JH Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 It's a bit daft, obviously, but the rule about fielding your strongest team is there for a reason: to ensure the league is a fair as possible. Wolves handed Man Utd 3 free points. That is indisputable, imo. If he fails to provide the same easy points for other teams then he has given Man Utd an unfair advantage. I don't see the problem. If they'd played full strength, as the games against Arsenal and Chelsea showed, they'd have still handed Man Utd 3 points. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dokko Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 It's a bit daft, obviously, but the rule about fielding your strongest team is there for a reason: to ensure the league is a fair as possible. Wolves handed Man Utd 3 free points. That is indisputable, imo. If he fails to provide the same easy points for other teams then he has given Man Utd an unfair advantage. What next; making sure teams put in the same effort in to a game as they do for their derby's? Because we couldn't possibly allow the other teams in the league an easier game for that would be an unfair advantage. Why have managers at all? Why not have the FA pick the teams for us all? In fact why bother playing football? Lets just allow the FA to decide the results for us and save us all time and money. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
OzzieMandias Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 In a league where all clubs have to have big squads, it's pretty much impossible to legislate what constitutes someone's "strongest possible team". Meanwhile, McCarthy is fighting a season-long war, and one game is just a battle. I think his decision makes sense, even though it would have pissed me off if I'd been a travelling Wolves fan. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keefaz Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 It's a bit daft, obviously, but the rule about fielding your strongest team is there for a reason: to ensure the league is a fair as possible. Wolves handed Man Utd 3 free points. That is indisputable, imo. If he fails to provide the same easy points for other teams then he has given Man Utd an unfair advantage. I don't see the problem. If they'd played full strength, as the games against Arsenal and Chelsea showed, they'd have still handed Man Utd 3 points. Probably, but it's impossible to know, tbh. FWIW, I don't think it's an issue, but it's something that needs to be watched, tbh. If 5 or 6 teams did this, the league would clearly suffer. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayson Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 So what's the solution, make every manager submit a team selection to the FA for approval before each match? The FA can't do a damn thing about this because the fact is that they've been letting the big boys get away with it for years. Let's just be clear here. You either play by the rules or you don't, you can't make it up as you go along when it suits. The rule states that you have to play your strongest side. It doesn't state that you have to play your strongest side...unless you happen to be Manchester United. It doesn't state that you have to play your strongest side...unless you think the reserves have a good chance of winning. It simply states that you have to play your strongest side. The top four have been flouting this rule for donkey's years (and to be fair the other teams in European competition too) What Manchester United did against Hull at the end of last season was just as bad. It gets glossed over because ManU won, and the game didn't end up mattering anyway, but that's not the point. It might have mattered to us, and ManU might have lost. Does anyone seriously think that had they gone in to that match needing three points that that would have been Fergusson's team sheet? They broke the same rule, clear and simple. Of course it's a rule that's realistically unenforceable anyway. Who's to say exactly what the 'strongest team' is? The only one who can do that is the manager surely? There's no alternative, unless you take up the option I pointed to earlier. I agree that this seems to be the first time that a team have appeared to deliberately 'thrown' a competitive match, but if you have a rule that is designed to prevent such a thing...and then spend years blatantly ignoring said rule, it's what's known as 'painting yourself in to a corner' Which is exactly why the FA won't be abl to do a thing, and if they do then it's blatant hypocracy. I dont disagree that the big teams break how the rule is written out, but i do not think they are going against the initial reasons the rule was put into place. So i understand why theyd have less problems with the big teams doing it than the smaller, that doesnt make it fair but it makes sense. I agree that they basically need to completely reword it as things have changed with the squad depth now of the best teams. Man U's situation last season wasnt the same from where im coming from. They already had the league won, so winning didnt benefit them much in the first place. The very end of the season is pretty much the only time outside of europe where that applies. I dont think that situation was onfair on us, thats how the fixtures panned out & the potential league winners were always hulls last game. Even after all that, saying "what if" they lost is a pretty big what if. They didnt lose, they won so the team he put out was more than capable enough & he did nothing wrong. The idea of all these tables though is to progress up them, if you cant get anywhere closer to doing that by winning you're not doing much wrong if you dont go for it. In those situations, those sides have already temporarily achieved what they had set out to achieve, fair play. Wolves havent, they had the points there to win & common sense shows they just gave up in advance. They dont have a squad capable of making 10 changes and contending with most championship teams let alone Man United. If their manager goes into certain games with that attitude they may aswell not play in this league. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mowen Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 McCarthy's a cunt. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Brummiemag Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Whats the point in supporting a football team if all that matters is finance and grim survival at all costs. Even if McCarthy's tactics mean a win against Burnley tomorrow then its still all wrong. You can play teams like Burnley and Wigan every week in in the Championship so Wolves may as well have stayed there if thats the height of their ambition. Surely supporting your team is about testing yourself against the top teams, trying to get a result, having a good cup run, trying to win a trophy. Its so sad that that so many people on here can't see through the Sky tv Premier League bullshit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayson Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 It's a bit daft, obviously, but the rule about fielding your strongest team is there for a reason: to ensure the league is a fair as possible. Wolves handed Man Utd 3 free points. That is indisputable, imo. If he fails to provide the same easy points for other teams then he has given Man Utd an unfair advantage. I don't see the problem. If they'd played full strength, as the games against Arsenal and Chelsea showed, they'd have still handed Man Utd 3 points. Burnley lost 3-0 at Chelsea, 4-0 at liverpool after the Man U game. Had full knowledge that the next side they're playing was resting 10 players so theyd be fresh against them & had to play Arsenal with only a 3 day gap afterwards for the next fixture. They played their first team and got a draw on wednesday. Thats the difference in attitude really, Burnleys isnt crap & they deserve to hammer them for it. Lookin foward to it now. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Neil Posted December 18, 2009 Share Posted December 18, 2009 Whats the point in supporting a football team if all that matters is finance and grim survival at all costs. Even if McCarthy's tactics mean a win against Burnley tomorrow then its still all wrong. You can play teams like Burnley and Wigan every week in in the Championship so Wolves may as well have stayed there if thats the height of their ambition. Surely supporting your team is about testing yourself against the top teams, trying to get a result, having a good cup run, trying to win a trophy. Its so sad that that so many people on here can't see through the Sky tv Premier League bullshit. Depends how you see it as a fan. Take 2 scenarios: You go down, but you enjoy a couple of victories against Man Utd and Liverpool for example, or: You get beat by the bigger teams but you scrape victories against sides around you, and finish 17th and stay up. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaizero Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 Paul Merson speaks sense for once: Should Mick McCarthy have left 10 players out against Manchester United? I'll tell you on Monday morning... The pressure is really on McCarthy because if they lose to Burnley, he'll get slaughtered in the papers the next day. I can't believe that decision. It was the perfect time to go to Manchester United; it was a Tuesday night, United had just lost to Villa, they had a makeshift back four and Wolves were coming off a good win. There have been plenty of strange results this year and anything could have happened. Burnley drew with Arsenal in midweek and Portsmouth gave Chelsea a game, so there's no reason why Wolves couldn't get a result at United. Manchester United have not been rampant this year and I don't think they'd have knocked the stuffing out of the Wolves first team. That was a "free swing" for Wolves, there was no pressure on them, so why leave so many players out? Wolves were playing Saturday-Tuesday-Sunday, so there was ample recovery time for the players. Also, many of those lads worked hard to get promotion last season - and they did that to play at places like Old Trafford. Will they be happy to miss out on that so they can focus on Burnley at home? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest toonlass Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 The real question is: Did Manchester United conceded the game to Fulham today? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaizero Posted December 19, 2009 Share Posted December 19, 2009 The real question is: Did Manchester United conceded the game to Fulham today? No, they have seven first team players out injured. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 The real question is: Did Manchester United conceded the game to Fulham today? Thick Mick failed to realise Man U were there for the taking and raised the white flag. Fulham didn't. Well done Roy 3 pts and counting... Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dinho lad Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Paul Merson speaks sense for once: Should Mick McCarthy have left 10 players out against Manchester United? I'll tell you on Monday morning... The pressure is really on McCarthy because if they lose to Burnley, he'll get slaughtered in the papers the next day. I can't believe that decision. It was the perfect time to go to Manchester United; it was a Tuesday night, United had just lost to Villa, they had a makeshift back four and Wolves were coming off a good win. There have been plenty of strange results this year and anything could have happened. Burnley drew with Arsenal in midweek and Portsmouth gave Chelsea a game, so there's no reason why Wolves couldn't get a result at United. Manchester United have not been rampant this year and I don't think they'd have knocked the stuffing out of the Wolves first team. That was a "free swing" for Wolves, there was no pressure on them, so why leave so many players out? Wolves were playing Saturday-Tuesday-Sunday, so there was ample recovery time for the players. Also, many of those lads worked hard to get promotion last season - and they did that to play at places like Old Trafford. Will they be happy to miss out on that so they can focus on Burnley at home? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Roger Kint Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 The real question is: Did Manchester United conceded the game to Fulham today? Thick Mick failed to realise Man U were there for the taking and raised the white flag. Fulham didn't. Well done Roy 3 pts and counting... Some people may suggest that Fulham(in form) at home to Man Utd is a slightly different game than Man Utd at home to ultra shite Wolves, well done in not falling into the common sense approach Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayson Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 The common sense approach is giving up on a game against a side with no fit central defenders ? They easily could have sneaked a goal against that team, any side could in the prem right now. On their day, they get a win. Fulham got 3 without reply, all you need is one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Taylor Swift Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 So, given Wolves are up 2-0, I'd say McCarthy's decision has been vindicated. What say you? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TRon Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 So, given Wolves are up 2-0, I'd say McCarthy's decision has been vindicated. What say you? I think he's a tit. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest firetotheworks Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 His decision to make. Obviously the right one. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilko Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Fair play to Thick Mick. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayson Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Posted it in wrong thread: Burnley had lost 7 out of 8 away games so far this season, including to portsmouth at the bottom. If mccarthy thinks he needs to rest all of his team to play them, he may aswell ask for relegation now. Rubbish win, even if he gets it. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest firetotheworks Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 Posted it in wrong thread: Burnley had lost 7 out of 8 away games so far this season, including to portsmouth at the bottom. If mccarthy thinks he needs to rest all of his team to play them, he may aswell ask for relegation now. Rubbish win, even if he gets it. There's no such thing. Matches between two relegation fighting teams is a different beast altogether than the average away game. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilko Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 If mccarthy thinks he needs to rest all of his team to play them, he may aswell ask for relegation now. Rubbish win, even if he gets it. Bollocks, it's a great win considering who it's against. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayson Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 As i say, portsmouth beat them after a run of 3 losses previously. That was another relegation scrap. If you're resting your whole team to play the worse sides in the league, somethings massively wrong. Theres no excuses for it atall. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pilko Posted December 20, 2009 Share Posted December 20, 2009 If you're resting your whole team to play the worse sides in the league, somethings massively wrong. Theres no excuses for it atall. How not? He'll know Burnley put in one hell of a shift in midweek against Arsenal, so he'll want a team of fresh legs, and also it's a home game which is pretty vital for them to win. He's the manager, he should be allowed to play who he wants when he wants. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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