Posts Tagged ‘FA Cup’

My guys Gunners were unceremoniously given the heave-hoe from another Cup competition.

Man U took it to Arsenal 2-0.

This gives my Gunners two straight losses since the comeback win against Barcelona two weeks ago.

This is not good garoto.

One thing I have learned and observed over the years is this when Sir Alex and his boys have stunk the joint out and has their collective backs against the wall the Red Devils will come out breathing fire.

Man U will kick ass and take names.

This is what the mighty boys from Old Trafford did on this fine Saturday.

Sir Alex tweaked the line up.

He inserted Fabio De Silva in the starting line up.

This paid handsome dividends for the Red Devils.

Fabio scored the opening goal of the match in the 28^th minute.

A great pass set up Fabio for the goal. His brother Rafael started this baby off. Rafael feeds Wayne Rooney. Rooney hands the ball off to Hernandez. Hernandez fires a shot right at the keeper Almunia. Block. Save. Kick out. Score off the rebound Fabio.

Rooney seals the deal in the 49^th minute with a rebound header into the back of the net.

Game, set, and match to Sir Alex and the boys.

Man U makes it to their 29^th FA Cup semifinal.

Give Sir Alex credit for what he does best win futebol games.

The old master moved his two Brasileiros up and coming stars into the attacking zone.

This tweak gave the old fox the win.

My Gunners are on the ropes.

This is not good.

Getting robbed in the Champions League and then stinking the joint out against a hated rival four days later is not a good sign.

We are on the ropes getting ready to get knocked out.

Maybe it’s time to change skippers.

When a team hits a plateau usually management will get rid of the guy who guided them there for another.

In Arsenal’s last four matches, the Gunners have one win, one loss, and one draw.

My Gunners have one chance at a title The EPL.

This season is looking mighty shaky.

Sir Alex out coached Arsene Wenger.

This is what Wenger had to say about the match with Man U -We had good control of the game. Manchester United had very few chances, they scored with almost their first attempt on goal. After that, we put them in a position they like to be [in] – on the counter attack. They are strong and they are clinical in front of goal. In the second half we had a good opportunity to come back to 1-1 and two minutes later it was 2-0. As long as you cannot come back to 2-1, they are comfortable. In the end, I cannot fault our effort. Things do not go our way at the moment. We have to keep going, support each other and come back strong. It was a strange game, we put a lot of effort in. At the moment, every goalkeeper against us is Man of the Match. I still believe, subconsciously, the disappointment of Tuesday night has played a part today. You could see something has gone, not in our effort or our attitude, but confidence wise.

On the EPL Title- I believe that we can do it. It is a good test for us now, to show that we can regroup, show our mental strength and respond quickly. We have a week without a midweek game, that is the first time for a long time. Unfortunately, we lost Johan Djourou for the rest of the season. It will be difficult. We have a good opportunity to show that we are solid.

Is the season heading into the shits- No. I am very disappointed. We lost three challenges in a strange way. We were not outplayed today but we were punished by a team who were more clinical than us.

In non coach speak this means yes, folks the Gunners are in deep trouble. This match with Man U was huge. We lost it and now we are on the verge of going into a tail spin.

I think my Gunners are still hung over from getting robbed at Barca.

In plain and simple english Arsenal is in deep do-do.

Wenger said this about the Barca robbery- I was very disappointed but I was not affected. I thought we would qualify today. They are always very efficient and if you do not take your chances you don’t win the games against them.

You weren’t but the players were and they played like it. It is the coach’s responsibility to get the guys focused on the goal at hand.

It is time for Wenger to go.

Gunner for life.

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My guys from Arsenal came crashing back to earth when League One side Leyton Orient scored a late goal to send the Gunners into a fifth round replay at our house Emirates.

The winner will take all the marbles and earn the right to face Man U in the quarterfinals of the FA Cup.

Orient’s Jonathan Tehoue nailed the match changer in the 89^th minute.

Tehoue’s shot was a closer range blast right through the wickets.

Jonathan Tehoue spilt the “D” to set up the match-tying goal.

Arsene Wenger rested most of the regular guys who played in the stunning 2-1 win over Barca in the first leg of the Champions League first round knockout stage.

Wenger had this to say about the tie with Leyton Orient- We have played the game with the right attitude and could not fault our fighting spirit, but you also have to give credit to Leyton Orient because they never gave up and fought very hard,” Wenger said.

“As long as you do not score the second goal, that can happen. Overall it is a disappointment, but we are still in the competition and will now play at home. The most important thing is to go through.

