'Wait is it Fleetwood Town or Yeovil playing tomorrow?' - FA Cup third round (and onward) 2012

Let's kick off with some predictions:

Man Utd to beat Newcastle 2-0 in the final, Hernandez with both goals. Then Ferguson retires, 'going out on top'.

Surely he'll go out after winning the Europa League with Utd. The one he's been waiting for.

That'll teach the 'pool fans for singing Que cera cera after 15 mins.

Nevin at 0-0

Pat Nevin at Anfield on BBC Radio 5 live: "If you change the team about (as Liverpool have done), it can have an impact. But they play with each other in training and it will come together for them. They just can't wait to go a goal behind before it happens."

ORLY?

2140: Oldham midfielder Tom Adeyemi takes a throw-in and then turns to confront a spectator in the front few rows at Anfield. He is seriously unhappy here with something that was said to him and looks close to tears. The game is stopped for a few minutes and Steven Gerrard has a word with Adeyemi. Play is back under way now but we may hear more about that one.

??????????

huh, i was half heartedly watching but missed that one

CARROLL

cometh the hour (if the hour happens to be the 4th goal against Lge One opposition) cometh the man

your move, howard, your move...

Fill your boots lads

Watching a replay of Utd-City FA Cup tie from 1996 now, what a player Kinkladze was.

what players they *all* were, eh

anyone with a budget ass Virgin TV package like myself can get ESPN free for this rest of Jan it seems

so far this has enabled me to watch the last 30 minutes of a wholly wretched Brum-Wolves game

marcwebber on Twitter: "Cheltenham mascot insisted on shaking Harry Redknapp's hand as he walked to his seat. Harry quite shocked."

Ooh, beauty for Macclesfield says the radio

listening to the Cup on the radio...

Ben Arfa with a wonder goal apparently

james brown scored!

better not put that on the ronaldhino bottle opener thread lol (if you were watching jeff stelling on sky sports news you know what im talking about)

oh wait its a league game not cup

Dos Santos just scored! o_O how long ago since he last did that for Spurs' first team?

Cox hat-trick! Trap out

Dos Santos just scored! o_O how long ago since he last did that for Spurs' first team?

― I certainly wouldn't have, but hey. (Le Bateau Ivre), Saturday, January 7, 2012 11:45 AM (28 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

apparently defoe's opener was already going in from him too

viewable anywhere?

Top bracket work from the Beeb:

Swindon manager Paulo Di Canio: "I'm very happy for all these people (fans)

Villa have found their level.

Loving the Gas fan they've just shown skinning up. Stay classy, Bristol.

tremendous goal by future Man Utd also-ran Ciaran Clark, not much so far from future Ballon D'Or winner Gary Gardner

think some bad shit might be happening in Stephen Warnock's mind

Coventry manager Andy Thorn:

"We need men, we don't need shrinking violets. We were not as manly as we could have been."

tremendous goal by future Man Utd also-ran Ciaran Clark, not much so far from future Ballon D'Or winner Gary Gardner

― MPx4A, Saturday, 7 January 2012 19:14 (Yesterday)

surprised my crazy hyping of wilshere as a future ballon d'or candidate is still a meme for mocking.

Whatever happened to that guy?

scholes is on the bench for man u.

wtf.

no way

philmcnulty Phil McNulty
Scholes returns already called desperation by some but why? Ferguson short of players & will have seen him at Carrington every day.

Bloody hell. What about Bobby Charlton?

Who's going to give the kids their tea tonight?

A decent agent would've negotiated him a generous appearance fee for this shit.

Just realised Nult means 'why are some calling it desperation?' rather than 'wtf is Scholes returning?'

Yep. It's sad he was a Nult.

Wonder if Little Scholesy will accidentally cunt a Citeh player in the ankles knowing full well that the length of suspension he gets is irrelevant?

missed hearin what keano thought of it

BBC Radio 5 live commentator Alan Green on Scholes' return: "I'm astounded a player who retired back in May is suddenly on the bench and makes himself available until the end of the season. It's asking a lot. I think it's a panic measure."

otm

darragh, spurs goals from yesterday here http://www.101greatgoals.com/gvideos/tottenham-3-cheltenham-0/
defoe's poach is pretty lol

ta

Stayed tuned for the magic of the Budweiser FA Cup!

Has anyone significant been left out to accommodate Scholes?

Cantona?

Thinking of the young lads, Pogba and so on

YES!

?

!

Kompany deserves that. no arguments

????

two footed tackle = red

no

no

Can see why the ref did it, but that was never a red.

that, on replay, is a safe & great tackle imo.

otm

got no sympathy for him. he didnt need to do it. it was stupid and dangerous

It was neither

Who's the ref? Is it Fergie's rentboy?

real-time = red
slowmo = no red.

he only actually tackled with one foot I think?

lol pfunkboy on refereeing.

xp to myself: A-haha it fucking is.

