FA cup

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You have to play Bart. If his confidence has gone it gives us three weeks to bring in some additional keeper cover!
 
You have to play Bart. If his confidence has gone it gives us three weeks to bring in some additional keeper cover!

No pressure then! Seriously, though, I agree that Bart has to play, but please don't make his whole Saints career conditional on one performance.
 
Puncheon could always feature don't forget - in his short return to us last January, between Millwall and Blackpool, he played in the FA Cup for us.

I think I'm right in saying that he officially returns to us today (might be tomorrow).
 
my starting XI would be:

bart
butterfield, Martin, hooiveld, dickson
SDR (if fit, if not, holmes), reeves, ward prouse,puncheon
hoskins, forte

bench:
lallana
davis
fonte
holmes
harding
shaw
connolly
 
play the u21 squad <ok>

problem with that is, only 2 or 3 (hoskins and reeves) will make it IMO out of about 7 so it isn't that strong for the level we want to be at

Players like Racine & Saville won't make it, Isgrove, Robinson & Dovey probably aren't ready for 1st team action yet but have the potential if developed right

its a tough one, we'll see how adkins think of these players in time with majority out of contract end of season - id like them all to come through but thats unilikey - the academy however is another matter
 
I see that Nigel is indicating moves in before the Forest game. Don't think he will want to risk any more injuries so lets blood the youth!
 
We do to win in order to get our confidence back so if i were Nige

Bart
Butterfield Martin Jos Harding
Holmes Hammond/Morgan JWP Reeves/Dickson
Forte Hoskins

Subs: Davis, Lallana, Fonte, Morgan/Hammond, Reeves/Dickson, Connoly, SDR/Puncheon,
 
We have some very decent young players, so we should try to make good use of them when we have the chance. Without Lambert or Guly, we're unlikely to be convincing.

............................Bart..............................
Butterfield.......Fonte.......Hooiveld.......Harding
De Ridder...Schneiderlin...Ward-Prowse...Holmes
..........................Reeves............................
...........................Forte.............................

Davis, Fox, Martin, Lallana, Cork, Shaw, Hoskins/Sinclair

Keep the defence strong as we don't want to be letting too many in. Without Lambert, we need to keep the ball in midfield and I think something like that will give us a decent chance. Difficult choice upfront. Connolly is the strongest option, but we might be saving him for the league. Might be wise to see if one of the youngsters can hack it while we wait for new signings and key players to return. I reckon Adkimns will start with Forte for his experience, but he's useless and I wouldn't be surprised to see one of tihe youngsters to gert a decent run out.
 
if we draw at Coventry, the replay will be 10 days after, so Rickie could miss two cup games and the Forest game, making him available for the Leicester game.

Play 8 at the back <cool>
 
My team would be (layout borrowed from Itchen North Matt):

............................Bart...............................
Butterfield.......Martin.......Hooiveld.......Harding
Holmes...Schneiderlin...Ward-Prowse...Puncheon
...................Reeves.....Forte........................


Bench: Davis, Fox, Stephens/Shaw, Lallana, Connolly, Hoskins/Hammond, Sinclair

This is based around the premise that Fonte, Guly, de Ridder and Chaplow will all still be out injured and Lambert out through suspension.
I think this team would be strong enough to beat a Coventry team that is also likely to not be full strength. IMO Cork and Richardson should be rested completely, with a mixture of experience and youth on the bench depending on how the game pans out. Winning isn't the be-all-end-all, with players coming back from injury, resting 1st team, trying out fringe/youth players all being more important. I personally do not think that if we lose with this team it will have an effect on the first team players however injuries would.