FA Cup Final: Chelsea v Manchester United

BBC have an article on the 1994 Cup final.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/6647697.stm

Great Man U side - Paul Parker the weakest link - but the next worst is probably Mark Hughes!!

Many say that was our best team under Fergie. Just never did it in Europe because of the foreign restrictions.

It's not only how good the players were it's the amount of leaders in the side - Schmeichel, Bruce, Keane, Ince, Cantona.

Batman wrote:

Parks lives wrote:By the sounds of things our team will be -


------------------ van der Sar

Brown ---- Ferdinand ---- Vidic ---- Evra

------------ Fletcher ------- Carrick

--- Ronaldo ------- Scholes ------- Giggs

--------------------- Rooney


Obviously not ideal as Rooney and Scholes are out of position, however its probably a better team than one with Smith playing.

I'd expect Rooney to get some change out of Boulah if he plays as well.

I guess the subs wil be: Kuszczak, O'Shea, Richardson, Smith, Solskjaer.

But i think Heinze will play, he normally plays well against Chelsea/Drogba.

Chelsea are dangerous at freekicks and corners, Heinze > Evra at heading.

Brown instead of neville means we can afford evra instead of Heinze on set pieces. Plus no Ballack Carvalho

Parks lives wrote:Many say that was our best team under Fergie. Just never did it in Europe because of the foreign restrictions.

It's not only how good the players were it's the amount of leaders in the side - Schmeichel, Bruce, Keane, Ince, Cantona.

Was it three foreign players per team?

They say one of Fergusons biggest mistakes ever was leaving Peter Schmeichel out at the Nou Camp.

Yep but that included Republic of Ireland players as well and we had Keane and Irwin.

That game at the Nou Camp we had Schmeichel and Cantona in the stands.

I'm hoping that as the result of some quantum-event, both teams manage to lose 0-4...

@ Roger

Yesterday on MUTV they showed the 96 cup final. First time I've seen it since the day of the game. Just an absolute woeful football match.

Even Barry Davies and Trevor Brooking were saying how poor it was.

The only two good performances were McManaman and Keane. Everyone else was poor including Cantona.

Parks - Kanchelksis was a monster then as well - he's just not too fondly remembered by Man U fans which is a shame.

1996 - Utterly atrocious game of football. You deserved to win though - our defence parted like the Red Sea in front on Cantona's shot.

It was those feckin' awful white suits that did it for us.

I think Kancheslkis is remembered well but in almost a cult way. On Redcafe they run a poll for every position to judge our best team ever about 6 months ago.

He faired pretty well, got nearly as many votes as Beckham in the wingers poll. Obviously both were behind Giggs and Best though.

Roger Hunt wrote:BBC have an article on the 1994 Cup final.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/fa_cup/6647697.stm

Great Man U side - Paul Parker the weakest link - but the next worst is probably Mark Hughes!!

Good article. was watching 'football years' on sky last night and they had the 92/93 season on. a great season

The difference in quality between the two teams back in 94 was staggering. not one of the Chelsea players would have made the Utd squad. They were a mid-table team really back then I guess. Star player: Craig Burley

Schmeichel > Van Der Sar
Neville > Parker
Irwin > Evra
Bruce > Vidic
Ferdinand > Pallister
Ronaldo > Kanchelskis
Scholes > Keane '94
Ince > Carrick
Giggs '94 > Giggs '07
Cantona = Rooney
Hughes > Smith/Saha

6 - 4 to the '94 side and Rooney and Cantona is pretty much a tie.

Given Scholes the edge over '94 Keane as he wasn't the finished article then.

Gavin Peacock or Dennis Wise actually.

Parks lives wrote:Schmeichel > Van Der Sar
Neville > Parker
Irwin > Evra
Bruce > Vidic
Ferdinand > Pallister
Ronaldo > Kanchelskis
Scholes > Keane '94
Ince > Carrick
Giggs '94 > Giggs '07
Cantona = Rooney
Hughes > Smith/Saha

6 - 4 to the '94 side and Rooney and Cantona is pretty much a tie.

Given Scholes the edge over '94 Keane as he wasn't the finished article then.

