Cup game Saturday

[Guest Red to the world]

Apart from the money is it really important ?

We are not going to win the FA Cup and to injure / tire / risk our promotion drive just to get one round further is a logistical nonsense.

Promotion is everything - of course I hope we win on Saturday but if we lose I will not care less as long as we have put in a good / average performance.

Or would some sacrifice promotion for a good cup run - not many I think ?

[Seend Red]

Apart from the money is it really important ?

We are not going to win the FA Cup and to injure / tire / risk our promotion drive just to get one round further is a logistical nonsense.

Promotion is everything - of course I hope we win on Saturday but if we lose I will not care less as long as we have put in a good / average performance.

Or would some sacrifice promotion for a good cup run - not many I think ?

If Boro turn up and play well we stand little chance regardless so let's just enjoy the day for what it is, a third tier side taking on a 1st division one.

But if we were to best them can you imagine the buzz and the confidence that would run through the veins of our football club, It's funny how no one worrys about playing to many games when their winning!!

A win on Saturday would be fantastic and could only be positive for the team and our season but I guess the outcome has more to do with Boro than Bristol City.

[Collis]

What a stupid question.

Why would a cup run hinder our promotion hopes?

Honestly, I don't know where this myth comes from, success breeds success and if we win on Saturday I can see nothing but it helping our chances of promotion.

Look at our form after the Coventry game! Confidence came on leaps and bounds, we have been a changed team both home and away! Imagine the confidence if we could beat a Premiership side on Saturday.

I also believe that the fitness of the team this year means that we can afford to still be in two cups and still maintain good results in the league.

Who would really "not care" if we didn't win on Saturday? I know it will be tough but that wouldn't stop me being gutted if we got knocked out.

[Guest Red to the world]

What a stupid question.

Why would a cup run hinder our promotion hopes?

Honestly, I don't know where this myth comes from, success breeds success and if we win on Saturday I can see nothing but it helping our chances of promotion.

Look at our form after the Coventry game! Confidence came on leaps and bounds, we have been a changed team both home and away! Imagine the confidence if we could beat a Premiership side on Saturday.

I also believe that the fitness of the team this year means that we can afford to still be in two cups and still maintain good results in the league.

Who would really "not care" if we didn't win on Saturday? I know it will be tough but that wouldn't stop me being gutted if we got knocked out.

The words of the young !

Lets play Brooker if he is 55% and knacker him for God knows how long.

Lets get a few more yellow cards in the heat of the cup and lose key players for key league games.

Lets risk some serious injuries for a competition we will never win and lose more key players that way.

You will learn when your youthful enthusiasm diminishes ( been there years ago ) and not a criticism I assure you but for BCFC promotion is everything and everthing and everything and the FA Cup is quite irrelevant.

Sorry but tis true !

[Collis]

The words of the young !

Lets play Brooker if he is 55% and knacker him for God knows how long.

Lets get a few more yellow cards in the heat of the cup and lose key players for key league games.

Lets risk some serious injuries for a competition we will never win and lose more key players that way.

You will learn when your youthful enthusiasm diminishes ( been there years ago ) and not a criticism I assure you but for BCFC promotion is everything and everthing and everything and the FA Cup is quite irrelevant.

Sorry but tis true !

If all else fails, patronise me. Good one.

I am 19 years of age, I have travelled round New Zealand on my own at 18 and lived independently for 2 months. Found my way from London > Thailand > Oz > New Zealand, organised my route myself, cooked meals on open fires in the middle of a forest with spiders and snakes crawling at my feet and generally seen some shocking things, so don't make out I'm some naive drop-out teenager!

Some of you're points are true, but I couldn't think for a minute of sacrificing what the FA Cup has bought us.

• 21,000 fans back at AG.
• A whole new level of confidence and team spirit
• Money.
• The chance to show we can compete in the Championship.
• National recognition.
• We are being taken seriously for once

I could go on, but then again i'm not entitled to an opinion being 19 and all.

[Guest Red to the world]

If all else fails, patronise me. Good one.

I am 19 years of age, I have travelled round New Zealand on my own at 18 and lived independently for 2 months. Found my way from London > Thailand > Oz > New Zealand, organised my route myself, cooked meals on open fires in the middle of a forest with spiders and snakes crawling at my feet and generally seen some shocking things, so don't make out I'm some naive drop-out teenager!

