Many Premier League players were given the chance to make their first-team cases in the FA Cup this weekend but they went out and played like they wanted to stay in the reserves. Here are five...
Nathan Delfouneso - Gillingham v Aston Villa
After convincing performances from the young prospect in the UEFA Cup against both Hamburg and MSK Zilina, Martin O'Neill must have been thinking that he'd got something special.
He's young, fast, and a great finisher. It all sounds a bit like Agbonlahor...but he didn't really play like him against Gillingham.
The promising youngster turned his big opportunity into a horror show for the fans as he missed one opportunity after another. The most memorable was when James Milner beat his marker and delivered a pin-point cross to Delfouneso, only for him to volley it over the bar.
However, Villa fans can still hold their heads up as they won the game 2-1, but it was a far from convincing win and an even worse performance by Delfouneso. This is a performance he won't want to repeat in a hurry if he wants to continue being picked ahead of the top-class striker, wait for it...Marlon Harewood! Wow.
Franco Di Santo - Chelsea v Southend
The 19-year-old Argentinian striker joined Chelsea last season in the January transfer window and was hailed as the next Hernan Crespo. Bagging seven goals from eight games for the reserves, he was almost looking like Chelsea's Carlos Tevez. Until he put on the no 9 shirt and came on for Joe Cole in the 83rd minute against Southend, that is. It was a dreadful performance to say the least - he hovered around the pitch like a lost child and his embarrassing miss in the last minute just made it worse.
Frank Lampard worked his magic once again to deliver the ball into the box only for it to fall to Di Santo and he...well, let's just say he missed. How he missed only he knows, maybe Mateja Kezman has been secretly hired as a coach, or even Shevchenko, or maybe even Pizarro. The list is just endless.
Dietmar Hamann - Manchester City v Nottingham Forest
The German international was arguably the worst player on the pitch - and there was some serious competition. Maybe he was playing an entirely different match because he clearly saw something nobody else did. Hamann inexplicably threw the ball from his own half backwards towards his own goalkeeper, but it turned into a glorious gift for the waiting Joe Garner, who wrapped up the game for Forest.
Somebody needs to remind Hamman that he doesn't play for Liverpool anymore and he's meant to be throwing the ball to a blue shirt, not a red shirt, because we can't out work what on earth possessed him to do that.
After that performance from Citeh, it's back to the drawing board for Hughes or even perhaps for Khaldoon al Mubarak.
Arnold Mvuemba - Portsmouth v Bristol City
Arnold Mvuemba arrived at Portsmouth from Rennes on a loan deal in 2007 with the option to buy - which they did - but Adams is probably rueing 'Arry's decision right now after Mvuemba's nightmare performance against the Robins. Portsmouth experienced life without Diarra as Mvuemba took the hot seat, and wow, did he have a shocker - it was like watching Isaiah Osbourne all over again. Misplaced passes, missed interceptions and he capped his performance with a shot which rolled gift-wrapped to Bristol City's keeper Adriano Basso.
Maybe we shouldn't be too harsh on his performance because Portsmouth as a whole look like they're stuck in a big mess since 'Arry's departure...oh dear Tony, maybe you should try and bring in Martin Keown as your assistant. Or have you already tried that?
Ryan Babel - Preston v Liverpool
Babel was arguably Ajax's best player before joining Liverpool in July 2007, but he forgot to bring his class to Deepdale. Babel's performance was simply embarrassing to watch and should serve as a reminder to anyone who wonders why his Premier League chances are limited.
Misplaced passes and poor control was the story of his game. He even managed to shoot and send the ball to the corner flag. Anyone would think it was Babel and not Steven Gerrard going through a rather tough week.
William Boye
Your Comments
Nizm
"Woah there Leslie! Babel's well young, give him time to prove himself FFS! He's not playing regularly, and he seems to be a sensitive lad (he's very religious, I read an interview where he said one of his major concerns was that he hadn't found a church yet) who is taking his lack of form to heart, which is making him even worse. If Rafa sees a future in him (and for the money spent I suspect he does) he will give him a a proper chance to prove himself at some point. One FA Cup 3rd round start after not featuring much all season does not prove anything!"
darraghg
"Ahem... Nani. Hopeless."
liverpoolbob
"Babel reminds me of Diouf (performance wise, not so much with the being a tw*t). People claim to have seen him play well for previous clubs, he came with a reputation as a serious talent, we beat a few other big clubs to his signature for a big fee and he's occassionally looked like there might be something special there. The thing is, he hardly ever looks like he's up for it. He doesn't look like he's concentrating, his passes are casual at best, he doesn't give it the Ronaldo/Henry strop when things go wrong, he doesn't even look as if he's running as fast as he can most of the time.
Without wishing to reinforce national stereotypes, is it possible he's just a bit too relakshed, poshibly a touch shtoned?"
ynwanfield
"i'm sorry but babel's performances have all been Rafa's fault. If you don't want him up front, at least play him consistently on the right damn it! Or i guess we could just keep letting him dribble to the corner flag and delivering a left-footed cross into row z."
unspecial_one
"sorry, i mean babbel's skill is not impressive!!"
unspecial_one
"babel is simply awful.. benayoun is certainly a better player even though the latter tends to over dribble at times..
how on earth can he claim to be the next henry.. he just have pace and absolutely nothing else.. his skill is impressive and his final distribution is simply awful.. he just whack the ball w/o even looking where his teammates were.. i dont think pennant is worst than him.. at least pennant's crossing is of top quality..
i got to agree with bigdaddystevo for lucas leiva.. the two halves simply shows what a great midfielder xabi alonso is.. i cant imagine w/o him.. lucas came on in the 2nd half and was absolutely awful!! can't pass, can't tackle.. i would give in 2/10 and babel 4/10 for their performance.. these two players given so many chances and yet they still do the same thing.."
keenanlfc
"Babel has shown some class but he needs to get his act together, not sure his position is helping him"
bigdaddystevo
"I agree with felderkirk. I have defended Babel for too long. I hoped he would recover from his inconsistent "first season syndrome" and be a great player this year, but I'm finding it hard to defend him with performances like that. Lucas on the other hand...."
felderkirk
"Babel is infuriating. His air shot following a deft piece of index finger control was the highlight for me. A complete enigma who would probably be good for any other team, so it's difficult to justify getting rid of him. I was pleased to see the delight with which he celebrated against Newcastle last week however. Since the early days of his move to Anfield when it was inferred that his heart could be located closer to the DJ tables of Ibiza than to The Kop end, he's been on thin ice for me. The 'being played out of position' excuse is only going to last so long."
galinbg
"Haha, I agree with every comment above!"
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