FA Cup Semi Finals

[A Load of Squit 6,260]

I wonder what Conor Gallagher will be doing with his weekend off. 😀

[GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary 2,035]

Realky cant undersrand why they couldnt wait until after the last quarter final is played to to the draw?

[lake district canary 4,836]

2 minutes ago, GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary said:

Realky cant undersrand why they couldnt wait until after the last quarter final is played to to the draw?

They do it every round before the fixtures have been finished. It's pathetic.

[Canary73 327]

Four teams that are all 'meh'. Just toss a coin to see who wins it and play some Eurovision songs to fill the time until the main event at 2000

[duke63 741]

Shows that English football has a problem.

The top three in the Epl make up three of the 4 semi finalists. 

[keelansgrandad 6,680]

Forest giving Liverpool a torrid time. Ought to have been in front.

[Yellow Wal 315]

1 hour ago, duke63 said:

Shows that English football has a problem.

The top three in the Epl make up three of the 4 semi finalists. 

Whilst clubs are allowed such massive squads and such massive match day squads the best clubs will continue to dominate.

The subs the top clubs have at their disposal could walk into all the mid table sides if not even higher. 

The players, as long as they are in a squad of 20 seem happy. Reduce the squads and the subs and perhaps they would not be so happy to be a reserve with no real recognition and the better players would be forced to move about a bit to try to further their careers.

And don't start me on loans. Ban the lot! No more loans.

Edited March 20, 2022 by Yellow Wal
typo

[SwearyCanary 1,340]

I think there is a fundamental issue with the system where players can be paid enough to effectively keep top talent happy to not play much and stay away from signing with a rival. That said, keeping those players motivated is a skill and many will be in Europe and have international duty so may see fewer games as a welcome break and actually appealing as it prolongs their career. I think if completely ruins the competitive element to a laughable level and agree the loan system is just an excuse to buy out the talent, pay nothing for it, hope value increases (which just by that player being on the books of a big club tends to happen) and either put in team blooded of flog. I dislike that we do it as part of our model. Similar to those with enough capital to buy a huge buy to let portfolio taking the money of the renters while simultaneously paying off their mortgage while those looking for an affordable house to live in have nowhere to go except… well….. Great Yarmouth (sorry GY) 

[Commonsense 802]

15 hours ago, duke63 said:

Shows that English football has a problem.

The top three in the Epl make up three of the 4 semi finalists. 

Is it really a problem that the best three teams are in the semi final?

I presume if this is an English problem it doesn’t happen elsewhere in the world?Have you seen the Italian cup semi final draw?

[Yellow Wal 315]

1 hour ago, Commonsense said:

Is it really a problem that the best three teams are in the semi final?

I presume if this is an English problem it doesn’t happen elsewhere in the world?Have you seen the Italian cup semi final draw?

But it's not the best clubs, it's the richest and that is the problem. 

It used to be that a club would find a new player or two and have a successful time, now it's the club the that finds a new owner that has the success.

[Commonsense 802]

15 minutes ago, Yellow Wal said:

But it's not the best clubs, it's the richest and that is the problem. 

It used to be that a club would find a new player or two and have a successful time, now it's the club the that finds a new owner that has the success.

I accept that, and I should have said currently the teams with the best players. Hasn’t money generally always talked though. That’s why people fondly remember the exceptions, because they have a rarity value.

[Coneys Knee 1,050]

Maybe there could be some kind of rule that players at clubs that make less than “x” amount appearance on average over the course of a season can activate a release clause whereby a fee is set by a tribunal. But saying that then you’d just have players refusing to play.

I don’t know football really does feel broken or is just feeling that way because of how disastrous we are at the moment?

[Duncan Edwards 2,424]

It does feel a bit boring, one of the big six has won the FA Cup for 25 of the 29 years of the Premier League era, with just 9 different winners. That said, it's not really a new thing, the same big 6 won 17 of the previous 29 and if you included Everton to make it a big 7 in the interest of fairness, that then goes up to 19.

The chances of winning it from outside that elite pack is now much less though, 15 different winners in the last 29 years before the Premier League and 25 different finalists (20 since 1992). Since the Premier League kicked off in 1992, there has only been one final (Portsmouth v Cardiff, 2008) that didn't feature one of the big 6. Again though, it's not really new, again including Everton as they were comparable in the period, only the 1965, 1973 and 1975 finals did not include one of the big 6 + Everton, so that Portsmouth v Cardiff really sticks out like a sore thumb, once since 1975!!