Bristol City Vs West Ham FA Cup 4th Round - 2pm

[Ciderhead]

Will this incredible round of upsets continue?

Double edged sword, West Ham will be right up for it given now you'd have to say they have a genuine chance of winning the thing, while we're bound to be motivated by the exploits of Bradford and Middlesbrough yesterday.

Got all the ingredients for a cracking cup tie, should be a great atmosphere. Both sides will go for it, we play an attacking 3-5-2 with both wingbacks looking to bomb on, and while West Ham undoubtedly have more quality to exploit the gaps this leaves than anyone we've faced this season, I'd hope we don't change this and look to come out hard, press them and give it a real go.

Matt Smith has got 9 goals in 11 games on loan from Fulham and has history with the FA Cup - scoring the winner for Oldham against Liverpool a few years ago, and we also have JET, who's something of an enigma, but is on fire at the moment and on his day can tear apart any defence. Loves to show off for the cameras as well!

Allardyce has said he's going to play a full-strength side and really they should have too much for us, but I've been genuinely confident all week even before the events of yesterday, and really fancy our chances.

2-1 City, COYR!

 

[JonBCFC]

I'm quietly confident myself, being that we're at home. Be interesting to see what tactics we employ as obviously the better opposition we are facing will mean we can't attack as much as we usually do because we will leave to much space at the back!

Looking forward to the battle of Carroll and flinty

 

[Ciderhead]

To be honest I'd like to see us keep it more or less the same, and be positive about it. Only concession I might make is Pack or maybe Saville in for Elliott just to solidify the midfield a bit, we'll need a lot of energy in there today

 

[JonBCFC]

To be honest I'd like to see us keep it more or less the same, and be positive about it. Only concession I might make is Pack or maybe Saville in for Elliott just to solidify the midfield a bit, we'll need a lot of energy in there today

I think saville is cup tied mate.

 

[Ciderhead]

Is he? I know Tavernier is but I thought Saville was free to play?

 

[Jackinky]

We have a great chance of winning the cup now so should be up for it, will be a hard game but I'm going for a 2-1 win for West Ham.

 

[JonBCFC]

He probably is free to play then, I thought I heard he was cup tied but could of been tavernier haha

 

[This Charming Mike]

Flint vs Carroll should be an interesting battle.

 

[Ciderhead]

One they'll both relish I should imagine!

 

[Anon]

Certainly wouldn't surprise me to see us get knocked out, but it makes a refreshing change to see Allardyce give a hoot about the FA Cup, and that was before the knockouts yesterday.

 

[ForeverUnited]

Has all the makings for a cracking tie, Personally see it being a draw.

 

[Ciderhead]

From a selfish point of view I wouldn't mind a replay, never got to go to your place in the Championship. But really we could do without it, we've got a massive game at MK the saturday after

 

[Anon]

Is Maynard still at Cardiff these days? Was happy when signed him, but Allardyce idiotically and predictably then played him on the wing and never got a decent chance as a striker.

 

[DarkSithLord]

A Massive GoodLuck to former Alfreton favourite Aden Flint and his Bristol City boys today. Fancy them to win this. Big Sam doesnt do the FA Cup. Look at Forest last year.

 

[Anon]

Allardyce doing his usual tactic of leaving that lumbering carthorse Nolan on the pitch and taking off players that might actually make a difference. Song didn't have a great game, but I'd keep him on every time given the choice.

Sakho's zip has made the difference, 1-0.

 

[This Charming Mike]

Taking your chances dot com.

 

[hodge]

Apparently we are monitoring Senegal's complaint over Sakho

 

[Ciderhead]

I hope nothing comes from it tbh, I'd have loved to have gone through but through merit on the pitch not some ruling in some fa/fifa committee somewhere. There's not what you'd call a glamourous tie in prospect either nor a realistic chance of getting through so I'd rather do without the fixture congestion

 

[hodge]

Sky Sources are saying that we're seeking £250k compensation, not to be put through to the next round.

 

[Ciderhead]

Oh in that case fair enough, let's milk it for all it's worth!

 

[hodge]

Can we get Sheffield Utd's lawyers on it?

 

[TomPNE94]

Really unsure as to how West Ham can be charged. He is their employee and they pay his wages...

 

[hodge]

Apparently this if from a fifa document:

If a club refuses to release a player or neglects to do so despite the provisions
of this annexe, the FIFA Players Status Committee shall furthermore request
the association to which the club belongs to declare any match(es) in which
the player took part to have been lost by the club concerned. Any points
thus gained by the club in question shall be forfeited. Any match contested
according to the cup system shall be regarded as having been won by the
opposing team, irrespective of the score.

 

[JonBCFC]

I don't want to go through to the next round, give us some compensation then we move on..

 

[Anon]

Not sure what I think of it really. Wouldn't surprise me to hear we've cocked it up on the admin side, given past issues with Tevez and Omoyinmi, would be so us to do it again. Not to mention us leaving out Sakho from the Liverpool game - while the club say it's precautionary - makes us look guilty or at least somehow now unsure of if we can play him.

That said, yeah, the idea that we pay his wages, he's not at the ACN, and we're somehow punished for playing our own player is pretty daft.

 

[hodge]

While he's your player the problem obviously revolves around the fact Senegal would have picked him if he could have featured in the tournament, so really should have been away on international duty.

 

[Anon]

While he's your player the problem obviously revolves around the fact Senegal would have picked him if he could have featured in the tournament, so really should have been away on international duty.

Seems to me like Senegal wanted him regardless of injury status, whereas we wanted to keep him here to fully recover from the legitimate back injury that he's not yet recovered from, sustained while with Senegal in their final qualifier no less. We were in a position at the start of the tournament to say he's injured, plus he missed 4 games because of this back injury, including one game that happened after the tournament started.

I've no doubt he was injured when the tournament started, otherwise he would have played in that game on the 18th and probably would have started on the 25th too.

Grey area seems to be players that are injured at tournament start, but not thereafter. As far as I was aware Sakho himself withdrew from the squad (rather than us not releasing him), we weren't holding him against his will etc.

 

[Aaron-Bcfc]

West Ham beat us fair and square. I don't want a bye into the next round, or even worse a replay. We'll take the 250k though

 

[Redcityman]

West Ham beat us fair and square. I don't want a bye into the next round, or even worse a replay. We'll take the 250k though

IMO if it were proven that West Ham are guilty as charged accepting money would surely set a dangerous precedent!

Imagine another club doing similar and drawing say Manu, Arsenal, Man City, Chelsea or Liverpool away or even the next round be a semi final £250,000 wouldn't come nowhere near what you lose out on.


It's unfortunate that this as come at a time when we are going well and looking to go up at a time when a fixture congestion is the last thing we need, but would you be saying the same if we were bang average mid table or this were a league game where we needed the points to go up and say Swindon or Mk Dons did this!

West Ham knew the rules, they also know the pitfalls when signing a player who is eligible to play for a non European country.

 

[TomPNE94]

If a player would rather stay and play for his club rather than his country he should be allowed to, however stupid that choice is.