The FA Cup is silverware and entry into Europe for Arsenal.
Over recent years the FA Cup has lost a lot of its aura, it kind of started when Man Utd decided to forego the competition in favour of the inaugural club world cup.
Then, the same elite teams have tended to win it, including Arsenal and to some extent, it became a little predictable and boring.
However, it is still the pre-eminent domestic cup in world football and for fans, it still affords a time to celebrate winning something.
Arsenal fans would love to see Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang lift the trophy. It is no substitute for league glory but it is a consolation prize and distraction from other failings.
Tomorrow night Arsenal welcome Leeds United to the Emirates and it really is a game that should be won comfortably. I know Leeds are going great guns in the Championship but that is all it is, the Championship.
With home advantage and the possibility that the northerners will put out a weak team, Arsenal could be forgiven for taking the game lightly. That would be a mistake.
Aston Villa thrashed Liverpool in the Carabao Cup because they fielded a youth team basically and that is what happens when you put out a team without quality senior players.
It is irrelevant what team Leeds put out, Arsenal has to select a team that has a good few regular players in it.
The FA Cup is important, it is silverware, it is glory and the fans I speak with want to win it. Hopefully, the players feel the same way tomorrow evening.
The fa cup is important andxwe should take it seriously, our record in the fa cup shows that. Plus am i wrong but doesn’t it get you into the Europa league, or at least can.
Hi Reggie,
I believe you are right about the Europa League. I checked with Wikipedia and the FA cup winner goes into the qualifying round, so it is well worth competing for. It may be our only chance of playing European football in 20/21
Yes Sue thanks, i thought it did but i didn’t know if it had been changed.
The FA Cup, Caraboa cup would get us into the Europa League. Winning the Europa League would get us Champions League football.
That is correct Alex.
Looking at team and season, this is mainly a chance to get to Europa league football but it won’t be easy task with teams targeting it for prestige and or Europa.
Reds qualified for next round with youngsters. It is indeed important to have a senior player in each line as they done! Mainly their kids won the game playing same exact football as first team! Not scared no panic controling pressing attacking, perfect display!
Reds’ Kids learned from League cup lost for a fearless mature response Great coach and coaching! Professor Klopp!
They were good. Everton didn’t offer enough inspite of their first half efforts in particular
Your comments were spot on
Doesn’t matter what happens in the cup.. for the next year all we’ll have to hear about is Liverpool and their win over Everton… sigh…
I love the FA Cup! I’d love a run in it. And would love to lift the trophy again. Gonna be tough tomorrow though!
Three domestic trophies up for grabs and the fa cup is second on the list.
Not sure if by winning it is covering other failings, as clubs like spuds can only dream of winning it and they have been cracking up and failing for decades with regards to trophies.
It seems we always have to demote our successes, while other clubs see them as a great achievement.
If MA can emulate our previous successes, I for one, will see it as a wonderful achievement.
OT Just seen Zabaleta(West Ham) get, rightly, booked for diving in the area. If I had my way all such players who openly cheat would be banned for 6 months at least. That would stop it but the authorities are too cowardly to do what would end it once and for all. If written into standard contracts it would be unchallengeable in law, provided the player signed such a document, allowing them to play for any club. There is imply not the will to stop cheating, as the authorities are too complicit and too corrupt. This is why so many decent folk look down with distaste on top level football and footballers. They are not wrong either, though it is only a minority who regularly cheat. Arsenal has our fair share too, esp Guenbouzi IMO.
Jon, I don’t believe we ever saw this kind of behavour when we were younger, anyone who tried it would have been laughed out of the game by the likes of Adams, Mackay and Bobby Moore.
The game has certainly evolved with regards to skill levels, but a nastier, cheating and winning at all costs has also come to the fore, in my opinion anyway.
Did you see that, at last, a referee actually went to the touchline and took a look at an incident in play?
Perhaps this corrupt referees society have finally realized they are being called out by the media and pundits, as well as the fans…about time too.
KEN I’d say that modern football perfectly reflects modern society in it’s love of huge money and cheating is a way to win and thus get MORE money and more personal glory. There is far less personal honour today than decades ago, as we both well know from our own experience of both eras.
On the refs aspect you will know that I do not see individual refs as cheats, though almost all are incompetent. I do however see a personal feifdom with Riley who is intent on his own power rather than what is right for our game. The game would be far better if Riley was forced out.
I would prefer we do not have VAR at all, as I BELIEVE IN THE REF HAVING THE ONLY SAY AND I WOULD ENFORCE FAR MORE RESPECT OF ALL REFS BY DRACONIAN PUNISHMENTS FOR BACK CHAT AND REFUSAL TO ACCEPT HIS DECISIONS. But it is here to stay, sadly IMO, so it needs to be used for its original purpose of rectifying clear and obvious errors.
Only a fool or someone who wishes to maintain his own personal feifdom could possibly argue that a three minute forensic search for an offside by a millimetre could possibly be “clear and obvious”. So THAT could easily be argued as cheating the original intention of VAR. There is a mad mania to change things that have worked perfectly well and to change merely for changes sake. I WOULD FAR RATHER WE REVERTED TO THE OLD OFFSIDE RULE THAT ALL UNDERSTOOD AND WHICH WORKED PERFECTLY WELL. This business of active or passive positions is nonsense, as all players are on the field to affect play and so true passivity does not exist, in my book. Sigh!
