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Houllier played a weakened team last night. John68 told me our line up in the pub and I was worried, then I heard their team and wasn't anymore. They effectively handed us the tie. Weakened line ups are the biggest reason that the cup is losing it's lustre and Houllier's reasons are symptomatic of it's decline. Villa have little chance of going down and should have been really up for some glory in the cup, especially with a plum home tie in the 1/4 finals as the prize. Would you have been annoyed with him if you were a Villa fan? I would have been livid.
Meanwhile we now stand 90 minutes from a trip to Wembley, our first in over a decade. Should we get there wild horses wouldn't keep me away, it's what we as fans have been craving. But do you know anybody who thinks semi finals at Wembley are a good idea? I'd love to be off to Villa Park for a semi, it's where they belong.
So we are going to benefit from this modern curse, but I wish it wasn't like this.

Couldnt give a toss if it benefits us.If we were lucky enough to win the FA Cup nothing along the way will tarnish it even 0.000000001%.

And I was little like you on hearing the teams. Slightly iffy and less than 100% when I heard ours but back to 100% confident when I heard theirs.

The Cup has certainly lost its shine and there is only one reason for that...The Champions League and the money it brings. The FA Cup used to be the best cup competition in the world, now teams like Villa and even Arsenal treat it with contempt.

I went to every match on route to Wembley in 81 and I still think the replay v Everton was one of the most exciting experiences I ever had. The Kippax was packed solid and the place was rocking. Whatever City achieves in the future, I just don't believe that kind of atmosphere will ever be recreated.

Part of the problem now is that even though I know what "typical City" means I now have an expectation that my club will win stuff. I know it has been a long and arduous road but we now have the resources to compete right at the top level and sooner or later we will win and win big. It will be brilliant when it happens don't get me wrong but the feeling will not be the same. It will be even worse if teams like Villa duck the challenge by admitting defeat before they even set foot on the pitch.

i have always said i would never go to wembley for a semi final as i think its a ridiculous way to treat fans and an over priced money making scheme for the FA.............but............i have never had the choice before! so do i stick to my principles or what?

piccs, John, which pub were you in - I was in the Townley last night and was wondering if I could spot any MCFNers just by observing but I could'nt


There was a rumour in the pub (which was spot on) before the team came up on SSN about our team and I as very worried - but was amazed when I saw the villa line up

i wholeheartedly agree with the original post. how can aston villa not go all out for the cup when they are where they are in the league. you have to blame the premier league for this as well though, it's snowballed into such a huge enterprise that fans would rather watch league games than cup games (as demonstrated by many empty seats last night, even though it was a cracking atmosphere). i'd personally like to see the whole thing come under one banner again. it's almost league vs cup these days and there's only going to be one winner there. semi finals at wembley? fuck off.

I'd actually like to see one game every round get selected via random draw to be played at wembley. For that match there can be no replays, just extra time and a shootout. It becomes the feature match of the round.

Piccsnumberoneblue wrote:Houllier played a weakened team last night. John68 told me our line up in the pub and I was worried, then I heard their team and wasn't anymore. They effectively handed us the tie. Weakened line ups are the biggest reason that the cup is losing it's lustre and Houllier's reasons are symptomatic of it's decline. Villa have little chance of going down and should have been really up for some glory in the cup, especially with a plum home tie in the 1/4 finals as the prize. Would you have been annoyed with him if you were a Villa fan? I would have been livid.
Meanwhile we now stand 90 minutes from a trip to Wembley, our first in over a decade. Should we get there wild horses wouldn't keep me away, it's what we as fans have been craving. But do you know anybody who thinks semi finals at Wembley are a good idea? I'd love to be off to Villa Park for a semi, it's where they belong.
So we are going to benefit from this modern curse, but I wish it wasn't like this.

What on earth is up with you this week? Jesus, what a harbinger of doom and misery you have been.

"We'll never get through"

"We're through but it's not the same as it used to be"

Christ mate, can you just keep your cheery thoughts to yourself for a few days....I'm actually delighted we won. So their team was odd...I couldn't give a toss. We won, with our own odd/weakened line-up.