Shit, it's 1-0. Great header.

I kinda hope city win this now. tho yeh, fantastic header.

caek you might be the resident ref but no one knows if you're actually a good one

Note that prediction in the OP btw. Heroic comeback by Newcastle and now this.

lol xp find anyone except you who thinks that was a mistake. the ref probably thinks it was a mistake by now.

none of kompany's momentum was impacting on the player, right foot came in sideways and sweeps the ball, left foot is to the side, kompany's low to the ground, gets there first

Look, there's 10 reason's that's not a red nor a foul imo, it being a two-footed slide is not in itself anything like censurable

yellow card tackle from giggs, maybe red taking scissors into a/c

its kompanys fault, he made a 2 footed tackle, he didn't need to. you dont need to injure someone for it to be a dangerous tackle, do you?

rooney's barnet is legit

Hahaha xps. Caek's not even qualified anymore iirc, I'll be getting my redding from pfunkboy from now on.

yes but it wasn't a dangerous tackle

my reffing

2 footed challenges are not by definition red cards. it wasn't a dangerous tackle. i'm not pulling rank on you: everyone including nani apparently thinks you're wrong. see tomorrow's papers for details.

What is this 'redding' and can we eat it?

yeah well if im wrong im wrong, but i still have no sympathy for him, he didn't need to go in like that.

Go in like what? Safely?

https://twitter.com/#!/search/%40chrishoy

ive seen gerrard,scholes and umpteen players go in unnecessarily and had no sympathy for them getting red carded for tackles/fouls they didn't need to do.

ref's gonna be leaving the ground in a laundry basket at this rate

red card tackle from rooney on silva two mins ago

Yellow card kick on a knee from jones there

xxp you just have no sympathy, do you?

^^ otm xp

what is this 'need' pfunkboy?

How is it relevant to this decision/discussion?

ManU are such a shit team. Shame City are down to 10 men.

pfunkboy:red cards::ian wright:england during the world cup

wtf at city not getting into hoy's face about every rough tackle since that red, tbh

Finish

oh my

meh

great goal!

what's de jong at there

Just four more to get

that was some finish, i think we can all agree on that

You fucking beauty!

Should've been a red for Welbeck there

oh and ok, someone said real time = red, slomo replay = yellow. and after watching it again. thats fair enough. Can i change my mind?
ref obv doesnt have replay so i still dont blame him for the decision.

great statesman imo

ffs

oh dear...

lol

looked like a pen

yeah, no doubt

looks a pen

haha

real time = pen
slo mo = pen

ffs

lol at itv commentary not knowing phil neville

Peno lol

jammy fuck

Fuck off idiotic ITV director choosing to show about twenty pointless seconds of Balotelli and Beckham watching the match WHILE THE BALL'S STILL IN PLAY and then finally cutting back to the 'action' when the - WAIT -YES!

WE WANT SIX

I was just typing no way are City getting back into this, Utd are too good at making space - but I guess that's obvious now

WE WANT SIX

^Subject line of Ferguson e-mail to ref

i thought you guys would be demanding 7 not 6
xp

are we collectively rooting for a cricket score or another comedy red card for Utd and a facemelting second half comeback then?

either will do

more red cards

Cricket score for City obv

Defo red card for ManU, it's the only thing that can save this match

tyldsley: 'it's a game that's been shaped by events'

city pls, rooney red

"events, dear Foy, events"

doing the proznan (rooney)

Scholes to come on for the obnoxious mind games victory lap in the last half hour, but then be immediately sent off for Scholesing somebody

Scholes valedictory red, then three quick goals for City

haha

Blackburn striker and BBC pundit Jason Roberts on Twitter: "We ALL know the rules NO two-footed challenges allowed..even with no connection. By the way...it does not matter if it was a good tackle five years ago!"

maybe that's why scholes is here, to get sent off, its' all a pre planned game. you know, like wrestling.

I know it's all very admirable, but City should be all round the ref at every opportunity.

Rooney is the best player in the world

lol those are not the rules bbc pundit jason roberts

maybe that's why scholes is here, to get sent off, its' all a pre planned game. you know, like wrestling.

Ferguson clearly feels City are obliged to 'return the job' here though

Kompany red was harsh, but you guys should stop the butthurt bleating for a card every single time there's a foul by a United player, it's clogging up the thread

I relish it tbh

two-footed challenge or united player = instant red imo

btw, Nasri is playing?

The Saudis should put a bomb vest on Nasri and send him into the Utd dressing room, he probably wouldn't even explode.

rooney reckless slide studs up on silva with force from behind

Red, gtfo

Giggs slide from behind, sweeping and scissoring opponent's standing leg

Min. yellow, gtfo

Jones late, high, forceful kick on opponent's knee

Yellow gtfo

Butthurt? gtfo, just want to see a fuckin game of football

...which City win

Former City player Alfons Groenendijk (9 games in 1993 never forget) calling City the moral victor on Dutch telly. "City's play will only enforce their belief in being able to win the PL"

Deems otm

Groenendijk otm

City are the only real football team left

Mancini deserves this for dropping Joe Hart in favour of a Philip Pullman character in goal.

lol at this utd blinker defensive butthurtedness tbh.

