Cardiff FA Cup Match Thread

[Fat Leather Jacket]

The FA Cup is a complete irrelevance for this club compared to promotion and maintaining Premiership status. End of, to the tune of £30m+.

And what, exactly, was so good about 'all of that money' we got last time out? I didn't see a £30m improvement in team or facilities, only more personal expense.
Give me an FA Cup final any day of he week.

Good point. All the fan saw was increased prices.

[Southbank Old Boy]

Supporting a football team, and indeed playing the game, is all about the glory, the compeition and the winning

It shouldnt be about the money and Premiership status and all that crap

I'd much rather we got to a cup final and finished 8th instead of finishing 2nd* and treating the cup with contempt as long as we gave every game and every competition a real shot

* I personally dont think the two go hand in hand, you can be successful in the league and the cup

[FiNeRaIn]

Supporting a football team, and indeed playing the game, is all about the glory, the compeition and the winning

It shouldnt be about the money and Premiership status and all that crap

I'd much rather we got to a cup final and finished 8th instead of finishing 2nd* and treating the cup with contempt as long as we gave every game and every competition a real shot

* I personally dont think the two go hand in hand, you can be successful in the league and the cup

Man united won the treble, shove that up your arse coppell.

[The 17 Bus]

Well it looks like the manager of the leading team in England does not think his players need a rest.

Gerrard supporting Robbie Keane up front, a midfield four of Ryan Babel, Javier Mascherano, Xabi Alonso and Alberto Riera.

Jamie Carragher and Sammy Hyypia in the back four.

Then again they only won the Champions league a few years ago, without worrying too much about the Prem.

[rhroyal]

Did going out of the F.A. Cup to focus on the league last season help? No, it just led to another game we lost in a barren run, what the squad needed? Likewise did reaching the semi-final hinder West Brom in the league last season. I know we didn't lose today on purpose, but more effort in the F.A. Cup wouldn't do any harm.

[Southbank Old Boy]

I don't see why so many people complain about our 'cup side' to be honest. SSC obviously feels certain players need a rest or else he wouldn't rest them would he? He's not putting out a different team just for the sake of it.

He obviously has faith in all of these squad guys do come in and do a job or else they wouldn't be playing for RFC and most of the starting XI today had played in the first team for spells this year, or in years past.

As for people jumping up and down saying we won't win anything by playing squad players, do you seriously believe we could win it with a full strength team? We didn't even win here in the league a few weeks ago (ok we had 10 men but still) Maybe we could focus on trying to win every cup competition we're in but if Doyle got crocked in a 2-0 defeat in a cup to Cardiff or in a 2-1 win away at Old Trafford to put us into a semi final for that matter would you still back SSC playing a full strength side? The transfer windows have helped make cups an unnecessary risk for managers of sides fighting for promotion.

On an even more simple level, how many times has a side from outside the top ten of the Premier League won the cup in the Premiership era? Try twice and even then it was a Pompy side secure in their Premiership status and then Everton back in 1995 who were still one of the biggest teams in the country. Yes Wimbledon winning the cup was great, so was Southampton et all but football has moved on so much now and any attempts to claim otherwise and we might as well move back to Elm Park.....

As for prestige value? What glory does a cup run get you after a fews days out and the build up? how many of us were sat here before this game saying "OMG we're playing the cup runners up!!!11!!" How often do you hear Boro fans going on about their two cup final defeats when they got relegated? Have Wycombe or Tranmere kicked on after their long cup runs? how about Leciester who won the Carling cup not once but twice in the last decade where are they now?

I take more pride in Reading being the biggest points scorers in a single season or pipping teams out over 46 games then being able to fluke our way to a cup semi final/final by pulling off 1 or 2 big results in a season.

Compare those brief moments of cup joy to the months when we thought we might be promoted and then the joy of getting there, the summer afterwards and then the whole of the Premier League experience. You'd honestly take a gamble risking players crucial to our league campaign in cup matches?

On a personal note some of the greatest Reading games I've seen we're cup games, the wins over Southampton in particular. However I can't remember many great cup games since we've moved to the Madejski. Ironically our recent success means that I don't sit and wait for the cup draw hoping we get a top team, if anything I want a minnow away.

I do hate the fact that the cup doesn't mean as much anymore but that has as much to do with the power of the biggest teams then the attitude of teams like Reading. Yes I'd love Reading to win a cup competition but until we reach that level of a stable Premier league side then sorry any cup progress is a bonus. I appreciate that the cup does have some magic for smaller teams but we'd struggle to be a big underdog unless we were playing a European challenging side.

Back on topic, none of this excuses a pretty poor performance today but it's not going to ruin my weekend like a 2-0 league defeat might.

How many points would a cup run cost us then?

