Match Day Thread Norwich City V Southampton FA Cup 3rd Round 7/1/2017 3pm

Looking at that Liverpool team today, they will be nice and fresh with their first team for Wednesday. Gulp

 

You can get some good coats like that.

 

We will also make like 9 changes to the lineup.

 

Absolutely. There remains the teensy weensy problem that there changes may be better than ours, but surely this is mere detail.

We'll be reet.

 

This week helps Man U more than anyone else. I think they will batter Pool at the weekend. 3 or 4 nil.

 

So, this is where I see our replay fitting in.
Burnley away 14th
Norwich replay 18/19th
Leicester home 22nd

 

Ar

Are you the oldest person on here?

 

Maybe that can be the forum tag line?!

 

And for what it's worth with the rotation debate, I've said it before that I believe the best teams are founded on a consistent line up. The only times teams chop and change (comparably to how we have been) is in the cups. The league team should stay the same with minimal disruption, it worked for us in league 1 and the championship with more games, so the 'this is modern football' argument is a non starter.

 

I doubt it I was born in 1947.

 

Yay....I'm a baby.

 

Perhaps I need to change my name to Not so Oldstocktonsaint. Born 1949. 'That's a long time ago Grandad' to quote my grandson.

 

OMG Don, you can remember the Skates winning the league!!...

 

I don't actually, it isn't something that I would care to remember at all.

 

No, I don't think that one side is solely at fault. That, specifically, was about you. Not because you're the only or the greatest offender, by any stretch, but because you're the person I was talking to, you had just expressed a desire for this board to cease with the sniping, and that particular tic is pretty consistent.

 

We were playing in the Cups though, plus Boxing Day shenanigans. The schedule has been pretty brutal.

But also, look a the contract situations. Hojbjerg and Boufal just got here and signed to play. Romeu and Clasie have only been here a year, and I think both will be of the attitude that they have waited their turn . Davis, Tadic and JWP just signed extensions. So everyone is expecting to play. This squad was built for depth and rotation. And on top of that you have a new manager who needs some time to pick out his side. And to be honest, no one has distinguished themselves from the pack. They've all been okay in general, with some good games and bad ones but as a collective unit they just aren't getting it done. I would have a difficult time picking out a starting mid from what we have. In fact, I think we actually need another midfielder. Maybe two.

I don't think it's been an easy situation either for Puel or the club. So, in a way, I'm almost a bit glad if this season is a bit of a bust. We've been punching above our weight for so long and going through one crisis after another. A boring, 10th-15th place finish where we can catch our breath a bit, maybe play some youngsters and figure out our long-term needs could end up being a bit of a blessing. As long as we don't get sucked into a relegation battle, in which case we are in crisis mode all over again.

 

Unless it is the wife. Then it is automatically correct by default.

 

That even applies to ex wives. Took me a long time to learn that.

 

I would tend to agree if this just related to the most recent fixture pile up but it's been a staple of the season so far. I don't profess to know better than the powers that be, it's just my take on it. Either the rotation game is breeding this stop start type of performance we keep having or there's something deeper.

It will be interesting to see what Puel does now that we only really have the league and hopefully FA Cup to worry about for the rest of the season. (I'm not counting the League Cup as that's only 3 games more we have to play this season. The power of positive thinking!!)