He said: âThat final gave the club a whole lift. You also remember what it meant to the fans, to the kids, to go to Wembley. âItâs a big thing and we will do all we can to try and get a step closer to going there again.â http://www.edp24.co.uk/sport/norwich-city-fc/paul_lambert_plays_down_norwich_city_return_1_1737682 I thought we had a chance to win it last year or go much further and, although staying in the league last year was more important, it was only an extra 1 game at a time and 2 or 3 more games could not have done that much damage. It would have given everyone a lift it seems. Or is Paul Lambert saying this only because they are doing poor in the league so he knows he and the club need this, unlike last year?
Sorry, I thought we lost to M K Dons heavily in this tournament last year. And lost to lower league opposition (Leicester City) in the F A Cup? <confused.com>
often, you see teams muddle their way through the early rounds and if you get to a quarter final with a little luck, THEN you start to take it more seriously. fans don't like it but its merely the manager managing his club as best he can. we've got this far but people forget that we've pretty much muddled our way this far with a reserve team and without that little bit of luck would have been dumped out by now. cup football has changed (for the worse) but that's just how it is right now.
Nobody takes this Cup seriously until the latter stages. Even some lower league Clubs play weakened teams in the early rounds. Last year Lambert played his reserves and we lost - this year Hughton played his reserves and we have stumbled through to the quarter finals. Is this a further arguement by the anti Lambert faction - he deliberately lost last year? If he deliberately boycotts this competition - why are we playing Villa tonight?
Every game at home certainly helps. In the L1 season we got a fair way in the Paint Pot trophy and probably could have won it but put the reserves in and took a chance. I guess if we had got to the final we would have wanted 40,000 tickets. But I doubt we had 10,000 for each game. Its nice to win a trophy and a Wembley trip for the supporters is always welcome, but not to the detriment of league form or even the chance of injuries. And even if we put reserves out tonight, we wouldn't want any of them injured as they are very important to the squad.
I completely disagree. I would happily take victory tonight in exchange for a draw or defeat against Wigan. And I expect a close to full strength line-up tonight even if it risks a couple of injuries. Of course I don't want us to get relegated but we all know that the club won't survive in this league forever, so, while we have the players and resources, let's give this cup a real good go - or all we've got to look forward to each year is the possibility of a mid-table finish.
i do agree hucks, but hughton and the board in particular probably won't the extra finances for staying up this season are so massive and so important that the league HAS to take priority.
If we were on 12 points, i think risking all on this cup would be madness; the fact that we are in a reasonably healthy position in the league and on a fantastic run means go for it and keep the confidence/spirit/buzz around the club going.
good point longsight about maintaining the run and keeping the 'buzz' going. i bet if you could guarantee hughton a cup win tonight OR a win against wigan though, he'd go for the latter. let's hope we get both!
Fair point, but I still hope we go for it. As Longsight rightly says as well, it'll keep the buzz going, encouraging more people to buy tickets for the Wigan game, expecting us to turn them over (completely wrongly, but you know what some people are like). The better the club does, the more tickets that are sold, but of course it fades in comparison to the money we'll get for staying in the Premier League. We'll see.
I certainly want us to give it a good go tonight, but not at any unnecessary risk. I love the excitement of any cup run, but this season give me fourth from bottom over the chance of a bit of silver every time. I think we could have more to look forward to than the chance of mid-table in coming seasons, should we stay up. Of course we're not going to be thinking champions league, but with the increase in revenue next season, building on a stable platform could see us heading into even more exciting times. This could well prove to be the most important season in the clubs history if we retain our top flight status, so, silverware, yes please, but 3 points matter more this year.
People are talking as if a win tonight guarantees winning the Cup. But even if we do win tonight, we'll still probably need to beat Chelsea or Arsenal in a two-leg semi-final to even get to the final. I take the point that winning would keep the run going and probably make us more likely to beat Wigan, but for me the league has to take priority. If we could get to 25 points before Christmas, that would be unbelievable.
No! No! No! Our sole priority this season is to stay up and NOTHING must get in the way of that. With the new financial arrangements in place for next year we will at long last have financial stability and we cannot risk that for the sake of a couple of million pounds and a day out at Wembley. Certainly we should play a strong Team but rest a couple of players and don't risk any player carrying a niggle. The trouble with Cup runs is they take your mind and eye off the league. How many smaller Clubs have enjoyed a Cup run and then found themselves involved in a relegation dog fight or, worse still, relegated. We are in a better position than most of us expected but don't get too carried away. After 10 games unbeaten - that won't last for ever - we are still only 9 points off the bottom 3 and if Sunderland win their game in hand tonight against Reading it becomes 7 points. That leaves Wigan as the Club 3rd from bottom and I believe somebody said that it was better to win tonight and lose against Wigan - really?
You say we're only 9 points ahead of Sunderland, but we're also only 4 points off fourth, so I think that shows in itself just how far this run has got us. Don't forget that we were in the relegation places at the start of it. And it was me who said I'd take a win tonight over victory against Wigan. Sorry, but in my short life Norwich have got to the Quarter-Finals of a competition once and I wasn't even a year old then. I will personally remember a League Cup semi-final much more than I'll remember a win against Wigan - and that's why I'd prefer the cup run. But I can't see why we can't win both games! By the same token of course, we could lose both - but that's football.
Got to say HFM, of the cup semi-finals I can remember, there's only one that I'm glad I can recall!! I do get where you're coming from, though.
I'm with hucks, go for the cup win as much as possible. clearly there are a couple of niggles and injuries that are going to force hughtons hand anyway (whittaker, wes, tettey, Ryan Bennett), hopefully he'll have some of these guys to come back on Saturday. The tickiest area of the team to get right is central midfield and up front - on that basis, i'd like Johnson and Holt to play. If i was to guess, i think hughton will make 4 or 5 changes from Saturday tonight rather than 11, so maybe a mixed bag. I'd be suprised if Villa don't make any changes either - surely the league is their priority as well.
I would like us to go for it tonight. Think we could still rest some key players as I would be gobsmacked if PL put out a strong Villa side given their league position. Rest players when we play POSH as we haven't got the strength in depth for two cup runs.
Do you really all think we are going out to lose tonight? Of course they are going to go for it, but not at any expense. CH will name a team he thinks can win. Spurs put out a stronger team than we did and perished. I think we can win the Capital Punishment Cup without Tettey and Bassong and Holt but I honestly don't think we would survive in the Prem long without them.
I agree with you, staying up is far more important, but I think we will achieve financial stability whether we stay up or go down. But we will obviously get more stability by staying in the Premier League.
I agree with some of the others I think we have enough strength to stay up and win/try n win the Cup. I think a team with modest changes to experiment with the current successful formation would be the best way to go. I'd like to see Bunn (Possibly Rudd, He needs experience and wouldn't let us down) Martin Turner (If fit if not Barney) Bassong Garrido E Bennett Fox (I want to see if the system works with him in there) Tettey/Johnson (we need one of our destructive forces in there) Pilkington Howson (We need to see how he performs in Wessi's place, I think he would be great here - some craft and guile and unlike Wes he isn't afraid to have a shot!) Holt (I think if I were Holty at his age this could be the best chance he will get to have a cup winners medal to show when he hangs up his boots, will he be able to impress his grand kids in the same way by saying and that season we made the quarters but finished 14th in the league) This way the fundemental shape of the team is the same. We also get to see if fox can slot in with out leaving us exposed too much with the bonus of his passing being better than the current incumbents. Overall lets go in strong, try out a couple of things that could end up strengthening the team and actually win something, afterall we have done precious little enough of that in our past! IHWT Bah!
