IT's domestic cup week and therefore a big week for Big Ange Postecoglou.
Because if any team is capable of beating Liverpool in a semi-final and losing to Tamworth in four days, it is Postecoglou's gloriously unpredictable Tottenham.
The Aussie was in a delightfully grumpy mood after Saturday's league defeat to Newcastle, but he has a pleasantly positive attitude towards knockout competitions.
He pretty much staked his job on them by claiming at a club that I ALWAYS win a trophy in my second season.
This should be the Chas & Dave Cup final music to the ears of Spurs fans after 17 years without a trophy.
The Carabao Cup could give us a dream final if Tottenham and Newcastle win their two-legged semi-finals, as no two clubs in English football desire silverware to such an extent.
The Geordies haven't had a pot to pour champagne into since 1969 and go to Arsenal tonight in poor health after a major festive revival.
But it's not just about Spurs and Newcastle quenching their thirst, as the domestic cups desperately need other winners.
A cup final is truly special when it means everything to the winning club – and not just a consolation prize, nor a stage of a double, triple or quadruple.
But remarkably, 21 of the last 22 major English domestic knockout competitions have been split between the 'big five': Manchester City (eight), Manchester United and Arsenal (four apiece), Liverpool (three) and Chelsea, who have two won. finals, losing seven in the past eight seasons.
FOOTBALL FREE BETTS AND SIGN UP DEALS
Leicester's 1-0 win over Chelsea in the 2021 FA Cup was the only exception – and even that trophy went to a club that had become champions five years earlier.
It's a far cry from the heyday of the 1980s, when Coventry, Wimbledon, Luton, Oxford and Norwich all won their only major honors in four years. Although European football was all denied by the Heysel ban.
This weekend brings the third round of the FA Cup and our annual chance to wail: 'What can we do to save the Cup?'
This year, the third round replays have been scrapped, amid widespread groans from traditionalists. But this switch makes Cup shocks more likely, not less. A one-off match with extra time and penalties gives smaller clubs a greater chance of a setback.
Every year there are calls for the cup to be renewed, with placements or with clubs from lower divisions automatically getting home advantage.
Tamworth vs Tottenham is the tie of the round, not only because of Spurs' intrinsic comedic value, but also because the match is staged at the National League club's Lamb Ground, with a capacity of 4,000 and the opportunity for everyone to to assume the showers will be cold and Spurs won't like it.
Meanwhile, Manchester City v Salford, Liverpool v Accrington Stanley, Chelsea v Morecambe and Newcastle v Bromley would all look a lot juicier if lower division clubs were at home.
But this change will simply never happen, because no one in football actually wants it.
Smaller clubs benefit more from outings on Premier League grounds, with their players and even supporters enjoying those outings.
The Cup's best chance of rediscovering its luster is if top managers make it a priority – especially given that the majority have no realistic title ambitions or relegation fears.
Instead, most will use the third round weekend as an opportunity to give the regulars in their sizeable squads – of which there aren't very many, not even exciting homegrown youngsters – some elusive 'game time'.
There remains a huge divide here between managers and fans, who would enjoy a cup final far more than a few extra league wins.
Will a mid-table Premier League manager then have the balls to pick his first team and then rotate in the midweek fixture that follows?
If anyone is likely to do that, it's that old romantic Big Ange.
All in all now: “Spurs are on their way to Wembley. . . ”
WISE BLUE
CHELSEA are out of the title race after taking just two points from twelve against Everton, Fulham, Ipswich and Crystal Palace.
Yet the Blues could have won all four games with one or two experienced heads among their talented youngsters, who withered when it became difficult to defend a 1-0 lead against Fulham and Palace.
During those recent matches I witnessed £106million World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez – still only 23 – kicking off against Ipswich's former Chelsea boy Omari Hutchinson in their 2-0 defeat.
And Pedro Neto, a relative veteran at 24, was apparently shot twice by snipers in the stands, given his anguished reaction to an opponent's lack of contact.
Chelsea's owners are addicted to youth, but a few wise minds couldn't make sense of it.
LIAM IS IN TUCH
NOW Thomas Tuchel has finally arrived at work with a clean slate, he will certainly be eyeing Ipswich striker Liam Delap.
He's an old-fashioned bully of a centre-forward who has been hugely impressive during Town's recent resurgence.
Delap has Pulisball in his blood – his father Rory was a key member of that struggling Stoke team – and was trained at Manchester City by Pep Guardiola.
Watch his playing and you can see pleasing aspects of both influences.
Delap will be Harry Kane's long-term successor as England's No.9 and it would be a surprise if Tuchel does not include him in his first-team squad in March.
PLEASE REFER TO BACK
I spoke to an experienced referee and he confirmed what I had long suspected: that pre-season edicts for officials are always forgotten within a month or two.
Remember the bookings for kicking the ball and delaying the restart, such as the second yellow card given to Arsenal's Declan Rice in August's home game against Brighton?
Well, they have been forgotten by the referees and their evaluators, as has the so-called 'high bar' for VAR interventions.
BUK STOPS HEAD
Don't get too excited about an actual title race after Liverpool dropped points against Manchester United.
Arsenal are their only credible challengers, but will never win consistently enough without Bukayo Saka – just as Manchester City collapsed without Rodri.
There is no player in Liverpool's side whose prolonged absence would have a similar effect – not even Mo Salah.
GOLDEN AGE
AS someone who is often told he must have had a 'heavy round of newspapers', it's encouraging to see someone who looks even worse for his age than I do.
The photo at the top of this page was taken eight years ago and I still look older than I do now.
So thanks to world darts semi-finalist Stephen Bunting, improbably only 39, and to new Southampton boss Ivan Juric, who at 49 is younger than me but looks retired.
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