Some of you're points are true, but I couldn't think for a minute of sacrificing what the FA Cup has bought us.

• 21,000 fans back at AG.
• A whole new level of confidence and team spirit
• Money.
• The chance to show we can compete in the Championship.
• National recognition.
• We are being taken seriously for once

I could go on, but then again i'm not entitled to an opinion being 19 and all.

Of course you are entitled to your opinion my friend !

I had done most of what you have when I was 18 and it was a lot harder in the sixties so I wouldn't patronise anyone.

BUT..........whatever our achievements and so on in life that has nothing to do with our opinions re football.

Truth is the VAST MAJORITY of die hard City supporters would sacrifice anything for promotion - particularly auto promotion.

And I mean anything - including a competition we are never going to win.

When you have had 40 years of mostly major dissapointment you will understand - and that is not being patronising.

I lived rough in Vietnam when the war was on ( not by design I assure you ) so you have got nothing over me but would be happy to have a drink and swap yarns as the US GI's used to say !

[downendcity]

If all else fails, patronise me. Good one.

I am 19 years of age, I have travelled round New Zealand on my own at 18 and lived independently for 2 months. Found my way from London > Thailand > Oz > New Zealand, organised my route myself, cooked meals on open fires in the middle of a forest with spiders and snakes crawling at my feet and generally seen some shocking things, so don't make out I'm some naive drop-out teenager!

Collis,

After all that, you must be one of few for who the gatering at Ashton Gate holds no fear!

[Barry]

What a stupid question.

Why would a cup run hinder our promotion hopes?

Honestly, I don't know where this myth comes from, success breeds success and if we win on Saturday I can see nothing but it helping our chances of promotion.

Look at our form after the Coventry game! Confidence came on leaps and bounds, we have been a changed team both home and away! Imagine the confidence if we could beat a Premiership side on Saturday.

I also believe that the fitness of the team this year means that we can afford to still be in two cups and still maintain good results in the league.

Who would really "not care" if we didn't win on Saturday? I know it will be tough but that wouldn't stop me being gutted if we got knocked out.

it's always going to be gutting to get knocked out of the most special domestic cup competition. but it wont be the end of the word

i think we should care about the F.A cup as putting in a good performance could fill the players with a great amount of confidence that the could take in to the league.

[Barry]

The words of the young !

Lets play Brooker if he is 55% and knacker him for God knows how long.

Lets get a few more yellow cards in the heat of the cup and lose key players for key league games.

Lets risk some serious injuries for a competition we will never win and lose more key players that way.

You will learn when your youthful enthusiasm diminishes ( been there years ago ) and not a criticism I assure you but for BCFC promotion is everything and everthing and everything and the FA Cup is quite irrelevant.

Sorry but tis true !

oh and Red to the world you talk about bookings and injuries:

well if we didn't have this cup game McCombe would be missing a league game and brooker has more chance of being fit for cheltenham on the 31st than if it was on sat, so i think your arguement contradicts itself

sorry but its true

[Guest Red to the world]

oh and Red to the world you talk about bookings and injuries:

well if we didn't have this cup game McCombe would be missing a league game and brooker has more chance of being fit for cheltenham on the 31st than if it was on sat, so i think your arguement contradicts itself

sorry but its true

Not if we play Brooker less than 100% fit cos we have no one else and aggravate the injury.

Not if one of our many heavily carded players gets another one.

This is a nothing game - even you can't believe we will win the cup - so the only positives are money and the negatives are risk, risk, risk.

Sorry but its true.

[Guest Scroobs]

I personally hope we put up a good fight on Saturday, and if we do lose it will not bother me too much, the league is much more important than the FA Cup (worried about injuries and fixture pile up's).......if it was likely that we'd win the FA cup, then my last statement would be different.

I just think we all need to enjoy the day and bask in the joys of a sell out AG - you never know, with what we've been doing recently and it being the FA cup, let's face it anything could happen - the worse result for us would be a draw.

[Guest zidereddy]

Collis,

After all that, you must be one of few for who the gatering at Ashton Gate holds no fear!

and i thought the crocodile hunter had passed to the other side god bless him !!

up the reds

[Guest Red to the world]

I personally hope we put up a good fight on Saturday, and if we do lose it will not bother me too much, the league is much more important than the FA Cup (worried about injuries and fixture pile up's).......if it was likely that we'd win the FA cup, then my last statement would be different.

