Last Back? Got in at some stupid time this morning after ending up in some dodgy club and having to get a scab cab home! - hanging badly this morning! As H wrote above, what a day - brilliant team performance and brilliant support. Of all of the big modern stadia, The Emirates is my favourite and to be there for our first win is very special. Little Miss W_Y could hardly speak walking back to the pub after the game and we are very much looking forward the draw.
Still buzzing from yesterday. Can't wait for the semi-final. Just hope we don't suffer a cup hangover on Saturday.
Cheers ... have to admit each game coming along fills me with a mixture of trepidation and excitement ... in fairness, even now, they continually surprise me as to just how good they have become ... e.g I thought your boys were excellent at Old Trafford and were robbed of at least a point (in more ways than one) ... and yesterday was an astonishing performance ... sandwiched in between we went to your place and, I'd humbly suggest, caused you far more problems than the other two, for all their wealth and Big 4 kudos ...
You are right Fosse, maybe the "Big Four" will slowly realise it takes more than spending millions to produce a good team The only thing that could have been better was to have won the quarter final at White Hate Lane to wipe the smug look of their arrogant managers face, here's hoping your boys do that at the end of the season
Just read their match thread as well, I can only hope that we never become that casual about any success !! do they not realise there are only four trophies a year that can be challenged for and a few good teams trying to do the same ? plus a few "nobodies" out there, like us, looking to land some bloody noses when we can. We were very low down yesterday so difficult to get a feel for the flow of the game but thought we struggled first half against a very quick side who looked totally toothless in front of goal. Second half it was clear QSF had said or changed something because we didn't give them a second and were clearly the better side. Really glad they didn't start with, or bring on sooner, Welbeck because he really looked sharp and 9 times out of 10 would have put away that chance at the end. Hopefully this will give us a lift for Stoke, COYH.
From my view in the Upper Tier, it looked like Arsenal were trying to pass the ball into the net constantly - can remember only one shot from outside the penalty box all game - straight at Pants. Even when Welbeck got that goal I was still confident that they were unlikely to get another 'perfect' goal and so it proved - their only chance came from a mishit shot against the post that bounced out eventually for Welbeck not to do what Iggy had done earlier - turn 180 degrees and score. One of the great days, rivalling so many in the past. This is Watford's 5th semi-final in 46 years, and 3rd in 13 years - some clubs haven't even had one!
From Oliver Kay in today’s Times: In this extraordinary season, in which English football’s aristocrats continue to be humbled by an emboldened middle class, this was a classic demonstration of the reasons why. Watford were not just more clinical than Arsenal. They were fitter, hungrier, more resilient and more intelligent, fully deserving of an FA Cup upset that will intensify the scrutiny on Arsene Wenger. Arsenal found themselves undone by a slicker, quicker, cleverer team. The goals came from Ighalo and Guedioura, but Watford were epitomised by Troy Deeney, their captain. Others, such as Sebastian Prodl and Nathan Ake, were equally impressive, but Deeney’s combination of industry, aggression, selflessness and intelligence sums up his team’s approach under Quique Flores. I think people are starting to wake up to the fact that all this money is starting to level out the playing field. It means that the middle class teams referred to above (West Ham, Leicester, Stoke, Watford and others) are able to afford fees and wages that make them, if not on a par with the so called big four, then not as far behind as has been the case previously. Its no coincidence that the teams in danger of going down are largely clubs that are poorly run Norwich are the exception, but do not have a good enough squad and have not bought well enough. Despite this they may well yet survive.
Isn't it the 6th Semi since 1970 ? Chelsea 1970 Plymouth 1984 Tottenham 1987 Southampton 2002 Man Utd 2006 ?????? 2016
You call the 87 game a semi-final! No, sorry, my mistake. Having been to all of them, I should have counted better. BTW Southampton was 2003 and Man Utd was 2007.
we are all in the lower tier for the league game, and though usually i like to sit near the pitch, it does look badly raked so the upper tier was probably the better option for this game, despite the fact that i only sat there coz one of my friends outvoted me lol
The upper tier is OK, the view is spectacular but the players are, once again, so far away that facial expressions etc. cannot be made out and the thus and blunder of the game is largely missing. The Gueds goal took a distinct time gap to register with us all up there from the side - partly due to the distance and angle but also the sheer unexpectedness of a Watford player having such a shot!
