2018/19 FA Cup

3rd round of the legendary FA Cup is happening today

Manchester United vs Reading right now, sadly the best CB in the world Thiago Ilori had to go off injured already. United just now got a goal disallowed correctly by VAR, but then VAR spots a penalty in the buildup, laughable

Mata 1:0

Another game to watch surely is Crystal Palace vs Grimsby Town later

Edit: Ilori is still on, was treated lengthily but not subbed off actually. Surely Reading cannot lose this with him on the field

Honestly, Reading have had more of the game, have had the better chances, and should be 2:1 up.
But again, games like these shows that the difference between top teams and those that are not top teams ultimately comes down to quality of attacking players.

Often times, it is possible for weaker teams to almost make up for the difference by good coaching, attitude, work rate, energy, intensity, but then they tend to squander their chances pathetically in front of goals as their strikers just aren't up to it.
Being able to score goals, that's what takes a lot of money.


Here's the full fixture list

1 Bolton Wanderers v Walsall
2 Millwall v Hull City
3 Gillingham v Cardiff City
4 Brentford v Oxford United
5 Sheffield Wednesday v Luton Town
6 Manchester United v Reading
7 Everton v Lincoln City
8 Tranmere Rovers v Tottenham Hotspur
9 Preston North End v Doncaster Rovers
10 Newcastle United v Blackburn Rovers
11 Chelsea v Nottingham Forest
12 Crystal Palace v Grimsby Town
13 Derby County v Southampton
14 Accrington Stanley v Ipswich Town
15 Bristol City v Huddersfield Town
16 Newport County v Leicester City
17 Fulham v Oldham Athletic
18 Shrewsbury Town v Stoke City
19 Blackpool v Arsenal
20 Manchester City v Rotherham United
21 AFC Bournemouth v Brighton & Hove Albion
22 West Ham United v Birmingham City
23 Woking v Watford
24 Burnley v Barnsley
25 Queens Park Rangers v Leeds United
26 Sheffield United v Barnet
27 Norwich City v Portsmouth
28 Fleetwood Town v AFC Wimbledon
29 West Bromwich Albion v Wigan Athletic
30 Middlesbrough v Peterborough United
31 Wolverhampton Wanderers v Liverpool
32 Aston Villa v Swansea City

Most interesting probably is Derby vs SOuthamton, two fantastic coaches playing one another

Utd score the 2:0 just before HT with a clinical counter finished by Lukaku

Ilori now subbed off at HT.

Other scores include West Ham leading vs Birmingham, and Bournemouth down 0:2 at home vs Brighton

Are they in crisis? Recent results have been abysmal

Southampton up 1:0 early away at Derby after a deflected goal by Redmond

We beat Blackpool 3-0 last night, aka the worst run club in the UK, possibly the world:

https://thesefootballtimes.co/2017/09/23/blackpool-fc-the-worst-run-club-in-british-football-left-to-rot/

You know it's bad when there are more away fans than home when a PL team comes to visit in the cup.

Fulham beaten 2-1 at home by League Two side Oldham.

Man City beat Rotherham 7-0.

Newcastle trailing, at home

Any comments Mole???

iftikhar wrote:Newcastle trailing, at home

Any comments Mole???

Eh? We drew 1-1 and the game was yesterday lol.

My comments would be the same for every Newcastle related question though.

I simply don't care till we get new ownership, I've barely seen any games all season.

Great Leader Sprucenuce wrote:My comments would be the same for every Newcastle related question though.

I simply don't care till we get new ownership, I've barely seen any games all season.

Seriously??? This is sad. It's that bad, eh. I didn't stop watching even during our abysmal years.

Pool knocked out of FA Cup by Wolves 2-1

4th round draw:

Arsenal vs Manchester United
City vs Burnley
Palace vs Spurs
Chelsea vs Sheffield Wednesday or Luton
Newcastle or Blackburn vs Watford
Middlesbrough vs Newport
Barnet vs Brentford
Portsmouth vs QPR
Swansea vs Gillingham
Wimbledon vs West Ham
Shrewsbury or Stoke vs Wolves
Millwall vs Everton
Brighton vs West Brom
Bristol City vs Botlon
Accrington vs Derby or Southampton
Doncaster vs Oldham

Yikes, unfortunate for Man U and Arsenal.

A lot of EPL-EPL draws, so the next round should have plenty of potentially easier teams. Not thrilled Spurs are facing Palace out of the teams on offer but could be worse.

It could be worse.

Arsenal, United, City and Spurs were still in the draw when there were just six teams left to pick out.

Isn't the next round at the end of this month
Dammit we need to build up form (definitely beat Chelsea in the league) and get enough players fit.
Luckily we're at home

Why bother. Considering the top 4 stakes, I am not so sure both will be taking it seriously. And its early too in the competition. It will be Arsenal kids vs Lolkaku, Fellaini and co.

This is the Arsenal Cup, lad.

Wow. Southampton are REALLY bad at defending leads.

They've gone up a goal or two numerous times since Hasenhüttl joined, but they concede very soon after scoring
Seen them on ttwo occasions concede right after scoring, a minute or two later.

Now they've TWICE bottled a 2:0 lead vs Derby

Southampton-Derby replay now is at the end of extra time - it's 2:2 like the first game - and penalties are imminent

Derby go through on penalties. Nathan Redmond with the one pathetic miss.
He's the player who lost the game for Southampton. While he was integral in their goals, he was also integral in squandering a number of great chances and the lackluster way he missed his pen was pretty awful.
Annoying performance by him, even if the commentators attributed Southampton's good second half to his coming on at HT.

Just realized Arsenal vs Man United is today

Will Ole's streak continue?

Don't think so tbh, but I have underestimated him before.

Also, if Emery doesn't play Özil, I think he should be sacked.

Always get hyped for Arsenal. Like a cup final tonight.

Ole's streak has to end soon, but I don't think Arsenal are the team to do it. FA Cup's the only realistic thing we can win this season, outside of the coveted 4th place trophy, so I hope and expect the strongest lineup possible.

In my view, it will be a difficult game. I think Arsenal has a very good chance to win the game and they should do it especially because they have the crowd behind them, but in a game like this you never know. At the same time, I wouldn't be very surprised to see our streak continue.

The way this game will be played and the final result will tell us again more, about Ole as a coach. Basically, with every win and good result for Ole, everybody will be more and more curious about how the team will perform in the next game and that's because the contrast is getting higher and higher between the last period with Mou and the current form. Slowly, but surely, Mourinho is losing every drop of credibility in front of the whole world with every Man United win. So, it's still a good time to watch United for any football enthusiast due to the fact that there is a big question mark about what's really going on at the club. If United will loose, people will look for the reaction of the team in the next match.

I believe this match, the second big and difficult game for the Norwegian, will be even more conclusive in relation to his style and his quality as a manager than the one against Spurs.

We have the home advantage but if Ole plays Rashford, Martial, Pogba and Lingard then i really can't see us keep cleansheet. We struggle against quick transition and against powerful quick players. United have that in abundance.

last thing we need is a replay so hope it ends one way or another tonight

Hmm. I think those are the perfect players to play with tonight, but I am afraid Alexis will start and maybe it's not the right time. And most likely, you'll have to beat Romero, not Dave The Best Ever de Gea. A replay would be indeed a terrible thing to happen.