“You had a match against a team which is technically superior, but fighting spirit has a chance.”

Wenger, though, continued: “The most negative side of our result today is one more fixture and in fairness that is not what we needed.

“We have had problems in the cups against teams from the lower divisions to finish them off, but also we have given a lot.

“Sometimes, mentally, a breather would not be bad.

“What people forget is that since the beginning of December, we have played every three days, so sometimes to have a week where we could give the players a little breather would not be bad.”

Wenger added this-”It will make their budget for the season, if not more, and to scrap that off would be a blow to all the smaller clubs in England.

“They suffer already, so you would not have a lot of supporters to do that (scrap replays).”

Man City won their fourth replay against Notts County 5-0.

Bolton defeated Fulham 1-0 to advance to the quarterfinals.

This is it from The De Futebol Zone.

Gunner nation rules.

Gunner for life.

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Chelsea, the defending FA Cup holders, is voce vai.

Man U escapes with 1-0 win over non-league Crawley Town.

This is what the FA Cup is all about.

The FA Cup is oldest Cup competition in the world.

It began in 1871.

Man U has won the most titles 11 in the 140 history of the FA Cup.

Wes Brown’s header off a corner kick by mate Darren Gibson in the 28^th minute sealed Crawley Town’s fate.

Sir Alex and the boys are into the FA Cup quarterfinals.

Everton beat Chelsea 4-3 on PK kicks in the fourth round to advance to the fifth round.

Chelsea has bombed out in the FA Cup and Carling Cup and are about to flame out in the EPL title race after a great start to the season.

Are the Blues too old?

I will bet dollars to holes in the donuts this is the case.

Fernando Torres maybe a welcomed addition but so far Chelsea is stinking the joint out.

Birmingham defeated Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 to move on to the quarterfinals.

Stoke beat Brighton 3-0 to advance também.

The cool thing about the FA Cup is this.

It gives the smaller guys a chance to win a big time title.

Non-league Crawley Town gave Man U all they could handle before losing.

The last non-EPL side to win the title was Wimbledon in 1987-88.

Wimbledon is now defunct.

The Dons are now called Milton Keynes.

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Cesc Fabregas saved our bacon against Huddersfield. Fabregas nailed the PK in the 86^th minute to send my Gunners onto the fifth round of the FA Cup.

It was nip and tuck throughout this sucker.

An own goal by the Terriers Peter Clarke in the 22^nd minute was the difference in the match.

Alan Lee leveled this baby up in the 66^th minute off a great header.

This wasn’t a great offensive display by the Gunners but heck we’ll take anything in a pinch.

Arsene Wenger rested most of the big guys.

Only Fabregas saw action late in the match.

His entrance into the match in the 69^th minute was the spark that we needed to get the win.

All in all, I am not that happy with the guy’s performance but a “W” is a “W”.

Headman Arsene Wenger had this to say about the ball buster of a match against Huddersfield- www.arsenal.com It was tough, tough, tough, because it had all the ingredients of a typical cup game. We played a little bit below par and Huddersfield is a good team, they have shown that today. They were efficient, they are always dangerous on set-pieces and crosses, they scored on a set-piece. It had the ingredients of a cup game as well because we were down to ten men so it became very difficult. In the end we had the quality just to make the difference and in the final 25 minutes I felt we had room to score goals. But we play so many games at the moment that sometimes we are not as sharp as we would want to be. That is what happened today.

Wenger on Squillaci’s red card- I found it harsh but you can give it or not give it. It was a foul, it didn’t look to me like an obvious goalscoring opportunity. Is he the last man? I am not sure as well. But I feared the red card and unfortunately he gave what I feared.

 Wenger added about his suspesion for a week-Not more, not less, because it’s three games. For us it’s good because we play three games in a week so it is only one week [that he will be out]. No [I am not likely to sign anyone before the deadline], I leave these headlines to all the other clubs, but at the moment no. I cannot tell you definitely because someone might knock at my door in the morning and says ‘I would like to play for you’ and he is a good player because I would sign him!

Man City escaped with a one all tie against Notts County.

Stoke City beat Wolves 1-0.

West Ham defeated Nottingham Forrest 3-2.

Fulham clobbered Tottenham 4-0.

This is it from The De Futebol Zone.

Gunner for life.

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Both Manchester United and Birmingham received huge scares from lower division sides that they were playing the fourth round of the FA Cup.

 Sir Alex and the boys defeated Southampton 2-1.

Michael Owen and Javier Hernandez scored in the 65^th and 75^th minutes respectively to send Man U into the fifth round.

