BACK FROM THE GAME -CARDIFF FAC

[West Stand Man]

i have to say, fair play to Lita, Coppell asked him if he didn't want to play in case becoming cup tie would effect any move he would get away from the club.

and there, my friend, is why it is so important to spell things properly. To 'effect' the move means that you are making it happen. To 'affect' the move is to have an impact on it - which is what you actually meant.

[towserSL2crew]

Thought Pearce had a good 1st half , Convey and Lita were dreadful as was most of our play , even Marek is worrying me cos 75% of his attempted passes go astray .SC says he wants to sign forward cover and after he has watched that lot he must act and quick cos if we lost Noel or Doyler through injury we would be knackered . Fans were 1st class today and the burger was ok apart from that .....well. Roll on Watford next week.

[Southbank Old Boy]

i have to say, fair play to Lita, Coppell asked him if he didn't want to play in case becoming cup tie would effect any move he would get away from the club.

Lita told Norwich that he wont be signing for anyone permanently until the summer

He might still go out on loan I guess, but being cup tied wont really make much difference to him getting a deal somewhere else if a club are really interested in him

[moo]

Very disappointing. Could have at least some fire power on the bench.

Clearly the fans showing up in good numbers and in good voice shows that the cup means something to us fans. Saying its not a weakened team is quite frankly laughable, if its true why dont these players get a game in the league????

[Royalee]

Why rest your best forwards when they haven't scored in the last two games? Why attempt to spring the offside trap from set pieces with a team which hasn't played together before and therefore won't be as organised and well-drilled? Why do we forfeit both cups every season when the likes of Liverpool who have much more challenging matters can play their first team?

Oh yes, because our manager is an idiot.

[Rex]

Very disappointing. Could have at least some fire power on the bench.

Clearly the fans showing up in good numbers and in good voice shows that the cup means something to us fans. Saying its not a weakened team is quite frankly laughable, if its true why dont these players get a game in the league????

Our next game is 6 days away. To have put Doyle on the bench, N Hunt in the mix might have been the added spice to mix it up a little on the pitch today. To say it was a deliberate act on Coppells behalf to get knocked out for the FAC at the first hurdle is probably a little disparaging on the team that played today.

The issue of supporters getting their moneys worth is not just about us attending in numbers. We fully expected a tight game today and would have liked to see the progression. Either Coppell ove estimated his team tactics, underestimated Cardiff (!!) or underestimated the supporters wishes to progress through the cup rounds.

[PieEater]

I thought we did OK in the first half, Cardiff seemed pretty poor and Convey should have put us ahead. After that we just faded away into head tennis and hoofball and never really looked likely to get anything.

As others have stated, the players who were given a chance to perform didn't. We rely on wingers, overlapping full backs and our front two. All these departments were poor, particularly Henry, Kelly (thought he played them onside), Lita and Murty.

Marek and Karacan were also poor, in fact it's hard to think of anyone who had a decent game, or any action at all to keep us entertained and stave off the frostbite, despite what was pretty decent and vocal support.

Chant of the day has to be the variation of "we're winning away" to "our keeper scored".

[Royalshow]

Chant of the day has to be the variation of "we're winning away" to "our keeper scored".

It was funny the first couple of times but using it as a response to every Cardiff chant became very tiresome.

[Muskrat]

Why rest your best forwards when they haven't scored in the last two games? Why attempt to spring the offside trap from set pieces with a team which hasn't played together before and therefore won't be as organised and well-drilled? Why do we forfeit both cups every season when the likes of Liverpool who have much more challenging matters can play their first team?

Oh yes, because our manager is an idiot.

LOL at calling Coppell an idiot. If Doyle / either Hunt, Armstong or others had played today and got injured, you'd be calling him an idiot for jeapordising our promotion chances for a competition that we can never win.

Our priority is to gain promotion and Coppell operates a deliberate policy of having a small(er) squad, he's said so many times. So he's bound to maximise the opportunity to protect his best players by resting them for cup games and at the same time gauge the mettle of his squad players.

I'm sure he now knows the fragility of his squad as much as people on here seem to, and I reckon going out of the cup will have been worth it if he strenthens the squad as a result, which I reckon he will.

[Southbank Old Boy]

Did anyone get injured then?

When was the last time we lost a player through injury during a game?

[anR]

One other point on selection-with Marcus injured why didn't the reserve keeper play?

I don't believe it...

