FA CUP 3rd Round

Would you believe it!! Man United at home!!

Bring it on!!!

6th, 7th or 8th of Jan.

great draw. let's hope we can knock em out - don't care what score.

does that make january a hellish month for us? we have 8 games from 1st jan to 1st feb and i'd like us to field our best team in 6 of them!

besides liverpool three times, we have the rags, everton, spuds, sunderland and wigan!!!

Shit draw imo, would have much prefered Bristol Rovers or someone of the same ilk at home.

it's a great draw from the viewpoint that we can knock them out of the comp nice and early.

from a team point of view, a 2nd div team would have allowed our top players some rest.

We've assembled a vast, expensive squad full of top players for this exact scenario. There can be no excuses from us as fans, the players or the management.

8 games in 4 weeks is what was expected. 1 game per week wasn't in the initial plan, as that would have meant failure on all fronts.

Let's look at this as a way of giving everyone some game time - and apart from the CC - United will have the same issues.

Mancini will have to prioritise, obviously......but choose his best 11 for the United and Liverpool games, rest a few for the others and if we are in the Europa - then that will have to be a reserve team, with the likes of Brdige, Onouha, Kolo and the kids.

Come Jan, we may have gotten rid of some of the deadwood and made 1 or 2 more top quality signings for the Spring push for the PL.

I think it's a terrible draw as well.

We now have to face the Scum in the middle of 2 home games against the Dippers. Whilst the dippers will be nice & fresh after an easy tie against Sarfend or Oldham we will have to go to Anfield after 2 hard home ties. Something will have to give, despite having a strong squad you would really like our best team out for all 3 of these games & that's a big ask. The only plus is that all 3 game are at home

Yeah I'm not too keen on the draw, if anything because of the timing of it. Would have rather we could have got the Carling Cup semi out of the way first, which I personally see as a priority over the FA Cup 3rd round.

Getting into the final of the CC would compensate for droping out in the 3rd round to United, we'd have a good chance of getting some silverware under the belt early on in the season, allowing us to focus on the League, whilst United could end up playing several more games depending on how far they go.


Can't complain about a congested fixture list, but so many games
against big clubs in quick succession doesn't exactly make it any
easier.

If we are good enough, we should win the games that matter. Doesn't make it easy though and I'm not sure we are good enough yet.

To be honest, I'm glad we've got a strong team to kick off with in the FA Cup. If we'd have lost in the third round to one of the lower league clubs like Fleetwood or Oldham, we'd have been laughed at by the nosey mob across the Irwell.

Plus, getting drawn against the easiest teams in every round in the CC didn't do the raggies any favours. And after the first game, all our CC games were away to PL sides.

Lets look on the positive side, Man U have drawn a strong team away from home where they usually draw an easy tie against a lower table second division team at home so they are going to be bottling it especially after our last meeting but i will take a 1-0 win.

The FA obviously decided that they needed us to play the raggies in a cup tie this season. They relied on the CC semi final, hence them getting drawn against the lowest positioned side available in every round. Which would've worked had Crystal Palace not pissed on their chips. So they've done this in the third round as they can't guarantee the rags will get as far as the semi.

I'm glad to get them now, anyway. With a bit of luck and a fair wind, we can dispatch them early doors.

A bit of luck and a fair wind? beginning to turn into Captain Ahab there Leo

With my expanding midriff, I'm more like Moby Dick, mate.

Sunday 8th Jan - 1pm kick-off on TV.

I see Ruiney was dishing it out to the match officials again tonight after the game, how does he get away with that crap time after time? What happened to the Respect Campaign?