Yesssss!
We beat Chelsea! Kluivert scored! And we actually won 1-0 for once instead of letting the other team back into it like we usually do!
Mind, it helped that Mourinho used up all his subs at half time. By the end of the match, as well as Cudicini getting sent off, he only had about 7 fit players on the pitch.
Daft linesman of the month award goes to the one on the far side, for giving a corner (about 10 minutes from the end), when it went out for a throw-in right. under. his. nose!
Is that the Burnley-Blackburn result you’re referring to? I’m trying really hard to like Blackburn, but there’s something about Savage and Dickov that really make them hard to like. Dickov is the sort of player that really used to piss me off when I played, whiny little pissant short guys that may or may not have skills, but instead try and play head games and draw fouls cheaply and using their diminutive stature as a shield. Savage just seems a bit of a head case, although I’ve seen worse.
Shibb, you not been paying attention? Or are you taking the piss out of Wol? He’s referring to his beloved Spurs managing a draw at home against Nottingham Forest. I was actually hoping for a bit more by way of detailed analysis of the game seeing that I don’t get the FA Cup games over here.
I’m happy anyway. Bolton through to the Quarter Finals! It was a tense endgame though, Fulham were unlucky not to get a draw. 30 minutes until the 6th round draw.
Sorry, I thought that we had a Blackburn supporter here, I didn’t think it was Owl, but it’s early here and my first cup of coffee is not yet down. The other comments still stand. Which division are Burnley in? They didn’t seem to show as many EPL games here this weekend as usual, but I actually saw some Argentine soccer (do they play defense there?), a Bundesliga game, and the aforementioned Cup tie. And wasn’t the Forest game supposed to be a “gimme” for Spurs?
Burnley are in the Championship, as far as I know. The lowest ranked team still in the Cup are Brentford, who will replay against the Saints next week.
Dickov’s good at winding players up, while Savage is quite possibly the best. Bloody Celts!
Spurs to play Newcastle if they get past Forest. Man Utd get Southhampton or Brentford
Bolton vs Arsenal or Sheffield
Whilst I hope Sheffield produce an upset, I can’t see it. At least it’s a home draw. We’ve already beaten them once at the Reebok this year…
Blackburn or Burnley play Leicester
Trouble is with Chelsea now out i think Wenger will really seize on the opoprtunity for this to be “our” trophy this year.
I mean let’s face it - we ain’t gonna win the Champions League!
i’m not trying to suggest it will be an easy game - not in the least - but I believe it is a game Bolton could win on the day. Could being the operative word.
I don’t doubt it. I certainly wasn’t suggesting that you couldn’t win it - i think you definitely can!
I just think that if the tendency so far has been for Wenger to play around a bit with the squad for the FA cup, this is something that will rapidly disappear now that the FA cup has just become that little bit more winnable for us.
So basically you’ll be seeing Henry et al from now on, which is obviously going to have a negative impact on your chances of winning.
That’ll be me, and I really don’t condone the way Dickov and Savage play. Still, better them than playing Bothroyd or old-man Flitcroft. Boy, I miss Duff, Dunn and pre-near-fatal-accident Jansen.
I wasn’t expecting us to beat Burnley away. They may be in a lower division, but derby ties, especially when they don’t come round every year such as ManU/ManCity, Liverpool/Everton, are always tough. I think we should scrape it by a goal in the replay though. Crap as we are, if we can do that, Leicester shouldn’t be too tough and then we’re in the semis. Maybe this is our year, after all?
Garius, what odds on another Man Utd-Arsenal final (or semi-final)? I’d love to see the Grumpy Old Men lead out their troops in Cardiff. It’s United’s only realistic hope of silverware this year too. At least, this keeps the competition credible.
On the BBC World Service on Saturday, Gavin Peacock, I think it was, commented on what he felt was a “character flaw” that runs through the Arsenal team. (This was after they conceded the late equaliser to Sheffield.) I’ve felt the same thing -not for the usual “bunch of johnnie foreigner” reason, but because the team mirrors the manager, and Wenger (for all his strengths) has a weakness that Fergie, Mourinho, Moyes and co. don’t have. He takes things too personally, and lets this affect him, and through him the team. Fergie takes things too personally, but it doesn’t affect him or the team in the same way. Maybe because he doesn’t have Wenger’s depth, sensitivity and - possibly - intelligence.
Re Blackburn midfielders, was Tim Sherwood as nasty a piece of work as he appeared to me with some of his “tackles”?
Here is a detailed analysis of THFC v NFFC:- “total pants”. That about covers it, they could well have won, Robinson was our MOTM. We’ll muller them at Forest though - underdogs only get one bite at the cherry.
Then Newcastle away - very doable. I think Newcastle have been in a mess for a few years now and aren’t getting any better, and I’m no fan of Souness (I’ll tell you the souness “limp” story later - When I’ve got a bit more time. It’ll make your eyes water).
I think that there’s every possibility that simply getting to the final will be good enough to get us into Europe, as the other finalist wil probably be the Arse or MUFC.
What seems apparent to me is that, if he has a weakness, Wenger isn’t great at defense and defenders. He inherited the best back four in the country and kept with them as long as possible - added you know who (which was obvious really) but since then his side have been a bit suspect defensively. Some of his other buys have been very iffy.
I think they may well get found out tonight with Cole and Scumbell absent.
Wol - I’d agree with that judgement. He has a real blindspot when it comes to defenders. The best defenders we’ve had during his time at Arsenal were either already at the club or, with the exception of Campbell, flukes (Toure was a right back). We should never have let Upson go either.
Partially i think its because one of his major skills is nurturing talent, which is fine as long as you have the experienced players to bring out for the key games. Defensively we just don’t have that at Arsenal at the moment.
We need to bring in at least one, possibly two, experienced defenders in the summer in my opinion.
Every Newcastle fan’s thoughts exactly 
I think we’ve a great chance with this draw. Newcastle’s form’s been on the up recently following a dire Christmas and January–getting rid of Bellamy seems to have bene a step forward (heard he had a shite game for Celtic at the weekend).
Besides, it could be Newcastle v Forest next month.
I’d be surprised if there isn’t at least 1 shock in the replays. Four lower-division versus Premiership games, three of them at the lower-division side’s home ground:
Blackburn v Burnley (winners at home to Leicester City)
Brentford v Southampton (winners at home to Man Utd)
Nottingham Forest v Tottenham (winners away to Newcastle)
Sheffield United v Arsenal (winners away to Bolton)
Odds on there being five lower division sides (inc. Leicester) in the quarter-finals, anyone?
It could be - but it won’t.
I think it’s too close to call between THFC and NUFC, probably a slight edge to NUFC for home advantage, but I think we have the better players (just). I hope the game will be on the telly 'cos it’s far too far to travel.
Any thoughts on the next two days of Champion’s League play? I was checking last night, and apparently matches are only shown on ESPN Deportes, which means I won’t be seeing any unless they rebroadcast later on the regular ESPN channels. FSC is probably showing on PPV, but not for certain.