FA Cup 23/24

[The Ghost of Alex Higgins]

It would certainly be interesting, given that Chelsea ONLY seem to wake up against top level opposition

[finchman]

Definitely more contact there than Jota's. That's coming from a neutral. I have no bias when judging incidents between two teams v the laws of the game.

When did contact in the box become an instant foul?
Why is a penalty not given every time there is a corner?
Fucking contact my chocolate starfish.

[Zambo]

Contact in the box has never been an automatic offence. It's down to commonsense on the part of the match officials and now VAR. Problem is, there is not much between the lot of them.

There is a lot of argy bargy going on at corners, and much of it before the corner has been taken. All the ref has to do to I.d whether it is a foul or not, is ask himself, is it a push, holding, late challenge, a trip etc. If the contact is minimal as in the Jota incident, and the player goes down when he needn't have done, then it ain't a pen.

[Sadact7]

Contact in the box has never been an automatic offence. It's down to commonsense on the part of the match officials and now VAR. Problem is, there is not much between the lot of them.

There is a lot of argy bargy going on at corners, and much of it before the corner has been taken. All the ref has to do to I.d whether it is a foul or not, is ask himself, is it a push, holding, late challenge, a trip etc. If the contact is minimal as in the Jota incident, and the player goes down when he needn't have done, then it ain't a pen.

To be honest I have sympathy with Wigan on this one. There was contact, but not enough to ping Fernandes up in the air like a tiddlywink.

I’d have been annoyed had it been given the other way around,

[kancutlawns]

Contemplating getting tickets for Chelsea vs Villa for a couple of weeks time when they go in sale. Most probably going to drive down, going on the M40 and through Shepherds Bush.

Can anyone here e.g. Jon, cc advise where to pack close to the Bridge? Perhaps by West Kensington tube station or residential areas?

[Carlos J]

Contemplating getting tickets for Chelsea vs Villa for a couple of weeks time when they go in sale. Most probably going to drive down, going on the M40 and through Shepherds Bush.

Can anyone here e.g. Jon, cc advise where to pack close to the Bridge? Perhaps by West Kensington tube station or residential areas?

Leave the Chelsea directions to those who know, though was hoping to ask a similar question.

All 4,309 tickets for Chelsea v Boro Carabao semi sold out before going on general sale and my pitiful number of priority points not enough to get into any chance of applying. Oh well. Expecting a comeback anyway.

[chelseachelsea]

Contemplating getting tickets for Chelsea vs Villa for a couple of weeks time when they go in sale. Most probably going to drive down, going on the M40 and through Shepherds Bush.

Can anyone here e.g. Jon, cc advise where to pack close to the Bridge? Perhaps by West Kensington tube station or residential areas?

The closest I can get to you without parking zones is Hammersmith, then a 10 minute bus to Fulham Broadway, Park anywhere off the Fulham Palace Road, opposite Charing Cross Hospital, then a 211 bus to Fulham Broadway

[kancutlawns]

Ah yes, I know Fulham Palace Road well from twenty odd years ago. I’ll try there. Cheers. Chelsea have allocated the whole of the Shed to us so a decent allocation.

[Jonathan]

Strange that.

You see if you really support a club, you look closely enough to see what's wrong as well as what's right. But in response to comments about the recent past at your club, you simply hark back to previous times.
I watched most of your game last night. Middlesbrough are pretty ordinary, but organised and fit. You will probably get through. But my God, what a pile of junk.
Oh and it's not just me.

Have a look at a selection of comments from Have Your Say after the game

Chris: Some of those Chelsea players need to take a look at themselves and tell me if they are happy with their performance. No creative threat in midfield and no end product from the forwards. No fight or cohesive gel in this group of players. All individuals rather than a team effort. Chelsea of old spoiled us all. Pochettino emotionless on the side.

Peter: Pathetic. Can't pass, can't score, don't compete, have no idea how to go forward - and mostly, can't defend.

Tony: Too slow in moving forward, always looking for the sideways or backwards pass. When we did break they decided to slow it down instead of pressing any advantage, allowing Middlesbrough time to get back. We lacked desire and passion. The crux of it was Middlesbrough wanted it more. Not good enough.

Mike: Another tepid performance lacking real quality. Started the game with no recognised striker or left-back. Dominated possession but created very little. Wide players were ineffective but when they got into good positions there was no-one in the box. Once again, our two most expensive recruits, Fernandez and Caicedo, failed to dominate in midfield.

Steve: Another drab performance! Apart from Palmer's wasted chances, we didn't look like scoring. Far too slow to get the ball forward. Caciedo and Disasi need to improve, and learn from Silva. Hopefully we'll have more pace in the second leg.

How do you take players like Caicedo and Fernandes and make them like that? That's £200m of footballers.

If it's you v LFC at Wembley our midfield would be 3 from £60m, £35m, £35m and free. And I would not have any doubts they would run the game.

Hold on. You talked about Salah and KDB and then you accuse me of harking back to the past. Someone or something must of clearly upset you at Chelsea as you are bizarrely obsessed with them. It’s really strange mate and your post is far too long to be taken seriously. Just rambling nonsense.

[Jonathan]

Contemplating getting tickets for Chelsea vs Villa for a couple of weeks time when they go in sale. Most probably going to drive down, going on the M40 and through Shepherds Bush.

Can anyone here e.g. Jon, cc advise where to pack close to the Bridge? Perhaps by West Kensington tube station or residential areas?

