FA Cup 2012 Season

Post by **BobHelm** » January 17, 2012, 8:02 pm

The
Wrexham v Brighton, R3R, 19:15
game has been postponed until Wednesday due to a frozen pitch.

& it is so pleasant in Udon today as well...

Post by **BobHelm** » January 18, 2012, 7:58 am

Tuesday, 17 January 2012 The FA Cup with Budweiser
Bolton 2-0 Macclesfield
Leicester 4-0 Nott'm Forest
Millwall 5-0 Dag & Red
QPR 1-0 MK Dons

As is often the case in the FA Cup, the minnows get 1 shot at the remarkable result. If they can't pull it off the first time then the replay often goes very much with form.
So it very much turned out last night, although the MK Dons certainly gave their illustrious hosts a few causes for concern.

Post by **BobHelm** » January 19, 2012, 7:58 am

Wednesday, 18 January 2012 The FA Cup with Budweiser
Wolverhampton 0-1 Birmingham
Wrexham 1-1 Brighton (Brighton win 5-4 on penalties)

Brum eventually get the bragging rights over their neighbours. The first match, at St. Andrews, was a quite awful game played on a terrible surface. The pitch was better this time round...

Wolves played 10 different players than turned out against Spurs at the weekend & it showed.
Not a great advert for the competition by two sides who you would have been keen to make some progress.

Just the opposite would have been said about the further delayed replay at Wrexham.
Cracking, exciting game in which the visiting side finally managed to creep away with it by the narrowest of margins.
A game in which both victor & loser can go away from with their heads held high.

Post by **BobHelm** » January 27, 2012, 8:49 am

Friday, 27 January 2012The FA Cup with Budweiser
Watford v Tottenham, R4, 19:45
Everton v Fulham, R4, 20:00

No Premiership games this weekend as the FA Cup round 4 hits the headlines again.
The Friday night games is a bit of a new one on me though.
Once deciding to do that the game selection is also a bit strange & possibly low key.

Maybe the planners expect at shock between the London sides, personally I doubt it.

Everton (can't score goals anywhere) against Fulham (any trip outside London is foreign travel & the food & language is against us) can hardly be expected to be a riot of football fun either.

An evening to forget & check the morning news unless insomnia strikes, I think...

Post by **BobHelm** » January 28, 2012, 9:58 am

Friday, 27 January 2012 The FA Cup with Budweiser
Everton 2-1 Fulham
Watford 0-1 Tottenham |

The only real surprises was that Everton managed to score more than 1 & that Spurs didn't.
Fulham went 1 nil up very early in the game. Heitinga slid in for a tackle, the ball came off his arm (intent ??) Howard Webb pointed to the spot. Fulham had been the better side for the first 15 minutes, but not sure if by enough to warrant a goal.
Everton certainly felt that the penalty was unfair but took the right sort of attitude from it by rather dominating the rest of the game. They had equalised by the break & won it with about 15 minutes to go.
A fair result I feel.

Van der Vaart scored from distance just before the half time break to edge Spurs into the lead. It was certainly the home side that were sorry to hear the final whistle though as they pounded the visitors through out the second half.
Watford are struggling to survive in the Championship this season while Spurs have been flying high at the top of the Premiership. It would not have looked that way to any casual viewer in the second half though.
Watford got nothing but plaudits though as a moment of magic from one of Spur's stars was enough.

Saturday, 28 January 2012 The FA Cup with Budweiser
QPR v Chelsea, R4, 12:00
Liverpool v Man Utd, R4, 12:45
Blackpool v Sheffield Wed, R4, 15:00
Bolton v Swansea, R4, 15:00
Derby v Stoke, R4, 15:00
Hull v Crawley Town, R4, 15:00
Leicester v Swindon, R4, 15:00
Millwall v Southampton, R4, 15:00
Sheffield Utd v Birmingham, R4, 15:00
Stevenage v Notts County, R4, 15:00
West Brom v Norwich, R4, 15:00
Brighton v Newcastle, R4, 17:15

Another all London tie is the first kick off. Chelsea would have been reasonable content with the result when the draw was made, it could be a little different now. New man in charge means the home side will not be especially predictable & Chelsea have not exactly been setting the world alight in the Premiership. I still think Chelsea will have too much for QPR, although the home side might take it to a replay.

