Fielding "weakened" teams in the FA Cup

[eleventh earl of mar]

Whilst it may not be a 'weakened' side that we field in these games, I think there is very little doubt that it is not our strongest.

[mini _dariusz]

What a twat. Apart from Arsenal (they regularly field their youth players), I disagree with his opinion on Reading. What the f**k does he know?

There's only one twat here Spacey, Arsenal are oxf*rd for doing it, but Reading aren't.

You are a complete joke of a specimin.

[SCIAG]

What a twat. Apart from Arsenal (they regularly field their youth players), I disagree with his opinion on Reading. What the f**k does he know?

There's only one twat here Spacey, Arsenal are oxf*rd for doing it, but Reading aren't.

You are a complete joke of a specimin.

Spacey's point is that Arsenal field "youth" players wheras Reading field those directly on the fringes, those on the bench or contesting for a space on it.

[Southbank Old Boy]

Whilst it may not be a 'weakened' side that we field in these games, I think there is very little doubt that it is not our strongest.

If it's not our strongest then its weakened surely?

[Southbank Old Boy]

Our "weakened" sides have:

1. Beaten our closest rivals in our league (Sheffield United, 05-06)
2. Defeated a side a division above us and taken another to a replay (West Brom and Brum, 05-06)
3. Put three past Liverpool- can't remember who we knocked out on the way (06-07)
4. Taken Man United to a replay and coming within the width of a crossbar to taking them to penalties (06-07)
5. Put two past Liverpool and were only beaten by a hattrick from the greatest striker on the face of the planet (07-08)
6. Taken Spurs to a replay, narrowly beaten, our side was full of internationals (07-08)
7. Forced penalties against Stoke after a masterclass from Henry (08-09)

In all 7 occaisions when we have fielded "weakened" sides, they have been knocked out by Premier League opposition- Arsenal, Birmingham (then a top flight side), Liverpool twice, Man United, Spurs and Stoke.

QED.

All positive achievements, but it's still a bit demeaning to the competition to not take it as seriously as we do the league

I can understand the criticism we've received for our attitude to the Cup, but we're not the only ones that's for sure

[SCIAG]

Our "weakened" sides have:

1. Beaten our closest rivals in our league (Sheffield United, 05-06)
2. Defeated a side a division above us and taken another to a replay (West Brom and Brum, 05-06)
3. Put three past Liverpool- can't remember who we knocked out on the way (06-07)
4. Taken Man United to a replay and coming within the width of a crossbar to taking them to penalties (06-07)
5. Put two past Liverpool and were only beaten by a hattrick from the greatest striker on the face of the planet (07-08)
6. Taken Spurs to a replay, narrowly beaten, our side was full of internationals (07-08)
7. Forced penalties against Stoke after a masterclass from Henry (08-09)

In all 7 occaisions when we have fielded "weakened" sides, they have been knocked out by Premier League opposition- Arsenal, Birmingham (then a top flight side), Liverpool twice, Man United, Spurs and Stoke.

QED.

All positive achievements, but it's still a bit demeaning to the competition to not take it as seriously as we do the league

I can understand the criticism we've received for our attitude to the Cup, but we're not the only ones that's for sure

Most if not all of the PL do it, yet we get criticism partially because Coppell's admitted to it rather than claiming "injuries" (see Fergie).

[eleventh earl of mar]

Whilst it may not be a 'weakened' side that we field in these games, I think there is very little doubt that it is not our strongest.

If it's not our strongest then its weakened surely?

That is why I used quotes. Personally I would prefer to see the strongset side play, but feel that others could be classed as strong enough when needed to stand in when injuries/suspensions happen. Then they could be classed as in our strongest side.

[Southbank Old Boy]

Whilst it may not be a 'weakened' side that we field in these games, I think there is very little doubt that it is not our strongest.

If it's not our strongest then its weakened surely?

That is why I used quotes. Personally I would prefer to see the strongset side play, but feel that others could be classed as strong enough when needed to stand in when injuries/suspensions happen. Then they could be classed as in our strongest side.

Yep, totally lost me

[mini _dariusz]

What a twat. Apart from Arsenal (they regularly field their youth players), I disagree with his opinion on Reading. What the f**k does he know?

There's only one twat here Spacey, Arsenal are oxf*rd for doing it, but Reading aren't.

You are a complete joke of a specimin.

Spacey's point is that Arsenal field "youth" players wheras Reading field those directly on the fringes, those on the bench or contesting for a space on it.

Wrong, Spacey's point is that Arsenal are French which he hates. Reading can never do any wrong in his eyes and anyone that say's anything bad against them means they're pcunts.

