FA Cup 4th Round - Brentford Away

[Guest worth_the_wait]

1 hour ago, KingsX said:

 

The League/Carabao Cup is no older than the median City away fan, has a joke sponsor, and returns joke prize money and European rights. 

 

For the 4500 of us going to Villa Park in 10 days time, it is certainly no joke competition.    The atmosphere will be electric.

[LestaAl]

Its all about the money for me, the UK knockout cups are 2nd team competitions these days.

Top 4 gives us CL matches and a shed load of money. Invest it well and we move forward ....We have a dream.

[CosbehFox]

2 hours ago, KingsX said:

 

The League/Carabao Cup is no older than the median City away fan, has a joke sponsor, and returns joke prize money and European rights.  Its history is meaningful, but nearly done.  Supporters who have more forward- than backward-looking views don’t need lectures on how to think.

 

Bigger clubs today want no part of expending playing resources on matches in tiny grounds against third division clubs.  Even Championship clubs rotate.  This is why, by the end of this decade, PL clubs will no longer contest the League Cup.  And in a generation, it will be likely be thought of more like the Full Members/ZDS Cup than the FA Cup.

 

It means that much to you and others, fine, we all understand why.  What defies belief is this inability to understand the other side of the coin.

I think the dominance of the bigger clubs in the League Cup suggests otherwise to this claim. Even if they use it as a squad rotation, they still want silverware and want to prestige of winning competitions at Wembley. 

[CosbehFox]

22 minutes ago, LestaAl said:

Its all about the money for me, the UK knockout cups are 2nd team competitions these days.

Top 4 gives us CL matches and a shed load of money. Invest it well and we move forward ....We have a dream.

I personally not convinced that entering the Champions League sees your team gain in stature to players. 
 

You only have to look at Spurs, CL finalists but the signings are not many more different to what they were signing without CL football. Their lack of silverware doing more to affect their reputation. 

[Unabomber]

26 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

I personally not convinced that entering the Champions League sees your team gain in stature to players. 
 

You only have to look at Spurs, CL finalists but the signings are not many more different to what they were signing without CL football. Their lack of silverware doing more to affect their reputation. 

Very good point re Spurs 

[Stadt]

How has it came about that the Brentford game is what will ensure Champuons League qualification? Weird discussion because it has close to **** to all to do with it 

[Gamble92]

If we make the quarters we'll have done it with mainly players from the reserves. 

 

By that point the first team would have to play just a couple of extra games if we went all the way.

 

We overplay this extra game thing way too much. Its become a get out clause for underperforming players and managers.

[volpeazzurro]

10 hours ago, Aus Fox said:

Are we allowed to want to play the strongest available team in every game, and hope we win every game and competition? Or does it have to be one or the other?

We can want whatever we want but it ain't going to happen. Yes, we can of course 'hope' we win every game and competition. But ... if we could for a minute all agree on a best 11, the chances of those same 11 taking part effectively in all of those games is minimal for reasons of fatigue and potential injuries etc. It's why team have squads. Should we achieve Champions League football next year, cue the fall outs on here because there'll be even more squad rotation and even more arguments regarding what our priorities should be. 🤣🤣

[Aus Fox]

1 minute ago, volpeazzurro said:

We can want whatever we want but it ain't going to happen. Yes, we can of course hope we wing every game and competition. But ... if we could for a minute all agree on a best 11, the chances of those same 11 taking part effectively in all of those games is minimal for reasons of fatigue and potential injuries etc. It's why team have squads. Should we achieve Champions League football next year, cue the fall outs on here because there'll be even more squad rotation and even more arguments regarding what our priorities should be. 🤣🤣

The strongest available team, is not necessarily the same 11 every game. It’s the strongest available team. If for example Vardy is fatigued or struggling then Iheanacho would be in our strongest available 11.

[volpeazzurro]

2 hours ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

I think the dominance of the bigger clubs in the League Cup suggests otherwise to this claim. Even if they use it as a squad rotation, they still want silverware and want to prestige of winning competitions at Wembley. 

Or it may just be that the divide in football is so great now, that the 'bigger' teams second string and youth teams are already mostly better than lower league first teams. Having said that, even those lower teams on occasions put their second strings out in their bids for promotion or avoidance of relegation. 

[CosbehFox]

1 hour ago, volpeazzurro said:

Or it may just be that the divide in football is so great now, that the 'bigger' teams second string and youth teams are already mostly better than lower league first teams. Having said that, even those lower teams on occasions put their second strings out in their bids for promotion or avoidance of relegation. 

Plenty examples of the bigger clubs once they get to the final stages playing their strongest line ups. 
 

Kyle Walker was interviewed after the first leg of the recent Manchester derby to say that the players want the silverware and the opportunity to play semi finals etc 

[volpeazzurro]

53 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Plenty examples of the bigger clubs once they get to the final stages playing their strongest line ups. 
 