The clash of the tie starts just before 1 o'clock in England though.
Pool against United....Prediction??... I think United just about have 11 players who can challenge any side in the competition. I don't think Sir A can actually risk playing that 11. Pool are not the same side without their main frontman, not playing thanks to a United player. I think that there will be a lot of effort in this game with only glimpses of skill.
United to play defensive & try & win it on the break. Pool to win the game...

Pick your own favourite out of the 3 o'clock kick offs. There are some interesting match ups there.

The late game could be worth watch too. Brighton are coming on nicely under Gus. Match of the Day could do with a goal & a result so that they can drop Ronny Ratford from the run in to the game next year...

Post by **BobHelm** » January 28, 2012, 9:38 pm

FULL-TIME QPR 0-1 Chelsea

Bit of a 'soft' penalty put Chelsea into the next round. QPR tried their best but Chelsea just took the one goal on offer & closed out the game.
Plenty of nastiness off the pitch & I gather some unsavoury chanting about John Terry. A defender who will probably go down in history more for two pre-match handshakes that never happened than for anything he did on the pitch..
Ramires was stretchered off for the visitors, but that was self inflicted in what was never a dirty game.
In fairness QPR rather have the more important Premiership survival to worry about & Chelsea probably don't have many other realistic domestic ambitions than the FA Cup.

FULL-TIME Liverpool 2-1 Manchester United

Plenty of action in the other game though.
United started with Giggs & Scholes to ensure that Gerrard did not think he was playing a youth match & felt a bit more at home. The first half was all United, even though the score at half time ended up 1 each. In truth Pool had no attack at all & their goal was by a defender from a corner. They seem to have no idea how to play Andy Carroll. Isolated up front & throwing high balls between the centre & penalty spots is asking a great deal of a single player. Consequently United's defence coped rather easily.
United's midfield looked comfortable on the ball & in Valencia United had a player who could frighten the opposition.
In goal for United David de Gea had little to do & did all of it poorly, so Pool had only to loft the ball into the box to create some sort of chance.
Pool were far more in it as an attacking force in the second half as United seemed to become more defence minded.
Then, when it looked like being a replay, a lump up field by the goalie, a flick on by Carroll & Kuyt netted nicely.
Pool almost immediately had an even better chance, but as it fell to the feet of Carroll it went wide.
Pool possibly fortunate to win it, but United really should have taken some chances in the first half when they were so dominant.

Post by **BobHelm** » January 29, 2012, 9:25 am

Saturday, 28 January 2012 The FA Cup with Budweiser
Blackpool 1-1 Sheffield Wed
Bolton 2-1 Swansea
Brighton 1-0 Newcastle
Derby 0-2 Stoke
Hull 0-1 Crawley Town
Leicester 2-0 Swindon
Millwall 1-1 Southampton
Sheffield Utd 0-4 Birmingham
Stevenage 1-0 Notts County
West Brom 1-2 Norwich

A mixed bag,,,

The result of the later kick offs undoubtedly Crawley Town victory away at Hull.
Although both Stevenage & Brighton at home will say that they rather have a small claim at that title as well.

Sunday, 29 January 2012 The FA Cup with Budweiser
Sunderland v Middlesbrough, R4, 13:30
Arsenal v Aston Villa, R4, 16:00

Good derby match in the North East. Early season Middlesbrough were flying in the Championship while Sunderland were rather languishing in the Premiership. While Boro are still in promotion contention the gloss has rather gone out of their game of late while the black cats have had the inspiration of getting Martin O'Neill. In theory an easy home win...in practice a Derby FA Cup clash is rarely that.

Arsenal should have too much for Villa, but Villa could come looking for a replay & make life very hard for the home side.
If Mr. Keane is up front Villa are more likely to prosper from any defensive slips ups than before... & the Gunners have had quite a few of them this season...

