I think we all want to win something. But I'd take Quarter Finals of the Europa League over QFs of the Milk Cup a thousand times over.
It feels strange to disagree with the sentiment, as every other season it's me having this argument with almost everyone else I'm not saying we should throw the competition, just I would prefer to focus on Europe myself, as we don't know when this opportunity will present itself again. Whereas we enter the league cup every season. If we fail to get out the group then we can still go all out for the FA Cup as we don't enter that until January anyway. I agree with the general cups over league position argument for sure though.
The domestic cups PL wise are for bottom half, the solid mid table and the so called top six (if they can be bothered). Its not for teams trying to break into or remain in the European places. Especially with our model; which requires strong league finishes to command top dollar for our top performers, strong league finishes to keep other top performers, and strong league finishes to attract quality ie; Hojbjerg and especially Boufal (us over Watford). When I think of non top six clubs who have won a cup in recent memory; I think of Wigan and Hull. I dont go to many matches as I live in Scotland, but if I was attending regularly of the season at current PL prices, I would want the outcome of those games to be as meaningful as possible.
Liverpool played 63 games last season and finished 2 points outside the Europa places (7 points from CL). Play the kids.
I think Stephens, Isgrove and maybe McQueen are at the point where they have to get a chance now if we have any belief in them being able to have a future with us, if not almost confirms to me they're just here for numbers and experience in the 21s (Even though we value progression over success for our youth, a solid framework is good). And Reed is drifting out of the picture, too. No problems from me if the brain trust think those players pathways don't have a way forward for us, but if they do they need to play. Stephens especially I think should be given his shot at becoming the heir to the Fonte throne after doing so well on loan. JWP, Hojbjerg, McCarthy, Cuco and Targett should all play, Maya probably should too unless he's going to get consistency in the EL. Hesketh and Sims should maybe get an involvement if they are as prodigious as they sometimes seem. And then fill in the gaps with the fittest first teamers. We need to give players the chances they deserve, can't just wait for a chance to maybe fall in their lap which they wouldn't even be ready for. And it's very short-sighted to set out to go balls to the wall in every competition. Would be a lovely excuse to play a different shape, even if the diamond hasn't been hamstringing us in the last few, we'll see. I'm expecting a fairly familiar team to what we've been seeing.
You need to add to that sentence... by doing what? If you are saying play the best team every week, then we will come unstuck.
How can it be irrelevant if a team can make changes and reach the final and this is exactly what we are discussing??? *scratches head* I think you are being unrealistic in your wishes. In an ideal world, you play your best team every game without changes. That can't be done anymore.
Obviously we can't play the best team every week ... but we can't put out a team full of kids. That's a recipe for disaster. The same amount of rotation seen already will be what we get, and I have no problem with that.
I don't think anyone means we should play the U23 team, when they say "Play the kids." I take it to mean this is the right game to blood a few of the youngsters to see how they get on. When else can it be done?
I've seen a few comments around saying play the U23s as they aren't fussed about winning the match and progressing in the cup. I don't understand why people don't want to progress further and lose. I'm someone who likes to win every match we play, regardless of competition. Agree it'll be a good time to blood the youngsters (and I'm all for that!), but it's got to be only a few in with the first teamers, who'll again be rotated.
Ok. Seems to me that the majority seems to be saying play a few youngsters with some of the first team squad, thus allowing some players to get a rest. Only seen the odd comment to the contrary.
Palace are on a good run at the moment, would you like to pre-guess what kind of team they are going to put out?
Definitely. But the question is, for which games do you rest your key players, and for which do you play your best 11? That's if you know who your best 11 is, of course. The more you rotate, the more you get to learn about your whole squad, & the more chance players on the fringe have to develop.
You sound annoyed. Don't be. We are just discussing it. "Failed to address" ... maybe overlooked it With this failure to address, do you mean the "I want to win something" comment in your original post? If so, then great, I suspect we all do, but are you suggesting that we set out at the start of the season to target the "easiest" option in terms of trophy to win? What happens if we beta Palace and the draw away to City and we've 'gambled' on this cup? I just think it is a little unrealistic or perhaps unfair to complain if the manager decides to rest a few players and give other players some game time, be they youngsters or squad players. The point is actually still relevant if this is the bit you mean. Maybe we could be the team that gets to the final with a combination of rotated players and youngsters.
We should try and win every game we play, yes, but we cannot play our first team every game. The games are coming too thick and fast now (september ). I can't imagine what line up he will pick, but Charlie, Jay & Shane probably are not even in contention!