How many times do we lose key players through injury during games? With that in mind I'd love to see how many players we'd lose in the extra 3 or 4 games a cup run might bring us

The thrill of getting to a cup final, and the road to it, is just as enjoyable as the promotion campaign and infinately more enjoyable than the extra couple of points and places people seem to think treating the cup like this would gain us. A cup final at Wembley is something that stays with you for life. A few extra fresh legs to potnetially gain us an extra point at Watford etc, that doesn't even last a weekend!

Our attitude to the cup stinks, there's no two ways about it

Also, think of the revenue it costs us? How much did we make out of the two Man Utd games last season? A couple of million perhaps? Not something to be sniffed at

[Wimb]

How many points would a cup run cost us then?

How many times do we lose key players through injury during games? With that in mind I'd love to see how many players we'd lose in the extra 3 or 4 games a cup run might bring us

The thrill of getting to a cup final, and the road to it, is just as enjoyable as the promotion campaign and infinately more enjoyable than the extra couple of points and places people seem to think treating the cup like this would gain us. A cup final at Wembley is something that stays with you for life. A few extra fresh legs to potnetially gain us an extra point at Watford etc, that doesn't even last a weekend!

Our attitude to the cup stinks, there's no two ways about it

Also, think of the revenue it costs us? How much did we make out of the two Man Utd games last season? A couple of million perhaps? Not something to be sniffed at

All very very valid points and I dare say I agree with most of them

What I would say is that as we're already involved in a promotion chase and can't take the risk of injuries then perhaps you have to sacrifice the cup run for the league rather then risk getting neither. That point against Watford could be crucial as we all know the difference 1 point can make, the last two seasons have seen us miss out on Europe/Survival by a single point.

The revenue point is another good one but how often did we draw a big team in the years before the Premiership? (which still grates on me, why did we keep drawing York in Division 2 and ManUre when in the Premiership ) Sadly the figures for reaching the promise land dwarf those shots in the arm of a cup run.

I don't think it's 'our attitude' that stinks, more the state of football in this country. I find it sad that the cups have become a thing to be toyed with by the big four, just as the Premiership has and I'd love to try and change that but for the here and now I don't think it's really worth it, I think you can do more damage being a Premier League side trying to change attitudes then a football league one. So I understand those that want the cup glory and I'm one of them, but right now I'm putting it on hold

[Platypuss]

So I understand those that want the cup glory and I'm one of them, but right now I'm putting it on hold

Until when? If we're not going to do it in a season when we finish eighth in the Prem, when will the time be "right"?

[readingbedding]

Same old, same old.
While Coppell's in charge you'll have to lump it.

[The 17 Bus]

The revenue point is another good one but how often did we draw a big team in the years before the Premiership? (which still grates on me, why did we keep drawing York in Division 2 and ManUre when in the Premiership ) Sadly the figures for reaching the promise land dwarf those shots in the arm of a cup run.

We drew the bigger clubs because we entered the draw at the same time as them, previously we hardly made R3 from the third tier.

Just check the draws we had at different levels. I can recall cup games in the Past, Arsenal, twice, chelsea a couple of times, West Ham (9/11) couple against Man utd inc Cantona, Man city, Newcastle, there are more than there seem to be.

[Southbank Old Boy]

As for people jumping up and down saying we won't win anything by playing squad players, do you seriously believe we could win it with a full strength team? We didn't even win here in the league a few weeks ago (ok we had 10 men but still) Maybe we could focus on trying to win every cup competition we're in but if Doyle got crocked in a 2-0 defeat in a cup to Cardiff or in a 2-1 win away at Old Trafford to put us into a semi final for that matter would you still back SSC playing a full strength side? The transfer windows have helped make cups an unnecessary risk for managers of sides fighting for promotion.

On an even more simple level, how many times has a side from outside the top ten of the Premier League won the cup in the Premiership era? Try twice and even then it was a Pompy side secure in their Premiership status and then Everton back in 1995 who were still one of the biggest teams in the country. Yes Wimbledon winning the cup was great, so was Southampton et all but football has moved on so much now and any attempts to claim otherwise and we might as well move back to Elm Park.....

Just going back to this bit, in the last ten years the following teams have all made the semi-final of the Cup (quite a few of them more than once):

Portsmouth
Cardiff
Barnsley
West Brom
Blackburn
Watford
Middlesbrough
West Ham
Newcastle
Sunderland
Millwall
Southampton
Watford
Sheff Utd
Fulham
Wycombe
Spurs

The semi might not be as good as a final, but it'd be a great day out and a money spinner for the club and a motivation for the players to play better to win their place in the side

[Royal Rebel]

Basically we go what we deserved with the side we put out....nothing.

It's the "mugs" who pay through the turnstiles that I pity. Why bother ?