Post by **BobHelm** » January 29, 2012, 11:01 pm

FULL-TIME Sunderland 1-1 Middlesbrough

Boro opened the scoring with a great goal, but completely against the run of the game.
Sunderland equalised through finally fit again Fraizer Campbell, who netted for the first time since April 2010 & was starting his first game rather earlier than expected.
The Black Cats were all over the game but Boro defended heroically, if somewhat, at times rather crudely.
All new ball game for the replay in Middlesbrough though. Still too close to call.

The draw has taken place for the next round.

MILLWALL or SOUTHAMPTON v BOLTON

SUNDERLAND or MIDDLESBROUGH v ARSENAL or ASTON VILLA

NORWICH v LEICESTER

STEVENAGE v TOTTENHAM

CRAWLEY v STOKE

CHELSEA v BIRMINGHAM

EVERTON v BLACKPOOL or SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY

LIVERPOOL v BRIGHTON

Tough on Stevenage & Crawley, but they do have their Premiership opposition at home...Maybe not quite so good for the coffers, but great for the fans..
Brighton rewarded with a trip to Pool...tough game...
Chelsea & Everton must be quite happy with the draw..
Funny that the two ties playing today will meet in the next round as well..

Post by **BobHelm** » January 30, 2012, 9:22 am

Arsenal 3-2 Aston Villa

Well the final game to be played in round 4 was a real FA Cup cracker.
Arsenal dominated possession in the first half with their passing football that gets them near to the opponents' goal but rarely threatens as they try & pass it into the net.
A defensive schoolboy error at a corner & a typical break away goal & they were 2 nil down at half time with their own fans booing them off & baying for managerial blood.
Come out in the second half &, for most of it, played exactly the same type of football. They were, however, gifted two penalties by Villa. On both occasions the defensive trip was totally unnecessary as the attacking player with the ball was already losing it if only the defender left him alone.

So the Gunners win by 3 goals to 2 & I guess many of their fans will be happy & miss the point.
Villa are not a very good Premier side & they scored two goals.

If Arsenal win anything this year (& it is really down to FA or European Cup) then they will have to be continually gifted games like this one. Going forward they play pretty football but still don't have an aggressive centre forward who is greedy to take the chances, apart from on loan, old stager Henry...
I imagine that it will be an uncomfortable trip to the North East in the next round going on this performance...

Post by **BobHelm** » February 8, 2012, 9:10 am

Two of the replays were decided last night, the final one will be decided tonight.

Post by **BobHelm** » February 9, 2012, 7:54 am

Middlesbrough 1-2 Sunderland

Tough game which had to go nearly to penalties to get a result.
Sunderland won it just before the end of extra time though & now face Arsenal at the Stadium of Light in the next round.
Middlesbrough tough series of results continue, as they now have not won a game since Boxing Day, although have often played well & been unlucky - as they were here again.
The Martin O'Neill show just keeps rolling along though. Some of that would appear to be down to luck, but Martin has always seemed to enjoy enough of that in his managerial career to suggest that maybe luck isn't actually a very large part of it!!

Post by **BobHelm** » February 18, 2012, 8:26 am

The FA Cup competition again has the weekend.

Some interesting match ups today & the chance of some real 'giant killing' tomorrow.

Post by **Zidane** » February 18, 2012, 9:38 am

Crawley could be the ones to do a giant killing.......
Stoke had a big UEFA League match on Thursday against Valencia......and lost.....maybe feeling a bit deflated and "after the Lord Mayors Show" syndrome for the Crawley game ?

Post by **BobHelm** » February 18, 2012, 9:43 pm

FULL-TIME: Chelsea 1-1 Birmingham

Uncomfortable first half for Chelsea.
Brum went into a one nil lead & then Mata missed a penalty & Chelsea looked a poor & disorganised side. Even the home crowd were not happy with the name of The Special One having another outing amongst the crowd. As it did at Milan in mid week, seems the place he is least popular at the moment is his current club who are sat on top of the Spanish league....strange world...
Anyway Drogba replaced Torres & Obi Mikel was replaced by Salomon Kalou as AVB decided Chelsea should try & score in the second half. To be honest the playing of defence minded Obi when at home against Championship side Birmingham was a peculiar decision by the Chelsea boss.
The half time media chatter was that Andre had 45 minutes to save his job. Chelsea scored & looked the more likely to win it in the second half without exactly putting the visitors under the cosh.

