WHAT’S HOT WHAT’S NOT

HOT DIRK KUYT

LAST seen flogging himself at wing back for Holland during the 2014 World Cup, Kuyt is still going. Now 36, the former Liverpool striker is leading a Feyenoord team who are hunting a first Dutch league title for 18 years. They currently have a five-point lead over Ajax.

MARK POUGATCH

OF ALL the tributes paid to the late Graham Taylor, none were more eloquent than that of his radio sidekick. ‘He showed people the way to behave, the way to treat people and to know what’s really important in life,’ said Pougatch. Perfectly put.

SAM JOHNSTONE

THE world of the understudy goalkeeper is a strange one and Johnstone has spent much of the last five years on loan at clubs like Yeovil, Scunthorpe and Doncaster. But now the Manchester United player has a real chance to impress at Aston Villa and he started brilliantly with a trio of very good saves in the FA Cup last weekend.

KAZUYOSHI MIURA

THE former Japan international has agreed a new deal with Yokohama FC that takes him beyond his 50th birthday. Reminiscent of the day Sir Stanley Matthews signed for Blackpool aged 32 and was asked if he thought he could give the club ‘a couple of years’. He eventually retired 18 years later.

NOT SHORT MEMORIES

PEOPLE were quick to blame the early kick-off for Cardiff’s FA Cup attendance of just 5,199 last weekend. Their crowds for the corresponding fixtures the previous two seasons? In 2016, 4,782 turned up and 4,194 bothered in 2015. Heaven knows what time those games must have started.

DIMITRI PAYET

THE gifted Frenchman is 30 in March yet has never won a trophy and has started less than 30 international games. Before he came to West Ham, no other Premier League club had come close to buying him. If this suggests there has always been a flaw in his make-up, we at least now know exactly what it is.

SONNY BRADLEY

THE Plymouth defender was part of a brilliant effort at Anfield so it was a shame he will be remembered as the guy who tried to rile Emre Can by tugging on the German’s body and facial hair. A look at Bradley’s c.v. would suggest he is best concentrating on improving his football.

THE FA CUP DRAW

THE great competition continues to fight for prominence and bland draws in the early rounds don’t help. So here’s an idea. Lowest ranked club plays at home. So Man Utd v Reading becomes Reading v Man Utd. See, it looks better already.