The FA Cup Draw gave us a one in three and a half thousand chance that the Racism Derbies
(Liverpool v Man Utd and QPR v Chelsea) would be sequelled.
Amidst massive extra police costs and abundant blurtings of racism, the two teams associated with
racist behaviour won via a dubious penalty and through one of the victims of racism making the
mistake that produced the winner having been under intense racist and/or verbal abuse throughout
the previous couple of hours.
We wanted to talk about stuff that isn't Luis Suarez. We really, really did. But that didn't
take into account one inescapable fact: Pretty much nobody is talking about Liverpool without also
talking about Luis Suarez. So while the FA Cup draw against Oldham Athletic holds the potential for
distraction on Friday, for now at least there's little to do but tie up a few more of the
Suarez-related loose ends.
As of today, with one game of his ban served against Manchester City and the fixtures flying by
fast in January, Luis Suarez is set to miss Oldham in the FA Cup, Manchester City home and away in
the League Cup semi-finals, plus Stoke, Bolton, and Wolves in the league in January and the first
match of February against Tottenham.
Check out all the news (and the Manchester jokes), right after the jump.
It has been, in many ways, both an eventful and uneventful week for the Arsenal. A disappointing
performance in Greece was mitigated by the fact that the match was meaningless. And there has been
a noticeable lack of the omniscient transfer rumors this week.
When the FA Cup draw was made, people obviously picked out Manchester United vs. Manchester City as
the biggest match with Arsenal vs. Leeds United as the other big match. While it is fair to say
that there is no real "rivalry" between Arsenal and Leeds geographically or in competing for
trophies, there is no [.
Morning all,
the Wigan win and performance at the weekend was just the tonic after a week in which we'd
stumbled a little bit, and confidence will be high as we prepare for a trip to Greece to face
Olympiacos. Not all the players who played on Saturday will be making the trip, obviously, as the
manager has a chance to rest some legs and keep players fresh for the Premier League.
October was a tough month for Boro. It started with 3 straight defeats to the likes of
Scunthorpe, AFC Wimbledon and Huddersfield. It soon picked up though and the win against Charlton
kicked off another unbeaten run.
Stevenage 1-0 Charlton
A Stacy Long goal was enough for Boro to beat unbeaten, table-toppers Charlton Athletic.
Kenny Dalglish admits Liverpool have to overcome an uphill battle if they are to compete in Europe
next season.
The Reds were recently knocked out of the Europa League by Braga, who beat the Merseyside outfit
1-0 in their own backyard before carving out a goalless draw at Anfield in the return leg.
I have a new piece in Slate on parity in soccer, which of course means the lack of
parity in soccer, which means the fact that Real Madrid and Barcelona have combined to win 51 La
Liga titles compared to 28 for all the other clubs in Spain, and Blackburn is still the only club
outside the Functional Big Three ever to win a Premier League title, and even a plucky underdog
like Leyton Orient, after bravely winning an FA Cup draw against Arsenal at home, can expect to be
roto-rooted into oblivion by Nicklas Bendtner at the Emirates.
For many of us, the Monday morning trip to work sees us surrounded by fans of other clubs, eager
to stick the knife in after what, from their point of view, was a hilarious afternoon of football.
Judging by the response to last night's blog, there are plenty reading this now desperate to make
another joke at our expense.
Manchester United and Arsenal are set to collide in the quarter finals
of the FA Cup should the Gunner's dispose of Leyton Orient later today. The Full Draw is
as follows.
FA Cup Quarter Finals Draw:
Birmingham v Bolton/Fulham
Man Utd v Leyton/Arsenal
Stoke v West Ham/Burnley
Man City/Aston Villa v Everton/Reading
To be a footballer would be to live the dream but you do have to make sacrifices. Here are some
who have really taken the freedom of retirement to heart heart disease, that is...
This was prompted by a picture of Neil Shipperly I stumbled across remember him? Battling
striker who played for Chelsea, amongst others?
More goals less cards
Games are coming thick and fast. Just a little less than 48 hours ago, we played Huddersfield
in the FA Cup. Next up is the league home game against Everton. Luckily enough for us, our squad
have largely managed to keep fit and another rotation will be expected tonight with what is
considered our first eleven returning to the starting line-up.
Non-League Crawley have got a dream tie against Manchester United in the 5th
Round of the FA Cup.
Draw in Full
West Ham v Burnley
Man City or Notts Co v Aston Villa
Stoke v Brighton
Birmingham v Sheff Wed
Leyton Orient v Arsenal
Everton or Chelsea v Reading
Man Utd v Crawley
Fulham or Tottenham v Bolton
Non-League Crawley have got a dream tie against Manchester United in the 5th
Round of the FA Cup.
Draw in Full
West Ham v Burnley
Man City or Notts Co v Aston Villa
Stoke v Brighton
Birmingham v Sheff Wed
Leyton Orient v Arsenal
Everton or Chelsea v Reading
Man Utd v Crawley
Fulham or Tottenham v Bolton
