Cardiff have drawn Huddersfield in the second round of the Carling cup at home . So do we reintroduce the established first team players for the tie or introduce players on the peripheral of the squad or continue to give some of the youngsters more game time. Discuss.
off topic a bit (a lot really), my Mrs likes having her udders feeled* *not really true, as many a slap in the face will testify!
back on topic, although we got the result on weds, I reckon we need more big guns in the cup team if a cup run is a target, otherwise stick with the 2nds. Malky has to decide what he wants from the cup and then choose a strategy early in the comp.
I think Malky should go with the 1st team and try to win. A good cup run can breed confidence, although it may also help to accumulate injuries. Whichever team is put out, it's going to be an interesting game me thinks
Same as Oxford, have some of the 1st team on the bench but mainly the 2nd string to start. Having said that it's what the board want and if Malky is told to give it a go I'd expect the 1st to run out.
At least we are home and there's no bloody internationals that week. I assume it will be Tuesday 23rd. Huddersfield will be far from easy as I guess they fancy a little cup run themselves.
Over the years we have picked up some bad injuries in this competition, i would stick with the 2nd IX and let them take their chances, i am sure Huddersfield's main aim this year is to get out of league 1 and may also play a very weakened side.
Normally I would say pick youngsters. However I still believe we wont see the best of Malkys team until around October/Novemeber. So many new players. The more games they play together the better they will get. Therefore I would more or less play the 1st choice 11.
Same strategy as Oxford should see us through especially at home (no disrespect to Huddersfield) Youngsters and second string to start, and some of the "big guns" on the bench if needed, a cup run would be nice, but might get in the way of the main objective, and there is always the risk of injuries, Ideal scenario IMO get through to the next round draw a BIG premiership team at home, get a draw and go out in a hard fought fixture away......and bank the money
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ What Hilts said. Injuries are a risk, but they're a risk in any game, league or cup. The benefits of getting a settled first choice 11 and gametime substitutes established far outweighs the other issues. There should be no "tiredness" at this stage of the season, and the more they play together right now, the better they'll get. It might not take until Oct/Nov to get the best from them - a half dozen games should enable Malky to sort them out if he hasn't done so already. Earnie's soundbites about taking time to gel is media fodder - he's just preparing the ground for the odd upset.
Showing my age perhaps. Isn't this a chance for revenge as I believe it might have been Huddersfield who pipped us for the League title on goal average back in the 20s
not so much revenge but your right. We lost out by 0.024%...of a goal (???) I've never done the math but a bit of a mental system back then. Missed a penalty in the last game too View attachment 6468 These days we would have won the title by 1 clear goal. *useless info brought you by too much time on my hands
We're still bedding in as a team and combinations need game time together. A mixture of mostly 1st choice with a couple of fringe players on the field and on the bench. Put Heaton in goal, Quinn at RB and Evans at CB. 1st choice midfield (Kiss for Gunnarson?) and Jarvis with Miller or Earnie. Could be an opprotunity to give McPhail some game time as well. A couple of youngsters on the bench which could be introduced depending on how things look after 60 mins. I think MM will be less conservative than DJ in his use of youngs bucks irrespective of the fixture.
A mixture of both 1st team and squad players for me (don't ask me who though) Assuming this game is 22nd Aug, it'll be the 4th in 10 days and although fitness levels seem higher this year, rest/recovery time are just as important to prevent injury (can you tell I'm buying into this sports science stuff?) Plus Pompey to come 3 days later
Whatever team we put out I'm just happy it's filled a gap in home fixtures which saw us waiting from 17/8 to 10/9!
Mix it up. A few first team players as well as a few squad/youth players. Providing there are no injuries to any of these players: Heaton Quinn--Keinan--Hudson--Naylor (yes naylor....) Conway--Kiss--Farah--Taylor Parkin--Earnshaw Obviously Heaton, Keinan, Naylor and Parkin are behind in the pecking order, whilst Kiss should be returning from injury at this point. Good to give Farah another run out aswell.
We have seen in friendlies and at Oxford all players will get competitive play time that way if called on they already have that experience. The side won at Oxford and confidence will be down if they do not get this chance against Huddersfield. They deserve another game.
