After tonight's Barca PSG game

[William Treseder]

Got to thinking about all the diving and cheating that goes on. Great game tonight for the neutral, but Suarez and Neymars diving antics were embarrassing.
Not sure if anyone else will agree with this, but the greats of the past such as George Best, Pele, Maradona etc, always tried to stay on their feet and score, even with defenders pushing and trying to take them down.
Ok Maradonas hand of god moment was cheating, but they always seemed to have the desire to stay upright and get the last word by scoring. So many others would go down if you so much as blew on them.

[William Treseder]

Got to thinking about all the diving and cheating that goes on. Great game tonight for the neutral, but Suarez and Neymars diving antics were embarrassing.
Not sure if anyone else will agree with this, but the greats of the past such as George Best, Pele, Maradona etc, always tried to stay on their feet and score, even with defenders pushing and trying to take them down.
Ok Maradonas hand of god moment was cheating, but they always seemed to have the desire to stay upright and get the last word by scoring. So many others would go down if you so much as blew on them.

PS you can add Messi to that list. He always tries to stay on his feet.

[BLUETIT]

Got to thinking about all the diving and cheating that goes on. Great game tonight for the neutral, but Suarez and Neymars diving antics were embarrassing.
Not sure if anyone else will agree with this, but the greats of the past such as George Best, Pele, Maradona etc, always tried to stay on their feet and score, even with defenders pushing and trying to take them down.
Ok Maradonas hand of god moment was cheating, but they always seemed to have the desire to stay upright and get the last word by scoring. So many others would go down if you so much as blew on them.

PS you can add Messi to that list. He always tries to stay on his feet.

Plus, Jimmy Greaves

[surge]

A couple of years ago jordi alba went down as if an arsenal player had kicked him when there had been no contact.

It always seems much worse when a big team does it against a smaller side, and they don't come much bigger than Barcelona.

[Barry Shitpeas]

It just comes down to what constitutes a foul. Years ago it would have had to have been a sufficient contact to have impeded you or brought you down. Nowadays it's seems as though if you're touched, however lightly, you have to hit the deck in order to display to the ref that you've been fouled.

IMO if the tackle isn't hard enough to bring you down, then it's not a foul anyway.

[chris]

It just comes down to what constitutes a foul. Years ago it would have had to have been a sufficient contact to have impeded you or brought you down. Nowadays it's seems as though if you're touched, however lightly, you have to hit the deck in order to display to the ref that you've been fouled.

IMO if the tackle isn't hard enough to bring you down, then it's not a foul anyway.

if paris st germain had been chasing a four goal deficit at home, you can bet your bottom dollar that they would have been playing the referee as well as barcelona, it would not have been allowed to happen .

the champions league is very much like the premier league the top sides will always get key decisions go for them. its all to do with tv and viewing figures and how much money they can make..

they want all the top sides playing against each other in the major finals , even though most of the country or neutrals want a david v goliath scenario which is more entertaining than watching the same teams win everything.

they do not realise that they are boring most of the country to death , and that if football becomes a closed shop many people will just simply switch off if you do not support any of the top sides

[lardy]

they want all the top sides playing against each other in the major finals , even though most of the country or neutrals want a david v goliath scenario which is more entertaining than watching the same teams win everything.

they do not realise that they are boring most of the country to death , and that if football becomes a closed shop many people will just simply switch off if you do not support any of the top sides

We might like to think this is true, but it's absolutely not. David v Goliath is great if David wins, but most of the time it's Goliath with a comfortable 2-0 without even trying. Look at the FA Cup finals since the famous Wimbledon win. I'd count a dozen where there's a big club against a 'smaller' one. The only David to win was Wigan.

What you're saying doesn't really make sense anyway. First, they're concerned about viewing figures so they make sure the big teams go through. Then many people will simply switch off if it's only the big sides left? How can both be right?

Still, everyone seems to have been bored to death by the Barca game tonight

[Cyclops]

Still, everyone seems to have been bored to death by the Barca game tonight

Yeah and we got the Monaco v Man City game to come. Yawnsville!

[chris]

We might like to think this is true, but it's absolutely not. David v Goliath is great if David wins, but most of the time it's Goliath with a comfortable 2-0 without even trying. Look at the FA Cup finals since the famous Wimbledon win. I'd count a dozen where there's a big club against a 'smaller' one. The only David to win was Wigan.

What you're saying doesn't really make sense anyway. First, they're concerned about viewing figures so they make sure the big teams go through. Then many people will simply switch off if it's only the big sides left? How can both be right?

Still, everyone seems to have been bored to death by the Barca game tonight

its very simply to explain, how many finals have been contested by the biggest clubs in the country in the last 15 -20 years ?

name me a final that does not include the following teams, man utd, chelsea, arsenal, liverpool, man city, arsenal, spurs, etc. the only one was portsmouth v cardiff, this year will be exactly the same.

unless you fancy lincoln to get there.

[lardy]

You were just talking about David V Goliath. Now it's "very simply to explain" but you're talking about something else.

For what it's worth, I don't think much of the country gave a shit about our final.

[chris]

You were just talking about David V Goliath. Now it's "very simply to explain" but you're talking about something else.

For what it's worth, I don't think much of the country gave a shit about our final.

most of the country are sick to death of the same six or seven clubs ruling the roost FACTAMUNDO

go back to before sky tv came along and see how many clubs contested an fa cup final then , southampton , coventry, wimbledon, sunderland, fulham, ipswich, brighton, sheff wednesday, the list is endless. it as become a closed shop now and the fa cup is basically the same as the premier league now, dominated by the clubs with all the money

[lardy]

most of the country are sick to death of the same six or seven clubs ruling the roost FACTAMUNDO

go back to before sky tv came along and see how many clubs contested an fa cup final then , southampton , coventry, wimbledon, sunderland, fulham, ipswich, brighton, sheff wednesday, the list is endless. it as become a closed shop now and the fa cup is basically the same as the premier league now, dominated by the clubs with all the money

Care to name a decade when there weren't six or seven dominant clubs? Name any decade and I'll tell you who the dominant half dozen were at that time

By the way, since 2000 (about the same timescale as your list) Southampton, Millwall, West Ham, Portsmouth, Cardiff, Stoke, Wigan, Hull, Villa and Palace have all been in an FA Cup final.