I am so excited at the thought of being able to watch our team walk out at Wembley.....it's infinitely preferable to being at one of the other "traditional" venues; the fucking swamp.

I am enjoying the ride currently. Try it Piccs, you might like it too. It's new and different, enjoy the times for what they are rather than lamenting what they are not

I'm enjoying it aNT.
In fact I would happily fuck fourth place off right now to win the F A Cup.
I was there as usual on Wednesday and I'll be there v Reading and at Wembley if we make it and I'll be in a shambles if we win there. It was just a few musings, as to why so many aren't turned on by the cup.
As Stupot said on the way to the ground "It's a proper cup"

I'm sorry Ant but you are BANG OUT OF ORDER with that attack on Piccs.
You thinkit's ok for you to to be critical and judgemental about someone as you sit in your Cairo mud hut with the cammels feeding from the window boxes attached you your unglazed windows, with nothing on the floor but a couple of hand woven Persian magic carpets.
You think you have it rough just because on the way to buy your donkey shit cigs in your Kevlar vest (with a City badge on it), you have to dodge a few rounds of ammo aimed your way, just because you may have to squeeze your way through the rioting, stone chucking locals and the baton wielding riot troops, hell bent on bloodying and bruising you, just because you managed to escape with your life hardly intact no more than a fortnight ago...YOU THINK YOU HAVE IT ROUGH!!!!

FFS...PICCS LIVES IN YORKSHIRE...HE HAS EVERY RIGHT TO BE MISERABLE...YOU WOULD BE TOO.

just sayin...like

class! haha

With all the comments about Aston Vanilla fielding a weakened team against us, not to mention all the other clubs who have done/are doing the same, at least they are actually playing in the competition; unlike the Scum who, a few years ago, showed utter contempt for the FA Cup by not even entering it at all.

We can only beat what's put before us, so let's go out and do that irrespective of who or what we have to play.

john68 wrote:I'm sorry Ant but you are BANG OUT OF ORDER with that attack on Piccs.
You thinkit's ok for you to to be critical and judgemental about someone as you sit in your Cairo mud hut with the cammels feeding from the window boxes attached you your unglazed windows, with nothing on the floor but a couple of hand woven Persian magic carpets.
You think you have it rough just because on the way to buy your donkey shit cigs in your Kevlar vest (with a City badge on it), you have to dodge a few rounds of ammo aimed your way, just because you may have to squeeze your way through the rioting, stone chucking locals and the baton wielding riot troops, hell bent on bloodying and bruising you, just because you managed to escape with your life hardly intact no more than a fortnight ago...YOU THINK YOU HAVE IT ROUGH!!!!

FFS...PICCS LIVES IN YORKSHIRE...HE HAS EVERY RIGHT TO BE MISERABLE...YOU WOULD BE TOO.

just sayin...like

That's an ace post John, full of humour and replete with irony and pathos.....and that's only the comment about Yorkshire.

Being born in Yorkshire myself and, in the near future, hoping to return 'home', your one-liner warmed the cockles of my heart. As they say in the TV advert :- " you can tell a Yorkshireman, but you can't tell him 'owt' ".

Have a nice day, my friend (as our US chums might say).

Thank you comrade Mikhail.

A Yorkshire man is like a Scotsman with all the generosity squeezed out....

(sorry but I recently heard this and felt it to be an appropriate juncture at which to share!)

Thank you comrade Mikhail.

Like GH said, a weakend team has been blown way out of proportion.

ant london wrote:A Yorkshire man is like a Scotsman with all the generosity squeezed out....

(sorry but I recently heard this and felt it to be an appropriate juncture at which to share!)

Thanks for that Ant; I think it's absolutely brilliant (hadn't heard it before).

Just wish I could apply that philosophical mindset at Christmas times, as well as others, which always cost me an arm and a leg when the lady wife launches a series of retail expeditions, trying single handedly to revive the economy of wherever we're living on those occasions.