The ref is sucking ye off in front of millions of people, dunno why yer bothered bout what the little ppl think

i'm not being entirely serious old chap. Enjoying this though

Chiles just like uh...seemingly kind of uh...descending...uh...descending...into uh....into senility there, he's, he's...descending there, into the senility

Pitiful attempt at getting at the ref by Mancini & Kidd tbh

lol NN love youse guys rly

No arguing with that!

Oh nice

lol the 6-1 is on.

'don't shoot from there, that'll never go in'

Nice

is what I was saying there

Need a Utd red by 60 mins to make this fun.

Mirror image of the OT game so far: 1-0, red card, 2-0, 3-0, 3-1.

here comes Scholes xp

Jeez, he really is

carrick yellow there, inarguable

pen

ha, how's that not a penalty?!

What about that penalty claim Darragh?

I can't work out what would be funnier, a Scholes red for a late tackle or a 30 yard ripper that makes all of Manchester simultaneously explode.

Game on!

jajajajaja

Scholes!

Scholes' error lol

OK that was pretty fucking funny.

Fabulous from Milner btw

first thought, valencia into kolarov no pen

Lol scholes

Second replay from behind kolarov, looked a block & foul

Could have been given, def

lol at city scoring after man utd being denied a def penalty

Hmmmmmm

Love City right now

a poss penalty

Tbh, i'm all for refs who have fucked up trying to put it right within the same match, don't understand the averson to this.

lol at city scoring after man utd being denied a def penalty

― Jimmy Riddle Orchestra (Armand Schaubroeck Ratfucker), Sunday, 8 January 2012 14:27 (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

looking forward to sir alex's thoughts on this if city get another

scholes is gonna do a scholesy and get a scholesy imo

Tyldesley wanted that so much

"doing a scholesey" = "looking hopelessly lost as the opposition runs past him" in recent times. He's so far off the pace he can't even arrive late for a tackle.

yeah he looks fucked tbh

tbf he's making himself space by dropping behind his own back four

fergie will still say he was "immense considering you cant expect someone to be fully up to match speed after 6 months out"

By the way I have an excellent photo of a broken down clown car to post if Man United concede.

I had flicked over to the Rangers game when Tyldesley was excusing racism - anyone got a direct quote for what he said, just getting shortened snippets on twitter? 'Black, white, doesn't matter, it's the nature of the beast' or similar?

(also lol scholes, obv)

fuck me, i'd completely forgotten about owen hargreaves.

Owen Hargreaves. You can't accuse Mancini of lacking a sense of humour.

I missed the first half of this. United look rotten.

Hargreaves will be fitter than Scholes, I've seen videos.

second carrick yellow

ffs FFS!!!

never a pen tbf

lol

that's a pen imo

fuck me, this is one badly refereed game.

I'm waiting for pfunk to call it

nah, arm was on the ground. Came off his leg and he didn't make a move towards the ball

Lescott not great on the ball, I keep noticing

off his leg, onto his arm? Ah no.

Valencia yellow tho

lol at @riocunty5

Clear penalty imho.

ManU shambles atm

evra yellow

This is fucking brilliant.

That was solid gold moaning from Rio, even after he'd been awarded the free kick.

Lindegard as convincing as De Gea there

United's passing has been so slack in the last half hour

ROONEY MOTM

lol scholes

ROOOOONEY

Here comes the equaliser

should utd put men on the line?

oh no

lol ref helping city there

one of the worst refereeing performances of all time

Amazing move by Foy there

Moral victory for City tho

Yeah, the City face turn is complete

Former City player Alfons Groenendijk (9 games in 1993 never forget) calling City the moral victor on Dutch telly. "City's play will only enforce their belief in being able to win the PL"

― I certainly wouldn't have, but hey. (Le Bateau Ivre), Sunday, January 8, 2012 2:59 PM (54 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Groenendijk otm

― Ismael Klata, Sunday, January 8, 2012 3:00 PM (53 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

...and breathe

What a game.

i dunno, apart from being unable to give utd 50% of merited cards and a ridic red, foy was p fair

This City side, I think I'm falling in love.

otm

think City got it right with Aguero motm

that's all i'm willing to concede

Dunno, failing to give United that clearcut penalty has ruined the game as a contest and tarnished the reputation of the triple-Gold hero of Beijing.

disputed peno, considerably more giveable than the disputed jones handball, about 40 mins after depriving city of their captain and the best centre half in the country

Ya, that swayed the shit out of the game, i'd say

surely the Budweiser motm should get a six pack or something

Rooney looks like a bud drinker

disputed peno, considerably more giveable than the disputed jones handball, about 40 mins after depriving city of their captain and the best centre half in the country

yeah exactly, and nobody fucking mentions it after, fuck off itv. the jones handball was a stonewaller, that united one was far more dubious.

scholes, wtf, just actually embarrassing for him and the club. he genuinely did his best to hand the game to city, and clive had to go OHOOHHO SCHOLESY just to make it even more pathetic.

