It is sort of irrelevant to a football player, they won't be interested in this game but they will hear about what happens against Napoli. Granted it is a double edged sword if we are hammered over two legs but play a second string team and that outcome is all but guaranteed... Who would play for whipping boys that give up on the European stage?
Which players....Taylor and Jazz maybe....Surely you can't be talking about Lita? A result here today would have built confidence. Another defeat does not. ...and unless you have a crystal ball hidden where the sun don't shine, then we will never know how ML would have managed these games. However, based on how he managed the Man Utd game and his substitutions, I think he would have had the balls to be more positive today with his selection, and would probably have brought Bony on at half time ...the game was there for the taking and even the crowd was irritated. I would have gone with a stronger team today to build momentum, and played a weaker team vs Napoli. If we pick up injuries to key players vs Napoli we could be in deep trouble when it comes to our PL survival.
We wouldn't have won the FA Cup anyway, as Project says, better to have a crack at Napoli to further boost our profile overseas.
At home with a full strength team - YES Arsenal have to concentrate on the PL and CL. Liverpool trying to focus on getting 4th.
Personally, I'd have liked us to at least try and compete in every game. Realistically we're a mid table side (and I'm more than happy with that), so who are all these great players who'll be knocking down our door to play for us next season only? Because we won't be in Europe next season (unless we won the FA Cup, oh the irony).
What you mean is you only ever saw the Swansea games on ITV and had no idea what the other 98% of Swansea games went like? This is not sarcasm.
Between the starting line up and the absence of Bony later in the game , II don't think there is much question Monk wanted out of this competetion. The only real question to me is why ? Can't wait to hear Monks thought process on these decisions
3-1 flattered everton as it was not how the game went, everton deserved it but we deserve the praise because of the commitment our players gave throughout the match that has been missing for the last year....Im very happy monk used this match to bring players who have been out in the cold and show them that if they perform then they will be included. This is a sign of a good manager who knows what he is doing.....It took a couple of errors for everton to win and that is fortunate for them and i wish them good luck in the next round.....but I have not been so proud of our players and manager in a game we have lost in a very long time....well played..
I personally think we had a decent chance to win the FA Cup. It's also not over two legs. No one's going to be knocking down our door to play for us because we won one or two games in Europe anyway.
Too early to say we are improving under Monk. There are promising signs but I'm not sure we will do so well at Anfield.
The last 20mins was shameful, valley, shameful. We were always competative under Laudrup. I go to the games Valley, unlike the many plastics on this forum.
Given what happened to Arsenal at Anfield I'm expecting us to lose if Liverpool are on fire. However, we are getting back to our best, and if we go into that game with a fully fit squad we can get something there if Liverpool aren't at their best.
