Fielding "weakened" teams in the FA Cup

[cmonurz]

Good luck finding one in the top 2 divisions that picks its strongest possible line up for the 3rd round.

I'll go for Liverpool then, who, Cavalieri in goal excepted, played a first-choice team at Preston.

[Thaumagurist*]

Just out of interest and replying to Mr Angry's suggestion that players nowadays go on till their late 30s I'm still waiting to hear about those many who are still playing.
Looking back at some Reading players from the 60s onwards these are the ages that some players finished league football at (disregarding the fact that some went on to play non-league into their 40s):-
Pat Terry 36
Johnny Walker 37 (Good to see him looking sprightly at the Saints away game chatting up birds at 80 years of age)
Martin Hicks 36
Jimmy Quinn 39
Stuart Beavon-still playing local amateur football?
Delusional?

BTW 20 games to go so our players if they play every game need to be at their peak for 30 hours over a period of 4 months.
Some will earn about £300,000 for that and ,unlike players of yesteryear,will not have to subsidise their income during the summer months by taking on part-time jobs.
It's a hard life for some.

Hmmm, did any of those players you list play physically demanding football? Footballers these days need more than one day to recover after getting through a game where they ran and ran and ran and ran.

[Vision]

Good luck finding one in the top 2 divisions that picks its strongest possible line up for the 3rd round.

I'll go for Liverpool then, who, Cavalieri in goal excepted, played a first-choice team at Preston.

So not their strongest possible line up then.? 4 changes from the side that beat Newcastle 5-1.

[Platypuss]

Cardiff?

[Victor Meldrew]

Good luck finding one in the top 2 divisions that picks its strongest possible line up for the 3rd round.

I'll go for Liverpool then, who, Cavalieri in goal excepted, played a first-choice team at Preston.

So not their strongest possible line up then.? 4 changes from the side that beat Newcastle 5-1.

Oh FFS man-they didn't play their strongest side v Newcastle and I am pleased to say played like Champions.
A poor argument from an otherwise normally sensible poster.
The same comment goes for Mr Angry.
What's got into you two in 2009? you're getting more like Spacey by the day.

[Vision]

Cardiff?

Possibly although having just lost Chopra and Routledge , they were bringing in 2 fresh players. No doubt though it was their strongest possible line up on paper. And was still pretty crap.

[eleventh earl of mar]

British adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes has told of his joy at completing seven marathons on seven continents in seven days. The 59-year-old said the Singapore run in tropical heat had nearly broken him because of the difficulty of continuing in the humidity and pollution. But he and his fellow runner Dr Michael Stroud went on to complete the challenge to run 183 miles in just a week.
He ended his marathons with a race in New York which he finished in five hours and 25 minutes on Sunday at 2030 GMT.

Imagine at 59 running the last marathon in 7 days in that time. Some people seem to forget that footballers are highly trained athletes and need to stop being taken in by a lot of the rubbish that they and the clubs give the fans.

[rabidbee]

That's not the point. Could he have beaten somebody who hadn't run the six previous marathons?

[Vision]

Good luck finding one in the top 2 divisions that picks its strongest possible line up for the 3rd round.

So not their strongest possible line up then.? 4 changes from the side that beat Newcastle 5-1.

Oh FFS man-they didn't play their strongest side v Newcastle and I am pleased to say played like Champions.
A poor argument from an otherwise normally sensible poster.
The same comment goes for Mr Angry.
What's got into you two in 2009? you're getting more like Spacey by the day.

Just because it doesn't fit in with your pre-conceived notion. Just changing the keeper means they didn't field their strongest side. End of story really but if you think Ryan Babel is part of Benitez best 11 then you might have to ask Benitez why he's only started 3 Premier League games. Probably resting him for the their priority FA Cup games.

[eleventh earl of mar]

That's not the point. Could he have beaten somebody who hadn't run the six previous marathons?

The point is the so called "recovery" time that we are led to believe that the players need. They should not need the time they say they do if they are as fit as they tell us they are.

In answer to your question, if he did not come last he probably did.

[rabidbee]

It depends what is meant by recovery time, doesn't it? To what point are you expecting them to recover. I doubt many players would be *fully* recovered after two days rest, so that they were as fit as somebody who had not played at all. Nobody has said that players cannot play 2 games in 3 days, and indeed several of ours did.

[cmonurz]

Vision, surely, as one of the more sensible posters on here, you can see the distinction between bringing Ryan Babel into the side (22 appearances in all comps this season), and playing Bobby Convey?

[eleventh earl of mar]

As mentioned somewhere on this site, the team of 78/79 played 3 games in 4 days with mostly the same players. Whilst not trying to compare two teams of different generations, the back 4 and goalkeeper certainly played in all of those games. This resulted in a league record that still stands of not conceding a goal in eleven games. Would this have happened if they were tired? If players nowadays are rested why has this record not been broken by any team recently?

[Vision]

Which teams put out their best sides then Vic?

Liverpool
Everton
Hull
Newcastle
Arsenal
Aston Villa


Need any more?



Fulham
West Brom
Sunderland
Bolton
West Ham
Need any more?
Barnsley
Bristol City
Burnley
Blackpool
Cardiff
Need any more?
BTW those that didn't included :-
Chelsea
Pompey
Stoke
Man City
Reading

Enough clubs there for the poster to pick an alternative club I would have thought.

