Next up Villa v Ipswich









Next up is Villa v Ipswich in the much maligned FA Cup. I caught a couple of FA Cup games in the qualifying rounds when Ely destroyed Rothwell Corinthians and then came up short against Bugbrooke. However, this week is what was traditionally one of the biggest weekends of the calendar when the teams from the top 2 divisions join in. The cup has lost a lot of its shine over the last few years, which hasn't been helped by the fact it has now lost its traditional slot at the start of the season and with more Champions League finals scheduled at Wembley it could be a while before it gets back. Mind you with discounted ticket prices (this one was £10 for adults and £5 for kids) at least it gives people a chance to see their team who don't normally get the chance.

In this game Villa, who also have a Semi Final against Bradford in the League Cup to look forward to will be looking to put a miserable Christmas behind them, but with the number of injuries accrued they are going to find it hard. Meanwhile, Ipswich who had a bad start to the Championship season now seem to be rejuvenated by Mick McCarthy. However, after suffering a reverse on Ne Year's Day and Villa getting a creditable draw at Swansea. It is going to be a tough one to call.

I would give some more info on the teams, but if you follow the tags there is plenty on both of them on this site.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Boca Juniors shirt history

Image
The first game that I will be at on Sunday sees Boca Juniors take on Paris Saint Germain. I have always wanted to go and see Boca Juniors and I can't see me getting over to Argentina any time in the near future, so I am going to have to make do with seeing them in North London. On my travels I have met plenty of Boca fans, but funnily enough they have all been Russian or Ukrainian. I am a bit disappointed that Martin Palermo has now retired, but I am still looking forward to it. Obviously to do justice to the club history of Boca Juniors I'd probably have to write a book, so here's a quick history of their kit and colours instead. When Boca were formed in 1905 they originally played in pink, but obviously came round to thinking that this was a bad idea and changed to a light blue colour later in the year. They didn't stick with this shirt for very long either and for the 3rd time in a year decided to change the shirt colour, this time to black and white stripes. The fol
Read more

shirt history AS Roma

Image
Roma were the club that I followed in Italy and although they are most famous for wearing red and yellow, hence the nickname giallo rosso the club didn't always wear those colours. AS Roma were formed in 1927 by a merger between SS Alba-Audace and Fortitudo-Pro Roma SGS with Italo Foschi being the driving force behind the merger. AS Roma could also trace their lineage back to FBC Roma who were formed in 1901 and who wore red and yellow, but the first shirts they wore took the red, white and blue of Fortitudo-Pro Roma. Roma soon established themselves at the top table of Italian football and in 1931 finished runners up to Juventus and by now had settled on red and yellow as their colours. However, you'll have to take my word for it because the picture below shows Attilio Ferraris in black and white. In 1942 Roma went one better and won their first Scudetto with Amadeo Amadei scoring 18 goals to help them secure the title. Pictured below he is wearing the change shirt with a repl
Read more

Sud Tribune, Dortmund

Image
The Sud Tribune at Westfalen is famed for the noise and support that it gives the BVB team. They started up early and carried on until well after the match had finished despite the poor result. At the end the team looked suitably disappointed when they thanked the fans. Nobody apart from the Hannover fans probably expected 96 to win. Hopefully better times for the Sud Tribune are just around the corner.
Read more