Pile-Up

So even more football games to play now, thanks to the barely believable events of this afternoon/evening at Valley Parade. This post might well get edited into a longer one once all the thoughts stop swirling around. My thoughts on the game: they did very very well in the first half, were a threat when they attacked, they passed the ball well. It didn't look like a fourth division side against a top flight team. The two Arsenal centre-backs had a very shaky half and the front two of Hanson and Wells were brilliant at holding the ball up and giving the midfield and defence a rest.

The second half started much the same way, and it was only when Wells was replaced with the much slower Connell that the ball started to come back every thirty seconds. Even then, Arsenal didn't create that many goalscoring chances until the last ten minutes when the home side visibly tired. The goal was probably deserved from a territorial advantage point of view, but not from chances created. Extra time was just a case of holding on, which they did with a bit of help from the crossbar, which is probably still shaking now. The run in shootouts continued on its inexplicably merry way.

Thoughts on Arsenal. They're now a pale, pale shadow of the 'invincibles' team, and Wenger is now firmly in Liverpool-era Gerard Houllier territory: team full of dead-wood imports from France who aren't anywhere near the level of players they replaced. Gervinho played like he'd won a competition to play with the stars for a day. Podolski was utterly, utterly anonymous. Do Arsenal want to win things, or pay off the stadium? Looks like they're happy to do the latter.

Practice

Christmas has sort of snuck up on me this year. Though the plan has been for several months to go back home for a couple of weeks (and the tickets were booked in June), the fact that work's been a bit of a slog of late has meant that I've not paid it much attention till the weekend. So for another year, my sorry excuse for a tree is up, and there was a christmas house party at one of my labmates houses on Saturday night, complete with one of these. It was delicious, but the strength of the absurdly strong (75% by volume) rum was only partially diluted by the wine. Terrible headache yesterday.

The journal article that I've been working on is nearly done and I'll send that off to the boss man at the end of the week. It'll almost certainly be the last one ever. And to round off the week, it's the lab Christmas party at the boss man's house on Saturday evening, so as per usual it's a 'pot luck' style affair, that's to say you bring something with you. Only rule is you have to make it yourself, and not cheat and buy it from the supermarket and pass it off as your own. I decided that this year I'd do mince pies and so tonight was a trial run. Great success as it turned out. They are - if I say so myself - very very nice. Will make some more batches later on in the week. I've just got to make sure I don't eat them all...

Pile-up: The Revenge

So we don't have to worry about the Bantams adding to their number of games through further additional cup ties, given that they were, er, kicked out of the FA Cup today for fielding an apparently ineligible Curtis Good (on loan from Newcastle) in the game against Brentford last Friday. It's funny, because if this had happened in any other season, there would be all manner of abuse about being amateurish/incompetent being hurled at the club from the fanbase, but coming as it does four days before a glamour tie with Arsenal and amid a fixture backlog, nobody seems all that bothered.

Still unbeaten in Cup competition, though.

Austerity

I'm glad call-me-Dave and his never-worked-in-the-financial-industry-ever mate are treating their not meeting their austerity targets with the gravitas one would expect of people in their position.

Man who has no practical experience of economics is struggling to right the ship? Who knew?

Pile-up

Last night's home draw with Brentford in the FA Cup means that there'll be yet another game for the Bantams to schedule before Christmas. From mid September to New Year's Day, they'll have had exactly two midweeks free of games. This is a combination of a) the number of cup games they've been involved in; b) the season starting two weeks later than normal because of the Olympics, and ending a week sooner because Wembley is needed for the Champion's League final on the day the Fourth Division play-off final is usually played; and c) the fact midweek games have generally been moved from the winter to the autumn in light of the last few bad winters and mass postponements.

That four of the games have gone to extra time - and potentially a fifth - means that the game on December 29th against Rochdale will be the equivalent of a 38th game of the season. That's a whole Premier League season, in half the time available. It looks highly likely that if they're involved in the playoffs, they'll be into the realm of playing 60 games, before any potential further advance in cup matches is is considered. With a small squad, already robbed of three central defenders through very serious injuries, that's a big ask.

Odd thing is, I was looking back at the 1995-96 season on Soccerbase to check on something I put on twitter related to the sacking of the Micky Mellon below. That season, we played.......60 games. The normal 46 in the league, six in the league cup (in the days of two legged ties), three in the FA cup, two in whatever the Johnstone's Paint Trophy was called at the time*, and three in the playoffs. But I don't remember that season as overly fixture congested. Of course, the playoffs extended the season to the last weekend in May, which might have something to do with it.

We still have some way to go to match Stockport's season a year later. In the 1996-97, they played 67 (!) games: 46 in the league; 11 in the league cup where they reached the semi-final; 4 in the FA Cup, and 6 in the Auto Windscreen Shield where they lost the two-legged northern final.

* Wikipedia tells me they were eliminated by the drawing of lots - trust something as weird as that to happen to them - after a three team group between themselves, Carlisle and Doncaster resulted in three 1-1 draws and all sides having an equal record. Further advance would have added even more games to the total.

Expectations

Aldershot knocked Fleetwood Town out of the FA Cup this afternoon. On the face of it, a bit of a shock, given the former's 23rd place in the league, compared with the latter's budget and Blue Square Premier title not six months ago. The magic of the FA Cup, upsets and all that. The outcome? Fleetwood summarily fired manager Micky Mellon, for the heinous crime of losing three games in row and being seventh in the league.

I took a wander to the Fleetwood Town forum when I heard the news. I reckoned they'd be appalled at losing the manager who'd taken them from the Blue Square North - essentially the sixth tier of English football - to a level they'd never, ever played at. I was wrong. "Taken us as far as he can". "Thank f*ck for that". "Six games too late". Expectations are seemingly that with a wealthy backer, they should sweep all before them in vicarious, entertaining fashion. The great thing about sport in general is that it doesn't work like that. At least at lower levels. The Premier League long since stopped being competitive*

"Dream job for the right person", opined one poster**. Until it all falls apart, Gretna/Grays Athletic style as attendances don't rise to cover the cost of the vastly inflated wage bill.

* Of course, the coincidence that this should happen in the same week that Chelsea's sacking of their manager (six months removed from a European title) has spectacularly blown up in their face isn't lost on me.

** Someone wanted Peter Taylor. I laughed, hard.