Marmoset

I'm absolutely dumbfounded that fans would be happy to accept crumbs from the table (that was a Keegan expression btw, for a team that dared to take a point from us in the old second division) when we are finally showing some belated signs of ambition. Winning a cup was a cop out for Ashley to aim low as possible and hope for the best. A cop out for Ashley? He hasn't given a f*** about the cups in a decade. Neither has anyone else in the last decade. Ask some of the fans of losing FA cup finalists if they cared. Absolute nonsense.

As a manager it's about instilling a group mentality of professionalism and giving 100% though. It's more the impression allowing someone who doesn't take training seriously to suffer no consequences conveys to the rest of the group than the actual impact on their ability to perform. Obviously should have been starting for us, but if those clips are the norm you can't be expecting to get away with that for a team like psg who have very talented but also hard working players fighting for your place.

We can have mundane league seasons anytime. The experience of 'fluking' a cup would be something you'd look back on and talk about forever.

I doubt he was handing out bibles to Muslims at training like

this one

He's great but he clearly can't be that arsed about the less exciting bits of being a footballer.

Wasn't there a video of him here doing star jumps of similar quality?

If we're talking best possible realistic circumstances, lets say we're as good as spurs are in 5 years time. They've won 1 league cup in the last 10 years. People talking about multiple cups in the future are being a bit optimistic, even with Rafa.

Yeah you can't be doing that if you're a big star, nevermind some young lad on the fringes.

Why would Rafa be so much more likely to depart us if we won the fa cup and narrowly lost a playoff final than if we were promoted? Surely he'd stick around an extra year in this hypothetical?

Surely if you are the weaker team it's better to have a one leg game?

It's just all media hype though

And if Rafa gets pissed off with the regime and leaves within 2-3 years? Back to bog standard (or worse) managers without any great cup winning memories to look back on?

League first, both hopefully. The cup will come anyway if Rafa's still here as long as Pardew was. I think people are underestimating how hard it'll be for us to win a cup, even if Rafa stays 5 years.

40% don't think Southampton should take him.

How many people here even saw Pele in his prime when they were old enough to fully understand football? Or even Maradona for that matter? Leads me into a pet hate. People under 45 claiming one way or the other as to who was better between Pele, Maradona or how Messi compares. Just say who the best footballer in your lifetime is and be done with it.

You have to be absolutely exceptional in other areas if you are weak in the air to be a good cb.

In fairness it's pretty important for a centre back

I find it staggering that people would take promotion over a cup. This club has won ONE trophy in my lifetime. I'm old. Fairs cup? or you are an old bugger It's the new generation unfortunately, there brought up that the premier league is the be all and end all but in reality it's not. The football league has 92 teams in it not 20 Of course staying in the top division is the aim(whatever they call it) but it's not success, not really silverware is I'd do anything to see us win a cup, who remembers that team that finishes 17th and just stays up? Nothings guaranteed but I do feel that if we don't get promoted this year, we will eventually, it will just take longer I don't think any of us think the PL is the be all and end all, I really like the championship and I like winning almost every week much more than the PL and survival. However I know that if we don't get in PL at the first time of asking it becomes a lot more difficult the second year and even more so the third. Cup or not, I can't see Benitez sticking around if we fail for promotion. Financially his hands will be tied, we may even have to sell to bring the wage bill down. Unfortunately, financially, to the people that matter, the PL IS the be all and end all. On paper, cup every day of the week, I'd love to see us win something, but realistically, for progression, to keep Rafa, we need promotion more than we need a cup. What's the goal of keeping Rafa though? To win a cup eventually?

Or we could get promoted, Ashley messes Rafa around, we get relegated over and over again and and up in non league. This is why hypothetical threads shouldn't be allowed without very clearly defined outcomes Edit: in response to KI

A cup= fa cup btw in this pointless hypothetical to me

And they were outliers, came about through a mix of form, circumstances and luck. Wasn't some master team building and strategy. Of course it can happen, that's not at all what I said, just emphasising how hard it is to win a cup even with a great manager and a good team. I don't understand the idea of preferring going up and having a chance at winning a cup, over actually winning a cup.

Keegan and Bobby had better players than we are likely to have for at least over the next 5 years with Benitez, they were great managers, and we didnt win a cup. It's not as simple as get promoted, Rafa does his thing for a few years and we naturally win something.