[Muskrat]

Marcus Hanneman three weeks ago. We've also lost Noel Hunt to injury during a game (twice), Michael Duberry and maybe some others that I can't recall.

What's your point?

[Southbank Old Boy]

Marcus Hanneman three weeks ago. We've also lost Noel Hunt to injury during a game (twice), Michael Duberry and maybe some others that I can't recall.

What's your point?

So we lost Marcus after 100 consecutive league games, and Hunt had to go off with concussion (but was fit for the next game)

I don't remember Duberry getting injured in a game though, when was that?

My point being, we don't lose many players through injury durying a game so why are we so paranoid about losing them during a cup game. I reckon we pick up more injuries in training. Should we stop training?

[Royalee]

Why rest your best forwards when they haven't scored in the last two games? Why attempt to spring the offside trap from set pieces with a team which hasn't played together before and therefore won't be as organised and well-drilled? Why do we forfeit both cups every season when the likes of Liverpool who have much more challenging matters can play their first team?

Oh yes, because our manager is an idiot.

LOL at calling Coppell an idiot. If Doyle / either Hunt, Armstong or others had played today and got injured, you'd be calling him an idiot for jeapordising our promotion chances for a competition that we can never win.

Our priority is to gain promotion and Coppell operates a deliberate policy of having a small(er) squad, he's said so many times. So he's bound to maximise the opportunity to protect his best players by resting them for cup games and at the same time gauge the mettle of his squad players.

I'm sure he now knows the fragility of his squad as much as people on here seem to, and I reckon going out of the cup will have been worth it if he strenthens the squad as a result, which I reckon he will.

1. Firstly, any team can win the cup, that's kinda the beauty of it - Coppell should know this given his time at Palace, not to mention Cardiff and Pompey being in the final last season. It's also the only competition of any note he ever won as a player BTW.

2. When was the last time a load of our key players all got injured at once? Why don't Liverpool worry if Gerrard Alonso Keane and Carragher get injured at Preston?

3. How the hell can you gauge a player accurately by throwing him into a randomly put together side for a single game once a season?

4. We're in the transfer window, meaning we can sign players if they get injured in the cup.

5. The loans system is always there, no matter how much Coppell tries to ignore it out of spite.

[rabidbee]

The team played so poorly because Matejovsky and Karacan were so poor. No link up play with the front two or the flanks. I've been so keen to see Matejovsky and Lita in the same team, because I thought the latter would thrive off the kind of balls Matejovsky likes, but if didn't have the guile to play them through the Cardiff defence. He is too diffident, and expects far too much from his team mates. Although if clearly is the most talented player at the squad, I'm really coming to think that if just isn't the right player for us. Karacan looked like a child today, chasing the game.

[eleventh earl of mar]

Why do some people on here think that players like Doyle, Hunt etc can only get injured in cup games? I have yet to read any of them posters say not to play these players against Watford next week for example in case they get injured for the rest of the season. I mean, Watford are poor we should beat them without our first choice players.

[Deathy]

Why rest your best forwards when they haven't scored in the last two games? Why attempt to spring the offside trap from set pieces with a team which hasn't played together before and therefore won't be as organised and well-drilled? Why do we forfeit both cups every season when the likes of Liverpool who have much more challenging matters can play their first team?

Oh yes, because our manager is an idiot.

Such an idiot that he's been terrible for us.

Coppell out.

[Muskrat]

Why rest your best forwards when they haven't scored in the last two games? Why attempt to spring the offside trap from set pieces with a team which hasn't played together before and therefore won't be as organised and well-drilled? Why do we forfeit both cups every season when the likes of Liverpool who have much more challenging matters can play their first team?

Oh yes, because our manager is an idiot.

LOL at calling Coppell an idiot. If Doyle / either Hunt, Armstong or others had played today and got injured, you'd be calling him an idiot for jeapordising our promotion chances for a competition that we can never win.

Our priority is to gain promotion and Coppell operates a deliberate policy of having a small(er) squad, he's said so many times. So he's bound to maximise the opportunity to protect his best players by resting them for cup games and at the same time gauge the mettle of his squad players.

I'm sure he now knows the fragility of his squad as much as people on here seem to, and I reckon going out of the cup will have been worth it if he strenthens the squad as a result, which I reckon he will.

