FA Cup Semi-Final Draw

Lemlin

The draw takes place in about fifteen minutes on Sky. The teams in the hat are:

Chelsea
Charlton or Boro
Liverpool
West Ham

Just wondering what the bets are that the FA will go down their usual route of keeping the two bigger clubs apart to try and guarantee a packed Milennium Stadium?

copacetic

Lemlin wrote:

The draw takes place in about fifteen minutes on Sky. The teams in the hat are:

Chelsea
Charlton or Boro
Liverpool
West Ham

Just wondering what the bets are that the FA will go down their usual route of keeping the two bigger clubs apart to try and guarantee a packed Milennium Stadium?

how do they fix it?

meditraitor

Does anyone know the venue's for the Semi's?

dbnavan

Lemlin wrote:

The draw takes place in about fifteen minutes on Sky. The teams in the hat are:

Chelsea
Charlton or Boro
Liverpool
West Ham

Just wondering what the bets are that the FA will go down their usual route of keeping the two bigger clubs apart to try and guarantee a packed Milennium Stadium?

They are all in the same pot! How do u reckon this will happen.

elurhs

The old hot balls and cold balls trick!!:D

Even getting reaching the final for one of the other teams will be big, cos they'll be guaranteed a UEFA Cup spot.

Lemlin

Its well known these draws are fixed. United and Arsenal were kept apart in the semi draw last year in the FA Cup and again this year in the Carling Cup.

ro2

http://60hud.com/live.asx

cruiserweight

meditraitor wrote:

Does anyone know the venue's for the Semi's?

Apparently they will be announced after the draw

meditraitor

Chealsea v Liverpool

county

chelsea v liverpool:D

cruiserweight

Liverpool vs Chelski

Charlton/Boro vs West Ham

Big Nelly

Class, Chelsea v Liverpool

Lemlin

There's a surprise. I'd go for Chelsea to win it, given that they've already beaten Liverpool twice this year.

West Ham will win the other tie.

Roddy23

Lemlin, they must have been wild to your thoughts, and just to prove that its not a fix, paired Chelsea up with Liverpool.

andrewie

I'll go for Liverpool to beat Chelsea

cruiserweight

Lemlin wrote:

There's a surprise. I'd go for Chelsea to win it, given that they've already beaten Liverpool twice this year.

Or maybe another great semi final victory for Liverpool after losing twice in Chelsea in the league

dbnavan

Lemlin wrote:

Its well known these draws are fixed. United and Arsenal were kept apart in the semi draw last year in the FA Cup and again this year in the Carling Cup.

show us proof, if its so well known? The balls are mixed up on live TV and drawn on live TV, suppose your gonna tell me next, its recorded.

2004

Arsenal v Manchester United
Milwall v Sunderland

Ur theory wouldnt work on this one I am afraid

blu_sonic

i bet that eveyone wanted that to be the final, great draw for boro/charton/west ham

MrJoeSoap

"Smaller" teams (i.e - West Ham, Charlton) also tend to bring massive numbers of fans to cup-finals so I don't think the FA really has anything to gain by keeping the two big clubs apart in the semi-final.

berengar

So where is it Cardiff ?

MrJoeSoap

The final is in Cardiff, semi-final venues are yet to be announced.

blu_sonic

no deffo not cardif maybe villa park.

i think that it gives the chance for that "cup magic" that bbc are always banging on about, ie a giant killing in the final

berengar

but it will be a neutral venue yeah ?

The Rooster

Lemlin wrote:

the FA will go down their usual route of keeping the two bigger clubs apart to try and guarantee a packed Milennium Stadium?

Thats funny

Every year, the FA are worried sick about being able to sell out the FA Cup Final

blu_sonic

berengar wrote:

but it will be a neutral venue yeah ?

yeah neutral

MrJoeSoap

The two semi's will almost certainly be in seperate venues, both neutral of course. Old Trafford is quite likely for one I'd imagine.

fade2black

Lemlin wrote:

Its well known these draws are fixed. United and Arsenal were kept apart in the semi draw last year in the FA Cup and again this year in the Carling Cup.

:rolleyes:

Liverpool are the form side at the moment but to fancy their chances strongly you would have preffered home advantage. (EDIT: Forgot about the neutral venues, this makes things a lot more interesting) It'll be a tough mental test for Liverpool as Chelsea have the upper hand on recent meetings. In saying that I think if you were going to have a bet on the match you may as well have a bet on the overall FA Cup winner.

iregk

Well Chelsea are not playing well at the moment and Liverpool are banging them in. 1-0 Liverpool.

Chelsea have beaten Liverpool this season comprehensively adn have the overall upper hand over them by quite margin. 1-1 Chelsea.

Its an interesting one. I'm happy they have been drawn now rather than the final as it would make for one woeful final.

Jivin Turkey

Lemlin wrote:

Its well known these draws are fixed. United and Arsenal were kept apart in the semi draw last year in the FA Cup and again this year in the Carling Cup.

Nail on the head there. Sure didn't Liverpool already draw United in the cup? If they were fixed would they not just have the top four clubs playing in the semis?

As regards the draw, I think it will be a much better game seeing as its the semi as opposed to the final. Semis tend to have a lot more flow rather than finals which tend to be cagey. I'm looking forward to it.

I reckon the venue will be Villa Park. Half way between them and a traditional semi venue.

Vokes

Neutral venue - and April 23 is 4 weeks away, and by then their form may well have swapped.