[RoyalBlue]

And I'm pig sick of w'@nkers like Tim Dellor moaning about our approach to cup games......................having to listen to him once a fortnight is a big incentive for getting an away season ticket......................if Lita could take his biggest fan with him when he leaves he might save me a few quid.

Dellor is an absolute muppet and a middle clash posh w&nk, his voice and everything about him annoys me, however his comments on the FA cup is spot on, we are an embarassment to english football with our small time obnoxious * big mean rich clubs always win it* attitude. Its pathetic, its like we are having a strop because other teams have more money than us.

Except Dellor bottles out everytime when he has the chance to confront Coppell and the players when it comes to his views.

As does every other local journo. Perhaps they fear 'The Hound' treatment from the club if they ask them awkward questions.

It would be nice if someone put SC/The club on the spot about the poor supporters who spend their very hard earned cash and lots of time going to support their team only to see a 'reserve' side go through the motions (although from the sound of it, the only motions on display from the team and management today were a pile of steaming ......).

[holsgrove breaks a leg]

I don't see why so many people complain about our 'cup side' to be honest. SSC obviously feels certain players need a rest or else he wouldn't rest them would he? He's not putting out a different team just for the sake of it.

He obviously has faith in all of these squad guys do come in and do a job or else they wouldn't be playing for RFC and most of the starting XI today had played in the first team for spells this year, or in years past.

As for people jumping up and down saying we won't win anything by playing squad players, do you seriously believe we could win it with a full strength team? We didn't even win here in the league a few weeks ago (ok we had 10 men but still) Maybe we could focus on trying to win every cup competition we're in but if Doyle got crocked in a 2-0 defeat in a cup to Cardiff or in a 2-1 win away at Old Trafford to put us into a semi final for that matter would you still back SSC playing a full strength side? The transfer windows have helped make cups an unnecessary risk for managers of sides fighting for promotion.

On an even more simple level, how many times has a side from outside the top ten of the Premier League won the cup in the Premiership era? Try twice and even then it was a Pompy side secure in their Premiership status and then Everton back in 1995 who were still one of the biggest teams in the country. Yes Wimbledon winning the cup was great, so was Southampton et all but football has moved on so much now and any attempts to claim otherwise and we might as well move back to Elm Park.....

As for prestige value? What glory does a cup run get you after a fews days out and the build up? how many of us were sat here before this game saying "OMG we're playing the cup runners up!!!11!!" How often do you hear Boro fans going on about their two cup final defeats when they got relegated? Have Wycombe or Tranmere kicked on after their long cup runs? how about Leciester who won the Carling cup not once but twice in the last decade where are they now?

I take more pride in Reading being the biggest points scorers in a single season or pipping teams out over 46 games then being able to fluke our way to a cup semi final/final by pulling off 1 or 2 big results in a season.

Compare those brief moments of cup joy to the months when we thought we might be promoted and then the joy of getting there, the summer afterwards and then the whole of the Premier League experience. You'd honestly take a gamble risking players crucial to our league campaign in cup matches?

On a personal note some of the greatest Reading games I've seen we're cup games, the wins over Southampton in particular. However I can't remember many great cup games since we've moved to the Madejski. Ironically our recent success means that I don't sit and wait for the cup draw hoping we get a top team, if anything I want a minnow away.

I do hate the fact that the cup doesn't mean as much anymore but that has as much to do with the power of the biggest teams then the attitude of teams like Reading. Yes I'd love Reading to win a cup competition but until we reach that level of a stable Premier league side then sorry any cup progress is a bonus. I appreciate that the cup does have some magic for smaller teams but we'd struggle to be a big underdog unless we were playing a European challenging side.

Back on topic, none of this excuses a pretty poor performance today but it's not going to ruin my weekend like a 2-0 league defeat might.

How many points would a cup run cost us then?

How many times do we lose key players through injury during games? With that in mind I'd love to see how many players we'd lose in the extra 3 or 4 games a cup run might bring us

The thrill of getting to a cup final, and the road to it, is just as enjoyable as the promotion campaign and infinately more enjoyable than the extra couple of points and places people seem to think treating the cup like this would gain us. A cup final at Wembley is something that stays with you for life. A few extra fresh legs to potnetially gain us an extra point at Watford etc, that doesn't even last a weekend!

Our attitude to the cup stinks, there's no two ways about it

Also, think of the revenue it costs us? How much did we make out of the two Man Utd games last season? A couple of million perhaps? Not something to be sniffed at

Cup competitions zzzzzzzzz. Ever since i started supporting the royals in the early nineties reading have not had a sniff of nearly success in a cup so why bother worrying about something which, if you look at it historically it ends up being won by the big four.Its wonderful that the likes of millwall,cardiff have made the final in recent years but this has been the exception rather than the norm and did they win it in the end-no.This 'big day out' view is a bit cheesy quite frankly, yes we'd all enjoy IF the final occured but realism seems to have gone out of a lots of RFC fans window when it comes to the FA cup. At least it gives the opportunity for Coppell to assess his fringe squad and see which individuals can add something to the rest of our league campaighn-how else will we find out their worth???. All i would say that fri is important to get back on track having not won in 3.

