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WBA v Saints - 5th Round FA Cup Thread


Edmonton Saint

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We won't be winning the FA Cup this season with the team we have, so the whole debate is a bit silly.

 

Besides, surely better to win the cup and stay up - its not like its offered as a direct choice.

 

Anyway, I think both full backs should be rested for this one - the backups are a big drop in class so we don't need them picking up an injury.

 

Would play Carrillo to keep him adapting.

 

Couple of bits to note:

 

1. If either us or Swansea get through then I think our league games gets postponed which would either be good or bad depending on our form in the next couple of league games.

 

2. Romeu is on 9 yellows I think. One more is a 2 game ban. Ideally if that involved next round of the cup it would be a bonus.

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I usually agree but we are staring relegation in the face and think it can be a distraction. Not so much the game Saturday but the next round and any replays. Plus there are injuries and suspensions.

I was annoyed when Poch blew of the cup games because we were sat mid-table but now it would make sense - we are not going to win anything with crusty the clown in charge - we will get a round or two further then get dicked by the first half decent side we play.

As for confidence, putting out the reses didn't do Bournemouth any harm. Howe rested his first XI v Wigan then the beat Arsenal the following match, rested them again for the replay (which they got stuffed in) then the drew away at West Ham, beat Chelsea way and Stoke at home.

Makes sense. Eddie Howe turned his team around by just focusing on the Prem. Poch is a smarter Manager than Mope. We need to do the smart thing and focus on the Prem.

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Play the strongest team and be rewarded with a win and a home tie against the weakest remaining side in the draw, and hey presto, a semi final at Wembley and a reason for the whole club to feel better. Play a weak team, lose, regret it, two week lay off in readiness for a winnable away game and not up to speed. This is a defining game of the season in my eyes.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/42964291

 

Lawro thinks we'll lose, happy days then.

 

Some sound logic in his reasoning by him this week...! :mcinnes: :rolleyes:

 

 

These two played each other recently and there were loads of goals in that game. Football is just a bit mad sometimes and I am going to go for a West Brom win. They can't win a game at the moment but I'm tipping them for this one.

 

He is labelled "football expert", I'm struggling to see much in the way of reasoned, insightful, informed analysis.

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For me it would be a perfect opportunity to play 3-5-2.

 

In the league game we were short of height in the team, if I remember correctly Dusan was marking their big centre forward at set plays fortunately none of balls went to him. IMO we will not be able to get away with this a second time (they will review the tape of the 1st game and notice that weakness)

So I would bring in Maya as a 3rd centre back, push the full backs up as wing backs.

This would allow us to play Gabbi up front with Guido (Gabbi on his own DOESN'T work he needs a "back to goal" centre forward along side him).

 

Will the clueless clown do this ? , probably not he is fascinated with playing wide men who are struck to the touchline and told not to move away. (Redmond in the 1st half of the season, now Boufal etc).

He is happy to be weak in central midfield (e.g. Palace) or weak in central defence (e.g. watford 2nd half) but he will always play his wingers stuck to the touchline.

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For me it would be a perfect opportunity to play 3-5-2.

 

In the league game we were short of height in the team, if I remember correctly Dusan was marking their big centre forward at set plays fortunately none of balls went to him. IMO we will not be able to get away with this a second time (they will review the tape of the 1st game and notice that weakness)

So I would bring in Maya as a 3rd centre back, push the full backs up as wing backs.

This would allow us to play Gabbi up front with Guido (Gabbi on his own DOESN'T work he needs a "back to goal" centre forward along side him).

 

Will the clueless clown do this ? , probably not he is fascinated with playing wide men who are struck to the touchline and told not to move away. (Redmond in the 1st half of the season, now Boufal etc).

He is happy to be weak in central midfield (e.g. Palace) or weak in central defence (e.g. watford 2nd half) but he will always play his wingers stuck to the touchline.

 

I am not sure where you get this ‘stuck to the touch’ line thing?

When we gain procession on the edge of penalty area with opposition on the attack we have no outlet. The reason is that whilst the opponents have the ball our wide players are actually wide, however as soon we gain procession our wide players - under obvious instructions run as fast as possible towards the congested and therefore marked area of the Centre Circle.

It’s totally bizzar and is a perfect example of Pellegrino muddled thinking and tactics. The guy hasn’t a clue what he is doing ...

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For all of you Canadians out there, my channel guide claims that this game is being televised on the main Sportsnet channels (yay) rather than the subscription Sportsnet World channel (boo), with the pregame starting at 7:30 a.m. MST on Saturday...I’m not sure what we did to deserve seeing 2 out of 3 Saints FA Cup games televised so far, but I for one wil not look a gift horse in the mouth.

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MoPe is an idiot.

 

I keep hearing how getting a good performance in the FA Cup might help to kick-start our season, so why field a weaker team in order to allow WBA to kick-start theirs ??

 

Last thing we need is them coming back into the mix.

 

As someone has said, how much f**king rest do they need ? They only played 45mins against Liverpool.

