FA Cup 25/26

[paxtonwolf]

Got to laugh though when you see who the other big sides get.

Didn't we play Villa in the 3rd round last year?

No later, we struggled past Tamworth in the 3rd rounf last season, lost away to Villa IIRC

 

[harr1984]

Never understand why people complain when drawn against a decent side.

We have to play good teams at some point, at which point more often than not we fudge it up. Better to do that in the third round so we can focus on the league. And if we win happy days....

 

[K.D.D.D.D.Soc]

ffs what a f#ckin joke, Villa AGAIN

And of course. the obligatory byes for Liverpool and City, at least Arsenal and Chelsea have to work...slightly

Charlton are woeful.

 

[Muttley]

Never understand why people complain when drawn against a decent side.

We have to play good teams at some point, at which point more often than not we fudge it up. Better to do that in the third round so we can focus on the league. And if we win happy days....

I think there's a practicality of managing the workload across the entire squad. Neither of these 2 managers will welcome having to field a really strong team when their nearest rivals are resting their key players.

 

[Rafa87]

I never particularly mind who we draw as, as mentioned above, you have to play someone decent at some point. I do however always raise an eyebrow at the draw, because as much as I don’t want to be one of those conspiracy theorists, it is notable how often certain sides get absolute easy paths through large parts of competitions and end up playing each other on the big TV tie weekends.

 

[tommysvr]

I never particularly mind who we draw as, as mentioned above, you have to play someone decent at some point. I do however always raise an eyebrow at the draw, because as much as I don’t want to be one of those conspiracy theorists, it is notable how often certain sides get absolute easy paths through large parts of competitions and end up playing each other on the big TV tie weekends.

It's really just perception. Since 1/1/2016, we've played 28 ties in the 3rd, 4th and 5th Rounds of the FA Cup. Of those, we played 11 ties vs Premier League sides:

- Leicester 2016 (H)
- Crystal Palace 2016 (H)
- Crystal Palace 2019 (A)
- Southampton 2020 (A)
- Norwich 2020 (H)
- Everton 2021 (A)
- Brighton 2022 (H)
- Burnley 2024 (H)
- Emirates Marketing Project 2024 (H)
- Aston Villa 2024 (A)
- Aston Villa 2025 (H)

Arguably only 3 of those were against top opposition, and all in the last 12 months. We've very much had our fair share of lower league opposition, and we've struggled in a bunch of those anyway.

 

[Rafa87]

It's really just perception. Since 1/1/2016, we've played 28 ties in the 3rd, 4th and 5th Rounds of the FA Cup. Of those, we played 11 ties vs Premier League sides:

- Leicester 2016 (H)
- Crystal Palace 2016 (H)
- Crystal Palace 2019 (A)
- Southampton 2020 (A)
- Norwich 2020 (H)
- Everton 2021 (A)
- Brighton 2022 (H)
- Burnley 2024 (H)
- Emirates Marketing Project 2024 (H)
- Aston Villa 2024 (A)
- Aston Villa 2025 (H)

Arguably only 3 of those were against top opposition, and all in the last 12 months. We've very much had our fair share of lower league opposition, and we've struggled in a bunch of those anyway.

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Yeah I think it’s just one of those things, similar to how it feels whenever I look at the weekend fixtures the Woolwich always seem to have a gimme…. Yet I know they play the same teams as us .

I still have PTSD from Tamworth to be fair.