FA CUP THREAD Liverpool

[herbert]

When we lose a game its because of him
when we win a game its in spite of him
Gibbs had a lot of possesion ,sterling had to drop deep ,and Cazorla had a couple
of chances to kill the game ,well done mr Wenger in my opinion

[TurnipMasher]

Great result! So great to beat those diving pricks, especially with Suarez doing a headspin in the penalty area worthy of Turbo from Breakin' 2 Electric Boogaloo... Penalty or not, the guy is a cheating scumbag.

Thought Ox and Ozil were brilliant, as was flappy. Sanogo was better than expected.

Webb had a shocker, but the look on his face when Sterling pushed him was hilarious!

Jesus Christ how old are you and what a good memory. His turn really was like Turbo's. Breakdance 1 was a better film and soundtrack. Is one of the 2 male dancers not dead now?

Ha ha! Old to enough to have likely watched it on BETAMAX with my mates! Agree about Breakdance 1 - the broom scene with Kraftwerks Tour de France is superb. Have always hugely admired the skill and strength of bboys and breakdancers, especially as I couldn't do it myself for shit. Even watched some of the BBoy world champs the other day when flicking around on sky - epic stuff!

[milesgooner]

I agree with you Herbert, bringing Gibbs on in left midfield gave Monreal some much needed protection. No one disagrees that Podolski is the best finisher at the club, but when you are coming under pressure in the 70th minute, it was the right decision to hook him. Can't disagree with bringing on Cazorla either, he had the space to operate in and as you say could have scored a goal and been given a penalty.
I think most agree that playing Cazorla on the wing for away games doesn't work, but I wouldn't mind seeing Gibbs play there more often. He and Monreal seem to have an understanding about when to push and when to stay. For tough away games (like Chelsea), it could be a better option.

[LDB]

When we lose a game its because of him
when we win a game its in spite of him
Gibbs had a lot of possesion ,sterling had to drop deep ,and Cazorla had a couple
of chances to kill the game ,well done mr Wenger in my opinion

Rather embarrassing, isn't it? Even when the thread is not explicitly about Wenger people still queue up to deny the manager any credit.

I thought the Gibbs substitution in particular was very effective, he did a good job of holding posession high up the pitch and shored up our left side which had looked vulnerable when Podolski was strolling around up there.

[remigardeshair]

Can anyone explain to me the overall thinking behind wenker's substitutions today ?

I think they were rather obvious.

Rodgers had gambled by taking his left back off, switching Flanagan over there, and putting Sterling to right back (nominally) and focus the attacks down our left, so it made perfect sense to bring on Gibbs to add some cover on that side of the pitch.

Carzola was brought on because his ball retention (which is what was required at the time) is better. That said he was pretty poor when he came on.

Arsene's substitutions over the years have often been baffling, but these two made sense.

[augie]

I agree with you Herbert, bringing Gibbs on in left midfield gave Monreal some much needed protection. No one disagrees that Podolski is the best finisher at the club, but when you are coming under pressure in the 70th minute, it was the right decision to hook him. Can't disagree with bringing on Cazorla either, he had the space to operate in and as you say could have scored a goal and been given a penalty.
I think most agree that playing Cazorla on the wing for away games doesn't work, but I wouldn't mind seeing Gibbs play there more often. He and Monreal seem to have an understanding about when to push and when to stay. For tough away games (like Chelsea), it could be a better option.

So if cazorla on the wing doesn't work then why bring him on because that is where he put him when he subbed the ox ? I never actually said that I opposed the idea of bringing on gibbs so maybe ye should read that again, but what I actually said was that the mentality of the substitutions seemed to be complete opposites and I stand by that. I cannot get my head around the thinking of playing cazorla and ozil at that stage of the game and the point has been ignored by the pro wenker posters who have put up the last few comments You can defend the introduction of cazorla (and cite his ability to retain possession) but explain to me how a team under a pressure, like we were, can afford to carry him and ozil at the one time - previous examples has proved that it is an idea that hasn't worked so just because we got away with it yesterday doesn't mean that it was a good decision but seemingly we are meant to ignore that

I will admit though, that in general I am against the idea of bringing on a defender in midfield because it invites pressure onto the team and that can never be a good thing and especially not at home. In my opinion, if there is a need to bring on a player to baton down the hatches then you bring on a defensive midfielder cos they will/should have a better understanding of the responsibilities of playing in midfield. If there was a need yesterday to baton down the hatches, then maybe we should have considered changing the formation instead of just the personnel ?

[milesgooner]

My point about Cazorla was about away games - I've no problem with him being on the wing in general at home. I think the idea of having Ozil and Cazorla on the pitch at the same time was to have players who could keep hold of the ball. I think that definitely worked with Ozil who with little support did a good job of holding on to it (less so Cazorla). Don't forget having these 2 on the pitch was offset by having the defensive paring of Flamini and Arteta in the midfield.

