we have to play our strongest team, most of Chelseas subs would walk into our team. The only change from yesterday for me would be JRod instead of Rickie
Why do we? We want to stay up. The players have just had a very hard three games and need a break before a 6 pointer at Villa.
Why do we?, do you really care that much about a cup?. I know I don't would rather stay up then get one stage further in a cup we won't win anyway.
If I thought we were going to put the 1st team out I'd buy at ticket... but we won't and my pension does not stretch to watching the stiffs play Chelsea..
Nigel was saying yesterday that "we take the FA Cup seriously and want a run in the Cup". Like hell we do. Reading between the lines, I think he meant "If we were already mid-table and more or less safe from relegation, then a cup run would be good to try a few young/newly transferred players out and experiment with some different formations against some decent sides. As it is, I'm going to play more or less the side that got humiliated against Leeds and if give them a last chance to redeem themselves by playing well but hopefully losing narrowly." With that in mind: --------------------------Davis----------------------------- --Butterfield-----Hooiveld--------Seaborne----------Reeves-- ----Ward-Prowse---------Chaplow-----------De Ridder------- -------Mayuka------------Barnard-----------Lee------------ Swapping Guly for Barnard from the team put out against Leeds, as Barnard will be back this week.
Boruc Richardson Yoshida Hooiveld Reeves JWP Davis Chaplow Mayuka Rodriguez Guly Subs: Davis, Stephens, Fox, Cork, Chambers, De Ridder, Lambert.
I'm in 2 minds about this one. On the one hand agree that we have no interest in the cup and want to avoid injuries at all cost. On the other we need more good performances and a thrashing will not help the teams confidence. A nice cup run might do us the world of good? Id play....... Boruc Richardson Fonte Hooiveld Fox Davis JWP Mayuka Guly De Ridder Lee (if fit)/J Rod Bench- Davis, Shaw, Yoshida, Lambert, Reeves, Punch, Ramierez No reason not to play richardson- he is a RB eh? Think spider and cork could do wi a rest, same as lambo and punch. Don't risk ramierez and play guly in the hole where he has previously been effective.
Boruc (for confidence etc) Fox Hoover Stephens Richardson Ward Prowse Chaplow (perform, or put himself in the shop window) Lee De Ridder (let him play the ramirez role, get on the ball and see what he can do) Mayuka Rodriguez People will say we are setting ourselves up to lose, but I think if we play all out, get a couple of knocks, tire ourselves etc then its not going to help the cause. Playing the next round is equally not going to help the cause. In a weird kind of we we wont lose our "undefeated" mentality either, as this would be a shot to nothing, whereas if we put out a good side and lost, it might damage our confidence a bit.
No chance on this in my opinion. Rafa will want to win silverware this year and this cup is his best chance.
Strange looking side unless you turn it into a 424. Playing such an expansive side without the quality or strength on the ball of Lallana, Ramirez, Lambert or Rodriguez would be a recipe for a spanking. I wouldn't have us play with defensive wingers as those are only needed when fullbacks are forward so much that they neglect to defend. Otherwise, defensive wingers just invite pressure. I would like to see a tight midfield though to slow them down and let us play a bit.
If we play a team made up of fringe players we will get mullered and look **** on International TV, we are trying to build a club known for attractive football maybe in the hope of attracting players like Ramirez, if he was still in Italy and we were chasing him and he saw our second 11 plus a few youth get buttfucked by a Chelsea 11 do you think he would come running to join us. That is a small consideration, my main reason for playing a strong team is forging a strong starting 11, you could see yesterday that the connection between Ramirez and Rickie is just not there yet, it would hopefully be a great time for them to have a few more seconds with the ball and for things to click. By all means play some players like Mayuka and Richardson but keep a strong core.
Getting beaten on TV isn't going to stop players from signing. The players we want to sign are likely to be playing their own games at the same time as ours, so won't see it anyway. Besides, every PL game is on TV somewhere and we've lost plenty of those. Losing to Chelsea won't make a blind bit of difference in signing players and since the cup is mainly a distraction this season, we may as well rotate to rest iportant players.
Exactly I take Bendits point but if we suffered a couple of injuries and then lost at Villa we'd all blame Nigel for not resting them!
Lambert and Ramirez will definitely be rested. JRod and Mayuka up front. Good chance for JWP, Richardson and Hooiveld to get a run out.
