Opinion: A nod and a Winks

Sometimes the titles to these recaps write themselves! Jose gave four players an opportunity who either by desire or necessity would like to become more prominent parts of our squad going forward. None really disappointed—three played a direct role in the goals that put us out front—twice—and, in the end, despite one moment of shaky defending and another of truly horrendous refereeing, we advance to a Cup Semi-Final. Playing for a trophy.

So the manager’s nod went out to Dele, Bale, Winks and Doherty (as well as Sanchez and Davies but neither can really anticipate being anything more than squad level replacements for entrenched starters) and in order here’s what they did. Dele was active, engaged, somewhat creative, and, on a different nigh...