Do you think he'll play the reserves again? Or will he look at Orient/Barnsley as a good route to the final 16?
I have a horrible feeling that he'll play the same side but put players like Aluko and Meyler on the bench. I'd much rather him play a stronger, not full strength, but a stronger side than the one against them at the KC. Maybe just add Chester or Hobbs to the defence to add some solidity, Brady to add some danger and bring Aluko on off the bench if we need a game-changer. He has to see this as a great chance at getting through the last 16 unless he's a manager that's not bothered about the Cup at all.
The thing is, with you second in the league, I can see why he did it. I think he's likely to do it again.
It does make sense, because we do need our full strength if we are to sustain a fight for automatic promotion. Especially since as in Cardiff are 7 points clear. We can't afford to slip up at all if we want to keep up with them. Which is what is niggling in my head! I want a Cup Run, but it could be potentially Season-ending if things go wrong... Damn our new found form!
...Especially if you pock up injuries or suspensions in the cup. As you said, your squad lacks depth.
strength in depth becomes increasingly important as we move towards the "business end" of the season. This is where I think Leicester will prosper as with another possible 2 quality additiions, we will have a fine "squad" with lots of healthy competition in all positions. (apart from keeper!)
We had a couple of first team players on the bench, but instead of putting one of them on to try and win the game, he put on a kid that had never played for us before. Bruce obviously doesn't give a **** about the FA Cup this season and he'll play almost the same team in the replay, where hopefully they'll perform better than they did on Saturday, as they were nowhere near what they are capable of.
The thing with the cup, if you have a game that you can win, just win it. In cups, look at times like Cardiff, birmingham (relegation year) and Millwall (v arsenal?) in recent years, if you keep getting decent draws before you know it you can be in the final. Its not impossible as a championship team.
At the end of the day Leicester are 5 point behind Hull (even though Hull have got in Leicester fans' opinions a £2 odd million striker who can't score) and to get promoted you need to overtake the points tally Hull, Palace and Middlesbrough will get over the next 5 to 6 months. And yes you have got a striker who is scoring goals atm, but he was one of your transfer window signings - wait until you see who the teams around you add to their squads (as well as your own) before judging one signing in isolation
I will be very surprised if Palace or Boro add significantly to their team like we have with Wood. You have a few bob so there's a possibility you will but with paying 3.5M on making 2 loans permanent will you spend much more
Haven't you just perfectly explained why you shouldn't go for the cups though. Cardiff fell away in the promotion race and Birmingham got relegated.
Swansea showed how to squad rotate and maintain some integrity yesterday - plyed around 60 mins without their best players then brought on the 'big guns' ... have to admit I get irritated with clubs playing weakened teams in what, historically, is such a prestigious competition. For me they should make the FA Cup winners a Champions League spot with the losers going into the Europa - that would ensure that the competition goes back to what, in my mind, is it's rightful place in terms of prestige - far more palatable than 'rewarding' fourth placed failure in the over-hyped Premier Laeague
Yes but thats just poor management. Id probably rather win the FA cup than be promoted to be honest...
But that would be even worse, it would be a massive distraction and we wouldn't go up the next season either. Not many teams seem to be able to handle Europa League and league football at the same time, look at Newcastle this season. It affects league form even if you don't play your first team.
I'd rather qualify for Europe when my team had shown the ability over a whole season against the top sides in the country than when they'd had 6 games go their way, some of them against lower league teams. That way I might think we actually had a chance of doing well in the European competition.
.. although logic would dictate that you might struggle in the kock-out stage when it reverts to a Cup competition My take is this ... as a boy the FA Cup was magical ... irrespective of the teams involved I'd get up early on the morning of Cup Final day and watch the build up right up to kick-off .. it was the only televised game on all year and there were 100,000 packed into Wembley for it - the last game of the season. The game veery player wanted to play in and no question of managers playing a weakened team in any round. I could name the winners, indeed participants of every cup final that I had watched (in contrast to who had won the league in those years and who had finished second, third and fourth! Fans also turned out in droves for every round. That magic has been systematically eroded by the money merchants of the Premier League and Europe, IMHO to the detriment of the beautiful game. The beauty of the Cup is still as it is today - that it is not inevitable who will win it (or be in the final). Just look whathappened at Bradford last night - 25,000 turn out to watch a team that won't win its league (probably) but could now have a trip to Wembley - can't beat that.