[Clash]

We are so much better to watch when we play with pace and energy – its just a shame we only do it when the opposition force us to. Pretty luck to win that game though but not complaining about the result. Was it really necessary at the end for the giant screens to focus in on the ‘In Arsene We Trust’’ banner though? Fuck off with that preaching nonsense!

An another thing that really pisses me off with football these days is the constant squealing in the crowd to get opposition players booked. I hate Gerrard and the way he has been given so much leeway in the past from refs and the media but anyone who thinks he should have been sent off yesterday is part of the reason that modern football is so fucking shite. There is no way that was worthy of a red ( albeit a red from a 2nd booking). I didn’t think it was at the time and saw it again on TV later and it was a genuine attempt for the ball. Wasn’t dangerous, wasn’t a foul to break up a counter attack. He just missed the ball by inches and fouled Ox … that’s it! A foul is all it was!

All game now I am surrounded by these squeals of ''fucking book him ref … REFFFF that’s a red card!! Oi lino … you saw that ... fucking send him off … '' And then when an Arsenal player commits a foul ''that’s a fucking dive ref … book the cheating c**t … ''. Fans were even calling for Suarez to be booked for the most blatant foul you will ever see.

I get that crowds are biased and I am all for creating an intimidating atmosphere. But that doesn’t mean having to act like a fucking moron or some turning into some fairy that can’t take seeing a bit of aggression. This whinging gets right on my fucking nerves and has done for ages. If Gerrard had got sent off then a pulsating game (and let’s face it we don’t see too many of those these days) would have just faded out a slow procession of Arsenal possession and the win would have been labelled as Arsenal beat 10 man Liverpool. Make the fuckers earn the win, don’t kill a good contest for a nothing incident.

Watch any old game from around 25 years ago and see some proper challenges put in that are not followed by whinging players and squealing fans baying for punishment and tell me that’s not 100 times better than what we see now. I miss football being a man’s game, played by men and watched by men!

Fucking multi-colour boots and a pink fucking ball. Seriously, stick your modern football up your fucking arse!

(and bollocks to anyone who disagrees )

[kiwomya]

One thing I learned yesterday is that my hatred for Andy Gray has not eased.

[Midz]

One thing I learned yesterday is that my hatred for Andy Gray has not eased.

Really? I was very pleased he was commentating as opposed to that twat Owen.

[remigardeshair]

To be fair a dose of genital herpes is preferable to Michael Owen.

[augie]

I todays football climate and especially in yesterdays game (where webb was throwing about yellows like they were going out of fashion) then that gerrard tackle was absolutely a yellow card and he should have been sent off.
What really really pisses me off is when I look at players like flamoney (and I am only picking him out cos he was the one yesterday) who flap their arms about looking for the opposition to kick the ball out everytime one of our diddums hurts their little toes This is a fcuking mans game and there is absolutely no way that play should be stopped for all these petty injuries and tbh, I would book the c*nts who look for the game to be stopped and the stupid c*nt that actually kicks it out of play

[Clash]

I todays football climate and especially in yesterdays game (where webb was throwing about yellows like they were going out of fashion) then that gerrard tackle was absolutely a yellow card and he should have been sent off.
What really really pisses me off is when I look at players like flamoney (and I am only picking him out cos he was the one yesterday) who flap their arms about looking for the opposition to kick the ball out everytime one of our diddums hurts their little toes This is a fcuking mans game and there is absolutely no way that play should be stopped for all these petty injuries and tbh, I would book the c*nts who look for the game to be stopped and the stupid c*nt that actually kicks it out of play

Agreed, that is another major irritation of mine.

Didn't Gary Mabbutt start this nonsense of kicking the ball out / throwing it back etc? It's typical of a nauseating turd like him to have introuduced something like that.

[remigardeshair]

I'm surprised more hasn't been made of Sterlings 'push' on Webb - Petit was sent off by Durkin (and to this day I cannot forget the glee in his face when he sent him off, he was absolutely delighted) for far less contact.

Any other player than Gerrard and that would have been a second yellow.

[Clash]

I'm surprised more hasn't been made of Sterlings 'push' on Webb - Petit was sent off by Durkin (and to this day I cannot forget the glee in his face when he sent him off, he was absolutely delighted) for far less contact.

Any other player than Gerrard and that would have been a second yellow.

Again to me this thing with Sterling was a nothing incident.

What happened to Petit years was absolutely disgraceful so repeating it wouldn't be justice. Durkin was a arsehole of the highest degree and his 2 page spread in the papers following the ''assault'' claiming he did what he did for every park referee in the country was laughable.