All a mid table Prem side can aspire to is glory, although the French notion of ‘la gloire’ is maybe a better term. Wembley gives some glory. Finishing 10th as opposed to 11th doesn’t. Winning it blows the ******* doors off.
Defending was absolutely abysmal, Mark Noble danced his way through Cathcart and Kabasele with minimal effort. Mark Noble. Let that sink in. Just embarrassing. Hopefully a wake up call for next week. I hope we cash in on Pereyra, he has been terrible for large swathes of this calendar year. It's looking as though his form in 2018 was a purple patch. On a side note why were West Ham fans singing about Arsene Wenger in the first half?
I wasn’t sure about the Arsene chanting. Apparently there was a lady in the sensory area wearing a long coat who looked a bit like Wenger and that was enough to set the knuckle draggers off. Just after that a fat middle aged bloke was escorted out of the ground. Not sure if the two incidents were connected but he should have been laughed and pointed at by the SEJ stand.
They were too busy claiming that Doucoure never gives the ball away just after he gave the ball away for the 8th time.
I cannot trust myself to write what I am currently thinking. Tomorrow is a hospital day so that will help me get things back into perspective and will try to be rational on Tuesday
Dispensing mindless bile is fine but remember to use the other log in/restrict yourself to the darker zones of the Politics thread. A measured paean to Holebas expected by Tuesday lunchtime.
For all that we had a slightly disappointing end to the PL season, seeing Liverpool come away with nothing on the final day makes up for it.
Softest red card ever. Looked like we were denied 2 blatant penalties though not seen any replays yet, but Grey looked completely bundled over from our view. Their players have clearly been to the Eddie Howe school of diving and feigning injury. Is there anything in the rulebook to say we can't start with 10 men in the final as we do seem to play better.
Agreed. Kabasele is a erratic at best. Also, that was me that bibbed you at the traffic lights before the game.
I've been saying it since before this season started, that what we need is a clinical striker or two, I'm glad you agree PowerJugs.
Absolutely right. 11th and a cup final but because we were in a great position for 7th at one point it's a disappointing season. Had we spent all season in 11th everyone would be over the moon. It's embarrassing reading some of the comments on here.
Disappointing end, having seen it Holebas was yellow at worse - going away from goal and unintentional contact Kiko just managed to play himself out of the FA cup final team - woeful performance Javi should have made changes at half time Waste of an afternoon
If I had any genuine hope whatsoever for the final, I would agree with you, but after the way we've played recently, I can't muster any. I mean, what is the point of a football match, whatever the status, if you absolutely cannot win?
It's just a privilege to be mentioned in the same game as Man City. I'll treasure the adverts where we are mentioned forever. Sky Plussed Eastenders so I can watch over and over.
Ever since the semi final the team has looked mentally and physically tired - it's understandable in many ways, it was a huge emotional experience that day. But it's fed into a really disappointing run of performances with many errors, as we know. It hasn't been helped by the curse of the music - 'I'm Still Standing' and endless chants of 'Wembley' (as if it's a novelty and we've never been there before). Stunning lack of originality. The results are directly correlated with the chants and music. We played so much better in the first half at Chelsea last week - today we looked tired, timid, predictable and gave up in a way we have never done for a long tme. Deeney was far too casually today - and really unfairly moaning at other players for not responding to some of his flicks and tricks. Deulofeu will probably find a team that are better at anticipating his passes and positions... and good luck to him. Hope he stays. Doubt it. I think we'll be back to a cup final sooner than many people think. Great, inspiring talk by Gomes at the end. This man has shown so much commitment and passion to this club. Legend.
Today wasn't a total loss. I walked back to my car after 65 minutes dressed head to toe in cup final merch. Looking ******* suave as ****!
Shame he tried to make a tackle or effort to stop the attacker. Should have just done what the team did for the first and second West Ham go - nothing apart from standing off as they walked through.
Did those spineless ****s have the nerve to give a lap of honour? I was out the ground sharpish when they slotted the third. I am 99.9% certain I won't see halftime at Wembley. **** this team and the gnome that leads them.
Because things happen in stages over a season and can still give you pleasure at the time even if you suspect they won’t end happily. Winning our 4th game in a row at the start was a great weekend, even though we all knew it couldn’t last. Beating Spurs, even though we knew they’d still end having a much better season than us. Winning the semi final and dining out for a few weeks, even though we all know it’d take something extraordinary to actually win the competition. You get happiness at the time of such wins, such moments. Also I believe it’s simply not right to say we have no hope at all for the final. It’s a long shot. We are massive underdogs. We’ve won one in six against a side who I think have now won something like 15 in a row. They’re getting star players back, we’re losing ours to suspension and injury. Yes it’s a total long shot. Total. But it’s a final. A two horse race. We’ve been inside the top ten for 35 weeks of the season. We’re not a League One outfit. We have a chance in such circumstances. I don’t want to come over as rude but I really hope the forum this week will retain a semblance of optimism, and that people who really think we have a 0% chance (which is their total right to think) try to enjoy the coming days. It’s a special time for a small club like ours.
Royally screwed over by the referee today. I thought we played quite well over all. Created plenty of opportunities to score but defended very poorly. Our centre of defence is a real problem. Only 7 clean sheets all season tells its own story. The way we end a season is so depressing. I hate the way we just capitulate. We just look **** in the final weeks. It's just dreadful to watch how the team just fall apart before our very eyes. This year we have the FA Cup final, but I think it's going to be a horrible experience. It's just going to be a glory fest for City. We will just be the toy that will be taken apart. I'm now dreading it. Having the heaviest defeat in FA Cup final history. City are that good, and right now, we are that bad.....it certainly could happen. Last week Chelsea destroyed us in the second half. It's no exaggeration they should/could have scored 8 goals in that second half alone. Today was another in a long line of games where we've been shafted by a referee. Soft red card to ensure a player will not make the dream of an FA Cup final. Do you think a referee would have done that to Vincent Kompany? Not in a million years. What a **** Kavanaugh is to have done that. We should have had a penalty for a foul on Gray with the score at 1-2, then he gives the softest penalty to West Ham, to top off his biased display, not that it really mattered by that time. Yes, we get it, Watford are not wanted in the Premier League, but we're there so f*** you. We really need to get our signings right in the summer. We need TWO EPL standard central defenders and we need someone who will take chances up front. Get that right and we're a very good side. The way we've ended this season, has been a huge disappointment and it's taken a lot of gloss of what could have been fantastic. I'm glad we've seen the back of this season, and it's a good job it ended when it did.
I dont think some of the comments are embarrassing, if anything I can understand the disappointment behind it given that we were deservedly 7th with only a handful of games left and then threw it away in the manner that we did against what turned out to be some fairly ropey and beatable opposition. The squad themselves set a target of trying to qualify for European football and competing to be 'best of the rest', so to be so close then effectively fall at the final hurdle is going to be disappointing. Dont get me wrong, I dont think we have underachieved by finishing 11th as coming into the season we all knew that while we had the makings of a decent team there where some obvious weakness at either end of the pitch. And ultimately its those weaknesses that show in our final league position. As fans we would all have taken 11th with a record point haul and an FA cup final appearance before the season but in the event we could have, and really should have, achieved much more.
I agree Gray was fouled but Kiko’s foul on Antonio was blatant. Cast iron penalty. Very clumsy challenge.
" would all have taken 11th with a record point haul and an FA cup final appearance before the season! " I will be quite happy to take that next season!
