Millwall! I fear for the team personally. Ronaldo hasn't faced thuggery of that sort before, lol. I'm worried for him. There tactic to stop him will be: break his legs! The game is going to be very scrappy and there is definitely no dead certainty that we are going to win it. This will be a rough game, are we ready for it? Wise vs Keane is a red card waiting to happen, lol.
Yeah, as I said in the other thread, this game could be very dangerous if they decide to throw everything forward. They have very little to lose, as their place in the UEFA Cup next season is secured. I think that by then, we should be able to have a healthy 11 (aside form Rio), assuming there aren't any serious injuries. We'll need to be careful how we approach our Premiership matches before that game too, depending on our standing in the league at the time. But its all talk really. We'll see how things really go at the time. Remember, we haven't won anything yet.
Keane vs. McCarthy would have led to some fun press before the final. It's so hard to get a quote out of Keano on this topic.
Maybe I'm too optimistic here but this should be an easy win. Our team has one chance to redeem the entire season and stuff it in the ********ing FA's face. 4-0 United.
You must be joking! Millwall are a grimey team who will make sure the game does not flow. Their aerial bombardment and rough housing will cause us all kinds of trouble and antagonism will be a given. It will be tight and doubt both teams will have 11men at the end of it.
I think you're right about Millwall Dark. As if that wasn't bad enough, just imagine being in a nearby pub before the final... For those that don't know, let's just say that Millwall fans have a justified reputation for some seriously bad behaviour... Let's hope that football wins through in the end.
As a Chelsea man I'm sure you know all about the Millwall firm. Animals!! This final will be a very tough one for us.
You're right there. Let's say I've had a few encounters with them... Shame really because the team is actually not too bad this season and, call me biased if you like, but their management team of Denis Wise and Ray Wilkins has worked wonders down there. As I said - lets hope football wins through. As a neutral I'm quite looking forward to watching it actually. Millwall have nothing to lose at all. They are complete underdogs and will probably fight like them too! OwG
I would have loved to play Sunderland just to see Keano get a card for attacking opposing manager. We will win the Cup, but it won't be a walk.
Millwall,Millwall,Millwall. Hey, it's the big,bad and grimey side from South London...... For those of you that are thinking that this match will be a walkover, don't be foolish. They've been playing playoff bound football lately in Div. 1 and in a match like this where they'll be large underdogs, they'll throw caution to the wind and press the match from start to finish. On the flip side, our side has the ability to hit them up in transition and counter successfully. I'm not going to put a lot into this Cup final yet as it's too early for any detailed breakdowns. I can't wait.....
The main thing is we must not underestimate them, but perhaps even more crucial is clinical finishing... these are the type of games where you can dominate possesion for a while and go up one goal but never finish the opponent off and that is dangerous, I hope we see a full stregth squad... well, minus Saha naturally
Hooligans, firms (gangs of organised hooligans) go way back to the 70's possibly late 60's. All over England and Scotland there were firms who would organise fights amongst themselves and generally indulge in violent yobbish culture. There's nothing like it outside of Europe and South America really, but UK is 'famed' for the sheer vastness of the hooligans. Most firms have dispersed or just grown up with no extra factions to take on their cause..but Millwall still have a decent sized yob following. Birmingham City Aston Villa Chelsea Millwall the most famous hooligan elements and they prided themselves on fighting other firms around the country. These days most teams don't have those 'fans' hanging around the clubs anymore but The bad blood is still there for all to see as witnessed recently when Birmingham city were promoted and faced Villa for the first time in over a decade, fights all over the place. When I say fight I don't mean one on one's or anything of the sort. We're talking massive brawls with hundreds of people. There are fears that if Millwall do ever gain promotion to the EPL their hooligans could cause chaos and shame for the English game and there's no doubt that alot of 'retired' hooigans wouldn't mind one last crack at the Millwall firms. Chelsea and Millwall are reletively close in proximity and those two sets of firms used to be the fiercest of enemies. It wouldn't be advisable to alk past the New Den (their stadium) in a Chelsea shirt..put it that way..and vice versa. It's far to long winded for me to break it all down..I'm sure this board will have a few people who can tell it from 1st hand experience..
You've got it about right there Dark although you could have also mentioned in your hall of shame: West Ham (the infamous I.C.F. and Millwall's sworn enemies to this day) Leeds Utd. (oh dear...) Cardiff City (Welsh version of Millwall) You may recall that ManU themselves also had a bit of a reputation in the 1960's/70's - especially when they played local rivals Man City or Liverpool. The calming effects of prawn sandwiches are quite impressive. Perhaps someone should airlift massive quantities of them to some of the world's trouble-spots?! OwG
West Ham! forgot about them. Leeds I never really knew about them...and Cardiff along with say Stoke..aren't they a more modern element? Were they around back when it was rife? If they were never knew about that. Lol if only prawn sandwches could be dispatched by the U.N huh? lol
It's got to be worth a go! Prawn sandwiches - proven to give the people that eat them a sense of calm and well-being - they can also be eaten by anyone irrespective of race or religion. As tried & tested at Old Trafford - see how much the noise level has diminished since they were introduced! Someone should suggest it. OwG
Thanks Dark Savante and OwG. Let's hope the fans will behave themselves in Cardiff. But I imagine U.N. aircraft standing by, and should any trouble break out, they'll fly by the stadium to drop packets of prawn sandwiches into the stands to calm the crowd :-D
bumpity bump, bump the time is near and nothing much has changed. Millwall have as much chance as we do of claiming the cup.
I think I've become notorious for the line "this game scares me a bit" in these threads. This one doesn't. Could we lose it? Well, yeah. Of course we could. But I think the chances of it are extremely low. Yes, yes I know we lost to Wolves this season. But Wolves also: A. was promoted last season which Millwall will not be, B. improved their team during the off-season, and C. had been playing EPL opposition which improved their side. And finally, that was during Wes Brown's period of being the worst player in the EPL, shortly after coming back from that injury. If he doesn't put a goal on a silver platter, we don't lose. Remember how Wolves got flattened the first few weeks of the season? That's Millwall. They've gotten this far without playing good teams - they had a lucky draw. Can they be rough? Well, yeah. And they can also get red cards. Do they have some quality? Well, yeah... but no player that we'd conceivably want in ours side. Evened in this weakened year. They're going to bunker down and play long ball? No doubt. We've had trouble with this all year? No doubt. But their forwards will be less skilled, less able to take advantage of mistakes, and their CBs will be less equiped to handle a constant barage. We're going to win this game. Off the top of my head, I'd say 2-0 or 3-0. If we score 2 early, it will be a rout, as they try desperatel to catch up. Then I'd say 4-0. Miracles do happen - but they're called miracles because of how goddamn rare they are. If Millwall had played in the EPL, they'd have been relegated this year. No amount of playing "tough" and breaking other players ankles would have saved them. We weren't the best team in the EPL this year - but we were certainly still elite, comparatively. Millwall are a poorer D1 team than, say, Villa are in the EPL. We handled Villa without a problem - and they're miles superior to Millwall.
Somebody in another thread offered this link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/programmes/2002/hooligans/ I think this should answer most questions. I especially like the "mugshots" of the known hooligans. Most of them don't look like what I had envisioned and they appear to mostly be Neo-Nazi's.
I'd say Keane and Scholes can play rough as well. If it gets physical Manchester United will be ok. They likely will come out strong similar to the match against Villa. How soon before the lineups are announced?
Scholes isn't "rough" - he doesn't have a mean bone in his body. He simply has absolutely no tackling technique or timing