I have never attended, or not attended a match, because of the team selection. I expect the manager to pick a team capable of winning the game and I don't think one has been picked that wasn't good enough to win the game, so I don't see an issue.
Fair enough if you are not bothered about getting to Wembley but if you do I would suggest you try to do all you can to win every match. "Putting out a weakened side that should win a match is more likely to result in a defeat than putting out a stronger side. I know there is a risk of injuries in cup games but players get injured in training and they don't seem to avoid contact to reduce the risk.
If this was a reason not to attend a match thousands would stay away each week from clubs up & down the country. Rooney on the bench, RVP rested, Sturridge on the bench. Teams change every week. Who decides who the better players are? We've played 442, 532 & 352 this season, when the formation changes so does the team, does this mean we are playing a weakened team? Each team has a squad & over a season they compete in up to 4 competitions. These competitions are prioritised by the club. The manager picks a team from his squad who he believes can win the game.
We're going to Wembley (again) to play in our first ever FA Cup Final surely this proves Bruce's team selections are correct & definitely not weak. You've just beaten your own argument.
I could have gone to Southend, Sunderland and the Brighton replay, but I didn't. I would not have known what side SB was putting out before setting off, so a weakened side does not come into it. The reason is that I did not have either the time or money for the trips. I miss all mid week games. I can't make the Villa or the Fulham games. Even the Everton match is tight, its not the money for these, its the fact that I run my own business and that comes first. it shouldn't but it does.
I think there's a difference between rotating players when you have four, five or six good strikers and deliberately not playing a bunch of good players. Why has only one club in the Premier League top 12 got to the FA Cup Final? Is it because other clubs didn't want to make an effort? They thought they could win with a weakened team? Or did Hull City have one of the best set of players?
You do know bigger teams can eliminate one another, don't you? For example, Arsenal knocked out Everton, Liverpool and Tottenham - while their semi final opponents Wigan knocked out Man City (who if I recall played a pretty strong team too). Man City, in turn, had knocked out Chelsea.
Do you think the better team on paper always wins the match? How did the top 12 in the PL get in the top 12? Have teams in the bottom 8 only ever beaten a team in the top 12 when facing a weakened team? How did we beat Liverpool? That is a silly response (your, not mine)
Same with me. It's not the cost of travel and entrance but it's the money I could be earning instead of travelling. It's tiring, too. I also have deadlines to achieve and it's not a 9 to 5 job. When I was an employee I could get to matches all over the place. If you look at the attendances for some matches I would not blame people who don't go but I would blame people in football. There's football all over the place now. Remember the days when there was one match a season televised? What were the attendances like then?
I dont think so. We could have easily lost. I'm not sure that getting to an FA Cup Final means it's due to the team selection only.
It's not always the case that the better team wins but over a course of the season the better teams do better than the worse teams, in my opinion anyway. Playing a weakened side must reduce your chances of winning.
They were talking about something else earlier and I mentioned the 5 pm ticket news update and now we're talking about something else again!
I'd still have a season ticket and go to between 5-10 away games a season, same as I do now and pretty much always have done. Watching live football isn't really about quality, there's far better football and line-ups on TV. I just go to see City and cheer them on.
