bloody friggin 'ell I was just thinking how blessed we have been with the draw as compared to last year. I'll not tempt fate with absurd thoughts like that ever again. Oh well, we'd have to play them sometime.....might as well dump them unceremoniously out of the cup now rather than later.
fa cup draw It should have been the Final. But it will still be a great game for the neutrals. As far as the result goes, if we can match them in midfield (something we didn't do in the League game) and cut off the supply to the strikers, we should turn them over. I'm going for a 2-1 victory for the Gunners.
Re: bloody friggin 'ell We played Liverpool and Newcastle on the way to the final last year, hardly blessed!
Fixture date, no Gilberto From the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/a/arsenal/2703561.stm
Re: Fixture date, no Gilberto Crap. Sounds like the Brazil FA, though. Nothing like a meaningless friendly in the middle of February.
It's stupid for the Brazilian FA to organize a friendly in China . . . if you are going to do a friendly, why not in Europe? Most - well all of the top Brazilian players play there. Oh well, it's the most "popular" National Team in the World so I guess they want more fans in China . . . Oh well, that's why the big teams have to have top player even if they sit on the bench . . . look at Real Madrid . . . no Ronaldo - just put in Raul or whatever super sub striker they have . . .
If its at Old Trafford I would hope we play with a little more conviction than the last time we were there. I thought the lads looked a touch frightened.
The game will be shown live on BBC1 on Saturday 15.2.03 at 12.15pm local time, so I don't know whether that means you guys in the USA and Canada will be able to pick that up live too.
I doubt it. I'm only going on what I've seen from Dish Network, but my guess is that the Stoke City v. Chelsea game the next day will be the live PPV match offered. Doesn't mean the Arsenal match won't show up delayed on FSW a bit later, like the Farnbrough Town match did... I don't know about DirecTV or cable systems, but Dish is offering a 5-game FA Cup package for about $60. The package is already down to 4 games, and the problem is you don't know who's playing before you buy (obviously). Here's what they're offering, FYI: 1/26 Manchester United vs West Ham 11:00am ET 2/16 TBD vs TBD 11:00am ET 3/9 TBD vs TBD 11:00am ET 4/14 Semifinals: TBD vs TBD 11:00am ET 5/17 Finals: TBD vs TBD 10:00am ET
I know DirecTV offered the multi-game package last year, but I haven't seen anything about it this year.
It's too bad Gilberto Silva will not be available for the game against Man.U. as he's off to China to play for Brazil. Wenger is not too happy about the situation but there's little he can do about it. His options for replacing Gilberto are van Bronckhorst, Parlour and Edu.
I hope Gio gets a run out in this game. He's looked good at left back and as substitute this season and should be chomping at the bit to get a full game. He also has a bit of a goal threat from the centre of midfield which we still lack.
Here's the listing for the match from soccertv.com... Sat Feb 15 04:15AM Pacific Sat Feb 15 05:15AM Mountain Sat Feb 15 06:15AM Central Sat Feb 15 07:15AM Eastern Length: 2 hr 15 min LIVE Setanta Sport - closed-circuit/PPV (1-415-566-6701) English FA Cup 5th Round Manchester United vs Arsenal Looks like it will be shown live in the US and Canada, as long as there are venues willing to show it. It's not on there yet, but I'm sure that the Dark Horse in Philly will be screening it live, which means a 5:30 AM alarm call for me!
I'll probably be watching at either the Plough & Stars or the Phoenix Landing in Cambridge, MA. Can't wait, this'll be one of the biggest matches of the year. Go Gunners!
I'm hoping to see Parlour in for Gilberto in a wonderful match, one that puts ManUre back in their place. The first part of this article from The Guardian Unlimited is a nice "Police v. the Media" story. Enjoy. http://sport.guardian.co.uk/news/story/0,,887375,00.html I see 2-1 to the Arsenal, but only if we play commanding, take-no-crap football, because it seems that that's the only language that ManU responds to. I can't wait to see if the "Unrealised Genius" comes to life this game (if he does, I fear for Arsenal's future). Right. 2-1 to the Arse. It's a crying shame that it won't be at THOF. By the way, TH14 was named OPTA's player of the month. I would have the link to the story, but my Internet hookup's acting up today. Anyways, it's on ArsenalWorld.com, so look it up there. Vive le AFC! OPArsenal
Updated TV info soccertv.com now says the match will also be shown on FSW and FSW Canada on a 1-day delay at 2 p.m. ET on February 16th. Still being shown on live on Setanta Saturday morning.
Re: Re: bloody friggin 'ell Yes, that was exactly the point I was trying to make...poorly as usual. 7:15 AM?? Blech. I say put Edu in for Gilberto..let him knock lumps out Scholes!