McGregor, Davies, Huddlestone, Livermore, Brady, Elmo, and Aluko could all start for us to improve on the side we played yesterday.
FA cup, we'll never win the premier league, never make the champions league, and even if we went the same way as Wigan, relegation money issues etc. when I die, I'd rather look back at the day we won the FA cup than look back at days where we avoided relegation on the last day of the season
We had a similar conversation on FoxesTalk after Wigan won the cup last season. The question was who you'd rather emulate. Arsenal scraping top 4 or Wigan winning the Cup but getting relegated. I think that the latter won the poll. Note this is taking into account club size..
Recent form concerns me, but what about goal-scoring? Aluko is the only new blood available - we have added two because we desperately need them, but they are not available. The FA Cup is now down to mostly PL teams - but let's see how we deal with B&HA. I would love a cup push, I'm a real supporter, but I think that this year circumstances have tied our hands, so focus on the league.
They could use the new Bristol City and Nottingham Forest grounds as a test bed before the World Cup.
Totally agree. It takes away a big part of the occasion having the semi's there just to cover up the over spend on building it. It shouldn't have been in London anyway, but that's another argument.
Well, I don't think Newcastle have, they're doing alright this season. A midweek game in Azerbaijan would be spot on.
Either that or the England team should have kept touring the country. Eventually they would have ended up at the KC...
A no-brainer in my mind. One game at Wembley against one of the top 4-6 teams' second stringers ? Odds still against us with our not-so-deep squad. 38 games in the Premier League next season ? Priceless.
??? World Cup is it not ? If it was against a top 4-6 club, with their depth, why would they not dilute their team - unless a position in Europe was at stake for them ?
SydneyTiger14 & Macca, Yes I did Macca. Let me try to explain: 1) In my mind, it's critically important that City preserve their Premier League status. It's always difficult (& a crap-shoot) to return once relagated. Not to mention the potentially incredible financial loss if relegation occurs. 2) As a result of (1), an FA cup run is a distraction even though from a "prestige" point of view it looks good on the resume if a Wembley final is reached. At the expense of relegation (potential injuries, congestion of fixtures in the league survival mission, compounded by FA cup replay potential) it would be foolhardy to focus on the FA Cup. 3) We got a favorable draw in the next round (Brighton away). Take it as it comes, but don't put all your eggs in that basket. The odds are that in subsequent rounds we shall meet one of the top 4 teams, especially in the final. Those teams have a depth of riches we cannot hope to combat. So what's the point in jeopardizing our premier league status for a long shot (however attractive our chances might be in getting to the final - probably the best ever in our history given the draw today) ? 4) The World Cup is a significant factor for many of the top teams remaining in the FA Cup. No club team wants to stress out their players after a tough, long season vying for honours (Europe qualification for next season, progression in current (13/14) European Championship Leagues). Their players are assets - they'll want to minimize exposure to overwork & injury, especially as many of them may be spending a significant effort in a hostile environment (climate-wise) in the WC this summer in Brazil. Should Hull City get to a Wembley final against one of these top teams, what do you think their attitude will be, especially if they've already reached their goal of 2014/2015 European Championship qualification ? They'll play as many of their second string as they can. They FA Cup is not of much interest to them. They will feel confident that they could easily beat HCAFC with their "reserves". They'd be right. 5) City have 4 league games before Round 5 is played (15th Feb). Win it by all means without exposing key players to injury etc. Avoid a replay...it'll create fixture congestion....we don't need it. 8-9 points from those 4 games & I may temper my thoughts. City have 2 more league games before the QF FA Cup date (March 8th), which would mean rescheduling of the West Ham game on March 8th....bit more pressure. An additional 3-6 points from those 2 games I would feel more inclined to say divert some emphasis to the FA Cup (34 points in the bag). City have 4 more League games before the FA Cup SF. Likely against a team above us. Tough match...f**king replay....disaster for league fixture congestion....however 6-7 more points (giving us 40 points min) I'd say go for it. It's incredibly tight from 10th to 20th place as we stand. Christ, we lose to Palace on Tuesday & they're even on points with us !!! .......are you getting my drift.....the FA Cup "dream" is not worth considering given the rewards from Premier League survival....no way.
Seriously? It's a bloody cup, the European stuff is an afterthought in most clubs and fans' eyes, the silverware is what teams want ffs. The idea that the cup is not of much interest is bollocks too. Are you suggesting Arsenal don't give a **** about a cup after 9 years without one? Or Chelsea don't care about the competition they've won 4 times in the last 7 years? I'm pretty sure Man City played a first team against Wigan last year. Liverpool did against Wimbledon in '88. In fact, every team does. No chance you'll see a second string side in a cup final, and rightly so. If i'm honest canada, that idea sounds really stupid to me.
1) Fans maybe, clubs no....it's the money....... 2) Not a WC year coming up...there's a difference.... 3) If they played their strongest team it would re-enforce my thought that HCAFC should not give a **** about the cup as their chances of getting silverware is diminished even further at the expense of potential relegation & all that entails. Stupid it may be to you, but logical it is to me...why do they have "deep" squads I may ask ?
No, but there was something called the European Championships... surprising it may be to you, but that is a big tournament here in Europe. I bet if you go back and look at those WC years, the teams played first teams in the finals. Anyways, its getting late here, so we'll continue this later.
Ok Macca, you're right, almost 4 a.m. your time, surprised you can stay up that late....few lectures tomorrow (today in you case !) ? BTW - Not surprised at all, I'm from Hull originally & am fully aware of the Euros & pretty well everything else about the game. I think there may be a misunderstanding of my original posting (not OP - first injection). I probably should have said "Even if a top 1-6 team played their reserve side/second stringers, the odds of HCAFC taking silverware would be slim, so not worth the distraction from the task at hand - Premier League survival. Pick it up later as you say.
