Zoë Sumra Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Because the last thread has one post left to live. Full FA cup fifth round draw: Crystal Palace v Liverpool/Bolton WanderersAston Villa v Leicester CityBradford City v Sunderland/FulhamDerby County v ReadingArsenal v MiddlesbroughWest Brom v West HamBlackburn Rovers v Stoke City (unless Rochdale score two more in the next five minutes)Preston NE/Sheffield United v Cambridge United/Manchester United Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iskaral Pust Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 Not a great draw for Liverpool. First we have to score away against ultra-defensive Bolton despite not having a striker, and if we manage that we have to go away to an in-form Crystal Palace who've scored three against us in our last two league meetings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJDonegal Posted January 26, 2015 Share Posted January 26, 2015 I was being quite honest when I said I wanted to avoid Middlesbrough.They took out Manchester City who have the same football outlook we do, but generally do it better. That has to be admitted when they're the reigning champions, even if we did stick it to them recently.They'll be brimming with confidence from their cup scalps and league form; my hope is that Yaya Toure and a trip to the Middle East is what contributed to City's downfall more than anything else.But there are plenty of teams, Premier League opposition included, that I would have preferred. At least, as Mexal commented in the last thread, we're at home.And I'm on my way home from work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 We should not be fearing the likes of Middlesborough, especially at home. All due respect to City, but when you take Toure out of that team, add a decidedly out of form Kompany, and an Aguero returning from injury, what you've got is a pretty ordinary football team. Boro took advantage of that, but will find the cup holders an altogether different proposition. We are favourites to retain the cup, and rightly so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJDonegal Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Yeah, but this is the cup. I'm not saying Middlesbrough are more likely to win the tie or the cup overall; just that I would have preferred other opponents.I'm definitely playing their threat up, but we couldn't have had a much worse draw. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 I'm definitely playing their threat up, but we couldn't have had a much worse draw.Stoke away? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teng Ai Hui Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 As an Arsenal fan, playing at Stoke was my biggest fear during the draw, too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeor Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Yeah, Stoke away would have been worse. But I think we should be reasonably confident whoever we were paired up against. Even before the City league game we were getting good results and I think since then, there should be enough belief (as well as players returning from injury) that we've got a good chance at making a run on multiple fronts. Unbelievable that we got a transfer done before deadline day and glad it's a young CB who has a few years in him. Rumours that we're in the market for some older stopgaps are also reassuring (especially since Debuchy is out for a long time again). I reckon we need 8 senior defenders (two at each position) and we're almost there, and still in enough competitions to give them game time. Gibbs/Monreal, Mertesacker, Gabriel, Koscielny, Chambers/Bellerin. If Debuchy were around I'd list Chambers as a reserve CB and we'd be done. I know I'm going to jinx it, but for once I feel that our squad is in pretty good shape both depth-wise and quality-wise. We have plenty of attacking options, so the two crucial injuries we would have to avoid are to Coquelin and Koscielny, although I have a feeling Kos is going to be in and out a lot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lmanion Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Im settling in to watch Australia in the semi of the Asian cup tonight. Its like there is no other football on in the rest of the world here atm with the Asian cup and cricket you would think Australia is the only country that plays any sport Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raja Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 We need to stop this.Fairly certain Mexal was going on about us being relatively injury free early on in the season, and then we ended up getting 4-5 long term injuries! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
baxus Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Not a great draw for Liverpool. First we have to score away against ultra-defensive Bolton despite not having a striker, and if we manage that we have to go away to an in-form Crystal Palace who've scored three against us in our last two league meetings. Rodgers stated that Sturridge will be available for squad selection tonight against Chelsea. It's safe to assume his form has dropped off significantly, but also that even so he'd still be a huge improvement over Balotelli and/or Borini or even Sterling as a lone striker. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alex. Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Not a great draw for Liverpool. First we have to score away against ultra-defensive Bolton despite not having a striker, and if we manage that we have to go away to an in-form Crystal Palace who've scored three against us in our last two league meetings. Happens if you want to win trophies, brother They'll be brimming with confidence from their cup scalps and league form; my hope is that Yaya Toure and a trip to the Middle East is what contributed to City's downfall more than anything else. I still reject this thesis. The players played on the Wednesday (about half a game each at most), spent the next 2 days in the lap of luxury, and flew home in what I imagine to be the most comfortable plane ever invented by mankind. Not to mention the actual game which could barely be qualified as football. Sometimes a team just plays like dickheads. The lack of Toure and the return of others from injury has a much more significant bearing on matters. We played just as badly against Arsenal and there wasn't a trip to play a glorified training session before that. City have many problems but blaming a mid week friendly seems to be the easy way out to avoid asking questions with less palatable answers (which, unfortunately, a lot of City fans have done). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Consigliere Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Preston NE or Sheffield Utd is not a bad draw provided we get past Cambridge. I don't take that as a given considering the mediocre performances we have been putting in of late. The very definition of uninspired. Liverpool have a tough draw. An in-form Palace managed by a tactical mastermind, should they find a way past Bolton. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJDonegal Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Real are being investigated by FIFA over 51 youth transfers. Given the sheer number you would have to think FIFA will find something, but the thing that always amuses me is how FIFA can go around investigating clubs for wrong-doing with completely straight faces. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teng Ai Hui Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Somebody please tell me that Sanchez isn't flying home to play in the Chile v USA friendly on Wednesday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DJDonegal Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Somebody please tell me that Sanchez isn't flying home to play in the Chile v USA friendly on Wednesday. He's not. Not according to that website, anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mormont Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 We should not be fearing the likes of Middlesborough, especially at home. All due respect to City, but when you take Toure out of that team, add a decidedly out of form Kompany, and an Aguero returning from injury, what you've got is a pretty ordinary football team. Sorry, but this strikes me as after-the-fact reasoning. At least 7 (maybe 8) of the players in that starting lineup, plus 2 of the subs brought on, can reasonably claim to be regular first team players for the current Premiership champions. 7 of them started against Arsenal. 6 started the match against Bayern, with another 2 coming on as subs in that match. Some of them may be off form, but these are not 'pretty ordinary' players, certainly not at the level of an FA cup tie against Middlesborough, a team that City theoretically should not have been fearing either. I think Alex has the right of it: they got outplayed on the day by a decent team. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mexal Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 We need to stop this.Fairly certain Mexal was going on about us being relatively injury free early on in the season, and then we ended up getting 4-5 long term injuries! Yea, this happened. Not saying a word this time. Will say Arsenal have won 11 games, lost 2 and drawn 2 in our last 14 since the dumb United loss. We're in pretty good form for the most part and was just able to start Ozil/Walcott in a game together for only the 6th time since 2013. That's encouraging. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Inigima Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Slightly surreal to me to see Liverpool fans afraid to face Bolton and Crystal Palace. Meanwhile, in Scotland, Mike Ashley now has security over most of Rangers' assets, excluding Ibrox: http://www.bbc.com/sport/0/football/30996809 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spockydog Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 Sorry, but this strikes me as after-the-fact reasoning. At least 7 (maybe 8) of the players in that starting lineup, plus 2 of the subs brought on, can reasonably claim to be regular first team players for the current Premiership champions. 7 of them started against Arsenal. 6 started the match against Bayern, with another 2 coming on as subs in that match. Some of them may be off form, but these are not 'pretty ordinary' players, certainly not at the level of an FA cup tie against Middlesborough, a team that City theoretically should not have been fearing either.I think Alex has the right of it: they got outplayed on the day by a decent team. Against Bayern, sure, they were missing a suspended Toure. But that was negated somewhat by the form of Aguero, who got a hat trick that night. And I never said they were ordinary players. I'm talking about the team as a whole. Only a fool would argue that City are not affected by the absence of Toure - he is the beating heart of that team. Added to that, the fact that Kompany has been a bit of a liability recently. Don't even get me started on Fernando. And in the absence of a fully fit/match-sharp Aguero, City have a well-documented issue with scoring goals. Add all of these factors together, and it's certainly not a stretch to say they're pretty ordinary (and beatable). And the inescapable fact that they've lost two home games on the bounce, whilst playing well below their best, supports this assertion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.