1. Firstly, any team can win the cup, that's kinda the beauty of it - Coppell should know this given his time at Palace, not to mention Cardiff and Pompey being in the final last season. It's also the only competition of any note he ever won as a player BTW. No, any team can't win the cup. When was the last time a team from outside the top league won the Cup? Statistically and realistically it's very unlikely. We've never manged it in 137 years...And who did Coppell win it with when he was a player? Man Utd so that sort of defeats your own argument.

2. When was the last time a load of our key players all got injured at once? Why don't Liverpool worry if Gerrard Alonso Keane and Carragher get injured at Preston? I'm not talking about a load of our key players, just one or two that we rely on in a disproportionate way the teams like Liverpool don't. They lose Torres - what do they do? Bring in another £20million player - Keane. We simply do not have that ability.

3. How the hell can you gauge a player accurately by throwing him into a randomly put together side for a single game once a season? All these players are reserve team regulars and train together every day. They're hardly strangers.

4. We're in the transfer window, meaning we can sign players if they get injured in the cup.Oh yes of course I forgot, there are quality players out there just queuing up to sign for Reading

5. The loans system is always there, no matter how much Coppell tries to ignore it out of spite.Again, loans are only available if the right player is there and agrees to go out on loan, although I accept that we should probably make more use of it than we currently do.

[Muskrat]

Marcus Hanneman three weeks ago. We've also lost Noel Hunt to injury during a game (twice), Michael Duberry and maybe some others that I can't recall.

What's your point?

So we lost Marcus after 100 consecutive league games, and Hunt had to go off with concussion (but was fit for the next game)

I don't remember Duberry getting injured in a game though, when was that? Against Luton in the Cup, ironically. Took what, 3 months to get back?

My point being, we don't lose many players through injury durying a game so why are we so paranoid about losing them during a cup game. I reckon we pick up more injuries in training. Should we stop training?

[Super Kevin Bremner!]

The Cup's boring for me now. In all honesty I couldn't have cared less what team we put out today, much less the result. Don't get me wrong, I'm fickle enough to admit I'd have gotten all excited if we'd made the quarters, but to me, when we're chasing promotion and every single league game (regardless of performance) is a game I get buzzed up about and feels like a must win, I find this break in the league programme highly frustrating.

So to my point, why the hell not give some younger/fringe players a run out. I think Coppell's learnt a hell of a lot about that group of players over the last three years in cup competitions, and I'd even say we've benefited as a squad from it.

Notable examples being Henry, Karacan and Kelly proving that they can step in when needed. I wouldn't blame Coppell for not risking any of them in the first team without having seen them play in a game of less importance (in front of a decent sized crowd - unlike the surreal atmosphere of friendlies/reserve games) first.

We've also learnt a lot about those that aren't good enough to play for us too. And this is a fair measure of their ability and motivation. These players who we hope to be good enough to step in if we lose established first team players should be standing out for the right reasons.

Take Convey who I rate for example; I was desperate for him to get a game today and for him to put in a blinder, because I think he's potentially a better option down the left for us than SHunt. But you can't blame a weak performance on him having a 'disjointed team' to play in. 'Here's a chance for you to shine Bobby C' is what should have been going through his mind. By all accounts you wouldn't have guessed this to be the case.

And there's another very good point here. You have a minimum 2 players for each position in most squads of our status nowadays, and you have to give the full squad little incentives like this to keep them interested. Look at Federici pre-Hahnemann injury, he would have been a given to start today regardless. Does he really not deserve this chance?

Those who think there's nothing to be learnt from sticking your squad players into a cup tie are completely mistaken.

The only people I have a degree of sympathy for are the romantics who love the FA Cup. Sadly for those, the real romance of Football in the Cup is now reserved for those teams that are lower league and get a decent Prem team away from home for the first time in years, and the non league teams that make it to rounds 1-3. Be honest, who here would have been as excited this season to have Man Utd away 3rd round as they would have been 3 years ago?

If you're a Prem/Championship team nowadays, the only reason to get carried away is if you get to the quarters. Until then it's just another distraction from the league.

End of the day, regardless of histrionics about who got injured in which game, I think we'd have all been devestated if Doyler had have done his cruciates in a win/lose or draw against Cardiff in the 3rd round of the Cup. And that risk aint worth it just because once upon a time the FA Cup was special and makes heroes out of Posties and Bus Drivers.

The only fcuker for me is that we'll have a random week in January with no game now most likely, which'll mean I'll end up doing something with the family, or something else mundane along those lines.

Shit happens.