I just think we all need to enjoy the day and bask in the joys of a sell out AG - you never know, with what we've been doing recently and it being the FA cup, let's face it anything could happen - the worse result for us would be a draw.

My thoughts exactly Scroobs - and a draw would be a disaster I agree - though many on this board won't !

[Guest iWurzel]

Red to the World

You make some good points in your posts, Cup runs always carry the risk of accumulating unwanted fatigue and worse, the possibility of injuries, but I also agree with the "success breeding success" theory.

Do you think we would have beaten Oldham 3-0 away if we'd lost to Coventry in the replay mid-week? Morale does a wonderful thing to a team, look at Greece in Euro 2004. Were they the best team in the competition? No, in fact they weren't even the best team in the final *on paper* however team spirit and morale from winning and being in that match inspired them to victory.

Personally, I like most people don't think for one minute that we will win the F.A. Cup. I see no reason, however, why we cannot progress, and a victory over a Premiership side will certainly not harm the morale amongst the players when we return our attention to the promotion campaign.

[Guest Red to the world]

Red to the World

You make some good points in your posts, Cup runs always carry the risk of accumulating unwanted fatigue and worse, the possibility of injuries, but I also agree with the "success breeding success" theory.

Do you think we would have beaten Oldham 3-0 away if we'd lost to Coventry in the replay mid-week? Morale does a wonderful thing to a team, look at Greece in Euro 2004. Were they the best team in the competition? No, in fact they weren't even the best team in the final *on paper* however team spirit and morale from winning and being in that match inspired them to victory.

Personally, I like most people don't think for one minute that we will win the F.A. Cup. I see no reason, however, why we cannot progress, and a victory over a Premiership side will certainly not harm the morale amongst the players when we return our attention to the promotion campaign.

Fair comment but success will not breed success if your top players have been ruled out chasing an unattainable dream.

Have a look back over the last 4 or 5 seasons and see how many promotion hopefuls have suddenly collapsed cos they had a good cup run.

Paints trophy I consider irrelevant.

Chase a dream and lose the reality - Bill S said that at Liverpool albeit about much higher stakes but same applies IMO - could be wrong of course - perhaps we will win the cup and not get promoted - proves his point really !

[Guest iWurzel]

Fair comment but success will not breed success if your top players have been ruled out chasing an unattainable dream.

Have a look back over the last 4 or 5 seasons and see how many promotion hopefuls have suddenly collapsed cos they had a good cup run.

Paints trophy I consider irrelevant.

Chase a dream and lose the reality - Bill S said that at Liverpool albeit about much higher stakes but same applies IMO - could be wrong of course - perhaps we will win the cup and not get promoted - proves his point really !

Again, a fair point, but there's no reason why we can't win the JPT and be promoted at the same time, after a reasonable cup run. We all know that we won't win the FA Cup, so we're not going to be seeing it through until it's over, and two more fixtures and the JPT is over until April (should we proceed to the final) so it's not as bad as some are making out. It's not like we have five competitions to juggle. One is as good as over fixture wise, and the F.A Cup...who knows but I can't see more than one fixture more after 'Boro should we get a result on Saturday.

At the end of the day, what happens in the cup happens. We're not, like big clubs, going to feild second-strings in the cup until it gets serious, it's always been serious for us from the start, we don't have that luxury. Morale will also add to the squads pre-existing strength. Admittedly there is the increased risk of injury but that's not just the cup, there's as much chance of key players becoming injured during the course of the League campaign.

Saturday will be a good occasion and a good day for Bristol City and it's players and supporters, so I suggest we all enjoy it while we can

[Loderingo]

Are you actually going to the game Rod? I really don't see the point in going if you want your team to lose. I for one have looking forward to the game all week and hope we stuff em!

[Nibor]

If I was offered a spirited 1-0 home defeat that was a good performance, involving no injuries and bookings and pushed Boro right to the 93rd minute I'd take it now. The FA cup is a worthwhile competition to do exactly what we've done, go on a bit of a run, get a big (ish) team at home, make some money and enjoy the thrill. We ain't going to win it and promotion is infinitely more important - and a drubbing from a classy side could shatter our confidence or injuries/suspensions to key players could really disrupt things.

[Guest Red to the world]

Are you actually going to the game Rod? I really don't see the point in going if you want your team to lose. I for one have looking forward to the game all week and hope we stuff em!

