Controversial but.........

[Walshy5]

I'd rather finish top 4 this season than win the FA cup. They'll be other chances in the FA cup and I'd rather we did it in a packed house at Wembley. It would be magical to go back next season (fingers crossed) to champions league football at the King power. Thoughts?

[norwichfox]

Gimme the Cup we need it for the "domestic set"

[JamesfromlondonLCFC]

Same, we have to break top 4 sooner or later, or players will stop believing in the project. Its crucial we get champions league this season, or the opportunity to take that next step as a club could completely pass us by

[jayfox26]

I've said this all along. For the long term progression of the team we need to be in the champions league both from a financial viewpoint and from a keeping our/signing new top players viewpoint. 

[yorkie1999]

Top 4 yes, but taking man utd out of the cup when we've got the opportunity and fresher players would be sweet and who knows what could happen after that.

[Aus Fox]

Why does this always have to be one or the other? We win 3 cup games and 5 league games and we have both?

Not as simple as that obviously, but I never understand why it has to be pick one or the other?

We now have a maximum of 12 games left this season, and players returning to fitness, we should be going all out to try and win the FA Cup and finish top 4.

Edited 17 March 2021 by Aus Fox

[BenTheFox]

Any other season and I'd rather we win the FA cup. 

[Mike Oxlong]

Top 4 please 

 

We have a point to prove to ourselves 

[Leicester_Loyal]

The thing is there's never a 'good' time to go for the cup, if that's the right way of phrasing it. When we were near relegation people just said concentrate on staying in the PL, then when we were finishing mid table people were saying lets just focus on getting EL, now we're saying lets just focus on getting CL. If we want to be taken seriously as a club, then we should have the squad and the resources to compete for top 4/6 and try to win the trophies we're involved in, especially if we go out of Europe fairly early (last 32 in this case).

 

Next season we'll be better off financially and have a better quality squad, but we could draw Man City in the 3rd round, then Spurs in the 4th, Chelsea in the 5th and we'll be like lets just concentrate on top 4 this season, focus on the cup next season, it's a never ending cycle.

 

There's no reason we can't get to the final of the FA Cup and also finish top 4 this season, given we went out of the League Cup early doors and the EL in the last 32.

[jeffschlupp]

As others have said, it is impossible to underestimate the financial benefits of the Champions League. There are a number of players we need to give big new contracts to, and we have to convince them to stay with CL football on offer too.

 

My enthusiasm has waned this season but I am staying interested in the hope we have something brilliant to look forward to next season in full stadiums. You can offer me a trip to Wembley for the Community Shield (and perhaps a ticket to a 25% capacity sterile cup final), or at least three home Champions League nights with that anthem playing with potential for away days. Yeah sure, an FA Cup is more than that, it's a trophy and something we've never won before. But this is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to potentially cling onto some kind of 'big club' status, and the CL is much more likely to bring us that.

[Strokes]

Both.

[moore_94]

For me it depends on the state of the squad during the final run of games in the Prem

 

If we beat Man Utd, the Semi Finals are played on Saturday 17th April, meaning our game against West Brom will be moved to mid week some time

 

Should we get to the final, that game is going to be played on 15th May, right in the middle of those 3 games at the end of the season

 

The Chelsea game will be moved to likely 18th/19th May, meaning we could end up with a final run in of:

 

11th May - Man Utd away

15th May - FA Cup Final

18th/19th May - Chelsea Away

23rd May - Spurs Away

 

Could be a brutal 12 days for our main 11 as realistically we wouldn’t rotate in any of those games

Edited 17 March 2021 by moore_94

[Foxxed]

Top 4. Ideally 3rd. **** up the Super League plans. FA cup another season.

[Dan Gliballs]

It’s possible to still want both, yet favour one over the other.

 

I’m also firmly in the camp of prioritising top 4 over the FA cup. Simply put, I feel it’s the greater achievement.

 

Didn’t care much about the Europa league either, as soon as we became thin on available players I wanted us out of it.

 

Even if given the option to win the Champions League, or the Premier League again, I’d choose the latter.

[KrefelderFox666]

15 minutes ago, Aus Fox said:

Why does this always have to be one or the other? We win 3 cup games and 5 league games and we have both?

Not as simple as that obviously, but I never understand why it has to be pick one or the other?

We now have a maximum of 12 games left this season, and players returning to fitness, we should be going all out to try and win the FA Cup and finish top 4.

Exactly. Who says if we lose to Man Utd on Sunday that we will finish Top 4? Who says that the chances of getting Top 4 are affected by an FA Cup run. Sometimes it is good to get a run of games and have a winning habit, get fringe players involved.

 

For me, the remaining maximum 3 games are not a distraction. If we had to play 10 games to win the cup and had 10 league games left, I may think differently. Fight on all fronts and finish as high in both as we can. Simple.

[Guest SO1]

7 minutes ago, Strokes said:

Both.

