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The 2024-2025 Football Thread
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Absolutely delighted.
Actually, personally, I must admit that I love the "giant-killing" potential of the FA Cup; it adds to the legends, the history, the romance of the game.
This - the result, the defeat of Spurs - isn't really all that much of a surprise.
And, of course, Arsenal are not the only team with a squad that looks ominously threadbare as the number of injuries to senior and established squad members takes its toll; Spurs are also labouring under quite a number of injuries.
The thing is, Aston Villa are actually a very good team, - a team all too often over-looked as many of the more "glamorous" - or, well-resourced - teams soak up all too much of the available media coverage; moreover, they have possibly the best goalie in the world (Emi Martinez) currently playing for them.
And, ah, Marcus Rashford (who wasn't at all bad, today, by all accounts, once he was introduced onto the pitch).
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When I wrote this yesterday I did t expect them to immediately prove me right.
I would reserve judgment on Rashford he’s proven time and again he can’t cut it mentally for whatever reason.
If he can’t do it consistently for his boyhood club I don’t see how he will elsewhere.
Jesse Lingard had a similar path and did well on loan at west ham. He’s now making tik toks in Seoul.
Arsenal's coach blamed their loss in the League Cup semi on the ball – it is a different type compared to what EPL uses.
Someone I know who works in the lower leagues was telling me about this issue of different footballs being used and the legitimacy of Arsenal's coach complaining about the balls. When the person was talking about it I could not believe what I was hearing. Clubs in the top leagues have teams of sports analysts who's job it is is t look at every aspect of the game and to find where gains can be made. One of these 'gains' is how a football boot performs against the football. Things such as where to kick the ball to get maximum power out of the ball, where to kick the ball to get maximum spin and/or curve, where to kick the ball it you want to achieve maximum flight in the air or on the ground. All this analytical data is the fed back to the clubs coaches and tested out/tried out on the training pitch.
Now the issue with this data is that it is dependent on both the football boot and the ball and all balls are not the same, the premier league, the EFL, the champions league, the Euro championships, the World Cup, the FA cup and so on. They ALL use different balls as in the leather of the balls is slightly different, the amount of air inside of them is different, the writing/logos on the balls are different and this all affects how the ball functions when kicked by a football boot, and here is the thing, a players football boot will behave differently against each ball. Premier league players train and play with a premier league ball because the premier league makes the balls available to clubs training ground thereby anyone seeing someone involved with a premier league team holding/walking around with a premier league ball in their hand is not unusual BUT seeing someone involved with a premier league club with an EFL ball or one of the other balls will get people asking questions, especially the media.
After I was told all of this is it is why I can now understand why Arsenal's coach blamed the EFL ball for their loss. There is so so much behind the scenes technical analysis going on which is something us fans never get to see or hear about.
I asked the person what about this issue of blades of grass on the pitch, something premier league managers have complained about before and he confirmed that too. Blades of grass are measured so the optimum performance of football boot and ball can be achieved because the length of the blade of grass can affect the travel distance of the ball. Too tall and the travel of the ball is limited. Too short and the ball slides too fast across the surface thereby affecting how the players pass the ball to one another. Players get tuned in to how strong or soft they need to kick a ball to get the ball to another player. They instinctively know who much force they need to apply to the ball to make sure the ball get's to their player. If the blades of grass are too tall, this will slow down the ball thus affecting how much force the player needs to apply to the ball which is why in some cases passes do not get made because a player underestimated how much force was required to the ball to get it to their team mate.
There is so much science that is going on in the game it is unbelievable. I said to the person do they not think all this science and data analysis is spoiling the game of football and his reply was that the pressure on clubs to win things, pressure not only from the fans but also the sponsors is so great that clubs need to find ways to get maximum performance out of players and that means everything from the football kit (material used, it's size and weight), the football boots they wear, the footballs, the state of the pitch, the weather, everything.
Slot dropped the ball leaving key players behind I think. The FA Cup should be taken seriously and all credit to Plymouth who absolutely deserved that victory. It does annoy me the FA have taken away the revenue for smaller clubs by having single leg ties too.
The FA Cup lost it's prestige status the day the FA allowed the holders Man United not to defend the cup but instead allow them to take part in the inaugural World Club Cup. Top level Clubs no longer took the cup seriously. I remember the days when a top level club would get fined if they put out a weakened team against lower opposition because the cup competition rules stated that a team must put out the strongest team possible. Now, ever since that day the cup holders did not defend the cup the FA have found it very difficult to punish clubs who ignored FA cup rules because they have been able to use the argument that the FA disrespected the cup by not allowing the holders to defend the cup and thus how can they the FA punished a club for breaking cup rules when their own FA broke the biggest rule in the book (not allowing the cup to be defended by it's holders).