@OptaJoe: 71 - After coming on after 60 mins, Paul Scholes made 71 passes (97% complete), more than any Man City player in the entire game. Comeback.

united passed laterally for about 3/4 hours during the minutes between 70 and 80.

yeah i know

DM: disputed peno, considerably more giveable than the disputed jones handball, about 40 mins after depriving city of their captain and the best centre half in the country

LG replies: yeah exactly, and nobody fucking mentions it after, fuck off itv. the jones handball was a stonewaller, that united one was far more dubious.

Ronan, I'm struggling to match your reply to the quote and/or reality. The 'yeah exactly, and...' bit - does that refer to the penalty claims? (If so, surely you're actually completely disagreeing with him?). Or does it refer to the sending off? (If so - are you mad? They didn't shut up about it for the rest of the afternoon)

When's the draw for the fourth round? Really hope it's not Liverpool v Man Utd.

yeah, i'm saying that the jones peno isn't v giveable, utd claim is half giveable, utd probable yellows/reds were half given, early city never-a-red was given- on balance utd have done well imo

xp after the Chelsea game afaik

Kompany's gone with "moral victors" on twitter

^^ Groenendijk called it, and you heard it here first

huh, Jim Rosenthal is still alive

Ooh, Sunderland-Boro, that'll be tasty.

Oh shit~!

gosh darn it

Ding dong!

inevitable

Hats off to NBS.

Well done nbs

Ha! Bring It On!

Fuck's sake - it'll be carnage

Will Suarez still be out?

I think so

When's the draw for the fourth round? Really hope it's not Liverpool v Man Utd.

Yeah Suarez still out

conspiracy

Part of me thinks ITV won't show it it because the atmosphere will be sooo poisonous. Tho' obviously they will.

Only just realised that it's possibly a OPR/Chelsea rematch as well!! Kick It Out.

Haha, so it is. Not sure about the poison, the club will have to go all out to dampen things surely.

maybe some kind of special t-shirt

Ronan, I'm struggling to match your reply to the quote and/or reality. The 'yeah exactly, and...' bit - does that refer to the penalty claims? (If so, surely you're actually completely disagreeing with him?). Or does it refer to the sending off? (If so - are you mad? They didn't shut up about it for the rest of the afternoon)

sorry i read darragh's post incorrectly.

i thought the handball was pretty clear, maybe he didn't intend it but either way he got his body in the way of a cross and his hand was part of what stopped it getting over. i was surprised this wasn't even mentioned after the game.

btw can't believe man u got another easy draw in the cup.

ugh everton away. what a crappy draw.

i've never been drunk enough to want to phone up 606 but the poor baffled fuckwit who doesn't understand why the League has a rule about fielding full strength sides but the Cup doesn't is driving me close. Alan Green doesn't know any better but what do you expect eh?

Just. Don't. Listen. Noodle.

i pop the radio on when i'm in and out of the kitchen and it doesn't seem worth switching to radio 3 at the mo

lol at the draw. also scholes.

LOL @ Rooney winning MOTM ahead of Aguero

62.5% word inefficiency imo

Who was the twat who interviewed Mancini after the game btw? Deserved a slap.

United - Arsenal in the 5th round then?

well they have to beat the racists first

MK Dons or QPR v Chelsea

Just read that on the page, so venal. I feel grubby even C&Ping it.

well they have to beat the racists first

Which racists? (So many to chose from)

well yeah i left it open for easy joeks but noone took the bait

Darragh not in today?

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2012/01/08/article-0-0F60B71E00000578-83_634x382.jpg

They look like penguins, shielding one another for their very lives against the fierce Antarctic wind that is ten-man City.

i was tryin to work 'race' in to a pun but tbh the cup format scuttles it

https://p.twimg.com/Aiu9w0vCQAEwl2i.jpg

terry henry on the bench

lol martin keown

playing our usual midfield 3 just makes me assume we'll be reading tomorrow about 1 big injury.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fy8LdyXLrUg&

beautiful bit of skill by rambo there

lolz at guy filming it

DIRTY LEEDZ

not caring about getting the ball and instead barging into a player elbow first: not a free kick, obviously.

another defensive injury? who are we, utd?

arshavin is actually trying today. still playing like a wally but it is quite refreshing.

Great reception for Theo.

