Cheers fella. All the best to the Tractor boys for next season too. Portman Rd was always one of my favourite grounds to visit back in the day
Is everyone from East Anglia polite? First the Norwich fans, now the Ipswich fans. Cheers for the support
Most of the Sunderland fans I know will also cheering Arsenal on... Bruce's recent proclamation that most neutral fans will be rooting for Hull was a load of old bollocks; I'm thinking most football fans would prefer to see Arsenal's team prevail.
Team that will try to win by scoring more goals v team that will try to win by defending hoping for penalties. i really think its a hard choice...
You think that's what we'll be doing? I hope you're advising the French bloke re match tactics. Bring it on. UTT.
I expect a cagey opening 20-30 minutes filled with "robust" challenges from Hull. I expect us to be nervous and playing slow, possession based football and to be comfortable without threatening. I expect us to get an average goal around the 65-75th minute by which time the crowd will be getting increasingly jittery. I expect Hull to throw the kitchen sink at us and some erratic defending from us. I expect us to hold on. I also expect I'll recover from my heart attack a few weeks later!
It's a catch 22 for Hull. If they push up and try to get in our faces that will lead to space left in behind the midfield for our forward runners to exploit like they did in the 3-0 result earlier this year. If they sit back it will actually be harder for us to play through them but we have players capable of picking a way through your massed ranks so that kind of game doesn't really work against us any more. Double man marking Ozil, Ramsey and Cazorla will lead to more space for Giroud, Podolski, etc to play in. At the end of the day it doesn't really matter what strategy you employ, you have to defend for your lives and hope we have an off day like City did against Wigan last year and win it late with a set piece or penalty. We'll see. And playing 3-5-2 against Arsenal (should they decide to go that route) will give them more bodies in midfield however our forward runners will exploit the space left at the back when they try to move the ball forward as happened to Liverpool when we played them at the Emirates in the league.
A slight aside, but further proof that Robbie Savage is an egomaniacal ****: FA Cup final 2014: Robbie Savage on Robbie Savage (with some Steve Bruce thrown in for relevance)
So you expect us to play a wide open game and try to out pass you? Every team plays to their own strengths and in the past teams like Stoke, Bolton, Wigan and Blackburn have made things tough for Arsenal by making games physical encounters. I'm sure that we will defend in numbers and try and hit you on the break or (more likely) score from a free kick or corner.
I don't mind teams choosing to use defensive tactics, it's all part of the game. Mourinho shows it can be used by lesser teams and quality teams if the situation is right. It's a tactical choice and theres nothing wrong with that. One thing i do take issue with though, is when this "get in there faces" and "physical game" turns into constant fouling and thuggish play. With the old Stoke all too often they crossed the line and made games about kicking chunks out of the opposition. If our previous games this season are anything to go by i don't think your players are thuggish enough to turn this into a bitter foul ridden day out. I'm hoping it'll be a good natured game where it's all about the football. Which makes me think i hope the game isn't decided by a ref decision as well.
Oh yeah that was grim reading. Not sure why I was surprised really considering the chap is a grade A toss-pot.
If i've counted correctly this is the 10th cup final Wenger has had with Arsenal not including the Charity/Community Shield (whatever they are calling it at the moment!) or the League as it has no final. Only Utd and Chelsea have had more cup finals in that time, Utd with 11 (including the CWC which only requires beating one team to reach the final) and Chelsea with 12. (Again not including any cups which only require beating one team and not including the league). Edit: Upon recounting it seems Chelsea have actually been in 14!
