Top 4 or FA Cup?

I hope we don't lose tonight, or there will be a week of arguments about it on here.

 

Ideally, both. But top4 has to be the choice. It's much the harder thing to achieve. In the FA Cup we enter at the 3rd round and there are 6 consecutive games to be won, to win the trophy. Yes difficult, but not as difficult as achieving top4.

I will be disappointed if we lose tonight because the players will be, and that will bring their spirits down a tad, which I don't want. But everything has to be geared around winning the next league game, which is how it should be.

 

I'd rather win tonight and lose Saturday than vice versa.

 

I don't think there's a choice - we go for both. We now have the belief and a winning mentality and success breeds success. Players want to win every match & Ron has said the Cup means so much to him. The more we win, the more we will win. Whatever happens tonight, we will be playing in Europe next season. Yes, automatic entry into the CL group stages would be brilliant, but 4th & qualifying or 5th/6th and or FA Cup would be a magnificent achievement. Don't let us forget where we've come from. I was there in May 1976, and will never forget that incredible day, but I am loving this season - it's almost as good!

 

Could you explain why..?

 

Top 4. No doubt about it whatsoever.

 

Yep same. The cup is not as important as the league.

 

Well obviously I would like both but that was more in reply to your comment " But everything has to be geared around winning the next league game"

That I disagree with, we have 17 league games left, whereas if we lose tonight, we're out. I would rather win the FA Cup than finish fourth, espescially while we have the team that could win a cup, it may be different for older fans who saw '76. But I am of the opinion that I am unlikely to ever see us win a major honour, and for me, that is was football is about, winning trophies.

Plus I think it would be harder to finish top 4 than win the Cup, though barring loads of upsets, all the big sides will be in round 5.

 

There is your explanation in a nutshell. I see your point, but you don't have to have a great team to win the FA Cup. A bit of good fortune with the draw, a few things going your way in other matches and the odd exceptional performance from your own team. It's great, don't get me wrong, but it's more to do with instant gratification than long term success.

Arsenal supporters complain every season that they don't win anything, but make the top4. They'd complain a lot more if they flirted with relegation every season and won the FA Cup every once in a while. And Arsenal are a huge club. Saints aren't there yet, but they have aims to be that way. You don't become a huge club by winning the FA Cup. You will do by being a regular top4 campaigner.

 

We should go for both and we will. Winning tonight or on Saturday isn't an either/or situation, but if it was I would go for the Newcastle game. No point in winning against United to go third and then possibly drop down again.

 

Of course.

 

Someone above suggested the opposite!!!

 

Read up the thread..!

 

Would Wigan rather have stayed up if it meant not winning the cup and playing in Europe? Similar thing here I would rather win both however if it is between going out tonight or finishing 5th in the league I will willingly sacrifice tonight for that 4th spot. All theoretical as we could miss out on the cup and finish 7th but while the dream is still very much on then it has to be league taking priority.

 

The landscape of football has changed so dramatically. If an FA Cup win were as prestigious as a CL place (and that's third not fourth) then the money and associated rewards would be the same. They don't even have HD coverage of most FA cup games and the general coverage is atrocious, even at grounds that are accustomed to delivering shots from 15 different angles. All cup competitions at home and abroad face the same problem these days of course. That itself is an answer to the question. CL for me please.

 

I fear there will be some suicidal, Negheads in here if we don't finish too 4. I hope we do, but a top 6 place would be incredible. A top 8 place would be good.

Arsenal and Spuds are only a few points back with loads of games left. We are catchable.

The OP says choose, not what we think, so for that reason I choose winning the FA Cup. If we came 4th no one would remember it outside saints in about three years time. People are shocked now when we tell them we came second once.

Second place, first loser, soon forgotten.

On a choice, I'll take the trophy now. Winning is a magical feeling. Coming third might make you proud.

 

I

On behalf of my wife and her Wigan ST holding Dad, I can answer the first part for you:

No, they wouldn't swap that day and victory at Wembley for anything. They said so before and they have said so since.

 

This is the thing though, you say we have aims to get there. Realistically we will NEVER be as big as the likes of Arsenal United or Liverpool, espescially in this era of FFP. As they can just spend and spend and increase wages and we simply can not. This is why I think that while we are one of the better sides in the league, we should try and win the cup, that way years down the line we really will have something to show for this fantastic period in our history.

Let's put another way, my nipper was born in September, and when he's older I would rather say "The year you were born we won the FA Cup!" than "The year we were born we finished 4th".

 

Spot on FLT! My thoughts exactly, finishing 4th and then going out in the qualifiers isn't achieving anything really, it just means we had a good season, winning a trophy, now that is an achievement

 

Those saying both are completely ignoring the question. We all know it’s possible to play full strength teams in both, but that’s not the question. It’s if you could have one or the other, which would you rather have.

I’d go top four, because a team can win the FA Cup at any point, no matter their league form. But it is very likely to be a disruption to our team, whether through injury or tiredness, to go on a cup run during this completely unique moment in our league history. Going for both could very realistically risk both.

Yes, you could end up with neither.

Yes, I’d like to see full strength teams played in both.

But I would sacrifice the cup for a top four finish.