Sir Alex and his boys rested most of their regulars. Berbatov, Rooney, Edwin Van der Sar, Rio Ferdinand, and Vidac did not suit up.

The subs saved the day for Man U.

Sir Alex had this to say after the match- Sometimes we make it difficult for ourselves but, in fairness, I maybe meddled with the system somewhat this afternoon,” he told MUTV. “We tried a diamond in the middle of the pitch and, of course, Manchester United are used to playing with width all the time and I think that was a problem for us.

“It wasn’t working at all. We had some possession of the ball but we never really threatened. We had two or three shots from the edge of the box. It was a nothing first half, really, and the goal, if anything, made us play. (Southampton) scoring the goal right on half-time motivated us a bit to do better.’

‘Sometimes we make it difficult for ourselves but, in fairness, I maybe meddled with the system somewhat this afternoon,” he told MUTV. “We tried a diamond in the middle of the pitch and, of course, Manchester United are used to playing with width all the time and I think that was a problem for us.

Birmingham scored three-second half goals to beat Coventry 3-2.

The Blues were playing at their house –St. Andrews Place.

Chelsea and Everton tied one all.

Bolton and Wigan tied nil-nil.

Torquay United lost to Crawley Town 1-0.

Mathew Tubbs scored the match winner in the 39^th minute.

Tubbs and Craig McAllister had a chance to put this puppy outta reach but both missed PK’s in the 61^st and 66^th minutes.

The Reds advanced to the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time.

Crawley Town is non-league side.

They are one step above stink.

Way to go garoto.

Steve Evans the Reds boss said this- We expected to come here and win. We said it and we have done it. Arguably if we go and practise penalties tomorrow we might score the next one. I think if the first one goes in then I think we may have won here rather comfortably this afternoon.

“It’s fantastic for the owners that we are through to the last 16 for the first time. Obviously by progressing in the FA Cup we might encounter some fixture congestion ahead – and now we might do some transfer business before the window closes that wasn’t planned. I think you have to give us a lot of credit for the way we played today.”

The upset lives in the FA Cup.

This is it from The De Futebol Zone.

Gunner for life.

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This is FA Cup weekend in England. The Cup is the oldest competition in the world

The FA began in 1872.

Arsenal takes on Huddersfield on Sunday at Emirates.

The Terriers were formed in 1907 and they won their first FA Cup in 1922.

Huddersfield won their first League tile in 1923-24 and then went on to win three League titles in a row.

In the history of English futebol only three clubs have won three League titles in a row-Liverpool, Arsenal, and Man U.

Huddersfield has not won a major title since 1926.

This won’t change anytime soon unless hell will freeze over.

The good news for my guys from Arsenal is this- Squillaci and Diaby will be in a squad,” manager Wenger told Arsenal TV Online. “The only uncertainty I have is Rosicky. I don’t know if he’ll be fit or not. He was really sick. Almunia has a chance, Lukasz Fabianski no and with Thomas Vermaelen we need to be patient.

“Sagna is as good as he can be. Yesterday he was at home and he still had a little bit of a headache. All the examinations made at the hospital were clean. He should be available for Sunday. If not Sunday then on Tuesday (against Everton).”

On Saturday, Chelsea takes on Everton and Man U battles Southampton.

On Sunday, Tottenham battles Fulham.

Man City travels to Notts County.

This is it from The De Futebol Zone.

Gunner for life.

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Samir Nasri led Arsenal to an impressive 3-1 win over Leeds in the third round of The FA Cup.

Samir Nasri had a goal and two assists in the win that sent us to the fourth round of The FA Cup.

Way to go garoto.

Nasri started off the goal parade in the 5^th minute.

Samir Nasri received a great pass from mate Andre Arshavin. Nasri gathered the ball and faked two Leeds defenders out of their jocks and nailed the winner to make it 1-0.

Bacary Sagna nailed a close range winner in the 35^th minute for a 2-0 Gunners lead.

Leeds cut the gap to 2-1 in the 37^th minute.

Bradley Johnson smashed the winner to make it nervous time for the Arsenal faithful.

Not to despair Arsenal put this sucker outta reach in the 76^th minute when Robin Van Persie struck for gold in the 76^th minute to make 3-1.

Game, asset, and match to my Gunner guys.

Samir Nasri said this about the Gunners performance- We wanted to start really strongly. We scored after five minutes and tried to play our game even though the pitch was a little difficult.

“We want to win every competition and this cup is really important to us.”

