I was about to write about our midfield but then I got sad...

Things I am looking forward to next year:

No European football - No Sunday Thursday bollocks, Arteta with all the time he could want to coach the team, and hopefully a push up the table accordingly.

Seeing young players play or get their chance - Saliba (finally?) balogun, Martinelli, Saka, Smith-Rowe, hopefully with the paucity of our midfield M-N might get a look in and Willock too. Last chance for them maybe to start to find a place in the squad. Otherwise somewhere from 30-45M for them both.

Arteta with another year under his belt. Surely with his lack of experience the curve upwards should be pretty steep. Hoping to see more from him. I think if we're 8th or lower come December I think that might be it for him if we can get a sensible replacement in.

Bollox!

Thank f*ck for VAR.

Hilarious

Absolutely brilliant performance from the Leicester fans. Cheering tackles, laughing at opposition misses etc.

Congrats Leicester, they are everything we aren’t

Like I said .. 5 or 6

Chelsea - specialists in FA cup final failure

It also notes how tennis player are lasting longer.

He’s a big lad isn’t he (master of the understatement comment)?

Very satisfying.

Schmeichel has been a tremendous servant for Leicester. A couple of top class saves yet again.

Carrying on is not the same as staying at your peak though. Sure, Roger Federer is still playing. He’s now ranked number eight in the world. He used to be number one.

Well done Leicester!!!!
Must be sickening for Chelsea and their fans celebrating like mad thinking you have saved the final with last minute goal then just whipped away from them with VAR
Hilarious!!!!

Emotional scenes with the Leicester owner, the manager and the players. Absolutely zero percent chance of Kroenke ever being as involved as that.

Absolutely right, and I can't remember seeing that with Liverpool, Chelsea or anyone else to be honest. The players in most teams don't give a *%^@ about the owner, and rightly so.

Rumours Bellerin Leno Xhaka Willian all want out.
They have given us good service Willan permitting but anyone who doesnt fancy it can all sod off and leave the rest to fight for the shirt. That midfield needs to be upgraded.
Bissouma and or Berge or Fulhams Anguissa would be good.
Some physical power allied with technicality.
Azeez has to get more games next season.
Let's build around the youngsters with a touch of experience.
Arteta needs to do better next season.
A good summer is needed.
I'd keep Willock and AMN.

It really was a cracking final though, a reminder of how stale football has become without crowds.

And Djokovick is 33.

Been thinking about this a lot, and I think it could be a good thing. Watching us crumble time and time again in important matches against teams we should be able to beat has showed our problems go way beyond the technical and tactical. There's something seriously wrong with the mentality of the team, and perhaps a restart built around a core of Gabriel, Tierney, Partey, Saka, Smith-Rowe and Martinelli is the right thing for now. Bring back Saliba and possibly even Mavropanos for central defense, replace Leno and Bellerin and sign a couple of midfielders, and we might come out stronger.

It's not just about the quality of the players included in the rumours. I think Leno is our best keeper since Lehmann, you all know I rate Xhaka, and I agree with those who say Luiz has been a good signing overall. Bellerin has had some really good games this season, and I don't even think Willian is completely finished. But shipping out that chunk of core players might give us a fresh start. Remember when Henry was sold in 2007, our captain and best player. Fabregas then stepped up and made it his team, and we took a huge step forward in 07/08 compared to the previous season.

Always nice watching Chelsea lose but what a spirited, tigerish and robust performance from Leicester. Wonderful winning goal and those two saves from Kaspar were terrific. Also felt a bit envious when their owner was celebrating on the pitch. They look a really well run club from top to bottom.

I bet he doesn’t quite have the fitness he had in his twenties though. Muscle mass in human beings declines from about 30. That’s why players in high energy sports deteriorate in their thirties, although experience should help them. Footballers routinely retire at some point over that decade. And even if they continue playing well into their thirties, they will have kissed their physical peak behind.

I don’t follow tennis but my guess is Djokovic is still number one at 33 because Federer and Nadal are even older, and Murray is around the same age but has had injury problems.

Daniel EK admits he made an offer for Arsenal

https://www.skysports.com/football/news ... eague-club

Kroenke says he doesn’t need the money, nothing about the club just about money. We will go nowhere with this guy

Haz. With respect despite the spectators, I thought it was a boring final enlivened by a great goal, two memorable saves and VAR drama. The rest was pretty drab. I cannot remember one highlight from the first half.
Anyhow, congratulations to Leicester and I hope they win again Tuesday. F Chelsea.

Wasn't bothered to watch the final but very happy Leicester won. I'm taking a liking to them. They are winning the right way.

Looked up FA cup winners. We have a decent record in a final. 14 out of 21. Chelsea actually have a decent record, 8 out of 15. Very surprised at sperz. 8 out of 9 in finals. I didn't know they were that good in finals.

The site I saw it may not have been updated for last night but still its not half bad. I remember not seeing them win a final until they got money.

Just read an amazing stat on Vardy. He has become the first player ever to feature in every round of the FA Cup. That starts with the preliminary round, 4 qualifying rounds, etc. Quite remarkable.

