FA Cup Semis 2010

2010 FA Cup Semi Final Review - Chelsea v Aston Villa; Tottenham Hotspur v Portsmouth at New Wembley

Andy Greeves

As outlined in a previous Soccerphile article, I have always been in a minority when it comes to my views on the FA Cup Semi Finals being staged at Wembley Stadium.

I actually support the Football Association's decision to stage semi final matches there. Or I did at least until this weekend.

The FA's decision to stage all FA Cup Semi Finals at Wembley Stadium from 2008 was made with the obvious intention of recouping funds to help pay the reported £798m fee to build the new ground.

Having overspent on the arena to the tune of an estimated £300m, the FA and associate parties involved in the construction certainly had to consider all possible revenue streams.

With more fans getting to see games at the new Wembley and the FA getting to pay off their stadium bill at the same time, I thought it was a win-win situation.

At the Aston Villa-Chelsea and Tottenham-Portsmouth ties their over the weekend though, I got a certain yearning for Old Trafford and Villa Park. For Hillsborough, Highbury and Maine Road.

The atmosphere for both of the games could be best described as insipid. Genuine supporters of the clubs separated by a whole tier of 'Club Wembley' corporate seating and clusters of empty seating in certain other areas of the ground also intended for the 'prawn sandwich brigade'.

Moving the semi finals to Wembley might has increased genuine fans' chance of getting a ticket compared to other venues. The sad fact though is that many more could be accommodated and are being denied a seat by corporate 'supporters', some of whom can't even be bothered to turn up for a semi final.

My biggest Wembley gripe however has to be reserved for the pitch. Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp described it as a 'disgrace' and 'farcical' and he's not wrong.

For two days, I sat and watched player after player lose their footing on a playing surface which seemed more like a cross between an ice rink and a grass ski slope than a football field. The FA can only hope the FIFA executive committee, who will be selecting the venue of the 2018 World Cup which England are bidding to host, weren't watching.

Wembley seems incapable of being able to grow a suitable pitch and the surface has had to be relayed on countless occasions as a result. Aston Villa's James Milner criticised the pitch under two months ago, when it blighted the Carling Cup Final. Despite having been relayed since, the problems continue.

On top of the terrible atmosphere and diabolical pitch, Wembley, the so-called 'Venue of Legends' saw some less than legendary refereeing decisions. Poor old Aston Villa, who should have seen Nemanja Vidic red-carded in the Carling Cup Final in February, were on the wrong end of more bad decisions at the national stadium. They were denied a clear penalty, when John Obi Mikel brought down Gabriel Agbonlahor in the area. Referee Howard Webb also failed to send John Terry off for a cynical challenge on James Milner which could have caused a serious injury to the England midfielder.

Tottenham too were victims of a dreadful decision with Alan Wiley disallowing a Peter Crouch equaliser for an adjudged foul by Niko Kranjcar on David James. In was in fact the case that James collided with his own defender Ricardo Rocha, which was clear on video replays.

Another moan from the weekend was the quality of the matches themselves. Chelsea's 3-0 win over Villa was hugely flattering for the West Londoners, though their ability to grind out results has to be admired. It's that kind of grit and determination that could see them win the double this season. Villa will just be sick of the sight of Wembley, following two defeats there in three months.

Tottenham fans will worry that their side's inability to beat a Portsmouth side already relegated from the Premier League bodes badly for their aspirations of playing in the Champions League next season. The Lilywhites face Arsenal, Chelsea and Manchester United in their next three games in the Premiership and if they perform against the top three as they did against Portsmouth, April will be a bad, bad month for Harry Redknapp's men.

Plaudits must go to Avram Grant and Portsmouth for winning an ugly semi-final. Given everything the club has been through, no neutral outside of Southampton or N17 would have denied the Fratton Park side their brief moment of joy in a season of agony on last Sunday.

Alas though, these were two semi finals that won't live long in the memory for anything other than empty seats, a terrible atmosphere, a ski slope pitch and a string of referring cock-ups.

Of course as a Tottenham fan, I could just be bitter.

© Andy Greeves & Soccerphile.com

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