Lets just start the FA cup from the semi finals then, top 4 from the PL the year before get in and everyone else just wont bother. as no one else has got much of a chance anyway (even though if you are not in it you have no chance, if you are, you have some chance, us in 73 to point out a glaring obvious one). I really cant see your argument though, its all hindsight, but isnt that like everything, if you knew you were not going to get that job that offers you an extra 5 grand a year, you would have never bothered aplying, but you dont know so you reply and you come away gutted, thats life. but the interview gives you more experience so you may have more of a chance of the next one.
What's so hard to understand about the fact that I just don't care that much about the cup? If we're going to get booted out, sure I'd like to get relatively far, but that's balanced out with the fact that being booted out earlier saves much of the heartache. Combine the two together and the result is that I just don't care where we finish in the cup. Both sides of it have pros and cons.
So whats the point in taking part in the league, we are never going to win that either, may as well just give the **** up and disband football completely.
you have more chance of winning the FA Cup than the UEFA or CL and its a lot more games, a lot more tiring, you start earlier, and you still might fail (just like the FA Cup) still confused lol
To be fair to Chappaz a lot of fans don't give two hoots about the cup. Never understood myself, I still see the romance in it.
Hmmm disagree about that, Europa League is no harder than the domestic cups imo but that's just opinion. Basically: I would love to reach a cup final. But if we don't reach a final, I feel you may aswell go out early on and save the legs. This is all hindsight of course
I would probably not give 2 hoots about the cup either if we had won it a few times in the last 39 years, or had CL Finals and winning them, and winning the league etc etc. (its not a priority like it used to be). But then I love the cup, so i would still probably clamour for it just like I do now. Yes the chances of winning it are slim, 1 in 900+ probably (not sure how many clubs actually take part) but f you are top 10 PL you have every chance of winning it, if you are championship/1st/2nd you have a chance of semi finals, and if you are non league you have a chance of 3rd/4th round against a big side, to get some much needed cash, where else could Blyth Spartans play Blackburn Rovers in a match that mattered (not a friendly). ah well, each to their own, I just want a trophy, dont give a ****e which one of the 3 it is (league/FA/League cup) but i know the 2 we have more chance of winning.
I agree entirely, but if you go out at the quarter finals you don't win that trophy. Sounds obvious but a lot of you dont seem able to grasp that.
but you dont know you have gone out until you have gone out. Like this year, You can go out to Middlesbrough at home in the 4th round. Beat them away, then beat Arsenal at home, draw away to Everton but they beat you back at the SOL. I would not pick getting beat off boro at the sol in a million years, and beating Arsenal is worth the run in itself. So yes this year i would have preferred to get to the 1/4 final than get beat in the 4th round, but then its very rarely we even get past the 4th round, never mind to a 1/4 final. My best match at Roker Park was the Semi Final of the FA Cup against Chelsea many moons ago, atmosphere was just ****ing amazing, and yes, thats swearing about it, but we got beat off liverpool in the final, but the semi will go with me to my grave, and I wouldnt have wanted to miss that at all. if we had got knocked out in the 3rd round, I would have.
There are rewards in the league. It's built around the structure of seeing your team do as well as possible, so getting 8th is better than 10th, and everyone feels happier about it. There are many games to enjoy which accumulate points on the board. The cups are either 0 or 100. You either win it or you don't. Whether you get booted out in the 3rd round, or the quarter final, the outcome is no different and everyone forgets within a week (unless you get to the final). Maybe if the FA Cup was some big European trophy which put our name on the map, then I'd be more interested. However, at the moment it's just a UK-based thing which happens every year without fail and relies heavily on the luck of the draw. People know this, so getting as far as the quarter final, for example, just isn't seen as a big deal. Even Bolton got there. I still have a lot of love for the FA Cup, and believe me I'd love us to win it, but if we get booted out early I'm really not that fussed. There are pros for that happening which must be considered.
the league is an English thing that happens every year without fail but only 3-4 teams have a hope in hell of winning it season after season, where is the fun in that. at least with the cups, the minnows have a chance. and as to europe being the same as the the FA Cup, Uefa started in July, FA cup January. UEFA = lots of games, Fulham had 13 games in the Uefa League before the FA Cup 3rd round even kicked off. FA Cup is 6 games spread over 5 months (not including replays obviously) so UEFA is a lot harder than tha FA Cup.
If it's not that big a deal why didn't you get there then? The FA Cup is huge, it's televised all over the world. If the Europa was easy then man u and city seemed to struggle so I don't buy that. To be honest I preferred the old European cups. Where the champions played other champions. Maybe I'm old fashioned. The champions league has created the top 4 and now no one gets a look in
FA Cup semi final at Roker Park? All the semi finals were then played on a neutral ground such as Old Trafford, Hillsborough or Villa Park. The semi final against Chelsea at Roker Park was in the League Cup when we lost to a Norwich team including Steve Bruce in the final. When we lost to Liverpool in the Cup 1992 we beat Norwich in the semi at Hillsborough.
I said 'not a big deal'. That has no relevance on how difficult the tournament is. As for the FA Cup being huge, I don't think it is. Everyone forgets and moves on pretty quickly.
this is such a non-argument, the mags trying to lord it over us because they had the foresight to get knocked out of the cup early by a **** team, whilst we struggled through more matches, got tired and got our hopes up, only to see it all go to hell in a quarter final replay. why oh why didn't we listen to reason?? why did we bother?!?
I would rather Vaughn scoring that Cahill !, what is it with this jinx?. Moyes will play a much weakened team on April 9th luckily so we can end this bogey team thing. And as for the f a cup Chelsea will win it anyway, and it could have been worse if Bolton had played Birmingham in the other semi we would have missed out big time. And as for europe only 3 teams qualify for the Europa league, Liverpool, Chelsea ? the 5th placed team(even if Chelsea win the f a cup) and finish 5th, and Everton if they get to the final. And what about Swansea who are top of the fair play league?. And WE could make the champions league when they bring in the new financial rules!.
Sorry MR Pedantic, it was a 1/4 final of the FA Cup. [video=youtube;PuQY5Z5O9oM]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PuQY5Z5O9oM[/video]
