| Feel worse about tonight than I did on Saturday 22:15 - Aug 29 with 5401 views | pointofblue |
Yes, we replaced the entire starting XI but Reading made eight changes and had a load of kids out there, yet we made life very difficult for ourselves. I know we are looking to strengthen and I guess tonight, to an extent, shows why.
On Saturday, we had a mad ten minutes but otherwise played really well against quality oppositiojn. Tonight felt more like us under Cook - a lot of possession, and lot of build up play but struggling to convert and (more) silly mistakes at the back against a pretty weak side.
We're through, and that's good, but it was tougher than it should have been. |  |
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| Feel worse about tonight than I did on Saturday on 00:49 - Aug 30 with 467 views | pointofblue |
| Feel worse about tonight than I did on Saturday on 00:35 - Aug 30 by HARRY10 |
I remember our League cup semi final v Arsenal.
Ground barely a third full, with the universal thought.....it's only a Mickey Mouse Cup. |
Ipswich 1-0 Arsenal.
Attendance: 29,146
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/league_cup/9342035.stm
Unless I'm having a mind blank and Portman Road had a capacity of around 90k in 2011... | |
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| Feel worse about tonight than I did on Saturday on 04:43 - Aug 30 with 415 views | WeWereZombies |
| Feel worse about tonight than I did on Saturday on 00:23 - Aug 30 by Illinoisblue |
We advanced in the cup. The sun will rise tomorrow. This is life. There is no need to be upset. |
The Sun will not rise tomorrow, relative to the Earth it will stay in exactly the same position. But the Earth will turn towards it... |  |
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| Feel worse about tonight than I did on Saturday on 06:29 - Aug 30 with 378 views | GlasgowBlue |
| Feel worse about tonight than I did on Saturday on 00:35 - Aug 30 by HARRY10 |
I remember our League cup semi final v Arsenal.
Ground barely a third full, with the universal thought.....it's only a Mickey Mouse Cup. |
That was the quarter final against WBA where the ground was barely a third full Harold. And that was due to the freezing temperatures. |  |
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| Feel worse about tonight than I did on Saturday on 06:45 - Aug 30 with 371 views | LegendofthePhoenix |
Your OP is absolutely bang on. The game is only a League Cup comp, the main purpose of which is to give our fringe players minutes and get up to match fitness as it is a long season and we will need every one of them. Being generous, you could say some were rusty. But the alternative is that some of them are not up to the mark for the way we want to play. I do think a couple of players out there are going to be surplus to requirements if we can bring a couple in this week. I wouldn't want to see us relying on Fridge in the Championship, and I just don't see that Evans suits the McKenna style of play. We got the job done in the end, but over 90 minutes this group drew against a League 1 side's youngsters, and yes it reminded me a lot of how we played under Cook, when Evo and Fridge were regulars. |  |
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| Feel worse about tonight than I did on Saturday on 06:46 - Aug 30 with 371 views | PioneerBlue |
I can’t get too agitated by cups when we put out a fully changed team and still win. It was a problem in years gone by because we’d approach the same and lose, or worse we’d expect to lose, at least now we expect to be competitive and have a go at winning.
I kind of understand the op point but we are not going to play beautiful flowing football with a team that has barely played together competitively. However we have become used to these teams looking more like the first XI. I wasn’t there and cannot comment on that. Listening on the radio it sounded like we were doing ok and then the subs disrupted rather than improved but they were necessary to not over do time on the pitch for certain players.
We won, some squad players got vital minutes, we learn things, we move on to the next round. | |
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| Feel worse about tonight than I did on Saturday on 07:22 - Aug 30 with 354 views | Churchman |
| Feel worse about tonight than I did on Saturday on 23:40 - Aug 29 by BlueStreak |
I just don’t get this logic, you think we’d actually have a chance of winning the PL if we got promoted? We obviously wouldn’t, so by the same thinking even playing in the Pl would be a total waste of time?
So we just want to stay in the championship forever where we have a chance of winning the league but also not to compete in any cup because we can’t win them? Jeez how exciting .
Also, you can’t compare the squad game now to Sir Bobs team of over 40 years ago ffs… |
First paragraph: no of course we won’t win the PL. but striving to get in it and be the best you can be in the league is the number one objective and nothing should be put in the way of it. I am not saying I agree with how domestic football is structured which is the root cause of how it is - I much prefer the layout of the game, including shared gate receipts and how cup competitions were viewed, as it was in 1978.
Sadly, it isn’t like that. I’ll put a question to you - would you prefer to get in the Premier League or win the FA Cup? I’d love that day at Wembley. I was there and it was unforgettable, but I’d take promotion to the PL and all the advantages that entails every time. Don’t like it but that’s for me the reality.
Second paragraph: when did we truly last take a cup game seriously? Probably the Arsenal matches 12 or 13 years ago. You don’t have to like something to understand the logic of it. However brutal Mick’s views were on cup competitions, he was right.
Last paragraph: I believe you can make a direct comparison between 40 years ago and now when it comes to how cup competitions were viewed and the teams fielded, regardless of squad sizes now. [Post edited 30 Aug 2023 7:28]
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| Feel worse about tonight than I did on Saturday on 07:32 - Aug 30 with 338 views | Dubtractor |
What a weird take.
We've been beyond hopeless in this cup for years, losing to all and sundry, no matter what tram we put out. Last night we changed the whole 11 and got through, got minutes into the legs of fringe players including new signings, will have taken some lessons (for those fringe players) about seeing a game out, won a penalty shoot out.
Anyone analysing the performance too much, given the changes, and given the patchy nature of performances from all 'bigger' teams in this competition every year, is hugely overthinking it. |  |
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