A number of top level clubs have put out weakened teams against lower opposition and there has been no sanctions against them. Look at the issue Liverpool had a number of years ago with a pile up of games with the club saying they could not participate in the FA cup because there was too many clashes of games and there would not be time for the players to have sufficient rest (under health and safety rules players must have x amount of rest before they are to play again) so what did Liverpool do, they submitted a written request to the FA that they play a very weakened team in their round of the FA cup and what did we see, a Liverpool team full of youth players.
The FA Cup is the worlds oldest football competition and as such the FA should never have allowed United to not defend the trophy and it was a travesty when the FA allowed it to happen. This is also why in my opinion numerous clubs and football fans have no faith or trust in the FA and treat the FA with the disrespect it deserves.
Agree re Marcus Rashford.
Actually, when composing my post, initially, I had forgotten that Rashford is now with Villa.
While I wish him well, - and he seems to have played well although he wasn't long on the pitch - I will also reserve judgment on his performance until the end of the season.
Well, I have been commenting on this for weeks.
I'm an Arsenal supporter, yet this excuse was not just pathetic, it was risible.
That was many years ago now. I think most clubs don’t disrespect the FA cup. But if they are against a lower league team they will rest key players if they can.
Like City. No way KDB or Foden would have come on against Orient if they were three goals up. But they had no choice but to bring them on after failing to score without them.
Isn't Plymouth Argylle last in the Championship? Having lost or draw the large majority of games?
Yes, football is football, anything thing can happen, whatever, but Liverpool had the obligation to win with whoever sub player showed up.
Either the subs are awful (don't really believe that) or there just wasn't a professional approach.
Yes, football is football, anything thing can happen, whatever, but Liverpool had the obligation to win with whoever sub player showed up.
Either the subs are awful (don't really believe that) or there just wasn't a professional approach.
What's he saying 'If you allow it to happen too often it becomes the norm' and that is exactly what has happened with fan's views on top tier teams playing lower tier teams, they think it is acceptable to have a weakened team player a lower tier team so players can be rested. It is wrong, it has always been wrong but because the FA has allowed it to happen for so long, it has now become an accepted practice. The rule is very clear, clubs participating in the competition must field their strongest team. There is no provision in the rules that say a club can field a weakened team so key players can be rested.
ANY club that fields a weakened team is in disrespect of the FA Cup and in disrespect to the lower tier team they are playing against. We see it time and time again when a premier league team faces a lower tier team, suddenly it's a case of the manager making 9 or 10 changes to the team because the FA has allowed it to happen and because they have allowed it to happen for so long, it has now become the norm. It's a disgrace. I have never liked this weakened team approach and never will. If a player is fit, you play them, end of.
Just goes to show that Liverpool's 2nd string team are not even championship level quality because they could not beat the leagues worst team. They were league one/league two quality and as such they deserved to lose.
They were poor on the day, but with football we all know anything can happen. That team may perform better today or tomorrow but were arrogant and underestimated the opposition at the weekend. It is what it is, and I tend to feel good about results like this when its lower teams like Plymouth, rather than not showing up against a team like Arsenal, or even worse, Manchester United.
lol, spoken like a true fan. In actual fact you should be fuming, mega angry that your team lost to the worst team in the championship who have been leaking goals like water in a sieve and yet Liverpool could not score against them whereas every other team in the Championship has. I know if I was a reds fan I would be absolutely fuming at the loss.
My frustration was short lived. I usually avoid discussing football online and have done for the last 10 years. I don't disclose my rank in the football fan eligibility scale either lol.
While I disagree that this action caused the FA Cup to lose its prestige, and status, I will say that this action - above all others - is a key reason for why I lost respect for Manchester United as a club, and why - given their current condition, (and position) I am tempted to conclude that this may be an excellent example of the concepts of hubris and nemesis in action.
That’s a naive view tbh many teams rotate their squads. How would you prove that a player is or isn’t fit? Or how can the manager assess how fringe players will do when playing with the first team.
It’s a gamble doing it for sure. For Liverpool they tried it and failed.
Shane!
It is not often that I find myself in a position where I am shouting for Real Madrid.
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Actually now starting to look leggy...again
City really dont know how to play second halves anymore
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Very strange to find myself cheering a Real Madrid victory......a (deserved) victory snatched at the death, in City's very own back yard.
And Real Madrid will play the second leg at home.
And Real Madrid will play the second leg at home.