F A Cup 25/26 chat - 5th round draw (no longer our concern) p29

soapboxsam said:

Cheers AA and Rothko.
I will have to watch those incidents later.

When VAR first came out I said on CL it should be the best thing since sliced bread but at times it's more like mouldy bread with the long wait, the delayed exhilaration and the verdict still doesn't taste right at times BUT the game at Villa park saw the best advertisment for VAR that you could get.

Referee Paul Kavanagh and Assistant Ref Nick Greenhalgh were so incompetent that they have to be stood down for a set period. 
The other Assistant should've told Kavanagh about the late poor tackle by Digne who should've been sent off for his challenge on Murphy.
The tackle on Hall also looked a penalty.
As for Digne's handball which was yards inside the area yet Kavanagh gives it yards outside !

Rooney was correct, that is one of the worse decisions I have seen and I/we have seen some howlers over the decades.

The offside goal was down to the Ass Ref Greenhalgh who would've been in line. 

Without the safety net of VAR, Chris Kavanagh and his Assistants had a nightmare and VAR which still needs improvements, was the winner.

Birmingham doing OK against Leeds.

But boy they are missing Dykes up front!

Well done Leeds. 
Ive had enough of midweek game's 

Callumcafc said:

The Emirates FA Cup fifth round draw will be made on Monday 16 February, live on TNT Sports.

The draw will be held live from Macclesfield ahead of their fourth round match against Brentford. The draw will be available for fans to watch on TNT Sports 1, discovery+ and on the TNT Sports YouTube channel during the tie’s pre-match coverage from approximately 6.35pm GMT.

Presented by Darren Fletcher and Ally McCoist, the draw will be made by Joe Cole and Karen Carney. The ball numbers for the fifth round draw are listed below:

1. Liverpool
2. Fulham
3. Sunderland
4. Southampton
5. Wrexham
6. Arsenal
7. Chelsea
8. West Ham United
9. Mansfield Town
10. Norwich City
11. Port Vale or Bristol City
12. Wolverhampton Wanderers
13. Newcastle United
14. Manchester City 
15. Macclesfield or Brentford
16. Leeds United

The fifth round of the Emirates FA Cup will be played around the weekend of Saturday 7 and Sunday 8 March 2026.

4th round was pretty uninspiring and only 1 shock (Mansfield).

Hopefully the 5th round throws up something like Liverpool v Arsenal and Chelsea v Man City so some of the big guns start to get knocked out. In reality we'll probably get:

Man City v Norwich
Arsenal v Southampton
Liverpool v Mansfield
Chelsea v Wolves

The draw is on and I cannot believe they actually rehearse this before hand. 

Fulham v Southampton
Port Vale or Bristol City v Sunderland
Newcastle United v Manchester City
Leeds United v Norwich City
Mansfield Town v Arsenal
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Liverpool
Wrexham v Chelsea
West Ham United v Macclesfield or Brentford

If Bristol City beat Port Vale and Sunderland, our game against them on Good Friday will very likely be postponed / rearranged.

fenaddick said:

fenaddick said:

Need Bristol City to get a big team as can't see them losing to Vale and I'm planning on coming down for the Good Friday game against them!

Sunderland, could go either way 

Sunderland are in a position where they can afford to put some focus on the cup.

Probably not going to make Europe via the league and in absolutely no danger of relegation. Beat Bristol city (assuming it's them) and then get a good home tie (for example against the winner of the Fulham or West ham ties) and all of a sudden they're into the semi's.

Good grief! The Saturday evening game on BBC is another easy ride for Chelsea at a Championship club, and probably the only Championship club other than Millwall I want to lose. Whoever chooses these games obviously doesn’t see the list of matches as I do.