by Super Kevin Bremner! »
04 Jan 2009 00:28
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.