You can always do stuff like that, but reality is a bit different. Teams can play better with someone rated less, also it doesn't show the gap between players. Ronaldo imo is like 5 x better than kanchelkis for example. while ince > carrick is not such a big gap

L.r.d wrote: You can always do stuff like that, but reality is a bit different. Teams can play better with someone rated less, also it doesn't show the gap between players. Ronaldo imo is like 5 x better than kanchelkis for example. while ince > carrick is not such a big gap

No way. Kanchelskis was as good a winger as Giggs in 94. Ronaldo is probably better but not a lot.

Yeah good point, thought not sure on 5 x better.

Irwin and Evra, Bruce and Vidic would be close. Same as '94 Giggs and Giggs today, as that Giggs was lightning quick, a wingers nightmare etc but could also go missing and be ineffectual. Today's Giggs is no where near as quick or fit but his football brain is light years in front.

I just think that team would find a way to beat our current team, same as the '99 team would find a way to beat our current team as well. Both teams are made of sterner stuff and more experienced.

Roger Hunt wrote:

L.r.d wrote: You can always do stuff like that, but reality is a bit different. Teams can play better with someone rated less, also it doesn't show the gap between players. Ronaldo imo is like 5 x better than kanchelkis for example. while ince > carrick is not such a big gap

No way. Kanchelskis was as good a winger as Giggs in 94. Ronaldo is probably better but not a lot.

People retire and they become better players than they were it makes me laugh. Was kanchelkis ever near a contender for wpoty? Nope no chance nowhere near the difference in class is so big it is unreal

No but WPOTY is a popularity contest and the EPL was much lower-profile in those days.

I'll repeat my statement above - Kanchelskis was a good a winger as Giggs in 1994. Was Giggs a contender for WPOTY in 1994? Do you think Ronaldo is that much better than Giggs?

Ballack wrote:Gavin Peacock or Dennis Wise actually.

Nah. Peacock was like a 94 version of Lampard - end product but not much quality.

Wise was a very good player but IMO Burley was better.

You can hardly comment tom, you were what? 3 at the time?

Will be a tight match.. With Utd winning.

We're you on football forums at 11 then Tweeds, stating how over rated Peacock was?

Parks lives wrote:We're you on football forums at 11 then Tweeds, stating how over rated Peacock was?

*were

Of course not, but I used to talk about football all time with kids at school

The internet barely existed in 94

L.r.d wrote:and essien at right back is crazy

Best RB in the league

Shame that he is a better MF, otherwise he would've been our answer to the RB problem.

S4P2 wrote:

L.r.d wrote:and essien at right back is crazy

Best RB in the league

Shame that he is a better MF, otherwise he would've been our answer to the RB problem.

is he that good an rb when he starts there? Changing the system, putting a powerful guy with lots of energy there when chasing a game i can see why it works. Starting him there i duno

If Manchester United lift the cup, they will have done so by beating top-flight clubs in every round. The last time that was done was in 1947-48. Manchester United beat Blackpool 4-2 in the final.

Tweedle wrote:

Ballack wrote:Gavin Peacock or Dennis Wise actually.

Nah. Peacock was like a 94 version of Lampard - end product but not much quality.

Wise was a very good player but IMO Burley was better.

You can hardly comment tom, you were what? 3 at the time?

4 Actually. And i've seen loads of videos

Were the videos by chance called 'Best of Peacock and Wise Part I,II,III,IV,V,VI,VII,VIII,IX and X'?

L.r.d wrote:

S4P2 wrote:

L.r.d wrote:and essien at right back is crazy

Best RB in the league

Shame that he is a better MF, otherwise he would've been our answer to the RB problem.

is he that good an rb when he starts there? Changing the system, putting a powerful guy with lots of energy there when chasing a game i can see why it works. Starting him there i duno

Maybe best RB in the league is a little bias, but certainly the best RB available to Chelsea.

When he plays at RB he looks impressive. It's only when he plays at CB that I start to worry.

@ Tweeds

Peacock was always a fan favourite, but in truth, was just an inferior version of Lampard

I remember old Kharine.

The first Russian to represent Chelsea

So whats the score going to be? Whats going to be the major incidents? & what will be the best match ups?

I can see it going to extra time myself and I can also see a red card (most worryingly for Schoelsy).

Ronaldo vs Cole should be a joy to watch as usual.