[eleventh earl of mar]

Whilst it may not be a 'weakened' side that we field in these games, I think there is very little doubt that it is not our strongest.

If it's not our strongest then its weakened surely?

That is why I used quotes. Personally I would prefer to see the strongset side play, but feel that others could be classed as strong enough when needed to stand in when injuries/suspensions happen. Then they could be classed as in our strongest side.

Yep, totally lost me[/quote]

Quite simple really. At the moment Marcus Hahnemann is considered our best/strongest goalkeeper therefore would be in the team. However as he is injured Federici plays in what is now considered our strongest team which has him in.

[firstdivision]

If I remember correctly didn't our "other" FA Cup team do better than the first team at the time? So our "other" team looked more dangerous?

[SCIAG]

If I remember correctly didn't our "other" FA Cup team do better than the first team at the time? So our "other" team looked more dangerous?

Against Spurs, yes, against United, in a way (they drew whereas the first team lost 3-2). However, we were much more"in" the league match IMO.

[Ian Royal]

Our "weakened" sides have:

1. Beaten our closest rivals in our league (Sheffield United, 05-06)
2. Defeated a side a division above us and taken another to a replay (West Brom and Brum, 05-06)
3. Put three past Liverpool- can't remember who we knocked out on the way (06-07)
4. Taken Man United to a replay and coming within the width of a crossbar to taking them to penalties (06-07)
5. Put two past Liverpool and were only beaten by a hattrick from the greatest striker on the face of the planet (07-08)
6. Taken Spurs to a replay, narrowly beaten, our side was full of internationals (07-08)
7. Forced penalties against Stoke after a masterclass from Henry (08-09)

In all 7 occaisions when we have fielded "weakened" sides, they have been knocked out by Premier League opposition- Arsenal, Birmingham (then a top flight side), Liverpool twice, Man United, Spurs and Stoke.

QED.

All positive achievements, but it's still a bit demeaning to the competition to not take it as seriously as we do the league

I can understand the criticism we've received for our attitude to the Cup, but we're not the only ones that's for sure

That's because the FA Cup isn't as important to a club as the league. There is very little negative to come from not progressing through a round of the FA Cup. Performing badly in the league can have massive negative consequences as we've seen.

Intelligent prioritisation does not equal devaluing.

And our squad is such, that for one game every now and then, we do not lose much, if anything, by swapping in players who aren't playing regularly in the league. There is very little difference between most of our player's quality, especially when comparing a normal league outing against a one off high stakes cup game with an opportunity to grab your chance and show you deserve to be in the regular league side.

[Rex]

This is always the age old arguement of playing fringe players and resting solid first team players for the league. This is either due to injury or simply resting tired bones. - a 'fringe' player it is the chance to prove themself on the pitch in anything other than a reserves match of the training sessions.
The FA cup is not so much of a realistic priority to teams who have high stakes, such as facing potential relegation. The cost of dropping a league can send a club into a financial downwards spiral which will possibly force a team to sell its leading players. There have been a few clubs that have experienced this recently!
As Steve Bruce mentioned on Talk sport -
winning the FA cup is a real boost for a club, gives the support the chance experience winning silverware, but balance that out with relegation each club will rather save themselves from relegation than win the FA cup.

For the lower league of non league clubs the kudos of a cup run has far more meaning to them than a premier team who is always expected to be there or there- abouts.

For a non league club to come up against a Premier team in the FA cup is a massive deal and is realistically possibly the only chance of playing a Prem team (away) and experiencing the big league extravaganza.

[The 17 Bus]

We rested players last season in the cups, and we still went down.

[Rex]

But as we know a few players were starting to under perform in the league games so 'resting' them for Cup games was of little consequence really.

[FiNeRaIn]

We rested players last season in the cups, and we still went down.

Exactly, we didn't want to get into europe that first season as we " didn't want a league distraction" last season...we still went down.

[Sun Tzu]

Wasn't our worst period of form last season after the cups had (for us) finished ?

So while we were mixing and matching we were doing OK, once we only had the league to concentrate on we struggled.

I suspect that could be reading a little too much into things !!

[jonboy29red]

i would rather play fringe players in the cup to keep em on there toes all it need is for some one in the team atm to get injured and were screwed for the rest of the season

[PEARCEY]

Wasn't our worst period of form last season after the cups had (for us) finished ?

So while we were mixing and matching we were doing OK, once we only had the league to concentrate on we struggled.

I suspect that could be reading a little too much into things !!

Tis true. We endured a winless January and February 2008. In fact they were pointless months in more ways than one.
I wonder if that has ever happened before in the clubs history?