Beckham's at every game i watch these days

1 minute in and he's already done a 'why the fuck didn't you pass that exactly to meeeeee' gesture

yay hes back

i didnt think i'd be excited but that gesture has bought it all back

who wrote this script? lol

that was pretty good in fairness

Beautiful.

such a thierry goal.

celebration warmed my cockles

his beard still doesnt look right

i keep expecting him to say that the time at barca/nyrb was an illusion and he was actually stranded at sea

not bad from Song either

Wenger watched that goal, pulled on a cigar and did his best George Peppard impression: "I love it when a plan comes together."

Song will make a srs att midfielder one day

Lol Walcott replaced, in essence, by the player he was bought to replace half a decade ago

ok im starting to feel sorry for arshavin. he's played a blinder tonight until it came to putting it on target.

leeds seems about mls-level

Lol Walcott replaced, in essence, by the player he was bought to replace half a decade ago

― carpy deems (darraghmac), Monday, 9 January 2012 21:26 (13 seconds ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

add in that he came on for aoc because he wasn't that good tonight and you have a worrying trend

one man team.

Henry scored more in 10 minutes than Chamakh in 10 months.

Yesterday's man team

thierry henry i love you

ludicrous antics at the end there

http://i.imgur.com/wln3O.gif

thierry henry i love you

― Jimmy Riddle Orchestra (Armand Schaubroeck Ratfucker), Monday, January 9, 2012 10:37 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Mugging clown

thierry henry i love you

― Jimmy Riddle Orchestra (Armand Schaubroeck Ratfucker), Monday, January 9, 2012 10:37 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

― I certainly wouldn't have, but hey. (Le Bateau Ivre), Monday, 9 January 2012 Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

thierry henry i love you please screw nyrb and don't come back to mls

jbutler23 on Twitter: "Henry - fans of other clubs will never understand what he means to us. Fantastic."

lol wut

More from Thierry Henry, who won the ESPN man of the match award by a mile because viewers were voting for him even before he came off the bench: "It's a joke I got man of the match, but I will take it. The goal was one opportunity and you don't know if you have a second opportunity so you have to make it count. I will always remember tonight. I don't know why, but something happens with me and this club, sometimes in a bad way but most of the time in history, in a good way."

An emotional Thierry Henry after scoring the winner against Leeds on his Arsenal comeback, four-and-a-half years after he left the club: "I don't know. It's kind of weird. I only came back from holiday from Mexico 15 days ago and I didn't think I was going to play for Arsenal again, let alone score a winner. The feeling when I scored was amazing, I rejoined the club as a fan. Scoring a goal as a fan is amazing and now I know how it feels."

his enthusiasm is v. refreshing in a sea of carrolls and rooneys who look like they dont give a toss.

true, you never see Carroll celebrating

nice

An emotional Thierry Henry after scoring the winner against Leeds on his Arsenal comeback, four-and-a-half years after he left the club: "I don't know. It's kind of weird. I only came back from holiday from Mexico 15 days ago and I didn't think I was going to play for Arsenal again, let alone score a winner. The feeling when I scored was amazing, I rejoined the club as a fan. Scoring a goal as a fan is amazing and now I know how it feels."

his enthusiasm is v. refreshing in a sea of carrolls and rooneys who look like they dont give a toss.

Lol, looking forward to you swallowing this crowdpleasing shite all over again when Fabregas goes back to to Arsenal in eight years time.

I spent the last few minutes desperately hoping Mikael Forssell would equalise for Leeds in order to confuse the hell out of anyone emerging from a 10-year coma.

Lol, looking forward to you swallowing this crowdpleasing shite all over again when Fabregas goes back to to Arsenal in eight years time.

why wouldnt i? we all knew he was going to leave but 98% of the memories are good and hopefully he's learnt that racism is bad in the next 8 years.

It's more the craveness of the badgekissing that's annoying.

hopefully he's learnt that racism is bad in the next 8 years

If not there's always Liverpool I suppose.

thats bingo

did you guys see the incredible miss by notts forest from a yard out?
unbelievable.

channel

got it ta

let me guess... robbie findley?

decent header terrible defending

dan in early with the USA striker typecasting

but yes, it was Findley

indeed it was

Catching up on old motd2s tonight. Pat Nevin and Robbie Savage are a horrible combination, except that Nevin's got a wee bit of camp about him that I hadn't noticed before. Oh, and they showed a montage of his career - was gutted when they missed out his comedy penalty, but it was nice of them to make space for it a minute later.

you guys seen the miss yet?

this reminds me that i read that in an effort to solve their goal-scoring problem, everton have handed a trial to edson buddle. pretty grim.

worse than ronny rosenthal worse than van vossen

xp yeah had a good lol at that

Surprising that Torres doesn't seem to have become the gold standard

Not two months old, this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEctCqM4ZGs

lovely finish from Beckford, wouldn't mind seeing him back in the Prem tbh, Everton could prob use him

buddle can score goals for sure (with service from beckham and donovan he was fearsome during his last year in MLS) I just don't think he'll be able to do so well against good quality defenders

findley... I don't need to see his miss, I feel like watching him in MLS and for the USA I've seen it before

you wont have seen one as bad as this

Beckford hat-trick

The first touch on that, prior to the saved shot, was classy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=4DL_RM4WESM

