Liverpool, Norwich, Arsenal, Wigan, Spurs, Aston Villa (TWICE), QPR, Chelsea (nearly). All these are Premier League teams who have recently been dumped out of cup competitions by lower league opposition. There are some on this Board who seem to be taking a victory at Wembley for granted and, whilst I have every respect for their reasons and their confidence, I think this will be a closer game than we would like. We all know the reasons why. Bradford have the opportunity to create a quite unique piece of footballing history and they will have us firmly in their sights as the fall guys. I doubt a fourth tier team will ever get this close to winning a cup final again and Bradford will want to become the legends that a win would make them. The problem is, they actually have the weapons to hurt us. They are a physical team, the type we hate playing against and they specialise in set pieces. We all know how well we deal with them... I don't think!! They won't allow us a moment's peace on the ball, they will hustle, harry and chase until they drop. Our guys really don't like that but they are going to have to deal with it and I do not take that for granted because there have been many times when they have miserably failed to do so. Bradford know they are the underdogs. They know that most neutral supporters will be cheering them on and it's amazing what that can do for a team. They will be totally up for this game and we are going to have to match their effort and commitment. We have to force our game on them and not get drawn into a physical battle because there's a good chance we could lose that. Given our respective league positions, this is a game we should win comfortably. We have the class and the quality but in addition to that we will also need the WILL to win. If we can bring that to Wembley we should make our own piece of history.
If we can't muster the will, while walking out onto the Wembley pitch, then we don't deserve it, full stop! Having said that, we need to be set up as if we are playing Norwich or Everton, if we do that then we will be fine, but you say they are Physical, well I'd say they are bordering on dirty as well, I definitely saw some dirty antics against Villa, Ash needs to really let them now he's there, and Chico for that matter too!.................
True, under no circumstances should we underestimate them because they are afterall finalists. You have to be capable of producing results to get to that stage of a competition. But regardless, I do feel we have enough to beat them. Arsenal play a similar style of football to the Swans and on any other day Arsenal would have won their match against them 7-0 or 8-0, it happened to be a game where Arsenal were never destined to win despite being ridiculously superior throughout the match. Against the Gunners, Bradford reverted to defending deep and I wouldn't say the soaked up the pressure and dealt with it because it more of a case that Arsenal could have had an open goal all game and yet they still would have lost. I suspect Bradford would employ similar tactics again but this time Swansea will do what Arsenal couldn't, score enough goals. PS. Our defence is better than Villa's and Arsenal's.
Good post Ivor. I agree 100% that this is a very slippery banana skin we have in front of us. Anything short of full commitment from all players could see us come unstuck. Personally, I don't want to see any more articles from the likes of Dyer and Ki dreaming of Europe....dream about holding the Capital One trophy first....the rest will follow.
If they score first we're in for a torrid time; they will park the bus and throw bodies in the way, anyway they can. If we score first, then we can open them up, especially on the counter, and use the space on the field to our benefit - in other words, if they want to chase us and close us down, fine let them run ragged and exhaust themselves in the process. If there is one thing that is harder than playing our style of football it is playing against it.
Ivor if we were playing at bradford then i would agree that they are in with a small chance but as we are at wembley where the pitch will be ready made for our type of football then they have next to no chance. I doubt they will see much of the ball let alone score a goal.....4-0 comfortable win...
...IF we play to our capabilty I tend to agree. However, if we're not at it from the off and let them get into the game it could well be a bad day at the office. I fully expect our players to rise to the occasion.
Took the words right out of my mouth. Although they have beaten 3 Premiership teams to get to the final, they Arsenal and Villa at home (lost to Villa away, drew with Wigan away). The Wembley pitch as Dai rightly says is perfect for us. That said it is a cup final where anything could happen so I am confident but not cocky.
thank you to the lads who offered me a ticket, work will not let me have the 2 days off for my lightning visit, enjoy the match lads, you know i will be waking everyone up here at the final whistle if it is a win