[Southbank Old Boy]

Would we realistically have thought we could finish 8th in the Prem 5 years ago?

Realistically would you have expected us to take points off the European Champions in their own back yard? Draw with the richest club in the country at their place or beat Liverpool too?

[Wimb]

I hardly think that one year of relative success in the Premier League makes us established, second season syndrome ring any bells?

We drew the bigger clubs because we entered the draw at the same time as them, previously we hardly made R3 from the third tier.

Just check the draws we had at different levels. I can recall cup games in the Past, Arsenal, twice, chelsea a couple of times, West Ham (9/11) couple against Man utd inc Cantona, Man city, Newcastle, there are more than there seem to be.

Again I can't dispute your point but they are the exceptions rather then the standard fare, even when we made the stage of the big boys we still seemed to get as many Bradfords and West Broms and Birminghams as we did United et all played in front of half empty stadiums. IIRC we'd never ever drawn Liverpool in a cup before last year.

More to the point is not the reason those games stick out because we were such a small side pre Mad Stad? did Liverpool in the Carling Cup seem such a massive game last year? or Spurs in the FA Cup? I don't recall seeing people queuing up overnight for tickets like they did for United in 96. (Capacity issues aside you see my point?)

Just going back to this bit, in the last ten years the following teams have all made the semi-final of the Cup (quite a few of them more than once):

Portsmouth
Cardiff
Barnsley
West Brom
Blackburn
Watford
Middlesbrough
West Ham
Newcastle
Sunderland
Millwall
Southampton
Watford
Sheff Utd
Fulham
Wycombe
Spurs

The semi might not be as good as a final, but it'd be a great day out and a money spinner for the club and a motivation for the players to play better to win their place in the side

I don't dispute that it would be a great day out but how many of those sides got promoted? Sheffield United were a great example of a team who many felt ran out of steam because of cup runs.

As for motivating the players? I'm not so sure, I think the chance of playing in the Premier League and all the prestige/financial rewards it brings motivates the players quite well. Again if we were a smaller team perhaps, but arguably the players that played today SHOULD have been much more motivated and played their guts out to try and give SSC some selection headaches.

My point has been that whilst we're gunning for promotion SSC's approach seems more then reasonable in todays footballing world. If we were 12th in the Championship right now then I'd be a lot more miffed with the selection but when we're 2nd in a very tight promotion race then I totally see the logic

As for journalists confronting SSC what do you expect him to say other then the points made on this board? do you really need to have another soundbite of "I rate my squad/it's important to keep people fresh/I want to try some new ideas" you know the answers without the questions being asked to be fair.

Whilst I do appreciate some fans don't want to go and see a reserve team in the cup it's not exactly without precedent so people would have a good idea before they bought their tickets what they were going to get. It's not like Man United whereby they force you to buy cup tickets with your season ticket. Also I think that on occasion it's nice to see the next generation/fringe players get a chance to show what they can do, which of us didn't enjoy seeing A-Fed keep out United?

[Southbank Old Boy]

Plenty of teams suffer from poor form at the end of a season and fall out of promotion or play off contention, when they're in the cup it's just a nice cliched excuse for the manager and pundits to drag out

I'm sure it can be a distraction in some circumstances but it's down to the manager and the players to make sure it doesn't. They shouldn't just give up on the cup just in case

West Brom did well enough in the league despite getting to the semi's last season

As for the players being motivated to beat Cardiff today to win a place in the side, well unfortunately some of those players just aren't as good as the ones that play in the first team and have already failed to beat Cardiff twice this season, being motivated won't make them suddenly become better players

[Turns8]

I'm not reading all of that

If Coppell chooses to play squad players in the cup so be it...it's the chance that these players have to prove they are good enough for the first team...by being beaten today by the same cardiff team roughly as last week proves one thing to Coppell...that these squad players aren't ready to be used in the first team...nuff said...

Roll on Watford

[eleventh earl of mar]

I cannot help feeling that if you asked our "league" team if given the opportunity would they want to earn the right to play in a FA Cup final they would say yes.

[The 17 Bus]

I'm not reading all of that

If Coppell chooses to play squad players in the cup so be it...it's the chance that these players have to prove they are good enough for the first team...by being beaten today by the same cardiff team roughly as last week proves one thing to Coppell...that these squad players aren't ready to be used in the first team...nuff said...

Roll on Watford

If that is the case we are oxf*rd!!!