Fa Cup semi final draw

Villa_Dan wrote:Just getting to the final doesn't get us European football. We have to win it. They changed the rules (or so I read)

Is the new rule if the cup winners have already qualified for Europe the place goes to the team placed highest in the league who haven't qualified? Am sure someone told me thats what it was changing to.

VillaBill wrote:Dan , are you sure , ! thought an European place HAD to come from FA Cup participation ?
Anyone know when the tickets go on sale , i think we have earned our day out after the dross we have had to put up with in recent seasons ? Cant wait !

Yep, it was changed in 2013 and comes into force this season:

http://www.uefa.org/MultimediaFiles/Download/EuroExperience/uefaorg/Publications/02/01/17/30/2011730_DOWNLOAD.pdf

No more cup runners-up in the UEFA Europa League In the club competitions, and more specifically the UEFA Europa League, the question of whether domestic cup runners-up should qualify if cup winners qualify for the UEFA Champions League was once again debated. Most national associations thought this rule should be changed so that the place reserved for the domestic cup winner would go to the best-placed club in the league championship that had not already qualified for a UEFA competition. This change should come into force from the 2015/16 season

Fingers crossed my change of work and being unable to make a game this season, for the first season in 15 years doesn't affect my chances of getting a ticket! Sadly, I think it may!

I don't want Europa next season. It's going to be a massive season for us rebuilding our credibility in the Premier League. We do not need the enormous distraction of the Europa.

The Utterer wrote:I actually think it's not too bad a draw really, a chance to play Blackburn (Although that would be tough as they park the bus which we always struggle against) or Liverpool who we seem to beat quite often these days, well at theirs at least!!

We used to struggle against teams that parked the bus because with Lambert we were solely a counter attack team, which relies on enough of the opposition to be far enough forward that we could surprise them with pace, something that was easy for a Bradford (for example) to counter by just giving us the ball to not know what to do with. Lambert had already changed the team to possession based a few matches before he kindly buggered off and Sherwood is not only making it work but also bringing in some variation. With Lambert everyone knew exactly how the team would be set up. With Sherwood not so, plus there's the element of surprise still (since no one will know the set up), the positivity of club and fans and our players are far more talented than Lambert made them look. I'd go so far as to say that if we did meet Arsenal in the final we'd be a completely different proposition to the team they beat 5-0 a few weeks ago.

With you Foxy AV we now appear dangerous on the break. Under Lambert it was all possession  and no penetration, TS has brought out the freedom in the team. Could you have seen the pass made from Grealish to Sinclair under the lambert stewardship, I don't think so. We also have players in the box ready to have a go. It is a breath of fresh air being a Villa support at the moment.

Tom Fox must be praying we survive, now that it's obvious that he and Lerner got it totally wrong with their continued ridiculous support of Lambert.

Fans don't always know best, but if you don't have football experience ..... I'm looking at you RL and TF ..... when 95 % percent of fans tell you repeatedly that what you're doing is damaging the club, you'd better listen!

Getting to Wembley is an undeserved bonus for RL/TF!

I wouldn't include Fox in that to be fair. He probably had some trouble ungluing Lerner from Lambert. It's true we've left it way too late to act but the situation is still salvageable at least.

You're absolutely right about listening to fans, especially when so unified in voice and opinion. There was a huge amount of arrogance on Lerners part in thinking he knew best. Even if we get out of this mess I'll never forgive him for the negligence he has shown over the last few years and hope his only remaining meaningful decision is who to sell to because he invariably makes a total bollocks of footballing decisions.

That said, I think we're on the right path now. I just hope it's enough to survive and get the club back on track.

I like Tom Fox, but I wonder whether he was playing for time with his "false narrative" response. Perhaps I'm being unfair, but it got RL through the January transfer window without spending too much. If Sherwood had come in when he should have done, it would have cost Randy a whole load more bucks in January!

I think Fox was simply fighting against a well ingrained relationship between Lerner and Lambert. He'd heard everything he'd wanted to hear for 2 years from Faulkner and Lambert, Fox needed to ram home some home truths and make Lerner see the light. I think it was done purely on an almost KPI basis - "if he doesn't get X points from X games then I want you to sack him"

Sherwood said he'd done most of his discussions pre-signing with Fox so he'd clearly been working on things behind the scenes

From what I understand, the discussions with Sherwood were intense and over a period of a few days.
I reckon he was selected as the most likely, perhaps even sounded out, before Lambert got the Spanish archer. As is only right really.

We should have had somebody like Fox a long time ago. He wouldn't have allowed Lambert to start this season for instance. No sane person would. Instead, we stuck with an incompetent corporate bullshitter like Faulkner for too long, who stuck with a confused, lost and misguided buffoon like Lambert for far too long.

Incompetence. This club has been tumid with it for such a bewilderingly long time. I hope the times are changing as they may appear to be.