For me, this one is up in the air.

andrewie

The semi finals were played in Cardiff last season, why would they go back to neutral venues this season?

blu_sonic

dunno but it was stated on shy sports news that it will not be cardiff

SCULLY

I reckon that Villa Park will be the venue for chelsea/liverpool.
If charlton win the replay then maybe Highbury for the other semi?

andrewie

It's usually Villa park and Old Trafford.

Jivin Turkey

It all depends who wins the replay between Boro and Charlton.

If Charlton win they will have the semi in London. They are hardly going to make Charlton and West Ham trek up north for a game when they could just have it in Highbury or Stamford Bridge (its got a fantastic pitch after all ). However if Boro win it would most likely be in Villa Park or Old Trafford, somewhere half way between.

If its not an all London semi I would say that Liverpool Chelsea will be in Villa Park, with the other match in Old Trafford. For some reason I'd say the FA would rather not have Liverpool Chelsea at the ground of one of the biggest rivals.

MrJoeSoap

Jivin Turkey wrote:

Stamford Bridge (its got a fantastic pitch after all ).

You haven't seen it recently then? Best surface I've seen there in a long time.

mike65

Meh! No point in making predictions this early may the least diving team win.

Mike.

Jivin Turkey

MrJoeSoap wrote:

You haven't seen it recently then? Best surface I've seen there in a long time.

No I have! That was my point!

MrJoeSoap

Oh right, the winking eye threw me off.

As John Motson said on Wednesday - "Its like a completely new surface... well I suppose it is a completely new surface"

blu_sonic

it will be announced soon i guess

arbeitsscheuer

It's usually, with exception of last year, in Old Trafford and Villa Park.

The most insane one was making Chelsea and Fulham fans trek up to Villa Park after their teams were drawn against eachother in 2002 - should've let em use Highbury.

Actually, I'd like to see one of the semis at Highbury this year, given that it would be THOF's last FA Cup tie... Twould be nice...

But the FA aren't nice, so it'll probably be somehwere mediocre like Old Trafford...:D Just kiddin' - great stadium too.

Lemlin

The Rooster wrote:

Thats funny

Every year, the FA are worried sick about being able to sell out the FA Cup Final

Cradiff seats how many, 80,000 or 90,000. That's pretty hard to sell out. That's why they prefer to have bigger clubs there. I said it'd happen with the FA Cup semis last year and the Carling Cup semis this year and it did.

Ask anyone in the media, even the World Cup qualification draws are apparently rigged like fook. Why do you think we often get so many interesting first round ties and the obligatory easy ride for the hosts?

Jivin Turkey

Lemlin wrote:

Cradiff seats how many, 80,000 or 90,000. That's pretty hard to sell out. That's why they prefer to have bigger clubs there. I said it'd happen with the FA Cup semis last year and the Carling Cup semis this year and it did.

Wow twice. What about all the other years? It's a one in three chance for God's sake. We are not talking about the lotto here.

/edit and Cardiff seats 80k. With each team getting c. 35k and 10k going to sponsors/corporate. Do you think ANY Premier League team, or Championship team for that matter would have trouble shifting 35k tickets?

Lemlin wrote:

Ask anyone in the media, even the World Cup qualification draws are apparently rigged like fook. Why do you think we often get so many interesting first round ties and the obligatory easy ride for the hosts?

You do know what seeding is don't you?

And the draw for the WC proper is done in such a fashion as to have teams from different continents playing against each other.

Lemlin

Jivin Turkey wrote:

Wow twice. What about all the other years? It's a one in three chance for God's sake. We are not talking about the lotto here.

/edit and Cardiff seats 80k. With each team getting c. 35k and 10k going to sponsors/corporate. Do you think ANY Premier League team, or Championship team for that matter would have trouble shifting 35k tickets?


You do know what seeding is don't you?

And the draw for the WC proper is done in such a fashion as to have teams from different continents playing against each other.

Like I said about the world cup draw, read media reports from anyone who has ever attended it. As for the FA cup semi draw, maybe I'm just into conspiracy theories.

Either way, I'm not interested in another tit-for-tat with your good self so I'll leave you to it.

Lex Luthor

Old Trafford for the Liverpool/Chelsea game & Villa Park for the other one, but I wonder would they change the venue if Charlton go through to Stamford Bridge or Highbury?

county

The Rooster wrote:

Thats funny

Every year, the FA are worried sick about being able to sell out the FA Cup Final

lets hope boro dont get there so

andrewie

Lex Luthor wrote:

but I wonder would they change the venue if Charlton go through to Stamford Bridge or Highbury?

I don't think so. They wouldn't have named Villa Park then change it just cause Charlton go through.

dbnavan

Lemlin wrote:

Cradiff seats how many, 80,000 or 90,000. That's pretty hard to sell out. That's why they prefer to have bigger clubs there. I said it'd happen with the FA Cup semis last year and the Carling Cup semis this year and it did.

Ask anyone in the media, even the World Cup qualification draws are apparently rigged like fook. Why do you think we often get so many interesting first round ties and the obligatory easy ride for the hosts?

You saying that the FA Cup, probably the biggest and most famous domestic soccer compition in the world cant sell 80,000 tickets, but the GAA seem to have no problem selling that many tickets for semi's never mind finals, have you ever seriously tried to get an FA Cup final ticket?

**edit** given your opening topic of fixing and now this your not well versed on Soccer are you?