I am guessing that this excludes the early days of such as Wanderers.

The FA Cup is still the greatest football competition - it should never be undervalued or marginalised. And it should be played at 3pm on a Saturday.

Another team in blue worth watching.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F43M6P5JHco

Yeah, I get where you're coming from. It wasn't exactly a highlight fest, but I thought it was a well played game between two good sides. Made better of course by the crowd - I didn't realize how much I've missed the growing buzz when a team is nearing their opponents goal, or the ironic cheers as a player thumps it into row Z.

Completely agree, Hoy.

Speaking of Wanderers, come on Wolves! Time to do your bit for all that is good and decent and put a stick in the Spuds' spokes.

Fabrizio Romano (rarely gets things wrong) says it is expected that Willian will leave this summer.

omoh, I may be completely wrong from what I gathered from people such as yourself who have seen many FA cups.

It's still a big event, but I've heard it said it lost a bit of its lustre because of regular televised games. The FA Cup final was one of the few football matches that was on tv and broadcast nationally in the old days, or is that not correct?

Also, just getting to the final for all fans was seen as a great event because they would go to London and be in Wembley. Even for London based clubs it was a huge event. That's what I ascertain from older Brits I've come across starting with the first ones I met in Los Angeles. Even if your club has been to a few (Liverpool, Man Utd), it was always a huge event.

Alisson just scored from a corner to win it for Liverpool. Don't think I've ever seen that before, at least not as far I can remember.

Here’s a dramatic one. https://www.chesterstandard.co.uk/sport ... isle-goal/

Hi AG - yes the Cup Final was traditionally the end of season national football event. It is also English football's oldest and greatest cup competition, which hundreds of teams compete in. While the media focus on the stages when the bigger Football League teams start to play, the early stages involve non-league sides from way down the football pyramid. As such it has always been a fan's cup - unlike the elite competitions which involve a very limited group of teams. Personally I will recall many of the FA Cup Finals I have seen long after I have forgotten who won in Europe - and I am not just talking about Arsenal triumphs. The first Cup Final I vividly remember watching was Villa beating United on a black and white TV set! Spurs v Burnley - arguably the best ever Final for sheer football quality. And of course Sunderland topping Leeds.

My first ever game of football was a cup final. Round my mates house on a small black and white tv. Tottenham vs Leicester. And the name of Len Chalmers lives on in my memory.

Looks an interesting climax to the La Liga (Spanish league) table this season, which will be next Sunday. As it stands after 37 games, Atletico Madrid are top with 83 points and a goal difference of +41. Real Madrid are second with 81 points and a goal difference of +38. Barcelona are out of the fight for the title, being third with 76 points and a goal difference of +46.

What that means is unless Real not only win but make up Atletico’s better goal difference of +3, a draw for Atletico will win them the league. Next Sunday Atletico are away to nineteenth placed Real Valladolid whilst Real are home to seventh place Villarreal.

Last season the top of the table finished (38 games) with Real top with 87 points, Barcelona second with 82 points and Atletico third with 70 points.

Atletico had Partey last season, while this season they haven’t. Am I missing something or does all this not only imply Atletico haven’t missed Partey, but they’ve improved without him?

Perhaps the Suarez factor is more significant. He moved from Barca to Atletico.
Partey must be regretting his move to Arsenal.

Valladolid is in a relegation fight, and home to Atletico. They will be fighting very hard for a win. Atletico will have their work cut out for them, and I am rooting for them to win the match.

Villarreal is away to Real, and fighting for a Europa place. Hope they deny Real a win.

Thanks. The one thing I liked about the FA Cup when I first got interested in football was seeing minnows vs giants and either giving them a scare or winning outright.

Also, from what I am gathering from Wenger, he said the FA Cup was shown in Germany. I presume it was shown in a variety of countries as well. It's well known to be the oldest football competition.

Sad, its lost a lot of its pageantry. As you know I watch a lot of old videos and it was obvious the cup final was a huge national event and the fans at the match were in sheer joy at just being there. Some fans who rarely visit London took the train down (or up, etc) and from what I understand, took in the town, saw some things, tourist type of things, while they were in town.

I recall getting up at 3am to catch our final vs Chelsea in 2002. My car was in the shop. The taxi I ordered didn't come (LA is notoriously lacking in cabs, uber has changed that) and I was walking, catching busses, anything I could to get there. Final leg was about a mile or so on foot. Didn't make kick off but was about 10 minutes, sweating. Pub was packed solid. The only reason I got in was because they knew me. Could hardly see the screen. I recall being nervous because although we beat Chelsea regularly, they always gave us a tough time.

The "Its only Ray Parlour'" goal is one of my favorites because it was Ray Parlour. One of the least likely players anyone expected to score and got lost in the shuffle of great players that came in like Viera, Bergkamp, Henry, Pires, Freddie...I was so happy for him.


I hope we maintain our FA Cup lead obviously but its going to be tough in the immediate future to do so.