Now all we have to do is keep Sherwood or at least give him the same amount of time as Lambert was given as I believe he would actually change and turn things around given time and not simply hold his beliefs that all will come good eventually. This man could get us back where we belong.

Back onto thread topic ... We won't find out our opponent until April 8th which is a month after we won the quarter final! I expect Blackburn to be our opponents come Wembley time as Liverpool will be fighting for a top 4 spot and will sacrifice the cup for that chance ... That and Blackburn have unbelievable pace up front which Liverpool won't be able to cope with.

This is our year, lets make it count.

jeffvilla wrote:Could you have seen the pass made from Grealish to Sinclair under the lambert stewardship, I don't think so.

Not once he moved us to possession based football that involved Guzan waiting for the opposition to get back into position before rolling it out to a defender rather than trying to trust our players to cope with two strategies at once, plus he was never going to give Grealish anything more than substituting someone for the last minute a couple more times this year.

mefromhere wrote:Now all we have to do is keep Sherwood or at least give him the same amount of time as Lambert was given as I believe he would actually change and turn things around given time and not simply hold his beliefs that all will come good eventually. This man could get us back where we belong.

Back onto thread topic ... We won't find out our opponent until April 8th which is a month after we won the quarter final! I expect Blackburn to be our opponents come Wembley time as Liverpool will be fighting for a top 4 spot and will sacrifice the cup for that chance ... That and Blackburn have unbelievable pace up front which Liverpool won't be able to cope with.

This is our year, lets make it count.

Blackburn's biggest issue is lack of quality of final ball, because they made some great opportunities but just failed at the end. They certainly caused Liverpool plenty of problems though. I guess I still expect Liverpool to manage to get through but it wouldn't be a massive shock now Blackburn are at home, as they definitely gave a good account of themselves at Anfield.

villabromsgrove wrote:I don't want Europa next season. It's going to be a massive season for us rebuilding our credibility in the Premier League. We do not need the enormous distraction of the Europa.

But that means we don't win the FA Cup, and I want that.

I think we'll be fine, I can't see many bids coming in for our players, and I expect Sherwood will be given a bit of cash. He may retain Cleverley on a free which wouldn't affect current budgets, and I think we'll have a stronger squad next year. I'm not saying we have two separate teams, one for league and one for cup, but if we have two proper players competing in each position, supplemented by some youngsters, we should be capable of handling it.

I'm very positive all of a sudden aren't I?   :scratch:

Breaking news................

With rumours circulating of another mass pitch invasion planned by Villa fans at the end of the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley, Tim Sherwood has reacted with the team formation that he believes will provide most protection to his players, to avoid the joyous scenes of armband stealing, boot removing and Delph-chewing that were recently witnessed at the end of the FA Cup quarter-final victory over near-neighbours, West Brom:

http://sharemytactics.com/38816/

I think that leaves Given a little exposed.

Mazrim wrote:I think that leaves Given a little exposed.

Yeah but he's a hard b'stard so he won't mind

That's made me think though, for the semi, and - God I hope it happens - if we were in the Final, do you think Sherwood would stay with Given?

I'm sure he would but just wondered what others thought, and what others would do if they had Tim's choice?

UTV  

Liverpool it is then , my nemesis , they always get in Villa's way , there is defo less pressure now, the Gerrard wankfest will be in full flow come April 19th !

If there is one team i despise in football , its Liverpool , bring them on !

I know it's an unpopular view, because I've said it a couple of times previously and been shot down for it, but I worry about the consequences of still being in the FA Cup.

One obvious effect was our match against QPR on Tuesday night. We were supposed to play that match on April 20th but it was rearranged for Tuesday because of our Cup semi final. If the match hadn't have been altered  we would have had SIX of our injured players fit again for selection (according to the accurate Physio Room site). I 'm not saying it would have guaranteed three points, but it would have made three points more likely.

It may be that the two points dropped could be the difference between relegation and survival. I'm all for a bit of glory but not at the cost of relegation.

Not fussed who we play at this point, it's a day out at Wembley at the end of the day & a much needed break from the complete tragedy we have endured since MON departed....& it wasn't that good under him really just a million miles better than whats happened since!

If we win we have to go through it all again against a team we seldom do well against probably in Arsenal...Though imagine if they lost the semi!!

I don't think we'll beat Liverpool anyway.

But I maintain my stance, if we get relegated and blame the FA Cup, that's some weak-ass mentality. The players need to man the hell up. If we go down, we deserve to go down.

Yup. Might as well enjoy the day at Wembley for what it is and whatever the outcome.

There's every possibility that it'll be some before we return there. Unless of course we get into the play off final at the first or second attempt.

Thinman wrote:Yup. Might as well enjoy the day at Wembley for what it is and whatever the outcome.

There's every possibility that it'll be some before we return there. Unless of course we get into the play off final at the first or second attempt.

Thinman, are you okay mate? Your posts are getting more depressing by the day, I'm getting worried aboutcha  :)