Yes I will be there and I don't want them to lose BUT I won't lose any sleep if they do !

[Guest Red to the world]

Again, a fair point, but there's no reason why we can't win the JPT and be promoted at the same time, after a reasonable cup run. We all know that we won't win the FA Cup, so we're not going to be seeing it through until it's over, and two more fixtures and the JPT is over until April (should we proceed to the final) so it's not as bad as some are making out. It's not like we have five competitions to juggle. One is as good as over fixture wise, and the F.A Cup...who knows but I can't see more than one fixture more after 'Boro should we get a result on Saturday.

At the end of the day, what happens in the cup happens. We're not, like big clubs, going to feild second-strings in the cup until it gets serious, it's always been serious for us from the start, we don't have that luxury. Morale will also add to the squads pre-existing strength. Admittedly there is the increased risk of injury but that's not just the cup, there's as much chance of key players becoming injured during the course of the League campaign.

Saturday will be a good occasion and a good day for Bristol City and it's players and supporters, so I suggest we all enjoy it while we can

Agree with that 100% !

[Guest Red to the world]

If I was offered a spirited 1-0 home defeat that was a good performance, involving no injuries and bookings and pushed Boro right to the 93rd minute I'd take it now. The FA cup is a worthwhile competition to do exactly what we've done, go on a bit of a run, get a big (ish) team at home, make some money and enjoy the thrill. We ain't going to win it and promotion is infinitely more important - and a drubbing from a classy side could shatter our confidence or injuries/suspensions to key players could really disrupt things.

Agree with that 100% as well !

[Guest paulie]

as long as we make a good account of ourselves it don't matter what tha result is as long as we don't pick up any injuries on the way or yellows and all that,,if we lose 0-2 then so what if we beat them ,and we can,.,,,,,then great,the team seems to be thriving at the mo on hi profile games ,but must agree we don't really need a draw because of the league fixtures will probably suffer, don't forget we are only in january ,lots more snow ,,ice ,,rain,but the north will suffer wworse than us so it would probably even itself out,,, just thinking out loud.

[samo]

If I was offered a spirited 1-0 home defeat that was a good performance, involving no injuries and bookings and pushed Boro right to the 93rd minute I'd take it now. The FA cup is a worthwhile competition to do exactly what we've done, go on a bit of a run, get a big (ish) team at home, make some money and enjoy the thrill. We ain't going to win it and promotion is infinitely more important - and a drubbing from a classy side could shatter our confidence or injuries/suspensions to key players could really disrupt things.

spot on.

although i always hope we win every single game, I do worry that what would the 5th round entail if we were to get a win on sat (which i do believe is possible BTW)?

we've done the usual thing; seen off the lower league opposition without too much bother, played well against and knocked out a team from a higher league and drawn a 'Big Club' at home promting a sell out and a bit of media attention. What is left for us from the FA cup?

Nibor is totally correct that if we were to draw Man U, Arsenal or Chelski next round they'd murder us, which will kill the buzz the team is clearly enjoying right now. asides from getting routed 6-0 on saturday any kind of battling defeat will leave us unbowed and ready to take on what the league (and JPT) can throw at us.

even if we got another tie we could win (like Barnet or Rovers at home) then we might be expected to progress and all the attention would become pressure and it could negativly effect our focus on what HAS to be the primary goal this year; promotion.

Plus a replay would be a serious pain in the long run, especially with Jevons out and Brooker looking like he might be 'broken' again.

I think the best scenario has been suggested above; go all out for the win playing the best football we can, and lets revisit this dilemma on sunday IF we do win or draw. the team have earnt this game and we should all roar them on with pride; win, lose or draw!

[Redtrojan]

What absolute rubbish about not giving it a go against boro.

The money generated from another game ,the confidence gained by the players going up against players they only see on match of the day and besting them.

All can only be positive for the final push this season.

For starters the interest in this tie from the casual supporter as shown by the rush for tickets,can only be a positive thing.If only a quarter of those come again for even one game for the rest of the season that will help finances and atmosphere significantly.

Promotion is not guarenteed if we send out the reserves,nor is it if we go on and win the cup-highly unlikely i know.But all this negative talk is so much rubbish.

Let's enjoy the day ,give it a good go ,if we lose a player to suspension -we'll cope,if we pull it off and get man u away in the next round -think of who we can buy with the money!!!