[chris]

yeah, how many won though ?

im talking about winners not somebody making the numbers up .

[lardy]

yeah, how many won though ?

im talking about winners not somebody making the numbers up .

You think Fulham, Brighton and Wednesday won?

[Heisenberg]

Chris, you just said that you wanted 'David v Goliath' finals it's been pointed out that there have been lots of them in the FA Cup since 2000 but now it's not relevant as the 'David' teams didn't win

[Cyclops]

Care to name a decade when there weren't six or seven dominant clubs? Name any decade and I'll tell you who the dominant half dozen were at that time .

The 1890s?

[NYCBlue]

The 1890s?

Blackburn, Wolves, Sheffield Utd, Preston, Villa, Sunderland

[Jimmy the Jock]

Care to name a decade when there weren't six or seven dominant clubs? Name any decade and I'll tell you who the dominant half dozen were at that time

By the way, since 2000 (about the same timescale as your list) Southampton, Millwall, West Ham, Portsmouth, Cardiff, Stoke, Wigan, Hull, Villa and Palace have all been in an FA Cup final.

And Leeds?

[life on mars]

Got to thinking about all the diving and cheating that goes on. Great game tonight for the neutral, but Suarez and Neymars diving antics were embarrassing.
Not sure if anyone else will agree with this, but the greats of the past such as George Best, Pele, Maradona etc, always tried to stay on their feet and score, even with defenders pushing and trying to take them down.
Ok Maradonas hand of god moment was cheating, but they always seemed to have the desire to stay upright and get the last word by scoring. So many others would go down if you so much as blew on them.

It's part of the game now ,don't ever see it changing , if our promotion hinged on a blanted dive and resulting penalty that won us the game ,would we boo or moan , I guess not , we would chuckle and move on ,.

Its an unfortunate side effect to a great sport that has so much to lose, on a single decision or act , and until they video reference the game retrospectively on this matter and punish known cheating harshly with point reductions, we have to accept it , or watch another clean upright morale sport, such as cycling , athletics, boxing ,horse racing 😅

[the other bob wilson]

Got to thinking about all the diving and cheating that goes on. Great game tonight for the neutral, but Suarez and Neymars diving antics were embarrassing.
Not sure if anyone else will agree with this, but the greats of the past such as George Best, Pele, Maradona etc, always tried to stay on their feet and score, even with defenders pushing and trying to take them down.
Ok Maradonas hand of god moment was cheating, but they always seemed to have the desire to stay upright and get the last word by scoring. So many others would go down if you so much as blew on them.

I'm giving up my Sky and BT subscriptions next month, so will have to rely on Match of the Day, Channel 5's Football League coverage (I know), You Tube and Cardiff City World for my football "fix" from then on. I'm looking forward to it in many ways because it's a bit like going back to my roots in the 60s, 70s and 80s when I first became a football nut. However, the one doubt I have in the back of my mind is that I'm not appreciating how the game, and the way it is covered on television, has changed since those days.

Yes, you'd always have analysis of foul play (I can remember the BBC having a field day with their coverage of the Francis Lee/ Norman Hunter and Billy Bremner/Kevin Keegan punch ups forty years ago), but so much of the modern Match of the Day coverage mirrors what you get from Sky whereby a lot of time is spent analysing possible penalties to see if they were dives or not. In a five minute package of highlights of any game these days, there is very likely to be two or three "incidents" where penalties are claimed.

I don't blame the television companies for this really, because they're only reflecting what the game has become - nowadays, it's very rare to come across a professional football match that can be said to have been won on superior footballing ability alone.

[Silures]

I'm glad they got through and didn't care how they done it. I wanna see atleast one of the big 3 in Cardiff. If it's a real Madrid Barca final, it could turn out to be the most watched club game ever, but I'd take one of them 2 against Bayern

[Feedback]

yeah, how many won though ?

im talking about winners not somebody making the numbers up .

Usually the better teams win. The better teams are usually those higher up the league. Next you will be telling us the Pope prays for peace

[Feedback]

And Leeds?

This thread is about teams who've made it to the fa cup final and not some shitty 3Rd world backwater

[LordKenwyne]

Got to thinking about all the diving and cheating that goes on. Great game tonight for the neutral, but Suarez and Neymars diving antics were embarrassing.
Not sure if anyone else will agree with this, but the greats of the past such as George Best, Pele, Maradona etc, always tried to stay on their feet and score, even with defenders pushing and trying to take them down.
Ok Maradonas hand of god moment was cheating, but they always seemed to have the desire to stay upright and get the last word by scoring. So many others would go down if you so much as blew on them.

People are saying that was neymar's best ever performance.

I thought he was complete and utter turd.

[Dr Lecter]

People are saying that was neymar's best ever performance.

I thought he was complete and utter turd.

Let's look at the facts.

88 mins gone - Barca 5-3 down on aggregate and on their way out.

Full time - Barca win 6-5 on aggregate thanks to 3 late goals (2 goals and an assist by Neymar)

Perhaps he was utter turd for the first 87 minutes?

Apart from when he won the penalty for Barca's third goal.

If he's utter turd when he gets 2 goals and 2 assists in the greatest comeback of a generation then god help the opponent when he has a stormer.