take a dive in the carling?

[Guest TampaToon]

just took a look at the upcoming schedule, and noticed that post-watford, we've got an important but rough stretch where we play a run of teams very close to us in points (don't know if i'm permitted to list the run of fixtures so i won't)

 

in the 10 days following the chelsea carling cup fixture, we play 3 teams currently within 8 points of us - given that carling cup success isn't going to impact our european chances, nor is it likely to be sufficient to save roeder's job, should we just load up the squad with less experienced\talented\important (i'm thinking krul\harper, luque, rossi, pattison, huntington, and the rest of the reserve lot) and just take what comes? 2 days after that stretch, we're looking at man u at home.

 

we're not exactly likely to get a result against chelsea, and even if we did, we have 3 vastly more important competitions to worry about and would benefit from fewer fixtures - being out of the carling cup gives us up to 2 fewer midweek dates (each equating to a full week's rest), including likely having to go through liverpool or arsenal to finish it, and keeping key players out gives them a week's rest to start the run strong against tottenham at home

 

is it important to fight the good fight in that match even if we're looking at a loss? would it be too detrimental to the confidence of the team if that squad gets dominated by chelsea, or would the team acknowledge that the side that got beat down isn't the side that's expected to carry us through the other 3 competitions?

 

i've seen some on here advocating weakened sides against the best prem teams because "we won't get a result anyways", and i disagree with that sentiment, but in the carling freaking cup, i think it's worthy of discussion

[Nicky]

I can see your point,  but I think if we were to manage to knock Chelsea out of the carling cup,  then that would be much more benificial to us in terms of confidence and moral,  then it would be to rest some players.

 

 

I'd be a bit annoyed at having got this far and not rested players,  to suddenly play a weakened side and admit defeat.

[JH]

I say we go for the Carling Cup. We can get a result against Chelsea, we have done in 5 out of their last 6 visits here. If we knock out Chelsea, then only one team IMO stands in our way of winning the cup and that's the winner of the Liverpool vs Arsenal game.

 

Should definately be looking to get a trophy this year instead of admitting defeat so early on, even if staying in the Premiership is priority.

[Yorkie]

We beat Chelsea and we're in with a chance.

 

We haven't got a cat in hells chance of winning the FA Cup or the UEFA.

 

I'd rather we go for the Carling Cup.

[Guest]

As with the UEFA Cup, we should go all out to win it. We're not going down, we're not going to finish top 6, so go for the cups.

[Guest eyeball_tickler]

As with the UEFA Cup, we should go all out to win it. We're not going down, we're not going to finish top 6, so go for the cups.

 

indeed. we have nothing to lose now, we've already over-achieved in the cups.

[ujpest doza]

just took a look at the upcoming schedule, and noticed that post-watford, we've got an important but rough stretch where we play a run of teams very close to us in points (don't know if i'm permitted to list the run of fixtures so i won't)

 

in the 10 days following the chelsea carling cup fixture, we play 3 teams currently within 8 points of us - given that carling cup success isn't going to impact our european chances, nor is it likely to be sufficient to save roeder's job, should we just load up the squad with less experienced\talented\important (i'm thinking krul\harper, luque, rossi, pattison, huntington, and the rest of the reserve lot) and just take what comes? 2 days after that stretch, we're looking at man u at home.

 

we're not exactly likely to get a result against chelsea, and even if we did, we have 3 vastly more important competitions to worry about and would benefit from fewer fixtures - being out of the carling cup gives us up to 2 fewer midweek dates (each equating to a full week's rest), including likely having to go through liverpool or arsenal to finish it, and keeping key players out gives them a week's rest to start the run strong against tottenham at home

 

is it important to fight the good fight in that match even if we're looking at a loss? would it be too detrimental to the confidence of the team if that squad gets dominated by chelsea, or would the team acknowledge that the side that got beat down isn't the side that's expected to carry us through the other 3 competitions?

 

i've seen some on here advocating weakened sides against the best prem teams because "we won't get a result anyways", and i disagree with that sentiment, but in the carling freaking cup, i think it's worthy of discussion

 

Do you not want to see your team win a trophy?

 

Beggars belief that someone supporting a team who haven't won a domestic trophy for 51 years should advocate playing a weakened team in the latter stages of a domestic cup competition against one of the best teams in the country.

 

We beat the twats at home in the league last season, knocked them out of the FA Cup the season before so why should we give up before a ball is kicked??

 

 

[Guest Pugwash]

Haven't won a domestic trophy in 50 years, get to the QFs of one and you advocate a weakened team?  bluesigh.gif

[Guest cybermansrevenge]

Whilst I don't think the Carling Cup is a prority I can't help but feel that the Watford match heralded this recent good performances. We played pretty poorly that night but winning on pens visibly gee'd the players up. So I don't think we should play the walking wounded but we shouldn't throw the towel in on a (hopefully) winning streak.