What do people think ? I watched three FA Cup games over the weekend: West Ham v Man City - a one sided non event, WH didn't seem to care and didn't manage a corner or a yellow card Liverpool v Plymouth - the Scouser's played 8 raw kids in their starting line up. A very boring game. Spurs v Villa - ditto, a very boring game with no cutting edge. Neil Warnock made a good point this weekend after only 5,500 turned up for Cardiff v Fulham ["that was a thousand more than I expected"] - unless you incentivise the FA Cup with a Champions League place, the writing is on the wall. Championship clubs or below can't win it so won't risk injuries, and PL sides either want to stay up, or focus their resources on winning the title.
I used to like the Cup-winners' Cup. However that was blown away by the monster which is ironically called the "Champions"League. This resulted in the Cup winners having already qualified for the Champions' thingy, and you often had to go back to the semi's to get a "Cup-winner".
It's never really appealed to me, being a charlton fan probably has something to do with it as we've constantly been crap in it.
It's a joke of a competition. Ipswich failing to beat Lincoln and Liverpool failing to beat Plymouth for a combined £600 doesn't help my feelings. Get rid of the cups and give the players a winter break. Will also confirm that England are **** in major tournaments because we aren't very good, rather than the players being burnt out.
Interesting, I chose not to have a football bet on Saturday for precisely those reasons [which if you know my regular betting habits, is about as likely as Nigel Farage declining a fag]. Too many non triers and clubs not that interested. On Friday night I did the over corners and over booking market- afficiandos of this bet know that both clubs get over average bookings - you have never seen a match like it. West Ham hardly made a tackle.
It's brilliant still up until the 4th Round. The TV companies picked all the wrong fixtures this weekend though.
Not so long ago I'd never miss the FA Cup draw. It totally passed me by this year, all I know is the Manure Vs Wigan headline. Was anyone on 'ere agog in front of the telly last night?