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Do we forgo the cup competitions?


The Batman

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The last two seasons have produced good league football finishes / positions where we also had good cup runs. The fa cup last year and the league Cup the season before. 

The additional energy, prep time, travel etc ultimately meant that we ran out of puff come the second half of each of those seasons. It looked like we'd got through it last year but results started to go against us come the end unfortunately. LJ's game plans are very high energy so unless he plans to adapt that somehow, I don't see how we can battle on more than one front considering what's happened the last two seasons. 

With that in mind, do we play the reserves / kids in the cup matches next year and go all guns blazing focusing on the league alone? 

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No - wins increase confidence - rotate the squad the Phil Neville way - 2 or 3 players every game - if we recruit 2 or 3 more we will have a big squad with cover for every position so a couple of changes per game should not weaken a good team.

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1 hour ago, The Batman said:

The last two seasons have produced good league football finishes / positions where we also had good cup runs. The fa cup last year and the league Cup the season before. 

The additional energy, prep time, travel etc ultimately meant that we ran out of puff come the second half of each of those seasons. It looked like we'd got through it last year but results started to go against us come the end unfortunately. LJ's game plans are very high energy so unless he plans to adapt that somehow, I don't see how we can battle on more than one front considering what's happened the last two seasons. 

With that in mind, do we play the reserves / kids in the cup matches next year and go all guns blazing focusing on the league alone? 

I’m not sure our FA Cup ‘run’ last season took much out of us - we beat two teams at home (who both got relegated) then lost another home game - and that was it ... not much to write home about and not enough to provide any excuses of the “ran out of puff” variety ...

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We try to win every match, as other posters have said we have a big squad, have confidence in it.

Our cup runs have raised our profile , put some money in the coffers , given the club some rare moments of glory and shown us that we can compete with and beat Prem teams which is fantastic for the belief that we can get to that level and win some games there.

We will also have gained some new supporters who came along to watch the Prem opposition and will have got the City bug .

For me it’s all good .

Whilst the league is the bread and butter a fun cup run is the icing on the cherry.

 

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Was chatting to my mate about this last night. He’s an Oxford United fan. He said that then beating Swansea in the FA cup gave them confidence to go on a good run in the league. Before that they were struggling. I’ve always thought the cup runs do nothing but good for the team, so found it strange when we choked two seasons ago.

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1 hour ago, reddogkev said:

Every season I always hope we'll win one of the cups, so no, let's go for it!  Nothing better than a league and cup double!

Bristol Rovers are aiming for a league & cup double this season. 

They can’t pinpoint exactly when between August - May yet, but their hope is to win a game in each. 

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Yes - the clubs that we are emulating, or trying to emulate, and attempting to join, in the business-end of this division and the one above, they mostly "forgo" the cups, so so now must we.

All this "wins breed confidence" is 20th century British bulldog antiquity. We are trying to be a very modern, 21st century outfit now, if you hadn't noticed. It won't hurt for one year - while we have a bigger goal in our sights - to let Plymuff or some other lower league turds have a (nother) big day out win here. We got bigger fish, etc.

Buy a couple more Gilmartins and Rowes and call up some academy prospects and let them run around in the cup matches.  

 

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12 minutes ago, Moments of Pleasure said:

Yes - the clubs that we are emulating, or trying to emulate, and attempting to join, in the business-end of this division and the one above, they mostly "forgo" the cups, so so now must we.

 

Man City, Liverpool, Spurs, Chelsea & Arsenal, hardly limped out of the cup competitions last season..! 

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Interesting to see that the majority would fight on a number of fronts rather than focus on the league. I was just interested in what people's thoughts on it were. For all I know, my fellow otibers were contemplating the idea but didn't want the backlash in case others disagreed. 

Wonder what people's views would be if we got to the fa cup quarter final against Man City but the game after was Cardiff away which was a must win to catch them for promotion and Cardiff had no game that weekend. 

Ultimately it is all hypotheticals at present. Here's to a good season ?