Should be an interesting match up at St. Andrews. Maybe Chelsea away will be a little more comfortable, they looked very nervous & continually looking for a banana skin at home.

I guess Chris Hughton will be very well satisfied with his teams' performance, not going to be a walk over in the return leg though either!!!

Post by **BobHelm** » February 19, 2012, 8:45 am

: scores.jpeg (11.65 KiB) Viewed 1444 times

Rather too easy for Everton.
When you are away from home & a goal down within a minute of the kick off & two goals down just after 5 minutes, then you know that you are in for a tough afternoon. Blackpool had a great unbeaten start to 2012 but manager Holloway made 7 changes to the side that ran out the previous Tuesday.
Everton were just too good for the visitors & Blackpool were outclassed for most of the match.

All a little too easy for away Premier side Bolton as well. They may be struggling in the Premiership but they still had too much for Championship Millwall. While the home side often enjoyed a lot of possession they rarely threatened the Bolton goal.
However whereas Everton fans can look forward to a Cup run & an eventual victory would top off a season, Bolton rather have larger fish to fry. Premiership survival is certainly more important than even a Wembley trip & victory!!

Norwich have been playing entertaining, attacking football at home in the Premiership. It is rather surprising that they were out attacked by their Midland visitors then.
Indeed the home side only got back into the game courtesy of a soft penalty that they were fortunate to score on the rebound.
All in all a justified victory for the Championship side who certainly have not played as well as this all season & have often been a disappointment to their fans..

After the disappointment of a midweek first round thrashing by Milan it just got worse for the Gunners faithful.
I doubt if winning the FA Cup was ever top of Mr. Wengers' priorities at the start of the season but it really was down to winning this competition or nothing by the time this game eventually kicked off.
It was a poor performance by the Arsenal players & even substitutions did not improve that. Although Sunderland were rather gifted the second, own, goal the result was still a fair reflection of the game.
Lot for Arsenal to think about. Spend no money & constantly sell your best players has finally come back to haunt them this season. Mr. Wenger can no longer pull rabbits out of hats, that he has consistently managed to do so for so long is a testament of just what a great Premiership manager he has been.
There will undoubtedly be more calls for his head, but that will be from the foolish. I think Arsenal have more to worry about him finally having enough of the situation that he is in, rather than him to be concerned over a P45.
If anybody thinks that the crisis of non performance at the club can be improved by changing the manager then they are in for a huge shock once he does finally go...

Chelsea limping to a draw at home, Arsenal out of the competition, does this round have any more tricks up its' sleeve today??
Huge potential for an upset in all 3 games, but, as Zidane has already suggested, Stoke are probably the most likely to have 'after European competition' match worries....

Post by **BobHelm** » February 19, 2012, 9:40 pm

FULL-TIME: Crawley 0-2 Stoke

Stoke almost made a difficult task impossible.
After 20 minutes & still at nil, nil they contrived to get Rory Delap sent off.
They are then rather gifted a penalty by Crawley & then the height of Peter Crouch to finish the job, & Crawley, off.
Another heroic attempt in the FA Cup by the Sussex side. Last season it took Manchester United to beat them & this season it again took a Premiership side....

Post by **BobHelm** » February 20, 2012, 8:22 am

: scores.jpeg (5.64 KiB) Viewed 1410 times

Well North London did not exactly have a great time in any of the FA Cup games.
I suspect that Spurs will have an easier ride into the next round than Chelsea though.
Replay at WHL will be a nice, financially lucrative match for Stevenage, but, you suspect, little else.
Yes, they stopped Spurs scoring for 95 minutes but, realistically, never looked like winning the game.
The much vaulted Spurs midfield rather had to huff & puff their way though the match. It is pretty obvious on this showing why the manager fought so strongly to keep Modric out of the hands of other Premiership clubs.
I do expect a better job out of it from Spurs next time out though.

