Pre-match thread

[Nigel]

If we play the u23s nyland will get about 3 months worth of experience! 

[Five Ken McNaughts]

Happy to rest those who need it but let's still have a serious line-up, please. I cannot stand the Paul Lambert "we could do without this" mentality (didn't work out too well for Martin O'Neill in Moscow either). Let's get into the fourth round and roll on to Leicester away on the back of two away wins. Football is about glory at the end of the day. Having a tilt at it should never be an unwelcome distraction.

[kidlewis]

34 minutes ago, Five Ken McNaughts said:

Happy to rest those who need it but let's still have a serious line-up, please. I cannot stand the Paul Lambert "we could do without this" mentality (didn't work out too well for Martin O'Neill in Moscow either). Let's get into the fourth round and roll on to Leicester away on the back of two away wins. Football is about glory at the end of the day. Having a tilt at it should never be an unwelcome distraction.

I agree,

 

we should rest the bigguns like Grealish and Mings for this but play a blend of a side which hopefully gets us into a position where we are 2-0 at 55 minutes and can test another 2-3 players for the rest of the game. 

[useless]

It seems that Davis is still out injured, so Kodjia is going to be our only fit striker, so might see someone from the U23s getting a chance but we don't have many options there either as Vassilev has been playing up front for them, it would have to be either him or someone like Sea or Tait, they might see some game time as well, as I'm sure we won't want to be risking injury to Kodjia, otherwise we will be left with no senior strikers at all unless we recall Hepburn-Murphy or Hogan.

[Kuwabatake Sanjuro]

4 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

Of the current U23 team, the ones that I'd say are most ready are Walker, Clarke and Suliman - of those only Clarke plays a position we're short at. I can't see either Archer or Vassilev coming in at this stage - there's maybe an outside chance we might give young Tyreik Wright a look at it. 

 

How is Wright progressing? He didn't impress me too much for the Irish under 19s last summer but he was still under 17 at the time so age is on his side. 

[turvontour]

1 hour ago, Five Ken McNaughts said:

Happy to rest those who need it but let's still have a serious line-up, please. I cannot stand the Paul Lambert "we could do without this" mentality (didn't work out too well for Martin O'Neill in Moscow either). Let's get into the fourth round and roll on to Leicester away on the back of two away wins. Football is about glory at the end of the day. Having a tilt at it should never be an unwelcome distraction.

To win the fa cup it would mean us playing about 10 cup games from now til the end of the season. 

I'd be saying the same as you if;

A) we hadn't lost three of our key players in the last four games to relatively freak injuries.

B we are already in a cup semi final. Lets try and win that competition, if not, so be it, we got to a cup semi.

Theres so much riding on the second half of this league season, I think we should go pretty weak and protect first team players. Never had this attitude to the fa cup before but I think the situation we are in this season warrants it.

 

[Five Ken McNaughts]

16 hours ago, turvontour said:

To win the fa cup it would mean us playing about 10 cup games from now til the end of the season. 

I'd be saying the same as you if;

A) we hadn't lost three of our key players in the last four games to relatively freak injuries.

B we are already in a cup semi final. Lets try and win that competition, if not, so be it, we got to a cup semi.

Theres so much riding on the second half of this league season, I think we should go pretty weak and protect first team players. Never had this attitude to the fa cup before but I think the situation we are in this season warrants it.

 

Fair enough, but have we not had a rotating team all season? We have plenty of senior players who could do with game time (Jota, Kodj, Lansbury, Chester...). You can reach an FA Cup semi-final at Wembley without ever facing another PL team. Lets not throw in the towel before we even get off our stool.

Edited January 4, 2020 by Five Ken McNaughts

[Guest av1]

The priority is to stay up, I want to win of course but I expect a raft of changes and therefore won't be getting on the managers back if we don't get a result. 

Priorities. 

[OutByEaster?]

2 hours ago, Kuwabatake Sanjuro said:

How is Wright progressing? He didn't impress me too much for the Irish under 19s last summer but he was still under 17 at the time so age is on his side. 

He's looked better to me in recent months, he has a bit of aggression about him which is usually a good sign. Vassilev is the grafter, Archer brings some pace, but I think Wright has the potential.

[The Fun Factory]

Play the children.And if you are going down them just stay in Putney and enjoy the pubs.

[Elton]

We’ve reached the League Cup semis using our reserves. No reason we can’t progress in the FA cup with similar line up’s, subject to a bit of luck with the draw if we get through this round.

Fulham could do without this competition as they are going for promotion. I think our reserves will be better than theirs.

[Kiwivillan]

I'd rather go all out to win against Leicester and focus on staying up. I think FA Cup is too much with all the injuries

[abdulaziz1]

1 hour ago, av1 said:

The priority is to stay up, I want to win of course but I expect a raft of changes and therefore won't be getting on the managers back if we don't get a result. 

Priorities. 

We have more chance in winning against Fulham, having good result at Leicester, than beating Man City. I think Man City fixture is helping us on taking cups more seriously. After that we'll have couple of important fixtures, Brighton, Watford and Bournemouth. Those are the games which could be said a priority.

I don't see it contradicting as we haven't had any hard game going to the semis while playing our reserves. I'd give the reserves a start tomorrow, but will field a strong side against Leicester. We still have 2-3 players coming in hopefully.

[Only2McInallys]

I remember when the FACup final was the only live game on tv and winning it was only second to the league.

How times change .I think a dull 1-0 defeat is best outcome for us.We have key players out through injury and our second string players are now our first string players.We can not afford injuries to even the likes of Nyland ,Elmo,Taylor,players who many on here would say are rubbish but who are going to be crucial in the relegation run in .

[Johnnyp]

Love someone to leave it in on Cairney early doors. Nothing malicious. He was an absolute prick in the post match interview after they beat us at Wembley.

[Five Ken McNaughts]

Seems I'm in the minority in wanting us to win tomorrow then. Ah well. Guess I'm a bit old-fashioned.

[Kiwivillan]

2 hours ago, Five Ken McNaughts said:

Seems I'm in the minority in wanting us to win tomorrow then. Ah well. Guess I'm a bit old-fashioned.

I would love it if we won every game we played but priorities exist. I'd probably feel differently if we hadn't lost McGinn Wesley Heaton

[zab6359]

12 hours ago, OutByEaster? said:

Where has he said that zab6359?

Edit: Just seen that Birmingham Live has slipped in a slightly vague note to that effect at the bottom of their recent article.

It's interesting - I guess the choices open to him are Archer, Wright, Sea, Vassilev, Tait and maybe Ramsey. 

 

Going to be an interesting weekend, suppose we have to go with what we have at hand right now, never know someone might shine UTV!

[zab6359]

I think the powers that be need to look at that xmas period fixture list I'm sure it won't be just us having to field some youngsters through necessity, Sheff Utd due to make huge changes apparently. Not whinging as I love xmas football but you can see the POV of the managers!   

[villalad21]

Play Archer up front!