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MoPe is an idiot.

 

I keep hearing how getting a good performance in the FA Cup might help to kick-start our season, so why field a weaker team in order to allow WBA to kick-start theirs ??

 

Last thing we need is them coming back into the mix.

 

As someone has said, how much f**king rest do they need ? They only played 45mins against Liverpool.

 

To be fair, West Brom won at Anfield, and then lost their next two league games, so I wouldn't say winning in the FA Cup will bring them back into the mix at all.

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BBC reports of an incident on the WBA trip to Spain. 4 players subject to internal investigation!

 

apparently the 4 players were drinking until 6am and stole a taxi back to their hotel :lol:

 

and by steal, it wasn't running away from paying a fare, but actually stealing the genuine car itself :lol:

 

IF true, absolutely hilarious.

 

Come on Saints, win tomorrow and one more round and we're going to Wembley in what has otherwise been a horrible season!

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I’d play the 1st team - tell them this is a free hit so play with freedom and attack - with recent events at WBA, and the fact they will not be prioritising this, it is a chance to build some confidence. Performances post Watford and Fulham suggest this makes a difference. It would frankly be mad to do anything else (I get the injury argument - but I can’t recall a saints team doing well after 2 weeks off)

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How many have we sold?

 

we sold out our 2800 allocation.

 

crazy we didn't take the extra 2/3k imo, would have only cost us around £40/50k which is peanuts in football, and also allow us to take as many up as possible. also leaves them with less seats in the Smethwick end, which is mainly where their hardcore fans are.

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If it was our players they would have taken the taxi, driven forward a bit, got scared and then went sideways and then all the way back to the take-away.

 

Ithangyou

 

No, we would have sold the taxi for 20k, and bought a Rickshaw with suspect breaks for 10k, while boasting of the strongest transportation options in the premier league.

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As much as I love the FA Cup, staying in the premier league is vital so this game to me is essentially dead rubber. Pellegrino describes this as a cup final.....beggars belief.

 

 

I would rotate in this one - certainly with the players who are most crucial to our relegation battle who we cannot afford to be injured. Rest Lemina, both fullbacks IMO.

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Romeu is on 9 yellows I think. One more is a 2 game ban. Ideally if that involved next round of the cup it would be a bonus.

 

Yes he is. They count up to and including match 32, so that includes tomorrow, then the league games against Burnley, Stoke, Newcastle, Swansea and West Ham. The three games after that are Arsenal, Chelsea and Leicester if he manages to get to the West Ham game and then get himself booked! I've included Leicester as the rules seem to suggest it is the 32nd league match rather than a specific date, so if we (or Swansea) win tomorrow, then I think the Swansea match will get rearranged. I'm sure MLG will correct me if I've not quite got that right, but personally I'd rest Romeu tomorrow for that reason.

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All of this West Brom taxi stuff will just it even more embarrassing when we lose

 

A loss to the GTA edition of WBA would be beyond embarrassing...

 

...not embarrassing enough to fire Pellegrino, of course because we’re improving don’t you know, and even if we’re not improving it would all be VVD’s fault anyway.

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WBA still have nearly 10,000 tickets unsold

 

"Come in a taxi, you could've come in a taxi......."

 

TBF, overpaid 'professional' footballers really are out of f'kin touch with the people that spend their hard-earned contributing to their privileged pampered lifestyles. Bottom of the league and they're treated to a luxury break in Barcelona. Where did it all go wrong?

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As much as I love the FA Cup, staying in the premier league is vital so this game to me is essentially dead rubber. Pellegrino describes this as a cup final.....beggars belief.

 

 

I would rotate in this one - certainly with the players who are most crucial to our relegation battle who we cannot afford to be injured. Rest Lemina, both fullbacks IMO.

 

Normally I would agree but these are strange times and a run in the Cup might not be a bad thing

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McCarthy

Cedric

Stephens

Yoshida

Bertrand

Romeu

Lamina

Boufal

JWP

Tadic

Guido

 

A full week to recover for Burnley, wins breed confidence and Romeu has more games where he risks suspension than just this one. Hoedt deserves to be dropped, and while I like PEH as a holding midfielder I don’t rate him in the number 10 so bring in Boufal who played well in the league game up there

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Think we will see Yosh, Davis, Boufal, Redmond and Long in this, with Hoedt, Lemina, Tadic, Carillo and Højbjerg or Ward-Prowse making way.

 

Would love to see Gabbiadini tried out with Carillo, maybe we would see him latch on to some knock downs. But I think we will see Long upfront alone instead.

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Think we will see Yosh, Davis, Boufal, Redmond and Long in this, with Hoedt, Lemina, Tadic, Carillo and Højbjerg or Ward-Prowse making way.

 

Would love to see Gabbiadini tried out with Carillo, maybe we would see him latch on to some knock downs. But I think we will see Long upfront alone instead.

 

Long has a hamstring injury and is a doubt for the game.

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