Kyle Walker was interviewed after the first leg of the recent Manchester derby to say that the players want the silverware and the opportunity to play semi finals etc 

Quite right, some do at the latter stages but it also depends on what other competition commitments they have realistically, position in Premiership and the size of their squads.

 

As for Kyle Walker, can you honestly think he'd say anything other than that to the media?

[Heathrow fox]

4 hours ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

I personally not convinced that entering the Champions League sees your team gain in stature to players. 
 

You only have to look at Spurs, CL finalists but the signings are not many more different to what they were signing without CL football. Their lack of silverware doing more to affect their reputation. 

They have a man as tight as a ducks anus running the show.Plus have spent gazillions on a new stadium.I think Harry Kane would be disappointed with no C/L football.

[Jakarta Bee]

On ‎18‎/‎01‎/‎2020 at 07:11, Japanfox said:

Go mash them for us.🙏

In another twist, our "B" team have flown out to Portugal to play 3 games in a week, including next Saturday so we might have a stronger team out than we thought for the cup game next Saturday - although following Tuesday against Forest  in the league is far more important

[Footballwipe]

On 18/01/2020 at 23:12, volpeazzurro said:

Quite right, some do at the latter stages but it also depends on what other competition commitments they have realistically, position in Premiership and the size of their squads.

 

As for Kyle Walker, can you honestly think he'd say anything other than that to the media?

Ah Kyle Walker's comment doesn't fit with your narrative so you cast doubt on it with no evidence whatsoever.

 

All I'm hoping is that those desperate for us to have a healthy bank balance and sack off the cups aren't there next Tuesday, at Wembley if we get there or any other domestic cup match. You've made your priority known. I'd recommend sitting in front of the Companies House website waiting for our revenues to pop through than attending cup games, more exciting.

[tickler28]

Play a mix of reserves (Albrighton, Gray, Justin, Ward) and youth players for this one I'm afraid......1 match to many I'm afraid.

[Koke]

Play a strong side against West Ham and Villa,  and a mixture of first teamers and squad players against Brentford. If we play a first 11 v Brentford we will be dead on our feet after 55 mins at Villa Park next Tuesday. 

[volpeazzurro]

18 minutes ago, Footballwipe said:

Ah Kyle Walker's comment doesn't fit with your narrative so you cast doubt on it with no evidence whatsoever.

 

All I'm hoping is that those desperate for us to have a healthy bank balance and sack off the cups aren't there next Tuesday, at Wembley if we get there or any other domestic cup match. You've made your priority known. I'd recommend sitting in front of the Companies House website waiting for our revenues to pop through than attending cup games, more exciting.

It's nothing to do with Kyle Walker or fitting any narrative,  it's pure common sense. 99% of footballers asked would say exactly the same thing surely. Yes, I give you he could mean it but to say otherwise would incur the wrath of their managers, supporters and the media in general. You and I both know that 9 times out of 10, both managers and players when interviewed say the same old same old predictable drivel and merely go through the motions butin slightly different ways. Rodgers is expert at it, Puel not so. Many of the players struggle to string a sentence together and talk in football cliches. 

[l444ry]

I think Rodgers ought to go full strength as he sees it for the next three games. The team needs to find some consistency, confidence and above all a result from somewhere. All the chopping and changing of players and systems has done is to confuse everything and highlight his limited options. A defeat at Brentford would cause a meltdown on here.  

[tickler28]

5 hours ago, l444ry said:

I think Rodgers ought to go full strength as he sees it for the next three games. The team needs to find some consistency, confidence and above all a result from somewhere. All the chopping and changing of players and systems has done is to confuse everything and highlight his limited options. A defeat at Brentford would cause a meltdown on here. 

No meltdown with me should we lose to Brentford so long as it's a reserve/youth team gives us a get out

[st albans fox]

On 18/01/2020 at 18:47, Cardiff_Fox said:

I personally not convinced that entering the Champions League sees your team gain in stature to players. 
 

You only have to look at Spurs, CL finalists but the signings are not many more different to what they were signing without CL football. Their lack of silverware doing more to affect their reputation. 

 

On 18/01/2020 at 19:14, Unabomber said:

Very good point re Spurs 

it probably wont help us to attract players because we aren't considered serial qualifiers but it should allow us to keep a few …...

[TheUltimateWinner]

Swear we get Chris Kavanagh every other week? Anyway he's ref for this, yay

[oxtonfox]

5 hours ago, tickler28 said:

No meltdown with me should we lose to Brentford so long as it's a reserve/youth team gives us a get out

There's every chance of a meltdown given their form compared to ours, thery're at home, we are rubbish at lunchtime kick offs, it's on telly and it's a ground we're not used to. Any other reasons you need? 

[Guest]

BR needs to play his strongest team for this because if we lose total meltdown will follow. Puel II meltdown like.

[Guest Cujek]

3 - 0 loss