^^^findley

gets funnier every time i see it

loooooooooooool

still prefer torres's because it has so much more weight to it in lols and in a more important game, but still findley ty.

just fucking sack the cunt ffs

ha.

damn, ul wrexham :/ fuck the seagulls.

birmingham were good enough tonight, a lot more pleasant proposition under Hughton, passing well and actually threatening on occasion. we are long ball merchants with no target men, only capable of direct football but too fucking ponderous and sideways-passing to get forward with speed. i swear we have the odd player who is better than this but it's impossible to tell from the clueless porridge mccarthy sends out. the bloke has no fucking idea how he wants the team to play, as long as they run around a lot. the performance, not the result, was fucking embarrassing.

flicked over to check the score just as birmingham were momentarily reduced to 9 men. waited in anticipation for wolves to take advantage real quick!!!, only for them to fuck it up and give the ball away with ease.

yep. tactics seem to be tap it about across the back line, wait until the opposition pressure us, panic, punt a poor ball forward to midfield player who can barely control it, midfielder hoofs it into one of the corners, opposition full back recovers it, rinse, repeat.

less than 11,000 there too. silly ticket prices or a growing malaise? or are people just not that arsed about the cup?

growing malaise with shite football i think/hope

yeah, good luck filling that nice new stand while we play like this. tickets were cheap tonight afaik

on an economic note, i'm musing as to whether the type of person that attends wolves-birmingham in january in the cup would even consider the price of a football ticket in the 'discretionary' column in their personal finances

But Wolves-Birmingham in the cup *should* be a 'big' match, shite football aside. The cup matches always used to get bigger crowds than the league ones, especially for the vast bulk of teams who weren't actually challenging for the title, and especially if it's kind of a local derby.

Tomorrow afternoon I'll be in a velodrome. This was booked when I thought United would probably get knocked out by City and even if they got through it would probably be a boring match against Middlesbrough or Villa. So I'll completely miss the big match. Possibly for the best as I can't see it being a particularly pleasant encounter.

Can't believe ESPN is foregoing tonight's Bundesliga for some Spurs FA Cup bullshit.

eh, it's hannover- nurnberg

Think they're showing it delayed live at 10:15 so I'm somewhat placated.

shop window selection, or strong team?

cudicini; walker, dawson, kaboul, rose; vdv, parker, livermore, modric; defoe, adebayor

everyone over here seems to be into everton/fulham for the clash of the usa titans

so

I dunno if it's the kinda the thing you can say about one of your team

but

Modric has been playing 'within himself' for more than a few games now- passing, tackling, runs all pretty characteristic of an unbothered player.

of course you can say that!

Who is this guy wondering whether he can slate one of his own?

'within himself' is code for shit, yes? Or it was last night - never seem him so withdrawn and playing so many poor passes. Watford were good though, prompting the usual "why are you so shit every other week?" question.

WTF is this sending bullets thing? Who the fuck even knows where to get bullets?

both fairly shit looking teams

pre-game handshakes abandoned at QPR

Carroll's on, Bellamy's on the bench....

wing backs? Hmm. Not convinced, but better than when I thought Carragher was gonna be at RB.

Harry was interviewed on radio last night after the game, said Modric was ill and he hadn't had the chance to evaluate him properly during the week, it had been a mistake to play him.

damn that's unlucky

Valencia looks really on it today

his improvement in the last couple of months has been immense

keeper

What does the keeper do there though?

set piece quality tbf.

it hit him on the head ffs

Welbeck is wasted as a lone frontman

Gah I knew we were in trouble there

sweet, was just gonna give out about Park too. Rafael has played well

Ramires in a lot of trouble by the looks.

?

terrible pen. decision.

Bad knee injury I think.

BBC Radio 5 live
BBC Radio 5 live senior football reporter Ian Dennis at Loftus Road: "Very unsavoury chanting aimed at John Terry by QPR fans. One of them is orchestrating the chanting after climbing up onto a television camera gantry. Stewards trying to get him down."

I spotted that, it looked great fun

downings service has been muck so far

this is painful. x-post otm, dreadful. get bellamy on ffs.

keeper

Tyldsley otm

The first handball there could've been given, I thought.

tyldsley starting the carrick for england campaign. "when he's in this kind of form"=playing one great pass

he's been consistently brilliant the last while

lol commentator's curse

not an advert for english football is it?

Berbatov on i reckon

commentators frothing at the mouth at the prospect of liverpool piling on de gea

^^liverpools game plan by the looks of it

otm. just get a few fat lads on from the crowd to triple team with carroll.

