FA Cup weekend

Not too many surprises from the third round of the FA Cup, although congratulations have to go to Nottingham Forest for a fine attacking display against a resolute Birmingham as well as Coventry who managed to pull off a 1-1 draw at Fratton Park against struggling (and almost penniless) Portsmouth.  The most interesting result came at the Madejski stadium where struggling Reading produced a powerful and commanding display against a full-strength Liverpool team that can only consider themselves very lucky to be playing a replay at
Anfield on Wednesday week.  Poor in possession and consistently giving the ball away in cdentral midfield, Liverpool looked worse than lacklustre against  a Reading side that made a  mockery of their lowly placing in the Championship.  Each game brings new questions about this Liverpool team with a seeming lack of creativity in midfield and over-reliance on two players, Gerrard and Torres, that will only frustrate fans for the remainder of the season.  Inexplicably, Benitez decided to revert to a 4-4-2 formation after repeatedly stating that his preferred system of 4-2-3-1 would continue but David Ngog looked off the pace and was easily dominated by the Reading defence.  If we want to talk of cliches then the "magic of the FA Cup" was certainly evident at the Madejski as the struggling outfit nearly overturned the might of Liverpool to knock out one of the Premier League's big boys.  The return will certainly be an interesting contest.