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Managerless Manchester United crashed out of the FA Cup with a 2-1 defeat to Brighton on Sunday.

At the end of a week that saw the storied Premier League team fire head coach Ruben Amorim, the loss at Old Trafford has likely consigned United to another trophyless season and was greeted with loud jeers from the home crowd.

Interim coach Darren Fletcher admitted the 20-time English champion was “not in a good moment,” but said it was too soon to write the season off with Champions League qualification still achievable.

“It’s probably not what fans want to hear about Manchester United because they’ve been winning cups and challenging for the Premier League,” he said. “Don’t waste the season. That would be the challenge that I would set. That’s the challenge that probably the players feel like they need to achieve this year.”

Former United striker Danny Welbeck scored what proved the decisive goal in the 64th minute, and Benjamin Sesko’s late header was only a consolation for the hosts in the third-round match.

United has exited both domestic knockout competitions at the earliest possible stage this season, following the humbling loss to fourth-tier Grimsby in the English League Cup. The latest defeat means United will play the bare minimum of 40 competitive games for a top division team this season.

Its only chance of silverware this term is the Premier League, which would require a remarkable turnaround with United currently seventh in the standings and 17 points behind leader Arsenal with 17 games left.

A trophyless campaign would be back-to-back seasons in which United has ended up empty-handed.

The club’s hierarchy hope an interim coach will be able to salvage the season by securing Champions League qualification. United has spoken to former players Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Michael Carrick about taking on the role until the summer. Fletcher, who has taken charge of the two games since Amorim’s departure, is also a contender, as well as former United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy.

The loss to Brighton underlined the challenge facing the interim coach.

“Any time you come in at Manchester United, it’s a massive job,” Fletcher said. “It’s not about a manager, it’s not about directors. It’s about everyone and the players have to group together, take responsibility, find a way of improving quickly and taking on the challenge for the rest of the season.”

Brajan Gruda fired Brighton ahead in the 12th, with Welbeck doubling the advantage after the break. Sesko scored his third goal in two games in the 85th, but substitute Shea Lacey was sent off four minutes later and United could not force an equalizer to take the game to extra time.

“I gave it my best and ultimately I’m disappointed to not be able to win a game or to get a result today,” said Fletcher, who drew his other game in charge 2-2 with relegation-fighting Burnley.

Arsenal advanced earlier Sunday with Gabriel Martinelli scoring a hat trick in a 4-1 win at Portsmouth.

Martinelli’s treble helped the Premier League leader come back from going a goal down to the second-tier Championship team inside three minutes.

Colby Bishop stunned Arsenal with the opening goal at Fratton Park, but the lead only lasted five minutes after Andre Dozzell scored an own-goal.

Martinelli put the visitors ahead with a flicked header in the 25th. He slid in for his second six minutes after the break and headed in his hat-trick goal in the 72nd. It was the first time the Brazilian had scored a hat trick for Arsenal.

Victory could have been even more emphatic if Noni Madueke had converted from the penalty spot in the first half.

“It’s always tough to go into these places, especially in the manner that we started the game, conceding the early goal, but we managed to turn things around so I’m very happy,” said manager Mikel Arteta.

Record 14-time FA Cup winner Arsenal last lifted the trophy in Arteta’s first season in charge in 2020. It was the last major honor the London club won, but victory against Portsmouth maintains its four-pronged trophy pursuit along with the Premier League title, the Champions League and the English League Cup.

“I think we are very privileged to be where we are, and the games that we have to play, which means that we are in every competition,” Arteta said.

Top-flight Leeds was also behind to Championship opposition, but recovered from 1-0 down to beat Derby 3-1 at Pride Park.

Third-tier Mansfield pulled off an upset to beat Championship side Sheffield United 4-3 and Norwich routed Walsall 5-1, with Jovon Makama scoring a hat trick. Norwich head coach Philippe Clement later said that U.S. international Josh Sargent refused to play in the game.

Relegation-fighting West Ham needed extra time to beat QPR 2-1. Valentin ‘Taty’ Castellanos’ goal saw Nuno Espirito Santo’s team end a 10-match winless run.