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6 minutes ago, The Batman said:

Interesting to see that the majority would fight on a number of fronts rather than focus on the league. I was just interested in what people's thoughts on it were. For all I know, my fellow otibers were contemplating the idea but didn't want the backlash in case others disagreed. 

Wonder what people's views would be if we got to the fa cup quarter final against Man City but the game after was Cardiff away which was a must win to catch them for promotion and Cardiff had no game that weekend. 

Ultimately it is all hypotheticals at present. Here's to a good season ?

Winning breeds confidence and provides opportunities. Look at the coverage we got for getting to the semis of the League Cup - it would’ve raised our profile with prospective players no doubt as well as all the other benefits it brought in terms of revenue, exposure and most importantly fan memories and pride!  In my mind it really is as simple as that and we have a big enough squad with cover to go for it on all fronts. 

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11 minutes ago, lenred said:

Winning breeds confidence and provides opportunities. Look at the coverage we got for getting to the semis of the League Cup - it would’ve raised our profile with prospective players no doubt as well as all the other benefits it brought in terms of revenue, exposure and most importantly fan memories and pride!  In my mind it really is as simple as that and we have a big enough squad with cover to go for it on all fronts. 

Slight crack in the armour there. Opportunities for fringe players so the best players would indeed be rested for it. Last year Pack & Brownhill were running on empty towards the end but they still gave their all. Yes Smith was injured, but LJ should have had more faith in Walsh or signed a loan in January. 

2 sides to this. Liverpool would not have won the champions league and got 97 points in the prem if they didn't get knocked out of the league Cup and fa cup so early in their respected rounds.

On the other hand, Man City won 3 trophies so would have played more games than everyone else. Course they have the wider better squad to do that. 

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Surprised nobody has asked this:  Is there any evidence at all that the Wenger approach works?  Does playing the young players in the cups help the first XI do better in the league?

It's been tried often enough that maybe someone would have studied it even if it can't be an exact science.

I have to say I think it would create a poor impression, we are not a big enough club that we can afford to take competitions like the FA Cup and League Cup less than seriously. 

I'd consider it if we had to play in whatever the lower league trophy is called now though.

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3 minutes ago, Nibor said:

Surprised nobody has asked this:  Is there any evidence at all that the Wenger approach works?  Does playing the young players in the cups help the first XI do better in the league?

It's been tried often enough that maybe someone would have studied it even if it can't be an exact science.

I have to say I think it would create a poor impression, we are not a big enough club that we can afford to take competitions like the FA Cup and League Cup less than seriously. 

I'd consider it if we had to play in whatever the lower league trophy is called now though.

With me it's a matter of perception and how this club has changed since Cotterill got us promoted. Back then, I was happy staying up in this league and if we got to the latter rounds of the cups, then brilliant. 

Now from the last few seasons of finishing just outside the playoffs, it's made me think that we can make it because of the players we have and if that means we treat the cup games differently in order to achieve that then so be it. 

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I think we've had good cup runs because we've played strong squads in the cup.

Since we've got a larger squad, I think that the cup should be reserved for fringe/academy players to show what they can do. Rotation should be key in this season especially, but I'd like to see us use the cup as a way to introduce talent, and to see what they can do against tough opposition.

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1 hour ago, The Batman said:

With me it's a matter of perception and how this club has changed since Cotterill got us promoted. Back then, I was happy staying up in this league and if we got to the latter rounds of the cups, then brilliant.  

Now from the last few seasons of finishing just outside the playoffs, it's made me think that we can make it because of the players we have and if that means we treat the cup games differently in order to achieve that then so be it. 

I'd be much more in favour of it if there was clear evidence of it working, but I think there are so many intangibles it's unlikely to be clearly better.  I think morale, mentality, confidence all play at least as much a part as injuries, fatigue and so on.  Unless there's a clear advantage I'd rather have a better chance of a few more memorable nights like the Manchester games last season, rare though those are.

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