[Archived] The Carling Cup Semi Final Draw Already Made

[Wolverine]

us v man u, wigan v arsenal. ###### draw. fix.

[krislu]

so they have split man.u and arsenal

368321[/snapback]

It's a bloody conspiracy this, happend last year as well!

[Paul]

First leg should be January 11th

Second leg January 25th

[The Dart]

Complete fix. The give away is they dont say which number is which team. Same old story in this rubbish cup.

[greggyk]

well, we beat em once

We'll effin stuff em again!!!

[1864roverite]

come on you cant be surprised, its a BLOODY FIX I tell you

[Wolverine]

damn right it is a fix

[Paul]

So that's Rovers v Wigan on February 26th - probably with an 11.15 KO

[greggyk]

everyone phone in to 5live and report the fix!!!

Call 0500 909693

Edited December 21, 2005 by greggyk

[philipl]

Surely, we'll get a full house at Ewood for this. Really looking forwards to us doing the Mancs.

Big incentive to get out and buy someone before the semi-final.

I won't be surprised if Wigan upset Arsenal- Wigan WILL have strengthened before the SF.

[Wolverine]

i thought that the numbers corresponded to teams in that they were numerical and alphabetical, which would have meant:

1 - arsenal, 2 - blackburn, 3 - man u, 4 - wigan.

when they drew 2 first, i said 'that's us', and it wasn't...

they never told us first what number each team was prior to the draw. very suspicious.

[yawnsie]

Worst possible draw for us, especially if we need to play at home first.

Mind you, I remember people saying Boro away was a bad draw.

And Charlton away too.

Can't see us not being brushed aside by Man U - every time we get a decent result against them, they always come back and have the last laugh - but you never know.

[tchocky]

OMFG!

They even managed to get both of them away in the first leg - a definite advantage! You'd think they would try to make it a little less obvious.

A well, if we want to win it we'll just have to beat whoever is put infront of us. Upwards and onwards!

[greggyk]

In a way. Its not too bad that we play at Ewood first. At least we might still be in the tie by the second leg

[brfcshabba]

Cup - January 11th - Home

Cup - January 25th - Away

League - February 1st - Home

Get a few of their players injured before we meet them in the league

[Guest Vinjay]

It isn't a fix. People appear to forget 99 and 03 semis. People say my comments are unproven well surely these comments are th same? The FA could sue the site for this though I doubt you will all be censored.

[USABlue]

Did anyone really expect anything else. I avoided commenting cos I really did not excpect us to get through this one. But it was bleeding obvious Arse and Man U would not meet in the semis. Too bad because Arse and Manu and us and Wigan would have been a few cracking games for the semis. Doubt we will turn 'em over with 2 legs

[Jim J]

Keep the faith

[tonygreenbank]

interesting points made about the draw- never considered the possibility of a fix before but the numbers came out 2-Wigan v. 3-Arsenal then 4-Rovers v. 1-Manu. No mention was made before the draw of the team numbers but this sequence seems very odd. You conspiracy theorists may be right!

[LeChuck]

There was a 1 in 3 chance that Man Utd would draw Arsenal.

In other words, probability suggested they would avoid each other.

Still...don't let statistics get in the way of another 'everyone hates Rovers/little clubs' feeling sorry for ourselves type discussion.

[Exiled in Toronto]

Did anyone really expect anything else.  I avoided commenting cos I really did not excpect us to get through this one.  But it was bleeding obvious Arse and Man U would not meet in the semis.  Too bad because Arse and Manu and us and Wigan would have been a few cracking games for the semis.  Doubt we will turn 'em over with 2 legs

368343[/snapback]

Keep the faith buddy. I think Fergie won't put out his strongest side for 2 midweek "extra" games at a busy time of the year when he has to try and stay in touch with Chelsea. For the final, which replaces a weekend league game, I think they would be at full strength. I think we can do 'em

[jrabrfc]

If you take the same procedure they use for the FA Cup (i.e, numbers for the next round are determined in the order of the previous round) the draw should have been as follows (as per the Football Leage Website):

http://www.football-league.premiumtv.co.uk...,,10794,00.html

2 Arsenal v 3 Man Utd

1 Wigan v 4 Blackburn

Conspiracy? No, I didn't think so either.

[Wolverine]

fact 1: no mention made prior to draw as to which team was allocated which number.

fact 2: this drawon paper gives the best chance of the big clubs winning the cup.

fact 3: my mum says it was a fix too.

[jim mk2]

1 SOCCER Middlesbrough Quotes

HUGHES TARGETS FINAL

By Damian Spellman, PA Sport

Mark Hughes set his sights on the Carling Cup final after Blackburn striker Paul Dickov’s last-minute heroics at Middlesbrough earned the manager a semi-final clash with former club Manchester United.

Dickov struck after Shefki Kuqi’s shot was deflected into his path with seconds of normal time remaining, to clinch a victory which was nothing more than his side deserved.

“On the basis of the performance this evening, we have shown we are a good side and I think a lot of good teams would have struggled to match us this evening, whoever we played. The semi-final over two legs is a great opportunity for us,” said Hughes.

“I thought we were excellent from start to finish. We dominated the game and looked really strong and powerful right through the game.

“The only concern really was the amount of chances we failed to take. When that happens, you wonder if you are going to get a reward for your efforts.

“But we kept going and looked really strong in the latter part of the game and thankfully got the goal that has seen us through.”

Hughes was delighted with the performance of midfielder Robbie Savage and played down suggestions the Welshman he had been spat at during an exchange with Emanuel Pogatetz, after he had been booked for a foul on Adam Johnson.

“The lad came up to him and shouted something at him and maybe something flew out of his mouth, but to say that he was spat on is possibly a little strong,” said Hughes.

“We are not going to make an issue out of it. We wouldn’t want that to overshadow a great night for Blackburn Rovers because I thought our play was excellent this evening.

“I thought he (Savage) was excellent. It was arguably one of his best games since he came to the club and his energy and his willingness to get the job done and the impact he had on the game - probably since he has been here, he hasn’t had as much impact as he has usually had in previous games in his career.

“But that showed the level he needs to be at and hopefully he will continue in that

vein.”

Middlesbrough boss Steve McClaren was furious with his side’s display and told them so as their best chance of a trophy this season disappeared.

“I’m very disappointed, very angry,” said McClaren. “We have limped out of the tournament. It was a great opportunity tonight and we haven’t taken it.

“I can’t defend the performance, the performance was poor. We were second best to everything and it wasn’t good enough. We play (against Blackburn) again in five days’ time and we have got to be a sight better that we were tonight.

“It was the strongest possible team that we could put out in our desire to progress, but we didn’t do it on the night. Credit to Blackburn, they deserved

the win.

“It was only a matter of time before they scored and it was a surprise that it took so long. It didn’t really give us time to react. We could have got out of jail, but Blackburn deserved it.”

[LeChuck]

The only way I can see how the numbers were drawn so far...

The first two were allocated last night in alphabetical order, then numbers 3 and 4 were allocated in the same manner.