The head guy Arsene Wenger had these diddy’s about the Gunners win over Leeds- We had both a good result and a good performance. We had quality in our attitude, spirit and focus. We started strongly and we played the football we like to play for the best part of the game. Leeds never gave up but we looked just too strong tonight for them. I think we got a warning in the first game and we [learnt] the lesson. That shows that my players are intelligent and that is a good sign.

Wenger added- have quality on the bench, that helps especially when your legs get tried. The incisive passing of the players can make the difference. I was impressed by Leeds over the two games, by the way they were organised, by their spirit, by their physical qualities and I think they have a chance to come back to the Premier League.

Up next for Arsenal in the fourth round of The FA Cup is Huddersfield.

Wenger said this about our next round opponent -It gives us a good opportunity to play at home in front of our home fans. Of course we will be favourites and I believe we had that in our mind tonight, the fact that if we qualify we play at home. I believe the team goes from strength to strength with great spirit and we have shown again tonight that we are hungry.

This is it from The De Futebol Zone.

Gunner for life.

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Man City pretty much had their way with Leicester City winning in 4-2.

Tevez scored the first marker of the match in the 15^th minute.

The Carlos Man nailed a close range bomb to give City a 1-0 lead.

Leicester City not to be out done level this sucker up in the 19^th minute.

Paul Gallagher returned the favor with his own point blank rocket to level this puppy up at one all.

City scored the next two goals to put this baby outta reach.

Leicester City cut the gap to 3-2  in the 83^rd minute but City sealed the deal  in the 90^th minute on a strike by Aleksander Kolarov to put this baby outta reach.

Sure, The Foxes put up a hell of a battle but in the end Tevez and the guys we way too strong for Leicester City.

Carlos Tevez had a chance to really put this sucker outta reach in the 59^th minute but he missed a gimmie PK.

Can you say choke city.

Man City is on to the fourth round where they will face Notts County.

Wolverhampton destroyed Doncaster 5-0.

Stoke City doubled up Cardiff 2-0.

Today my guys from Arsenal battle Leeds at Emirates.

We need to win this puppy.

The FA Cup, you gotta love it.

This is it from The De Futebol Zone.

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The FA Cup returns to the forefront on Tuesday. Man City battles Leicester City at City of Manchester Stadium.

City is on a roll of late winning their last four of their last five EPL matches.

The last time Leicester City and Man City met both tied at two all.

The winner advances to the fourth round of the FA Cup.

The FA Cup is the oldest futebol competition.

FA Cup began in 1872.

Other FA Cup matches have Cardiff City taking on Stoke City. Wolverhampton entertaining Doncaster.

So there, you have it from The De Futebol Zone.

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We are almost moved into our new digs. We have to wait until January 15^th to fully move in. But this didn’t stop me from following my Gunners in the third round of the FA Cup. Arsenal salvaged a one all draw with Leeds.

This was not good.

If it weren’t for late heroics by Cesc Fabregas in the waning moments of the match our goose would have been cooked.

Fabregas nailed the PK in the 90^th to saved Arsenal’s bacon.

Leeds is a tough out.

The return match is set for Wednesday January 19^th at Leeds house.

Headman Arsene Wenger had this to say about the battle with Leeds at Emirates.

I must say at first that it was a very difficult game because it was a real Cup game and Leeds were up for it, they played well. It was the kind of game where you felt that it was important not to go 1-0 down. When we were 1-0 down I felt that Wojciech kept us in the game with a good save on the header [from Becchio]. We looked like we would come back but we were short of time and it was important to keep the momentum and not to go out today because that would have been a shocker.

More on what Wenger had to say about the match—All quotes take from www.arsenal.com

It was not exactly the wish I had before the game but it was the second worst wish. The worst would have been to go out. We go to Ipswich on Wednesday, we play West Ham on Saturday and then the replay of the FA Cup is after that.

It is a good warning that we got today. But we knew before the game that Leeds went to Old Trafford last year and won, and they had a draw at Tottenham. Overall this team have belief in that competition, from last year certainly. They did very well, were very aggressive but in a good way, not a negative way, they closed us down everywhere and we had problems to pass through their lines. They were dangerous as well and it was important for us not to give a goal away, but we did.

I don’t know what I want to say there. They were positive, they played longer balls but on the second ball they were well-organised, they were quickly on us and maybe our game was not quick enough to get out of their pressure.

We have to get ready for a hot date with West Ham on Saturday January 15^th at Boleyn Ground.

This is a must win situation.

My Gunners are four points outta first place.

Wins are a premium.

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