West Bromwich Albion beat Swansea 6-5 on penalties following a 2-2 draw after extra time. Hull won 4-3 against Blackburn on penalties after a 0-0 draw. (JapanToday)

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rejected Crystal Palace’s appeal against their demotion from the Europa League to the Conference League over multi-club ownership (MCO) rules.

UEFA’s Club Financial Control Body (CFCB) ruled last month that Palace were too closely linked to Lyon.

Palace’s appeal had three strands: the CFCB’s decision was unfair and unjust, against Forest being elevated to the Europa League, and against Lyon’s participation. All three were rejected by CAS.

Nottingham Forest are the beneficiaries, promoted from the Conference League to play in the Europa League. Palace must enter the Conference League in the playoff round later this month, when they will play the losers of the Europa League tie between Fredrikstad and FC Midtjylland — the second leg is being played on Thursday.

Palace qualified for the Europa League by beating Manchester City in the FA Cup final in May, but seven days later Paris Saint-Germain’s victory in the Coupe de France final meant Lyon moved up from the Conference League to the Europa League.

If two clubs are in violation of the MCO regulation, the team that finishes higher in the league will play in the European competition. Even though Palace (12th) won the FA Cup and Lyon (sixth) only qualified on a technicality, the league placing alone determined the right to play.

It all came down to the shareholding of John Textor, through Eagle Football Holdings Limited, who had a controlling interest in Lyon and 43.9% of Palace. The Premier League club argued that Textor had no say in the running of Palace, but regulations relating to decisive influence forbid any party from holding more than 30% of the total shareholding in more than one club in the same competition.

Textor last month completed the sale of his Palace stake to New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, but UEFA’s rules are determined by a club’s situation as of March 1.

A CAS statement said: “After considering the evidence, the Panel found that John Textor, founder of Eagle Football Holdings, had shares in CPFC and OL and was a board member with decisive influence over both clubs at the time of UEFA’s assessment date.

“The Panel also dismissed the argument by CPFC that they received unfair treatment in comparison to Nottingham Forest and OL. The Panel considered that the UEFA Regulations are clear and do not provide flexibility to clubs that are non-compliant on the assessment date, as CPFC claimed.”

Before this summer, no club had been removed from European competition due to MCO rules, but Palace became the third to be affected by the new stricter application of the regulations which required clubs to be compliant by March 1, rather than June 3 as in recent seasons.

Crystal Palace players with the Community Shield trophy

Irish club Drogheda United were scratched from the Conference League due to an ownership conflict with Danish club Silkeborg IF, and Hungary’s Győri ETO will take part in the Conference League with FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda removed.

Drogheda won the FAI Cup in November, with the Irish league run on a calendar basis. It wasn’t until June 1 that Silkeborg qualified for the Conference League — three months after the new MCO deadline. Drogheda and FC DAC 1904 Dunajská Streda appealed to the CAS, but lost.

Drogheda’s appeal was very similar to Palace’s, with complaints about the March 1 deadline and “alleged unequal treatment by UEFA.” As CAS had already ruled against the Irish side, creating precedent, Palace were always going to face a difficult struggle to come away with a favourable verdict.

Palace and Drogheda would both likely argue that it’s unfair to place such restrictions on clubs that usually have no chance of qualifying for Europe.

When the March 1 deadline approached, Palace had not played their fifth round tie in the FA Cup. For Drogheda, who finished ninth, they did already know they had European football, but Silkeborg (seventh) were not expected to do so and claimed a European playoff in Denmark only after finishing top of the relegation group.

Earlier this year, Liga MX’s Club León were removed from the FIFA Club World Cup due to an ownership conflict with fellow Mexican club Pachuca, indicating a change in approach to MCO from football’s regulatory bodies.

The decision from CAS comes after Palace triumphed over Liverpool to lift the Community Shield on Sunday.

With the scores locked at 2-2 after 90 minutes, Palace prevailed with a 3-1 win in the shootout to lift their second piece of silverware in the space of three months.

Palace chairman and co-owner Steve Parish, speaking after his team’s win at Wembley, said the south London club would look for any alternative solutions should the verdict not go their way.

“If we don’t get the right outcome, then we will have to look if there’s any steps after that,” Parish said. (ESPN)

Tag: FA Cup

Man United crashes out of FA Cup as club weighs up candidates for interim coach

Crystal Palace lose appeal to CAS over Europa League demotion