Kind of an inane title to this piece. Whoever Arteta fields, the lads will take it seriously. Bear in mind we have a defensive injury crisis and a tough run of league games coming for which our first team regulars need to be rested. We have to rotate and field a team of youngsters who need to be blooded and share the burden. We can already see that Arteta’s aggressive pressing style is too intense for our players to handle, they simply aren’t fit enough. We have to manage fitness levels carefully now what with all the injuries, lack of fitness already an issue, and a tough run of games. Out of all competitions, FA cup, as nice as it is to win, has to be the lowest priority.
It’s incredible to me how many people here would prioritize the FA cup over coming in at least 6th in the Premier League. Recovering our standing in the Prem and getting back into top 4 should be the absolute top priority and winning Europa 2nd. We don’t have the squad to compete on 3 fronts. Winning the FA cup is possible, but by no means should it be prioritized above the premier league or Europa and under no circumstances should fans disparage Arteta if he fields a young team and accuse him of taking the competition lightly. Our youth need game time and our first team needs their rest and fitness managed.
Stephen ,though you make some fair points about rotation etc, I suggest to you that most fans, certainly older ones but ALSO younger ones, will always prefer a cup to finishing fourth or in top six. We watch professional sport to win things, not to finish in top such and such position. Almost all fans think this way I suggest, even though most top clubs do not. But most clubs do not care that much about their fans sadly. Sigh!
Not me Jon, the top four spot and CL guarantees our club the money needed to be a successfull, well run and self sufficient “business”…just as kronkie has told us he wants the club to be.
With this money, we can compete with other CL clubs, without it we become part of the Thursday night europa brigade.
Winning the cup is always an amazing feat and should never be underestimated, but our club needs the money that CL football brings…start winning trophies again, once we have achieved every top club’s initial aim, CL participation.
Ken
I’m with you on that!
Would love to win the FA cup again but as AW said getting in the top 4 was almost a trophy in itself. We wouldn’t be having these conversations if we were likely to be really competing for a CL place. Without the CL, Arsenal won’t be attracting the top players and bringing in the much needed revenue either
The day the FA Cup (the oldest knock out cup competition in the football world) is not worth winning, is the day English football has really “gone to the dogs”.
ozziegunner, I agree 100%, but if I had a choice of top four and then Cl or the fa cup, it would be the former…wouldn’t you?
O.T. The news coming out of Australia are so distressing ozziegunner.
It seems to spreading at an alarming pace, hope all is well with you and yours, plus all the other gooners down there.
Please keep us informed mate, what a tragedy to strike your country. The world is going crazy at the moment, both politically and with nature out of control.
Ken, in my almost 68 years I have never seen anything like this. Living in an urban area of Lake Macquarie we are not at risk, although the air quality is very poor due to the smoke and ash. My mother is 96 and grew up on a dairy farm in rural Victoria before moving to Sydney after the war. She also has never seen such a situation in her lifetime.
The fires have affected most States of Australia, particularly from Queensland, down the whole east coast of NSW into Victoria including the Australian Alps and Gippsland and into South Australia. The Australian edition of the Guardian has an excellent coverage of the extent and damage done. The Murdoch media has been a disgrace in its coverage, given it being the mouthpiece of climate change deniers.
The drought in Australia has been one of the worst in written record, with NSW being 100% drought declared. Water storages are at critical levels, with Sydney, Newcastle and Lake Macquarie, as well as most regional centres and towns being on water restrictions.
The fires have been burning for over 4 months, with temperatures well above average in most months. Recently we have had 44°C temperatures and we live on the coast.
The unfortunate, if not tragic, background is that the State Fire Commissioners, both serving and retired, requested a meeting earlier in 2019 with Prime Minister Morrison to discuss the emerging problems of drought, tinder dry vegetation, difficult conditions for hazard reduction burning, cuts to rural fire services and the resources required for the fire season they saw coming. This meeting was refused.
The Commonwealth Government is belatedly offering money and resources after the event, when so much could have been done to mitigate the losses. L
The impact on the people, environment, flora and fauna, infrastructure and economy of this country is devastating. Some native animals may be forced to extinction, flocks and herds which have taken generations to breed have been lost. People have died and many have lost everything, except what they could take in their motor vehicles. Many of the affected areas rely very heavily on tourism, particularly this time of the year and great damage to local economies. Tourists have stopped coming to Australia.
It makes one feel so inadequate, when all one can do is donate money. The response both from within Australia and overseas has been outstanding. Thank you everyone for your support, both emotional and financial.
By the way our Kiwi cousins had the White Island volcanic eruption as well, so the Antipodes is not faring well.
ozziegunner, it sounds like hell on earth my friend.
No wonder the people are up in arms with the government over this.
We are getting daily updates on the situation, but to read from an individual just how much it is affecting everyone/everything is heartbreaking.
It will take years to get the land back to its former self and to think that animals could become extinct is unbelievable.
How these people, who have lost everything, will survive is another long term project, but I am sure the aussie spirit will combine and overcome any odds.
As you say, words don’t help the situation, but I get the feeling that just being able to tell others about the experience has helped a little – I hope so anyway.
Take care my friend and let’s hope things change for the better sooner rather than letter.
The teams that finish in the top 3 in the premiership should go automatically into the champions league.
Then the winner of European domestic cups should go into the play offs.
If its a case the winner of the fá Cup was in the top 3, it should go to the runner up.