I haven`t seen this anywhere. The opening line did make me smirk..Will it be unpopular with his fellow hacks as the would have to print "City save the Cup"

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog ... ster-derby


Tarnished FA Cup needs a Manchester derby's drama
Gérard Houllier's shameful show in the FA Cup demonstrates the need for Manchester rivals to meet in the final



Paul Wilson The Observer, Sunday 6 March 2011 Article history
Aston Villa's capitulation against Manchester City in midweek only furthers the view that Premier League managers see the FA Cup as an inconvenience. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA

Best to come straight out with this because it is not going to be popular. Anyone wishing for a memorable or meaningful FA Cup final, rather than the usual limp conclusion to a competition visibly dying on its feet, had better hope Manchester United beat Arsenal on Saturday and are kept apart from their neighbours should both clubs make the semi‑final draw. Only a Manchester derby at Wembley, it appears, can save the end‑of-season showpiece from becoming an inconvenient obligation and turn it into a contest that matters.

No disrespect is intended to Birmingham City, who have already given us one splendid cup final, or to other teams still in the competition, including Arsenal. But this season's FA Cup final occurs one week before the end of the Premier League and two weeks before the Champions League final, which is being played on the same ground. While it is just about still possible to end up with two well-matched finalists with no other commitments, it is much more likely that one or both will have priorities elsewhere. The tussle between Arsenal and United for the title could go all the way to the last day, for instance, and Arsène Wenger has confirmed that his priority is the league. West Ham United may need points to survive, and Manchester City could have a Champions League place at stake. Even a Wembley meeting between Arsenal and City, which sounds like a dream final, could be overshadowed by Champions League considerations in one form or another. Only a Manchester derby, with all the pride, hype and genuine rivalry that involves, could guarantee immunity from one team or the other not taking the final seriously.

As events in Glasgow have just demonstrated, derby matches in knockout competitions have a life of their own. When local pride is at stake, losing timidly is not an option. While one should probably stop short of condoning the mayhem at Celtic Park, there is little doubt the supporters will have enjoyed it and will treasure the memory, which is more than can be said for Aston Villa supporters insulted by Gérard Houllier's baffling team selection on the same night. The only pity about Celtic and Rangers meeting in the fifth round of the Scottish Cup is that the final is now likely to end up a dull, one-sided affair, completely undistinguished by multiple red cards and managers scuffling at the final whistle. Cup football at its best should be all about glory and ambition, even reckless ambition if the minutes are ticking away. It is a moot point whether the latest illustration of Old Firm antipathy deserved to be dignified by any of those terms, though at least no one could doubt that the outcome meant something. In the Premier League you have 38 matches to state your case, in a knockout competition it's a fight on the night.

Which is exactly why Houllier is deservedly in the dock. The Frenchman is accused of reckless caution, which is not just an oxymoron but a new low for English football and the poor old FA Cup. For the record, Villa were 12th in the table on Wednesday, four places above Birmingham and on the same number of points as Everton, whose own FA Cup exit the night before brought howls of protest and what amounted to a public apology from David Moyes. Granted, being a mere five points above the relegation zone is no guarantee of safety, but neither is capitulating in a competition that could have brightened up the end of an otherwise dull season. What Villa fans cannot understand is why Houllier chose to rest players who have hardly been caught in a maelstrom of sapping fixtures.


Before the City tie Villa had played three matches in 25 days, and after this weekend they have only one game scheduled for the rest of this month, at home to Wolves. The only possible explanation is that Houllier wanted out of the competition, not because he thought Villa couldn't give City a game, but because he was afraid of replays or subsequent rounds getting in the way of important league matches later in the season. That is what is killing the FA Cup, and why only games that come with an internal integrity of their own, such as derbies, have a chance of surmounting the financial imperatives of staying in the Premier League or making the Champions League cut.

When Houllier was at Liverpool he gave the distinct impression that the FA Cup was an important trophy any team would be proud to win, now he seems to agree with almost everyone else that it doesn't matter very much. If it matters so little there is no good reason, apart from tradition, why the Cup should continue to clutter up the end of the season. Either move it or bin it, but let's not just keep going through the motions. Even if Manchester comes to the rescue this year it would be unwise to predict too many derby finals in the future. Not when half of the second city can't get up for it.