This. We have the strength to do both and with players returning from injury we are getting stronger still.

[KrefelderFox666]

1 minute ago, moore_94 said:

For me it depends on the state of the squad during the final fun of games in the Prem

 

If we beat Man Utd, the Semi Finals are played on Saturday 17th April, meaning our game against West Brom will be moved to mid week some time

 

Should we get to the final, that game is going to be played on 15th May, right in the middle of those 3 games at the end of the season

 

The Chelsea game will likely be moved to 18th/19th May, meaning we could end up with a final run in of:

 

11th May - Man Utd away

15th May - FA Cup Final

18th/19th May - Chelsea Away

23rd May - Spurs Away

 

Could be a brutal 12 days for our main 11 as realistically we wouldn’t rotate in any of those games

They are looking to move a set of games to allow 2 games in front of fans, which would only mean Chelsea and Man U games switching round in your example. With Chelsea and Man U in Europe, there are also no free weeks before then to play the games.

 

However, there are worse problems to have then 4 games in 12 days at the end of the season. Go all out and then rest for 3 months (relative due to pre-season/EURO's etc.).

 

Let's not forget the fact that if the West Brom game gets moved back, there may be more chance for Barnes or Maddison to return and thus an extra game with them both available. Not always a bad thing having games moved.

[Ric Flair]

They scratch different accomplishments and accolades. The FA Cup would mean we've won another major honour and its the only domestic trophy we have never won, the top 4 means we get a much needed extra financial boost to help us progress and further cement our place in the top 6 as well as the prestige of boasting we have qualified for the CL again which no team outside the big 6 has done bar Everton once and they got binned out the qualifiers. 

 

I get the bit about the FA Cup win being done either behind closed doors or with only 10k Leicester fans in there but I don't simply dismiss it as there being other times for us to win us, maybe so but don't look a gift horse in the mouth either. 

 

I want both anyway.

[Aus Fox]

For those saying there’ll be other chances in the FA Cup, or we can save that for another year - We have been around for almost 140 bloody years and still haven’t had that season! 

[Babylon]

I said the other month I'm desperate for the cup, normally I would absolutely say the cup. But I think I've changed my mind, another failure to get into the top 4 I think would cause big issues even beyond cash flow. Would the manager and players start to believe there is a ceiling for this club outside the top 4, meaning players like Youri start to look elsewhere. It would also be a disaster for confidence after once again being in the top 4 all season. 

 

Then you have covid, which I think people still underplay how much it would have financially impacted us. The champions league would go a long way to putting us back on an even keel. 

 

 

[Jobyfox]

Tough one for me.

 

We probably have the best squad I’ve seen in my lifetime. We need to capitalise in this period as we’re not sure when we’ll be here again. Nobody will remember top four finishes in years to come, but an FA Cup win is in the history books forever. 
 

I do understand the thoughts around needing to get top four and continuing to build and we might get more chances in cups if we retain our squad. I don’t, however, think it’s such a discussion now with only 3 games to win it. I’m never one for leaving any competition early, but can see that exiting the Europa had enhanced our top four chances. That was the one that was probably best to fall given our depleted resources 

[Guest SO1]

5 minutes ago, moore_94 said:

For me it depends on the state of the squad during the final fun of games in the Prem

 

If we beat Man Utd, the Semi Finals are played on Saturday 17th April, meaning our game against West Brom will be moved to mid week some time

 

Should we get to the final, that game is going to be played on 15th May, right in the middle of those 3 games at the end of the season

 

The Chelsea game will likely be moved to 18th/19th May, meaning we could end up with a final run in of:

 

11th May - Man Utd away

15th May - FA Cup Final

18th/19th May - Chelsea Away

23rd May - Spurs Away

 

Could be a brutal 12 days for our main 11 as realistically we wouldn’t rotate in any of those games

Don't understand. Haven't we been rotating all season? If anything this season has taught me that Rodgers has the ability to structure the team in different ways and still get results.

[StanSP]

Both would be a huge statement of our own success but also get everyone to take us more seriously. The former is more important as opposed to the latter but what a season it'd be if we could manage and achieve both. Either by itself would be totally great too! 

[foxes_rule1978]

1 minute ago, Aus Fox said:

For those saying there’ll be other chances in the FA Cup, or we can save that for another year - We have been around for almost 140 bloody years and still haven’t had that season! 

The stronger we get the better chance of winning it. Getting CL football will go along way to ensuring we stay near the top, potential signings will be of better quality too. Winning the FA Cup wouldn’t do that for us 

[moore_94]

1 minute ago, SO1 said:

Don't understand. Haven't we been rotating all season? If anything this season has taught me that Rodgers has the ability to structure the team in different ways and still get results.

Easier to rotate against weaker teams in league/Europa compared to back to back games against the hardest teams in the league where realistically we are going to have play our strongest lineups to ensure the best performance from us.