The closest I can get to you without parking zones is Hammersmith, then a 10 minute bus to Fulham Broadway, Park anywhere off the Fulham Palace Road, opposite Charing Cross Hospital, then a 211 bus to Fulham Broadway

Yes, it’s really difficult and even worse now it’s a night game as traffic will be awful. I haven’t been for a while but I used to park on the estate before Eel Brook Common or more likely in the roads opposite off New Kings Road. If you get a space it’s not that long a walk.

[Sadact7]

Strange that.

You see if you really support a club, you look closely enough to see what's wrong as well as what's right. But in response to comments about the recent past at your club, you simply hark back to previous times.
I watched most of your game last night. Middlesbrough are pretty ordinary, but organised and fit. You will probably get through. But my God, what a pile of junk.
Oh and it's not just me.

Have a look at a selection of comments from Have Your Say after the game

Chris: Some of those Chelsea players need to take a look at themselves and tell me if they are happy with their performance. No creative threat in midfield and no end product from the forwards. No fight or cohesive gel in this group of players. All individuals rather than a team effort. Chelsea of old spoiled us all. Pochettino emotionless on the side.

Peter: Pathetic. Can't pass, can't score, don't compete, have no idea how to go forward - and mostly, can't defend.

Tony: Too slow in moving forward, always looking for the sideways or backwards pass. When we did break they decided to slow it down instead of pressing any advantage, allowing Middlesbrough time to get back. We lacked desire and passion. The crux of it was Middlesbrough wanted it more. Not good enough.

Mike: Another tepid performance lacking real quality. Started the game with no recognised striker or left-back. Dominated possession but created very little. Wide players were ineffective but when they got into good positions there was no-one in the box. Once again, our two most expensive recruits, Fernandez and Caicedo, failed to dominate in midfield.

Steve: Another drab performance! Apart from Palmer's wasted chances, we didn't look like scoring. Far too slow to get the ball forward. Caciedo and Disasi need to improve, and learn from Silva. Hopefully we'll have more pace in the second leg.

How do you take players like Caicedo and Fernandes and make them like that? That's £200m of footballers.

If it's you v LFC at Wembley our midfield would be 3 from £60m, £35m, £35m and free. And I would not have any doubts they would run the game.

Hold on. You talked about Salah and KDB and then you accuse me of harking back to the past. Someone or something must of clearly upset you at Chelsea as you are bizarrely obsessed with them. It’s really strange mate and your post is far too long to be taken seriously. Just rambling nonsense.

Nah Jonno, you just don’t really support your club, that’s the problem.

Fuck me.

[Zambo]

Came from behind to shade it. That's three undefeated since Rooney was fucked off.

[kancutlawns]

Bristol City vs West Ham was an interesting match. Good to see the home side deploy rather direct tactics from Sean Dyche to dispatch the Spammers. Benrahma is a massive twat but the Bristol City who went in on him to spark the kick should have seen red too.

[kancutlawns]

Contemplating getting tickets for Chelsea vs Villa for a couple of weeks time when they go in sale. Most probably going to drive down, going on the M40 and through Shepherds Bush.

Can anyone here e.g. Jon, cc advise where to pack close to the Bridge? Perhaps by West Kensington tube station or residential areas?

The closest I can get to you without parking zones is Hammersmith, then a 10 minute bus to Fulham Broadway, Park anywhere off the Fulham Palace Road, opposite Charing Cross Hospital, then a 211 bus to Fulham Broadway

Yes, it’s really difficult and even worse now it’s a night game as traffic will be awful. I haven’t been for a while but I used to park on the estate before Eel Brook Common or more likely in the roads opposite off New Kings Road. If you get a space it’s not that long a walk.

Thinking about driving up to a station further up on the District Line, parking up and then going to Earls Court, changing to go to down to Fulham Broadway and then walk to the ground.

You probably won't be bothered about Villa taking the allocation from Chelsea but tickets went on sale to season ticket holders and who also went to the 3rd round match against Boro on Monday evening. Remaining tickets then went on sale to season tickets yesterday and were sold out within two minutes. That's 6,032 tickets sold in twenty four hours. We got the whole of the Shed End which is good of Chelsea.

[Jonathan]

Contemplating getting tickets for Chelsea vs Villa for a couple of weeks time when they go in sale. Most probably going to drive down, going on the M40 and through Shepherds Bush.

Can anyone here e.g. Jon, cc advise where to pack close to the Bridge? Perhaps by West Kensington tube station or residential areas?

The closest I can get to you without parking zones is Hammersmith, then a 10 minute bus to Fulham Broadway, Park anywhere off the Fulham Palace Road, opposite Charing Cross Hospital, then a 211 bus to Fulham Broadway

Yes, it’s really difficult and even worse now it’s a night game as traffic will be awful. I haven’t been for a while but I used to park on the estate before Eel Brook Common or more likely in the roads opposite off New Kings Road. If you get a space it’s not that long a walk.

Thinking about driving up to a station further up on the District Line, parking up and then going to Earls Court, changing to go to down to Fulham Broadway and then walk to the ground.

You probably won't be bothered about Villa taking the allocation from Chelsea but tickets went on sale to season ticket holders and who also went to the 3rd round match against Boro on Monday evening. Remaining tickets then went on sale to season tickets yesterday and were sold out within two minutes. That's 6,032 tickets sold in twenty four hours. We got the whole of the Shed End which is good of Chelsea.

I think that’s the allocation we have to give in the FA Cup. Preston took it all as well. Was always going to be a sell out.

It’s actually not that far to walk from Earls Court and certainly a better option after instead of the long queues to get into Fulham Broadway.