FA Cup

Hey Sublime, what's with the FA Cup? I mean I know part of the supposed attraction is the chance for a lower league side to face one of the big boys, but the draw seems unfair. Arsenal, after beating Newcastle, is "rewarded" with a trip to Old Trafford, meanwhile Chelsea and Liverpool are facing sides that their second team could walk over in their sleep.

Just seems to me, that an Arsenal/Man U match up should be in the semis or final. Has anybody ever proposed some kind of system of seeding? To win the FA Cup it seems as much a luck of the draw as it does the caliber of play.

 

The FA cup! The best tournament in football!

The mighty Wycombe Wanderers are the only lower league side to ever reach the semi finals, losing bravely to Liverpool 2-1 in 2001!

Before the cup, non-football league teams (semi pro and amateur) compete for places in the first knockout round. At the first knockout round all professional teams minus the premiership are entered and compete in the 1st and 2nd rounds.

At the 3rd round premiership teams are introduced into the draw - potentially playing non league teams that have battled it through the qualifying and 1st and 2nd rounds.

The beauty of it is that premiership teams could be pitched against each other in the 3rd round while two non-league/lower league teams play each other and get even further - or a premiership team plays a non league or other lowly team in a good fashioned David and Goliath scrap.

I hope I explained that reasonably well...

 

Wasn't 2001 the year Liverpool beat Arsenal in the final on two late Owen goals? A game the Gunners controlled until about the 80th minute. I've seen a repeat of that game on FA Cup Classics. Wish Wycombe had defeated Liverpool.

Oh, I understand the format, but when was the last time a lower league side knocked off a Premiership side in the semis or final? I know it happens in the earlier rounds, but the present format can also allow for finals that are anti climaxes, such as Man U/Millwall a few years back.

Basically, I'm just aggravated with Arsenal's poor luck. First they draw Milan in CL, now they've got Man U, at Old Trafford, in the Cup. At least in the CL you have some control over your own fate, Arsenal has only themselves to blame for finishing second in their group. Ah well, I still believe.


I was watching SKY the other day and noticed that Wycombe is right on the edge of a playoff spot. You have hopes of promotion this year?

 

Yeah, that was that cup run! The final was a good game although I was supporting Arsenal too for that.

Wycombe knocked out two premiership teams (fifth round, quarter final) back then but as a general rule it ends up being premiership teams getting into the final four - but its only to be expected really because of the gap in quality.

Almost every season since being relegated a while back they are in the promotion zone until the end of the season, then they cock up for their remaining games and slip out. Hopefully this year will be different...