Charlie Adam's on

directed at carroll, right?
http://p.twimg.com/AkP5rO6CIAA127Y.jpg

I'm cautiously liking this new Carroll btw - he's done well there & today

dirk kulooooooooolyt

Utd basically invited Liverpool to win it this half

There's still time

he was given SO much space, third division defenders would be ashamed.

Are they trying to pin the goal on de Gea?!

Utd basically invited Liverpool to win it this half

― Number None, Saturday, 28 January 2012 14:33 (41 seconds ago)

so they can concentrate on the europa league uninterrupted.

evra's fault but de gea could've done better

Evra does that all the time now Jim

racist exploitation of evra for the goal there

Damn, that's my cup prediction blown.

Can't believe De Gea will play for Utd again.

c'mon

a victory for racists everywhere today.

with that much space, it is p much luck for the gk on a 1 on 1. he made himself big and guessed where it'd go but kuyt had the time to think about his shot. not de gea's fault in any way imo, but it is an easy narrative.

the standard was laughably bad for most of that second half. there was a 10 minute phase where it deteriorated into just one mistake after another.

agree that carroll was good today btw.

yeah they played their part all right

lol at gerrard rolling his eyes after reminding itv interviewer that we didnt actually beat city in the last game

well that's patently bullshit

"there's always a bit of banter between both clubs... friendly banter" - kenny dal
http://p.twimg.com/AkP5rO6CIAA127Y.jpg

Terrible. Happy.

Carroll looked like he was a professional footballer.

what am i supposed to be seeing in that jpg?

13 min: Carragher launches into a tackle on Park.

15 min: Carragher arrives for the tackle. Park is upended. It's in the centre circle, so referee Mark Halsey calmly blows for a free kick, and nothing else.

I know carra's a bit past it like but 2 mins late on the tackle?

2012: Carragher moves forward on the right wing

2023: Water levels have risen globally and a sodden Carragher arrives on the 18-yard line, but Downing's cross fails to clear the now drowned first man.

hahahaha

what am i supposed to be seeing in that jpg?

You seriously don't see that dick doing the monkey arms?

there are none so blind...

ah feck off i'm not defending him, i just genuinely didn't even know what he was doing. never seen a racist do an actual monkey impression of that nature.

can't keep up with racism trends.

OptaJoke OptaJoke
30,820 - Number of Liverpool fans who are ensuring that black players will think twice before signing for them. Evra.

in fairness you can only actually see one arm, otoh he does look a bit like Chubby Brown

Hold on, all the other matches aren't worthy of even one single post?!

the magic of the cup

quite apropos that it was the aryan kuyt who put il duce dalglish's stormtroopers one jackbooted step nearer to another cup final showdown at new wembley, in the black heart of multicultural britain.

i was going to watch this brighton v newcastle. seagulls v magpies, an avian encounter. but then i thought "no".

It's all a bit meh so far.

Chris Waddle wants to get some Blackshirts around Ameobe.

reece wabara agrees with your assessment.

a pity Cardiff won the other semi or there was a crystalpalacenacht reference there for you too xps

This game's a bit rubbish sadly.

just wandered into an empty pub showing this game and heard the great phrase "maybe the man of the match hasn't yet asserted himself". Christ.

Your search - "maybe the man of the match hasn't yet asserted himself" - did not match any documents.

witnessing the birth of a cliche is a beautiful thing

finally something happens

He asserted himself.

hurt my throat shouting at the pub telly when they claimed Dalglish's substitutions changed the tempo of the match

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/jan/28/police-investigate-fan-gesture-anfield

Dalglish really is a fucking cunt, reading those quotes.

It's alright, it's just a bit of banter.

well was he talking about booing evra, or about money gestures? Cos I don't give a fuck about players being booed tbh.

er monkey gestures, not money gestures, obviously.

hardly think kenny is referring to a specific fan making monkey gestures tbf

think the booing itself was cuntish in this context, he should have condemned it tbh, but i mean what are you gonna do

C'mon Boro.

Was Fergie asked about the Park song the United fans were singing?

yeah that's the same

nicely done

You're not going to stop Liverpool fans having a go at Utd and vice versa, all you can do is try to turn the temperature down a bit. Which more or less worked I thought, so Kenny's entitled to be prickly when that's the first question imo.

Is there some subtext to the Park song that I'm not getting? Why's it such a big deal?

so Kenny's entitled to be prickly

the man is actually a sight worse than Ferguson now. Doesn't matter what he's asked, every single question is met with a sneer

Think I'd have a permanent sneer on my face if I had to deal with the press in this country.

he's had a hard time of it all right

think the booing itself was cuntish in this context, he should have condemned it tbh, but i mean what are you gonna do

evra kisses his badge infront of the main stand and admits to referring to suarez's sister's pussy. he also changes his mind as to what suarez actually called him, and is given the benefit of the doubt at every turn, his inconsistencies glossed over while suarez's are pounced upon. the fans' frustration with the fa and the media's handling of this was, rightly or wrongly, directed at him. didn't agree with the chants of liar, but can understand why he was booed.