Liverpool WRONG (as previously mentioned)
Everton WRONG ( Feillani left out)
Hull WRONG (7 changes made )
Newcastle WRONG
Arsenal WRONG
Aston Villa WRONG

I've not the time to check the rest of your lists but given the first 6 you listed are all wrong then its not really worth the effort to check as you clearly didn't.
The only side ive seen that you could honestly say picked their strongest available line up was Cardiff. Lets be honest they struggled.

[readingbedding]

Footballers need to recover well between games if they are to perform well each week.

[Vision]

Vision, surely, as one of the more sensible posters on here, you can see the distinction between bringing Ryan Babel into the side (22 appearances in all comps this season), and playing Bobby Convey?

Thats not what we're discussing though. We're talking about whether a team have picked their strongest possible line up. Babel has not featured in that for all but 3 games of the premier league season. I could argue the same point with regards to Shane Long being part of our strongest 11 if we were talking about about sub appearances but it wouldn't make it true.

I fully accept that we make more changes than most (anyone probably) but i still maintain that you'd be hard-pressed to find many teams from the top 2 tiers that actually pick their strongest line ups at this stage. 25% tops in my view and Liverpool certainly aren't one of them.

Using Dirk's criteria from page 1 of this very thead, would that exact Liverpool side have been sent out if they had a must win league game?

Using Platypuss's criteria from the same page you can only be taking it seriously if you pick your strongest possible team.

I'm not fussed from a personal point of view because the side he puts out in the cup is one i'm more than happy to see. Equally i do understand why fans are pissed off but I'm merely pointing out that very few clubs put out a side to win a 3rd round FA Cup tie as a priority but apparently its little RFC that has done more than any others to devalue the competition. I think its rubbish frankly.

[readingbedding]

Vision, surely, as one of the more sensible posters on here, you can see the distinction between bringing Ryan Babel into the side (22 appearances in all comps this season), and playing Bobby Convey?

Thats not what we're discussing though. We're talking about whether a team have picked their strongest possible line up. Babel has not featured in that for all but 3 games of the premier league season. I could argue the same point with regards to Shane Long being part of our strongest 11 if we were talking about about sub appearances but it wouldn't make it true.

I fully accept that we make more changes than most (anyone probably) but i still maintain that you'd be hard-pressed to find many teams from the top 2 tiers that actually pick their strongest line ups at this stage. 25% tops in my view and Liverpool certainly aren't one of them.

Using Dirk's criteria from page 1 of this very thead, would that exact Liverpool side have been sent out if they had a must win league game?

Using Platypuss's criteria from the same page you can only be taking it seriously if you pick your strongest possible team.

I'm not fussed from a personal point of view because the side he puts out in the cup is one i'm more than happy to see. Equally i do understand why fans are pissed off but I'm merely pointing out that very few clubs put out a side to win a 3rd round FA Cup tie as a priority but apparently its little RFC that has done more than any others to devalue the competition. I think its rubbish frankly.

Exactly, and the notion that Coppell has killed our 'proud record' in the FA Cup is a complete joke as well.

[rabidbee]

As mentioned somewhere on this site, the team of 78/79 played 3 games in 4 days with mostly the same players.

Reading drew the second game 0-0 against a team that finished near the bottom of the table (Bournemouth), and then won the third game against a team that was playing its second game in two days (Aldershot). Also, whilst Reading played three games in four days (13, 14 and 16 April), they had only played one previous game in the month, on the 7th. Portsmouth had played on the 3rd and 7th, also played 3 games in four days, with a win and a draw in the other two. Bournemouth had played on the 3rd, the 7th, and the 10th before playing us on the 14th. Aldershot had played on the 3rd, the 7th, the 9th and the 14th before playing us on the 16th. Between 30 March and 16th April, Reading played 5 games, whilst Pompey, Aldershot and Bournemouth played 6.

[Hoop Blah]

Liverpool WRONG (as previously mentioned)
Everton WRONG ( Feillani left out)
Hull WRONG (7 changes made )
Newcastle WRONG
Arsenal WRONG
Aston Villa WRONG

I've not the time to check the rest of your lists but given the first 6 you listed are all wrong then its not really worth the effort to check as you clearly didn't.
The only side ive seen that you could honestly say picked their strongest available line up was Cardiff. Lets be honest they struggled.

Some of those clubs don't even play their 'strongest' side week-in week-out, so it's very difficult to say they didn't play their strongest side in the cup.

At the end of the day the majority of the side is one that is selected week-in week-out when it really matters and their all used to performing together in the first team. With that in mind it's still pretty much their first time and not a thrown together reserve team.

I said last week I'd be happy to see two or three changes to the side to give youngsters or the likes of Murty a game with the first team, but the way we've approached this game is, like a lot of Sven's England friendlies, just useless and miles away from being our strongest available team.

[rabidbee]

I'm merely pointing out that very few clubs put out a side to win a 3rd round FA Cup tie as a priority...

I'd actually go so far as to say that going all out to win a 3rd round tie normally suggests you already think your league season is as good as over. This is not a problem many mid-table teams will have.