In case anyone missed it the draw has just been made and we have drawn AFC Wimbledon at home. Do we go for the cup or use it as a time to give fringe players some game time.
Go for it, I think silverware validates our 'project' and would shut a few critics up. Plus I think our club and supporters strongly value and identify the with the spirit of the FA Cup and it would feel wrong, to me, to not take it seriously. I know a few on here disagree with that (and Poch's comments suggest he values PL and CL much more...) especially given what the FA Cup has become in this day and age but I would love to see us win it as long as doing so doesn't cause our league form to collapse completely. Of course, theres a lot of water to go under the bridge until that fixture is played and if by some turn of events we're right in the thick of a title race come January then my view might change somewhat. But if we're fighting it out for 3rd/4th I would like to see us put a serious team out in the cup, appropriate to the level of opposition at the time of course.
Go for it I say I love the f a cup it used to be so special when I was growing up now because of the money in the game it's become a second rate competition but I'd still love poch to focus on the fa cup and field a strong team to try and win it.
We should definitely go for it - Would just love to see this team with a trophy in their hands and can you imagine the furore in the media if we win the cup playing every match 'at home'
Pochettino will pick a weakened side for this game and we'll see where it goes from there. It depends on the draw and how far we can progress. I'd love to win it and put out strong sides in each round, but this is what's going to happen.
The F.A.Cup is and always has been worth winning. My best memories as a kid are Utd winning the F.A.Cup twice in three years and going to Wembley - in the days when winning the league was a pipe dream. Winning the league is a pipe dream for all but one club this season so how can any club afford to treat the F.A. Cup as anything other than a priority? Even van Gaal recognised that. After Wycombe almost causing an upset, I'm sure he'll realise the importance of playing a half decent team.
I want a trophy...just need one to give the boys a taste for more or they might go looking some place else.
Because winning the League Cup in 2008 kept Keane and Berbatov beyond the end of that season, didn't it?
I'm hoping we aspire to win more than 1 trophy a decade...I'm not surprised one piddly trophy didn't keep them....but piddly trophies on a regular basis might help the cause. We have a lot of good players now, not just 2 or 3 so if the odd one leaves...we can replace them with decent alternatives and I'm sure coming to a club that's winning trophies is suggesting a certain level of expectancy which is a lot higher than coming to a club that does not. Even if it is the odd FA Cup....if we are not good enough to get anywhere in this comp then we should give up on the bigger cups. I don't believe that these cup games affect league positions too much. A league and cup double used to be a rarity once upon a time but it's been quite a regular occurance since the PL era. Our squad no matter how weak we are compared to the Arab/Russian clubs should still be good enough to be serious about this cup. Too many years of just taking the big trophies seriously yet here we are without the big ones or the small ones. This club needs trophies to maintain attracting a certain calibre of player since there's not much else on offer, not even massive wages(relatively speaking) to lure them in. If it's always a case of league/CL or bust...then we are bust for a very long time to come unless we change our own expectencies.
He would be back at Barca by the next transfer window...unlike Keane who went on to become a legend before Liverpool