I had a sneaky suspicion that Pool also might be given a bit of a trial by Brighton. They (Pool) have rather a record of dropping the ball on these sort of occasions.
Not this time though.
Two one at half time gave no indication of the second half in which Brighton contrived to find the net 3 times, but all past their own keeper...

It is not often that a five goal thrashing can be called 'unfortunate' but this was rather. Pool were greatly flattered by the score, but will point out many other occasions where 'the rub of the green' has gone the other way & they have been unfortunate enough to lose!!

: fixtures.jpeg (13.41 KiB) Viewed 1410 times

The two Liverpool sides just about had the easiest victories in the last round & have been kept apart by the draw so far...Could it be one of those sorts of finals??
The last few have been rather one sided affairs even before a ball had been kicked. This year it looks like it will be rather a final to relish.
The quarter-finals will be played on the weekend of 18-19 March, but still a bit of work in two of the games to decide which sides will compete!!

Post by **BobHelm** » March 6, 2012, 3:42 pm

: fixtures.jpeg (10.55 KiB) Viewed 1338 times

I suspect that the management of Birmingham are the most disappointed at the sacking of AVB.
After all, even he & his family get most of their income for the next 2 years in a lump sum & no longer have to live in England to get it either.
Brum, under the existing set up must have been quietly confident that they could progress to the next round. All bets are rather off now though. Given that effectively nothing has changed at Chelsea except that the players have got rid of the manager it will be very interesting as to the effort & commitment that the fielded side show. Exactly who plays will also be of interest. Will Roberto di Matteo have been given specific instructions from Mr. A as to what is expected of him until season end? Has he been promised any cash incentive to do Mr. A's bidding until season end??
Surely (FA Cup excepted) everyone involved with the club must have pretty much given up on winning anything this season. It would be a major surprise if Roberto stays after a new man has been appointed....Could he actually be given the job himself if he does manage an improvement? Personally I doubt it. Mr. A has made it plain to all that any less than the European Cup is the door. Even a recovery to win the FA Cup is surely a job well, well short of that!!

Even though Spurs also suffered a defeat at the weekend & are on a bit of a wobble themselves, I fancy that the Stevenage experience of the FA Cup is over. A loss would be a huge gloss off the North London sides' season, that is for certain!!

Post by **Banjo** » March 6, 2012, 5:56 pm

Well I am certainly hoping that Small Heath Alliance, the original Blues, can beat the Pensioners

I vividly remember my dear Mum standing for tickets in a queue at St Andrews at some bitterly cold and ungodly hour of the morning in the late 1960's to buy me a 6th Round FA Cup game ticket to see Birmingham City v Chelsea. Over 60,000 fans crammed into the ground that Saturday afternoon. The atmosphere was beyond description. Brummies were convinced they would beat Chelsea that day! I was gutted when Peter Osgood scored just after the hour :-& and Peter Bonetti lived up to his name as The Cat ... he was simply outstanding in goal. A 1-0 defeat to Chelsea was honourable but still hard to take!

Hence, I have made merit to Buddha, prayed to Allah and sought all kinds of redemptions from God to help the cause this time

. So ..... pleeeaasse .... Brum beat Chelski

.... and me and my good old mate will be very happy

Post by **BobHelm** » March 7, 2012, 9:14 am

: scores.jpeg (2.63 KiB) Viewed 1314 times

Sorry, no revenge for you Banjo..

No real line up shocks or changes for the visitors in what was a pretty dour encounter in the main.
Mata scored a goal & missed a penalty (as he had in the first leg) & Chelsea eased through...which was all Di Matteo needed. He has not managed to immediately turn around the fortunes of Torres as the striker had another disappointing encounter to add to his Chelsea history. He did manage to become the only Chelsea player to get his name in the book, but I rather think that is not really the type of 'commitment' that the new manager was calling for.
Brum offered a fair account for most of the contest & battled to the end despite rather running out of steam.
They can now concentrate on plan 1 - exit from The Championship.
Chelsea have another Midlands encounter in the next round against Leicester City at Stamford Bridge. A win would make them semi-finalists & is surely their only real chance of glory this season!!