shurlock

Who said that? You and your imaginary straw men.

The league cup has been a Mickey Mouse cup for years. There tends to be a spike of interest around the final, whipped up by the media but that's it. As the cliche goes, the league doesn't lie. So it's not about about a pat on the back for finishing 8th instead of 9th, it's ultimately the truest benchmark by which a club measures its progress. More important, it's a good way to blood in our youngsters. Perhaps the Sunderlands of this world don't give a **** about relying on mercenaries but we've spent the whole bloody week on a love-in about we're a hot bed for English talent; yet ignore the roots of its successs and the various means we ensure this pipeline continues. Of course, the cup is not the whole equation; but its part of it. IIRC JWP made his debut up at Palace a couple of years ago (again the club was pilloried for not putting out a stronger side) and Shaw made his debut last year. The cup is a great no-risk learning opportunity for these lads. Too many people want to have their cake and eat it. Perhaps, you accept this and the question was about striking a better balance between youth and first team; but when you see Cork, Jrod, Ramirez, (S) Davis and Yoshida out there with Lallana/JWP coming on, that's a pretty solid core and not a massive downgrade.

Have dumb and dumber learnt telepathy or something?

Speak for yourself - looks like its been torn a proverbial new one.

This time four years ago, we were kicking off the first round of the FA cup at Bristol R. One of the best away day in our renaissance. Alas we were debating whether a cup competition got in the way of a push up the league....

Christ you're starting early this year.

West Ham fans a never ending source of mirth and insight:

Or was it to the "nonexistent" "left side"?

Utterly cringeworthy - matched by the two pencil-necked knobs who thought they were being big men by getting kicked out after 5 mins. Just a shame they were let back in.

He's shown flashes which will get more consistent with experience and age; but the claim is that he is currently on the same level as Shaw. That's a bit optimistic IMO.

Set pieces apart, haven't really seen him impose himself on a game. His main contribution, of late, has been to allow Clyne to bomb on.

JWP is some way off Shaw.

What happened to the new Glasgow, the one that wanted to be funny and light-hearted and not so serious and heavy-going? Don't give up Glasgow - we all want you to succeed

Davis was lucky to get bailed out by the ref in the first half.

Thanks

Mason was a joke - summed up by a foul on Jos from behind by Altidore (not given) and then a foul for Altidore, even though he was all over Jos.

Their first goal was a joke - it was right in front of us and obvious the ball was going to the backpost. Their player didn't even have to pull away and lose a marker - he was lined up there with all the time and space in the world. The big takeaway was that our system falls apart without width from our fullbacks -and Fox and Chambers don't provide that. We worked some decent positions in the first half but it was all too narrow and was begging for a ball outside into space. Reed was OK - looked better in a more advanced position than as a holding midfielder.

I forget social engineering is now out of fashion with the FFF.

They are in the playoffs, so don't have the luxury to experiment. Probably wishful thinking - not like Morgan would get a sniff if it was a friendly. The idea that Sissoko is ahead of him...FFS

We can't score for s**t; yet it's our attackers who get acknowledged and our defense ignored. Indeed our attack is as much reliant on our defense, Clyne and Shaw as the aforementioned attacking players.

Good- back to what matters. Everyone fresh and rested. Let's just hope Jrod, Adam and JWP aren't feeling the effects of the midweeker;)

They picked up a few injuries -and they were more than minor niggles. Where there's a will, there's a way.... http://www.readytogo.net/smb/threads/while-we-won-there-was-a-few-negatives.833405/

Dont think it's about £. To quote the old cliché, the league doesn't lie. It's the ultimate benchmark of where a club is, whether it's the real deal. The prize winnings from finishing 6th as opposed to 10th is trivial but reputationally in terms of being taken seriously and therefore bring able to better players and taking the next step, it's huge.

Agree if we want to progress sustainably as a club and be seen as the real deal, able to attract players and actually develop depth, the ultimate benchmark is the league. Indeed, it has nothing to do with finishing 4th, it's about as finishing as high as possible. I went to the game tonight -unlike some of the self-righteous loons on here- and while I am disappointed we lost the game, I'm not going to lose any sleep over the result or the manager's team selection.

All the people bigging this competition up and moaning, where were you tonight? Even taking into account the mess with the scheduling, I'd say a turn out of 300 pretty much sums up where this fixture and the competition ranked in the average fan's priorities.