Whitey Grandad

Poor old Jeremy's got divorced??? I wonder who got to keep the jewellery?

Nah, can't be that

St Mary's noisy? Not a chance. I could hear the players and referee from the central Kingsland. I don't know what the note was about either. The players who were shown it seemed puzzled too.

It's 12 days to the Sunderland game and I'd think he was unlikekly to make that. The final is just under 4 weeks away so let's hope it is 3 weeks and not 5

Yes, I sat through the home game against Norwich which was an ordeal very similar to Saturday. I was pleased that we (eventually) won that game but what on earth was the point? We might as well have let Norwich have a bye because I'm sure they would have taken the tie more seriously. It's not for the manager to pick and choose which games we're trying to win. Whatever the price charged this game should have been taken seriously by the players that took part. This result will have done a lot of damage to the team spirit. Shane Long was quite p!ssed off at all the goals we were leaking. and only went through the motions after the third goal. Winning becomes a habit in itself and top players want to play every game they can. They'd also like to have a shot at the FA Cup sometime in their careers. Citing injuries is just a cop out. This was a home game and we could certainly have put out a stronger team. Until kickoff everybody else in the country took this tie seriously except the manager. The Times Daniel Finkenstein on Saturday morning had his predicition evenly matched with each team given a roughly 35% chance of a win. If we have any pretensions of being an upper Premier League club then we should have the resources to be able to give our best in all circumstances.

Don't be so petty. At the time I bought my ticket there was no indication of what sort of a side we would put out and even then the one that we picked should have at least tried a little. Perhaps in future the club could let us know whether they were actually going to bother to try and win the match. Then we can decide if we can be bothered to attend. There is also the matter of integrity. I cannot believe how many of you think that it is acceptable for the club to be involved in this form of blatant cheating. It demeans the sport and everybody associated with the club. What other games should we throw because we don't thin we'll win or can't be arsed to even try?

This is true. They deliberately set a cap on season tickets because the sales will then be spread around a wider number of visitors who will each spend money in the club shop on mugs and Ryan Giggs bedspreads (even shop soild ones )

Then I would suggest that you are in no position to comment on the team selection. It wasn't that they tried to lose, they just didn't try to win. Make no mistake, this was a total capitulation before the ball was even kicked. I have seen us lose more games than I care to remember but if I'm paying to watch a professional footballer then I expect them to earn their money. 'Paid some money to watch some football? I could have gone to my local park and see players try harder and it would have cost me nothing. Not every team in country did the same as Puel. When I saw the joy and excitement on the non-league teams over the weekend I was jealous. And don't give me this inhjury nonsense. We had better players who could have turned out on Saturday and would have been better prepared for tomorrow night too. This was a total rip-off.

Pah! I've driven through it a few times without getting my wheels stolen and I've walked the streets without getting my bottom pinched. What does that tell you?

Good point. How many would you think? Three at least, four would give them even more rest. Aren't Muslims allowed four wives?

Flying lessons.

Good idea the rotation permuations would be endless

Just one question... did you go to the game?

We're entitled to have our team try to win every game.

Got beaten by Walcott for their third. He should have cleared the ball but Walcott just hooked his right foot around him and flicked the ball into the net. He was clearly annoyed with himself and will have learned from it.

The club sent me a pre-match email on Friday. Out of interest did anybody correctly predict the score and the first scorer and thereby win a signed shirt?

Edit : sorry, wrong thread.

From the FA Cup regulations: 15. PROVISIONS CONCERNING PLAYERS (a) Each team participating in a match shall represent the full available strength of each competing Club. There was a time when teams got fined for what we did yesterday.

Any ideas why that should be the situation? Number of games must be similar.

I was referring to the circumstances where if he had a small knock he wouldn't play at Sunderland which would then mean three weeks to the final but hey, whatever. You can bet your boots that nobody will be calling in sick during the last week.

Yes, what was that stepping up business? Was he hoping to play them offside?

Just wait until Qatar 2022 when we have a four week break mid-season.

Who knows? Shooting practice, appearance bonuses, morale, internal politics? Would Wenger have made that decision at that time?

I can't be bothered to check the FIFA regulations but it may be something like the Moroccan team doctor determining his fitness or something like that and obviously due to the impracticalities the club come to some agreement. Or something.

Yes, that's why I cut him some slack. He wasn't just off the pace, the game just seemed to go on all around him and he undershot some headers quite comically. Has he ever played under these awful led floodlights? He's a much better player than he showed last night but it's going to take a lot of games to get him back to his best and can we afford that?