Match Day Thread Oxford v Swansea

I want a victory with a few goals just so we get the hang of where the net is.

 

If Eder and Tabanou are still unfit play Mcburnie and Kingsley and why not Fulton instead of Leon. Premier League and the future are more important than the FA Cup this season. Let's see what these players can do in a proper game and all have had experience in the lower leagues now.

 

Every game is important whether it's a league match, cup match or a bloody friendly match. We go all out and try to win them all because if you are in a frame of mind where you pick and choose matches where you don't care then that will reach the players and how will we feel then if they get beat 4 or 5 -0. A draw against oxford would be bad enough........We must field our strongest team and try to salvage some of our pride of what has been a poor season. Any sort of win with good support breeds confidence so i think cup games are very important and we must go for the win.

 

A cup run would help the fringe players get fit and challenge for a place. Other wise I want us to concentrate on the league, however, getting knocked out now would be damaging for the egos involved so I do want us to stay in it.

 

Good points Rhod!

 

Who are our fringe players ? We play them all trying to win a game...

 

All games are important but there is the wider picture to look at For instance it is no good waiting for Leon to hang up his boots we should be grooming his replacement now. Part of a player's education is to give them game time at a level to stretch them and at the same time our established players given chance to refresh themselves mentally. Premier League survival is the be all and end all this season and whilst I would never advocate putting a team out to lose any game the FA Cup, although it would be nice to win it in the future, is of secondary importance at the moment. Without wishing to disrespect Oxford a team with two or three youngsters should be able to deal with them.

 

Like waterloovill you mean.... No we must play our strongest side we can. It can be so demoralizing even with a few youngsters in if we lose......we need a winning factor back in the side to give the team a boost even if it is only Oxford. imo

 

Don't you mention bloody Havant & Waterlooville!! Still get nightmares over that game, after going to the game my mobile was red hot and work the following days were hell.

 

Luckily my memory is not as good as it used to be so have chosen not to remember that!!

 

I still get reminded of it, I was there a few months back my boy playing against them and I had my Swans hat on and the bloody groundsman was going on about it.

Still got my own back when we beat Pompey in the cup.

 

Okay then send out Go-miss and Shelvey for this one and rest our better players in Ayew and Siggy, maybe we could also throw in Monty, but I would not risk Barrow....

 

I'd go (depending on Eder and Tabannou's fitness);

-------------------------- Nordfeldt -----------------------------
----------------- Amat ----------- Bartley ---------------------
Naughton ------------------------------------------- Kingsley
--------------------- Fulton --- Grimes -----------------------
--------------------------- Shelvey -----------------------------
---------- Emnes --------------------------- Tabannou / Gorre
----------------------- Eder / McBurnie ------------------------

Subs: Tremmel, Hanley, Ash, Leon, Routledge, Barrow and Gomis



If Tabannou is only fit for the bench I'd play Gorre, and put Tabannou on the bench in place of Tremmel (....and would definitely bring him on in the 2nd half).
If Eder isn't fit enough to start I'd leave him out altogether and play McBurnie.....would do Gomis a lot of good to score a goal so would want him on the bench regardless (obviously he can't start as we have a big game a few days later).


It's important we win IMO. Don't care how but a couple of goals would be nice.
Failing that I would take the draw as it would be another game for more players to get minutes and match fitness....we should beat them pretty comfortably at the Liberty as well.


For me, getting knocked out against a L2 team now would be a disaster.
would be no good for confidence, being out of the cup would provide less opportunities for the likes of Eder, Tabannou, Nordfeldt, Grimes and Emnes, and an FA cup run is also an opportunity to make some money......I believe any new prospective manager would like the opportunity to compete in this competition also.

C'mon the Swans!

 

Has Gorre returned from his loan at ADO? Def don't want us to lose at Oxford but we don't need a replay. We musn't underestimate the scrap Oxford will put up. I am in favour of most of your team, if some of our more established players leave we need some of the younger players to get some game time in order to step up.

 

Our strongest side will only suffice. We cant play with fire the state we are in, We need to win and a good win too. We cant afford to give anyone the slightest chance of stopping us from scoring. We need goals from our top players to gain a bit of confidence and they cant do that if they don't play.

 

You seriously want us to play our strongest side three days before a six pointer that could determine our status in the Premiership? I always knew you were batshit crazy but that takes the cake.

 

Can't agree Dai - we need our best XI fresh and available for Sunderland. Imagine if we picked up 2 or 3 injuries meaning that we played an "under strength" team against the Mackems, and ended up losing...

Doesn't bear thinking about.

As much as I would love us to win the FA Cup, Curt should do what Monk did against Everton in the Cup 2 seasons and play a second string outfit against Oxford

 

Anyone who knows anything about football would have to agree, Taff. It's sheer lunacy to play a full strength team. As an established Prem outfit we should have enough strength in depth to beat Oxford. If we don't but then take 3 points against the Mackems I can live with that.

 

I can't imagine that Big Sam will pick his best side in the FA Cup - he will save them for us. Beat us, and they are right behind us.......

 

I know Oxford are only a second div. team but they have 2 midfielders Sercombe and Roofe who have scored 12
and 11 goals respectively. They like to have a punt at long shots. A difficult game ahead for us?