Unless Bruce feels there's pressure against a very good side to put out strong team so that the fans making the long journey to London twice in the space of a week don't feel short changed or have to endure an even bigger hammering if he doesn't.
There doesn't need to be an argument about this. Brucey is clever enough to rest players when he needs to. If we win enough games to get to Wembley playing our reserves, which is extremely unlikely anyway, it'll be a nice argument to have but until then it's all moot. We've only got one cup game to worry about. We should put out a second string and hope they do their best. If we get knocked out, no harm done. If we win then great. Ricardo - the fans will know full well there won't be a strong side and they should be able to understand the good reasons for it. Anyway, this is the worst draw possible. We're already playing the same fixture that week, we'll almost definitely lose and it's away so it'll be difficult to get to.
Not sure why people want to run down this Cup. Its a great opportunity for the fringe players to get game time and show what they can do. Even more so if its against a team like Spurs. You can say that Big Nick scored a goal last night but then argue that it was only against Huddersfield's reserves; let see if he can do it against real opposition. Well now he should have a chance to try it-Spurs reserves which I am assuming will be a very good team. No one is going to impress anyone when they do well against Rotheram Reserves-even if they score 4 goals. Applies to other players-not just Big Nick. Bruce for example if he does well maybe it will quiet the slippery undercurrent of alleged nepotism
I say we go for this cup, good chane to get to wembley but more importantly a route into Europe. This seasons UEFA League includes Valencia, PSV, Fiorentina, Eintracht Frankfurt, Dynamo Kiev, Sevilla, Lyon, Lazio, plus the 8 champions league sides that enter in knockout stages, example from last year include, Benfica, Ajax, Zenit, Chelsea, Olympiakos. Wouldnt we all like to see one of those teams at the KC in a meaningful tie rather than a pre season friendly. Go for it and lets show a bit of guts.
Wigan win the cup... relegated. Pompey win a cup... bust. Millwall finalist... next season they get relegated Just saying lark.
I say go for it too. Lets wear them down with our best team and get an edge for the weekend game against them. Europe is obviously a long shot but worth going for. The worst case is we lose the weekend game, which would be expected. I'm sure Thudd and Livermore would like to be out there for the Cup game and beat them in front of their supporters.
Was great for us ... and just look at Swansea ... playing in Europe allows you to attract better players too ...
He's automatically out of the Premier League games and I can't see Spurs allowing him to play against them in the cup game.
How times change not so long back us city fans would be buzzing spurs away even selling out our allocation on a wed night. Cant see Bruce risking our first team picking any niggles or injury up when we have the black cats at home 3 days later .Just how much would bruce love to beat the mackems
I think we should go for it. Spurs play both the Thursdays before and after in the Europa League, with a tough league match away at Everton at the weekend afte our league cup game. That's a very busy schedule and I'm sure they WILL rotate quite a lot. We have a comfortable home game after against Sundeland who are also still in the cup and going to play Saturday - Tuesday - Saturday. Our team can manage that for one week in this league, it's not like we're still in the championship where we'd probably be playing the Tuesdays before and after making the league cup match too much. Play a full strength side, go for it, and you never know what might happen. This is a good opportunity and YOLO.
It really is a testament to how far we've come. We get spurs in the cup and the reaction is 'meh'. Imagine our reaction 10 years ago!
It's true, but also a different time. Our priorities have changed since 10 years ago. I always think about confidence to players & as I've said often about not dropping Graham just because Sagbo's back, the same goes for the players in this cup. They got us here, now give them the chance to play & prove themselves against PL opposition when there is nothing at stake. If we take a battering then it's not going to hurt our gd, if we lose by the odd goal or two then it'll give us confidence that these players can step in & not look out of place. If we win then brilliant. Their team will probably have Defoe in it too, so it may be a case of him alone battering us whichever team we would put out.
No. Never been in it. I would not expect anything different from you. Dont bank on it. Not really. I can think of 4 others that would have been worse. Remember when the game will be played. W/C 28th Oct. 1-0 or 10-0 it does not matter in cup games. Games against Spurs are to be enjoyed full stop. btw....We are yet to conceed a goal @ White Hart Lane in the PL. Spurs can have the cup game though as long as they allow us to have the PL game. True. Steve Bruce can now tell the entire squad that if fit they all get the chance to be involved at Tottenham. We await news from sky sports now. But i suspect that sky will choose the Arsenal v. Chelsea and one from the Newcastle v. Manchester City, & Birmingham v Stoke games to go out Live. But with Spurs playing Thursday 24th(europe league) and Sunday 27th(Hull) then they will want a wednesday game. From our part we need to keep our main players fresh and fit and ready for the home game with Slumberland on saturday 2nd november. Very Very true. The coc 4th round is over a month away now. Totally agree. Would like to see how good the likes of McShane, Bruce jnr, Prozzer, Jahraldo-Martin, Gedo, Henderson are against top quality opponents. He cannot play even if Spurs allowed him to. Rules is Rules. Shame really. Hopefully he will be ouirs when Spurs come to the KC in 2014.
