johnh

Fortunately, I only caught the last few minutes but, as expected, it was an exercise in mutual admiration.

If Kone hadn't got his hat-trick I'd have gone with Barry. Thought he controlled everything that happened.

No, we are the opposite. Our clocks went forward last week so it goes dark an hour earlier.

I hope there isn't a cancellation for fog as my son and grandson phoned this morning on their way to the game from Nottingham. Big Sam will have seen Howard's weaknesses and you can bet there will be plenty of crosses onto the edge of the six yard box with Fletcher putting himself about.

Agree, best team in the competition. One gripe though, how do they continually get away with forward passes. In the earlier rounds they scored 3 tries off forward passes and today got 3 points following a pass that was 2 yards forward. They don't half bend the rules at the breakdown too.

Be fair, Mike, I was only a few miles out.

I remember the League Cup starting - it was called the 'Milk Cup'. True. Not sure, but I think Birmingham City were the first winners. So it doesn't have a particularly prestigious history.

May be he meticulously repairs all the divots in the penalty areas.

No, think about it. Rodgers will be the cheap option.

Sorry to digress, but I can never see the word Middlesbrough without thinking of the episode of Auf Wiedersehen pet where the scouse lad is in Middlesbrough and phones home. His mother asks what Middlesbrough is like, he says 'I always though we were working class but now I've been to Middlesbrough I know we're middle class.'

Lowensda, many thanks for that. I have done a lot of genealogy work on the Henesy family so know my way around the various websites. Will follow that up. Really appreciate the information which is coming through. Would love to find descendants of Joseph Cohen to send a copy of the manuscript if they don't have it. The birth date of Joseph Cohen - 1905 looks promising as that would make him almost the same age as my Dad.

Yes, John Patrick Henesy born on St. Patrick's day (17 March) in Liverpool.

Steve, that is brilliant. Many thanks for that. Charles Francis Henesy is my Dad 1907-2000. Some years ago, I sent an email to someone at the New York Times to see if I could find anything out about Joseph Cohen. Never even got an acknowledgment. Thanks again Steve, made my day.

By the way, on this side of the pond we put the 'day' first and the 'month' second. ie 1st December = 1/12. Couldn't work out what the 11th of the 28th month was.

During the second world war my Dad was in the Fire Service, fighting fires in Liverpool during the Blitz, at the docks and in the city centre. He was a musician, a pianist, and used to enjoy telling the story of how, before the war, he played piano in Lewis's restaurant and during the blitz tackled the blaze in Lewis's when it was bombed and burned out. I don't know how it happened but Dad became friendly with a number of American soldiers who were also musicians. He used to invite them to our home and have jam sessions late into the night. My brother and I used to sit in the corner watching and listening. We couldn't see much though as the room was filled with cigarette smoke like fog. The American musicians (both white and coloured) were fantastic to listen to. Dad was particularly friendly with one American called Sergeant Joe Cohen. Together they put on a number of wartime shows in aid of the Fire Service Benevolent Fund. They had them at the Picton Hall and the Garrick in Southport. Dad and Sergeant Cohen wrote a song together, called 'A Sad Sack'. Dad wrote the music and Sergeant Cohen wrote the lyrics. I still have the original manuscript written by my Dad. Dad did a lot of broadcasting on BBC after the war with his Sextet. He was quite well known in Liverpool at that time and played at the Ocean Club. Don't know what happened to Sergeant Cohen, I don't think Dad kept in touch with him after the war - that's if he survived the war. I hope he did.

The FA should sue FIFA for the costs they incurred through bidding for a competition that had already been awarded.

Telegraph Sport quotes Martinez as saying: 'I trust Joel 100 per cent, but nothing changes (in terms of the No1). Tim Howard has incredible standards. There is no doubt Tim will start at the weekend.' Its just a shame that Howard's 'incredible standards' don't include coming for crosses.

During the 90 minutes, Norwich averaged a corner every six minutes.

Sheffield Wednesday 3 - 0 up and off 20% possession.

I can only go by BBC stats but they tell me that we are being totally outplayed, not in the game.

Talk about injury prone. Oxlade-Chamberlain goes off injured after 4 minutes and is replaced by Theo Walcott who goes off injured after 19 minutes. Arsenal 2 - 0 down to Sheffield Wednesday at half-time.

I thought we were playing at home? They have had 61% possession against our 39% and six corners against our none.

I played centre-half for most of my footballing days. There is a problem for defenders when a ball comes into the six yard box but there is no shout from the goalkeeper. The six yard box is the goalkeepers and I have been clattered by a goalie when I have gone for the same ball because he didn't shout. I don't think you can blame any of the defenders for the two goals. Regardless of whether they 'lost their man' it was Howard's ball for both goals. I have seen just as many goals scored because a defender went for the ball and collided with his own goalie which ended with neither of them getting the ball. What we don't know is: did Howard shout? If he did, then the defenders are blameless. If he didn't shout, then he should have done.

He's long past his 'sell by' date in an England shirt. The problem with him returning to Everton is that there would be a danger of the tactics being planned around him, whereas if his name was'nt Rooney he would struggle to get in the squad.

Doesn't really matter about the positioning of the centre-backs, the fact is that both crosses were Howard's, particularly the first which Howard could have caught if he'd been off his line quicker. At worst, he could have punched it. Instead, he is flapping about in no-man's land. Same for the second.