively overseeing both sides. Thus what has been created is a strange state of affairs where one boot is playing in the present, the other in the future.

It’s an odd position for two clubs with so much still to play for to find themselves in. City are in the hunt for silverware in four competitions, while Chelsea retain interest in both the Champions League and FA Cup.

Over in Manchester, Guardiola’s impending arrival is casting quite the shadow. Since current incumbent Manuel Pellegrini confirmed a change of management scheduled for the summer, City have faltered badly.

After being thoroughly outplayed by Leicester City at home in the immediate aftermath, last weekend they were beaten for a second successive game in the league as fellow title challengers Tottenham left the Etihad Stadium with a three-point haul of their own. 

Pellegrini’s ill mood has hardly been tempered by the fact Sunday’s game was moved back a day by the broadcasters, despite the fact City face an arduous trip to Kiev for a Champions League round-of-16 first leg on Wednesday.

Earlier in the month, the Chilean confirmed he would have no alternative but to field a weakened team were his side made to play on Sunday, per the Telegraph's Jonathan Liew:

"

My way is to try and play in every competition with the best team. I think it [the FA Cup] is a serious competition and not a competition you can throw away. But at this moment, with so many injured players and the chance to try and get to the Champions League quarter-final for the first time, I think it’s a case where we are going to prioritise.

We have to play Champions League on Wednesday. We have to travel to Ukraine on Monday. There’s no reason why we can’t play on Saturday.

"

City’s options are already severely hampered by injuries to Fabian Delph, Kevin De Bruyne, Samir Nasri, Jesus Navas and Bacary Sagna, with doubts over Wilfried Bony and Eliaquim Mangala.

According to the Manchester Evening News' Simon Bajkowski, Pellegrini may also rest Sergio Aguero, Fernandinho, Yaya Toure and David Silva with Wednesday’s game in mind.

Even given the fact City have had their feet up for seven days while Chelsea have squeezed in a trip to Paris, it’s hard to see anything but a home victory on Sunday.

In all likelihood, if Pellegrini elects to field a young and inexperienced side, it should be a tie Chelsea negotiate with minimum fuss. Just how Hiddink likes it. Just how Abramovich likes it.

Some might say they’re made for each other.

Shrewsbury Town vs. Manchester United, Monday at 7.45 p.m. GMT

When the verdict came in, Louis van Gaal was in no position to dispute it.

£71 for that.

£71 to watch Manchester United lose to FC Midtjylland.

£71 to watch Manchester United lose to a side that had won once in 10 matches.

£71 to watch Manchester United lose to a side that had not played in two months.

£71 to watch Manchester United lose to a side that lost 9-1 on aggregate to Napoli in the group stages.

£71 to watch Manchester United lose to a side that were only formed in 1999, the year United won the treble.

£71 to watch Manchester United lose to a side without a verified Twitter account.

£71 for that.

When Van Gaal was told the exact wording of the chant, he stopped short of joining in but was in general agreement, per the Guardian's Jamie Jackson: "The fans can criticise. They can do because when you see the second half maybe they are right. We have to improve and then the fans shall support us again. We have seen that in the 18 months I am here."

In a season of precious few peaks and more troughs than an industrial-scale pig farm, a freezing cold night in Herning is the nadir. Sunderland was bad, this was worse. Much worse.

United had three shots on target all evening. Sergio Romero was their best player after stepping up to start when David de Gea pulled up injured in the warm-up. According to PhysioRoom.com, United now have 13 players jostling for attention in the treatment room.

In other circumstances—as has been the case for Jurgen Klopp this season and in bygone campaigns for Arsene Wenger—this could be another stick to beat Van Gaal with. In this case, though, it would be like berating Joseph Stalin for having a suspect moustache.

I’ve no idea who this Murphy fella is, but surely he’s got to be worth giving a start at Shrewsbury?

A European sojourn was supposed to provide respite from domestic travails. A naughty midweek break away to thaw a relationship long since turned frosty. In hindsight, Denmark in February was probably never going to do the job.

After taking just a draw from their last two Premier League matches, a top-four place seems a tough ask, with United now just a point ahead of Southampton and West Ham United in the table.

Van Gaal conceded in the build-up to Thursday’s game that winning the UEFA Europa League was the club’s best chance of securing a place in next season’s Champions League. Few United supporters are booking accommodation for Basel, where the final is to be played in May, just yet.

A Monday night away day at Shrewsbury Town for an FA Cup fifth-round tie has the feel of the final leg of a three-day stag do.

Shrewsbury are the stag, full of devil-may-care bravado determined to make the most of the last days of Rome, while wearing a hilarious comedy hat. Manchester United are the rest of the party: Hungover to the point of stupor, wearing the vacant look of Ryan Giggs that betrays the fact they are thinking only of home.

As an antidote to the current malaise, playing in front of a live television audience against a struggling League One side will have all the appeal of being urinated on to treat a jellyfish sting for United’s players.

It’s indicative of how far United fallen that it seems necessary to point out that they should be fine. The last time they lost to lower-league opposition in the FA Cup was back in 1984, with ties against Derby County and Sheffield United having been negotiated successfully already this season. There wasn’t too much dash to the way they dispatched of the latter, but neither did there ever seem much possibility of an upset.

The Greenhous Meadow isn’t much of a fortress either, with Micky Mellon’s side having won just three games at home all season. The taming of the shrew is a fortnightly occurrence in Shropshire.

It will be interesting to see what side Van Gaal goes with, given the return leg with Midtjylland at Old Trafford follows just three days later.

Prior to Thursday’s aberration, the Dutchman had spoken with characteristic candour of how lifting the FA Cup would mean more to him on a personal level than winning the Europa League, per the Independent's Samuel Stevens:

"

My personal wish is to win the FA Cup.

I have already won the UEFA Cup and I want to win a title in England. That is why I have come to this country, to make Manchester United champions or give them a title.

But I understand—for Manchester United it is much more important to win the Europa League because it will give us the Champions League. It is not only my best route, but ours I think.

"

Manchester United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward may be the only person in the city still to carry a photo of Van Gaal in his wallet, but even he will have squirmed at his manager’s airing of a personal preference that deviates from the club’s.

Should Manchester United lose on Monday, then not even Woodward would be able to protect Van Gaal. 

Arsenal vs. Hull City, Saturday at 12.45 p.m. GMT

 
Tottenham vs. Crystal Palace, Sunday at 3 p.m. GMT