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FA Cup semi final

rob1969 said:
Given our defeat on Wednesday at Newcastle and their destruction today by Villa can we realistically have any expectation of a win at Wembly on Saturday ? Looking for some words of encouragement !
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No can do !

Villa have, to my mind, the strongest squad in the Premier League in attacking and midfield positions.
Eight top quality options in those positions full of experienced internationals ,with no untried youngster like Eze, Franca and Devenny in sight.
They have a serial trophy winner as manager.

The only consolation I can draw is that it’s one off game where anything can happen and maybe being underdogs will suit us.
I just can’t see us keeping a clean sheet against their vast range of attacking options though.
 
dg1937 said:
Villa will be favourites and always have been in my book, but it’s a game of football and anything is possible.
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Exactly
Bin dippers 9 palace 0
Bin dippers 3 palace 4
I was there for the semi final and only jimmy hill of 10s of pundits gave us a prayer.
Whatever happens at Wembley one of my favourite seasons this one.
Looking forward to some beers, a sing song, some food, great atmosphere with my boy and friends and many hours of fun and frivolity 👍
 
I can see us beating Arsenal and Villa, Arsenal have champions league to think about and Villa we seem to do well against so it's a win double IMHO
 
I was so confident beating Fulham I bought flights over for the semi final weekend before that game 😅

I'm not doing the same for the final 😬🙊

On the other hand it's only 20 euro at the moment to fly in that Saturday morning 🙊
 
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DANGERCLOSE said:
I can see us beating Arsenal and Villa, Arsenal have champions league to think about and Villa we seem to do well against so it's a win double IMHO
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That's the spirit.

Bollox obvs but I am wholly on side.

Btw Villa are supernaturally good at home but have only scraped one draw against us in 3 attempts. Even with that amazing attack.

Another hammering midweek and then a barely recognisable Palace on Saturday will see off the Villains.

Fear not. A team that topped the form table a couple of weeks ago doesn't suddenly become crap. They focus their resources on what's important.
 
Talvlad said:
Don't let villa see what we've got.
Don't play well.
Score own goals.
Take penalties so bad one wonders if Pete and Alice should be called upon in the event of a shoot out...

... I sincerely hope we are saving our best for Villa. We do have matchwinners in the team!
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Even if I were ill-disposed towards Ollie, I' m pretty sure he can do one thing: Motivating players at the right time. All you mentioned will be forgotten by the semi-final, I assume.
 
Hannes said:
Even if I were ill-disposed towards Ollie, I' m pretty sure he can do one thing: Motivating players at the right time. All you mentioned will be forgotten by the semi-final, I assume.
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Agree. Since getting to the SF Ollie has consistently not played JP, Eze, Wharton for 90 mins...

I'm serious about Pete and Alice though. 118min put em on!!!
 
rob1969 said:
Given our defeat on Wednesday at Newcastle and their destruction today by Villa can we realistically have any expectation of a win at Wembly on Saturday ? Looking for some words of encouragement !
Click to expand...
If we press and play like the last three games when we walloped them, we'll win. If we sit back we'll lose. We must have a psychological advantage over them. Plus there'll be a 30000 strong red and blue army behind the lads.
There you go, words of encouragement!
 
Villa are flying at the moment, but the cup is always a bit different. Even so, we will do incredibly well to make the final. It's going to be tough.
 
eag-les said:
If we press and play like the last three games when we walloped them, we'll win. If we sit back we'll lose. We must have a psychological advantage over them. Plus there'll be a 30000 strong red and blue army behind the lads.
There you go, words of encouragement!
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It's a tricky one.

Against a not particularly good Chelsea side in the semi final, Vieira opted to play a back 5 slotting Kouyate into a back 5 with Ward as an uncharacteristic right wing back.
We barely laid a glove on them and went out to a tame defeat.

This is a very good Villa team, full of pace and verve, and a different proposition to the team we faced earlier in the season.
Press them high, and I think they will be merciless on the break.
Defend team and we may not get many opportunities to score.

It's a conundrum , and it's one of those games where I'd be quite happy to remain 0-0 at half time and then manage a breakaway or set piece goal late on to win the game.
 
To me, the biggest problems are going to be having had to play 2 matches a week for the last 3 weeks and then go out and play on that bigger pitch, with longer grass (they always leave it longer at Wembley for some unknown reason) which always take a bigger toll on players legs in particular and fitness in general..... then we worry about formation.
 
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