Quote Originally Posted by Tuerto View Post
I'm confused, what's the connection between staying up, and having a go at winning an FA cup tie? This didn't seem to be an issue not so long ago. The way I see it, is that football clubs and their playing staff seem to have a certain arrogance towards the cup, there's this perennial bullshit peddled -without foundation-that the cup is a distraction, and could lead to a level of meltdown that contributes towards the players poor form-bless! It's nonsense, and a get out for lazy players and managers who maybe, just maybe, don't have enough belief in themselves. The sad thing is that football supporters are buying it. Players, managers and fans didn't seem to have these concerns 10 or 15 years ago, something must have happened in that time, some study, statistical data based on poor form, relegation etc-due to doing well in the FA cup. I must have missed it.
My feelings exactly, when did the Cup become an excuse for a club to perform as pathetically as we have done in our last three matches, all played at home, in the competition? Yesterday was the only match we are playing in a twelve day spell - we hadn't played in six days and it was six days until we next play and yet the attitude the players, and manager, showed stank. I resent being made out to be some kind of idiot for actually going along to support my team - for me, so many of the gains from the Villa game have been lost, primarily because of the attitude of people at the club, but supporters who used any excuse not to turn up after they had spoken about how much they enjoyed last Monday's match didn't help either.