I think we bin this game off. Anyone with even a slight niggle that we want for Phlegm mid week and Wolves in the Cup, we rest. Chalobar and Peneranda need to start imho.
I think you could put 4 or 5 players into the team and tell them to play their way into the wembley squad. Success, Gray, Sema, Peneranda etc. The only player I would rest for the semi is Doucoure. Pererya and Cathcart on international duty get a breather too.
I disagree, I think we have a greater chance of coming 7th than we do of winning the cup. Of course my thinking could be tosh but I think we can get a point up there. Our performances (if not necessarily all our results) against them have been decent of late so it's time we put that right. Their PL season is over, their focus is solely on the CL, now is a good time to travel up there.
7th place could be decided on goal difference, while I don't expect us to get any points on Saturday, losing by any more than 2 goals could be damaging to our chances if we finish on equal points.
How is their PL season over when they're still contesting a close-run top 4 finish?! I do agree though that we probably have more chance of finishing 7th than winning the FA Cup - if we manage to win (the equivalent to) all our remaining home fixtures I reckon that should be just about enough, and in which case this game is basically a "free hit". However, as with pretty much all our supposed free hit games of late, I expect us to lose, albeit narrowly.
3 games in 8 days Manure away - unlikely win, maybe a point Fulham at home - probable point Wolves 50/50 and imho most important Where do you allocate your risks and resources?
Man U - play 4-5-1. Damage limitation, don't want to hurt goal difference. As we've just had an international break we should keep players match fit, so Foster, Doucoure, Pereyra & Deulofeu should play. Fulham - the win keeps us on target for 7th place, so I would play a team not too dissimilar to Man City away but have some key players on the bench and only bring on if absolutely required. I would have Gomes in goal. Wolves - best team to ensure best chance of making the final.
We will lose. Mind you, in advance of the Fulham game, have you seen how far we have to go back to find the last defeat against a non-top 6 team ? Early Dec we lost 2-0 to Leicester. Since then we have Won 6 drew 5 and lost 0 vs "the rest" by my quick calc.... and that's excluding the 3 cup wins.
Surprise, surprise! Five "injured" players have made miraculous recoveries after missing ftom international duty. Either OGS took them to Lourdes for the weekend or he learned his managerial skills from Ferguson.
When we hammer Wolves in the semi they will crumble and their season will fizzle out to depressing mid table obscurity.... a bit like we usually do.
Ooh I like this , good idea. We have waited a long time to see both of those, bring them in let’s see what metal they have Feel really sorry for challobah Looked like he had it all and was going to be a great player , need to get him back on track Penerannda was supposed to be a wonder kid and isn’t even getting on the bench (but then again we are 8th and in the semi final) , let’s see how he does against Man U
All kidding aside on Penaranda in other threads... if he's fit, why not let him have a go? Tell him to run at them for an hour and then if we're still in it, sub him off for Cleverley and see if we can keep a point, or bring in Pereyra for a late push. Same could be done with Success. The only regular I'd strongly consider resting is Holebas. He's a bit long in the tooth and I'd like him fresh for the cup tie. Bit nervous about his backup's pace though on a big pitch.
Why? It just shows that man utd means more to their players than whatever shytholes they were born in. Meanwhile our players jet off round the world for any old meaningless fixture, putting in full blooded tackles without giving a tiny shyte if they get injured and wreck our season.
Penaranda wasnt even getting in the Malaga bench regularly. That fact, and what I saw with my own eyes at woking, leads me to conclude that he's utter dogs droppings.
A hasty judgement. I don’t know if you’re taking into account that shot he had from 30 yards that went wide. Did he also meg some no-hoper as well? That takes courage. I urge you to reconsider.
Time to start winding down for the season. Gomes, Navarro Prodl Britos Masina, Cleverley Quina Chalobah, Penaranda Success Sema.
The team selection in Saturday is a finely balanced decision. The options are:- Ignoring the next two League games to maximise our opportunity to win the FA Cup. Or hope Man City win the cup and we finish 7th by prioritising the gathering of League points. Both with the aim of spending July playing competitive football in remote parts of Europe. Alternatively forget about the route to Europa League participation. Go for glory and hope to get to and win a final and put as a second objective the aim to finish as high as we can in the league. Without Europa League football, we would - Have a proper pre season, bed in the 15 new signings and hope to improve on this season. Rationally doing better than we have this season will be a tough ask for 19/20. I know what I would do - go hell for leather to win our first significant domestic competition. Eclipse the GT era, win the FA cup for its own sake rather than the Europa League place. Play a team at Old Trafford that maximises our chances of winning the semi-final. As long as Javier thinks along those lines I will be happy.
Call me old fashioned, but I'd like us to put out a team that maximises our chances of winning at Old Trafford, at home to Fulham and at Wembley. At this stage of the season and in the position we are in, our remaining league games are massive. We're not going to prioritise the the chance to get trounced by Man City in the FA Cup final ahead of the glory of finishing 7th.
Getting to the final and losing would probably raise our profile more than finishing 7th. It probably would generate more cash too. I agree we should be aiming to maximise our points haul from all of our remaining games. Realistically though when playing our strongest team we have not done well away from home at the big six. Away at Man Utd and Chelsea look tough. Beating Huddersfield should our best chance of further away points. The home fixtures against Arsenal, Southampton and Wolves look like tricky matches to me too. With the next three matches having a huge impact on how the season will be remembered, wouldn't you rest a few on Saturday?
I wouldn't rest anyone on Saturday, no. I might be tempted to give a few of them the night off against Fulham though
Yeah, it's done wonders for the likes of Hull and Villa in recent seasons. This bit isn't true either - the runner-up in the Cup Final gets £1.8mil, while every extra league position in the PL gets £2mil. Finishing 7th also opens up the possibility of earning a decent wedge more from the Europa League. I do agree that we have little chance of getting anything on Saturday, even with our strongest team. I also think we need to put the strongest possible team out vs Fulham to ensure we get the three points there. I'm not sure if it would actually help the first choice players' fitness for the Wolves game were we to rest a number of them vs Man Utd, so they might all be able to play in both the Fulham and Wolves games without being too fatigued? Either way, I reckon the Utd game is another good one to give Success and Gray a start, as they can quickly get us up the large pitch on the counter.
Pogba gossip won’t go away. His head has been turned and his teammates will now hate him. Honeymoon period over for Ollie as we inflict another defeat 1-2. As for which should be our priority. Europa League can be a poisoned chalice. Whilst it would be fun to take in a game or two I’m not sure being in the competition by finishing 7th (early qualifying) will attract many players we wouldn’t get anyway and wouldn’t be worth a huge amount unless we progress quite far. Potential cost to our league form cannot be underestimated. Top 10 finish would be great, clear progress being made, hopefully only lose one or two players but also replace and strengthen. Try and get that bloody Cup. Yes it’s likely we’ll need to beat a very decent Wolves team and the machine that is Man City (although you never know) but two wins, TWO WINS, and we are FA Cup winners. Seems like a no brainer for me. Judging from Javi’s side against Man City in the league I think we know where his sights have turned to.
Team at Man C did pretty well; if Atwell can avoid engineering a Man U goal we should be able to hold out and maybe nick a late one. For Fulham rotate the rested players from Man U then judicious subs to win/rest players as appropriate, full strength against Wolves.
