Judging from articles, Arsenals team should be Martinez Jenkinson Gabriel holding Gibbs Xhaka Ramsey elneny Iwobi perez ox No idea what formation they play so don't kill me for that. If we play a decent side which I'm sure Puel will do then we have every chance. Please saints. Please. I'm not even able to watch or keep track of score until 9:00 tonight so I'm hoping beyond hope that I turn my phone on and see us winning, or at least drawing.
That'll be the same for us though, I'd have thought. No Tadic, and there must be a good chance of Austin being rested; wouldn't be surprised (or disappointed personally) to see us rest Virgil and Romeu too with a winnable league fixture on Saturday and our European progress on the line next Thursday.
If it was an earlier round then I would agree that we'd probably field a weakened team. However, you'd like to think the powers that be realise we're one game away from a two legged semi final for a major domestic trophy. To Arsenal it's probably a mickey mouse trophy, but to me (and the rest of us) it is a HUGE opportunity.
I don't know when the team leaves for matches like this but Austin was spotted in Winchester this morning, so unless they go at midday I doubt he's even in the squad.
But Puel won't consider that he is fielding a weakened team....he believes in rotation and that all of the players are ready to play. Doesn't mean that he doesn't see more value in some players than others, but you can guarantee that 2 or 3 starters would not be the fans' first choice. We are desperate to get further in a cup as we have been starved of success in the trophy business, but Claude will have one eye firmly on the weekend and beyond that to the Europa. He said right at the beginning that to play on so many fronts, all the squad will need to be involved and we had to change our style because the system under our last 2 managers was too taxing.
I understand about rotation. But for me so far there has still clearly been 'weaker' sides in the cups. For me these 2 cup games are much bigger due to the stage we're at than the Palace game and the team sheets should reflect that. When you're 3 games from Wembley playing against a team playing a weakened side, you play your best players (Virgil, Romeu).
Sorry Archers but sod the winnable league fixture. I'd also argue that the Palace 1st team is worse currently than the Arsenal team that will play tonight. Jwp set pieces could win us that game alone.
We get to this point every season and never learn , and it's starting to wear abit thin now. Constant opportunities to potentially get to a cup final and we always puta a weak team out and bottle it. To me that's the equivalent of Jessica Alba giving you a bell asking you out for dinner Saturday night and you going na thanks for offer but I'm gonna give my ex missus a bell instead! Put a strong side out ffs it's a no brainier!
Tbh I think that if pushed, the League will always have priority over domestic trophies in the modern game.
Nah, a trip to Wembley and potential trophy takes priority in our situation IMO. The cups are also another route into Europe so it could be our best shot of qualifying again.
I'd agree if we had a chance of winning it. Some on here are lucky enough to have seen us win a trophy (jpt doesn't count), for me winning a cup at Wembley is the pinnacle of being a football fan for clubs our size. I'd rather win the cup and finish 16th than go out and finish say, 7th. Though this year I think we're destined for midtable, we won't get relegated and we wont' finish top 6. We may as well go all out for the cups
I'd also wager getting to wembley and showing players that we can actually compete for trophies would be more of an incentive to stay or sign than simply finishing mid table. In theory of course.
I'd rather a strong team tonight, a weak team against palace then a strong team vs Hapoel. If we lose silly games like palace at home the worst that will happen is we will finish 11th or 12th rather than 8th or 9th. If we lose against Arsenal or Hapoel the worst that can happen is we miss out on potentially one of the biggest moments in this clubs history. No brainer to me.
Well one thing we can be sure of is that whatever team Claude puts out tonight, he won't consider it "weakened". Squad rotation is what he does, and if it pays off we'll be singing his praises. If it doesn't, well you can't please all the people all the time.