"rightly or wrongly" - you mean wrongly

well thanks for clearing that up. also bollocks to the booing was a bit of banter nonsense upthread.

what a hit son

Liverpool v Brighton & Hove Albion
Everton v Blackpool or Sheffield Wednesday
Chelsea v Birmingham City
Crawley Town v Stoke City
Stevenage v Tottenham Hotspur
Norwich City v Leicester City
Sunderland or Middlesbrough v Arsenal or Aston Villa
Millwall or Southampton v Bolton Wanderers

Not sure how they've managed to avoid even one big tie here.

evra kisses his badge infront of the main stand and admits to referring to suarez's sister's pussy. he also changes his mind as to what suarez actually called him, and is given the benefit of the doubt at every turn, his inconsistencies glossed over while suarez's are pounced upon. the fans' frustration with the fa and the media's handling of this was, rightly or wrongly, directed at him. didn't agree with the chants of liar, but can understand why he was booed.

i was talking about yesterday, at the match, after everybody had apparently 'put the incident behind them'

i don't agree that dalglish is partic sneering btw, imo he gives generally good/fair/interesting interview answers- better than ferguson by a distance.

Not sure how they've managed to avoid even one big tie here.

Were the Premier League sides seeded to keep them apart, or something?

sometimes it's like we're not even watching the same game xpost

it's a subjective game!

vivre le difference jol sicco etc

Stevenage v Spurs = tie of the round

local at least

also if we emulate the watford performance they'll prob beat us

so crawley is 5 mins from where I work but that's too far to travel to watch Stoke tbh

Heh, I work in Crawley but share yr sentiments.

Who knew there was such a big ILF Crawley presence? I learnt to drive in Crawley.

I live in Brighton for the record. Wandering through Crawley on the way to the train station on Friday.

Boy: 'You're not gettin' none of my wages ya slag'

Girl: 'You should have though of that when you were spunkin' in me ya cunt'

GOALIO for Villa

perfect set-up for Villa's standard "park the bus and give up 2 in the last ten minutes" strategy.

think that's the first corner we've scored from this season

Great finish by Bent!

2-0!

Heh! Awesome composure to finish.

The rousing encouragement from the Emirates Faithful as their heroes left the pitch will no doubt rouse Arsenal for a second half fightback

lol

getting Keane in for six weeks seems like decent business for Villa, he's not there long enough to decide he's in charge

the huffy body language is creeping in though

The rousing encouragement from the Emirates Faithful as their heroes left continuing presence of Alan Hutton on the pitch will no doubt rouse Arsenal for a second half fightback

I guess waiting until he's got two goals and an assist to say it seems like decent business is not the most daring feat of epistemological bravado but I'm kinda trying to rationalise the situation

Hutton, man, fuckin ell

I'd maybe wanna send Ox out right though, Warnock and Theo's shitness seem to be cancelling each other out at the moment but Ox could probably take him to the cleaners, and there'd be less risk of Warnock ending his career and getting away with it

BBC min-by-min

1701: This could be a massive second half for Arsenal. After defeats in their last three Premier League games, they are faced with just the Champions League as their only real hope of silverware this season.

ONLY REAL HOPE OF SILVERWARE!!!!

What an equaliser!

classic Walcott

I think you mean classic Villa.

Game held up. If only they could find another ball.

Unbelieveaballs. PEN to Arse.

laughing my actual butt off

lol at Richard Dunne "has one life left"

I live in Brighton for the record. Wandering through Crawley on the way to the train station on Friday.

Boy: 'You're not gettin' none of my wages ya slag'

Girl: 'You should have though of that when you were spunkin' in me ya cunt'

― Yeah Yeah Bohney (Craigo Boingo),

underrated post imo

I liked it, but didn't really know how to respond

Ditto. It was either lock thread or carry on as before imo.

I've SB'd myself.

"It was a clear elbow. Would I like the FA to look at it? Yes," said McLeish.

"Look at my nose, it is a result of elbows all my career. It is something which is dangerous."

Birmingham 1-0 vs Chelsea!

Scrappy goal from a corner. Chelsea cumbersome so far.

penalty to chelsea. clear cut.

torres not trusted. mata to take. Misses!

phew, a football thread, thank fuck

OMG the commentator know second guessing why AVB didn't start with Frank Lampard because he would have probably scored the penalty!!

torres hooked at half-time for drogba.

yeah that's no fun, my biggest reason for watching chelsea is seeing torres continue to not score / finally score.

sturridge 1-1

chants of 'jose mourinho' huh. poor avb :(

RYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

chants of 'jose mourinho' huh. poor avb :(

from the birmingham fans apparently.

boos at half and full time though

the inter fans were chanting for mourinho last night too. only porto letting the special one down.

Arsene's just pulled off his big Coq.