Fielding "weakened" teams in the FA Cup

[Mr Angry]

When there were all those games being played over Xmas, on terrible pitches, with no subs etc etc, how old were players when they retired?

Generally anyone who got to 30 was seen as a veteren, and many players went out carrying injuries having had regular cortisone injections, leaving many of those players now virtually crippled. Tommy Smith, one of those 14 players Liverpool used can barely walk.

Now players play regularly til their late 30's, and it is rare to hear of a player retiring at 28 (which was how old Coppell was when he retired).

Spacey is right, football (and society) have moved on, and trying to pretend otherwise is delusional.

[Gordons Cumming]

When there were all those games being played over Xmas, on terrible pitches, with no subs etc etc, how old were players when they retired?

Generally anyone who got to 30 was seen as a veteren, and many players went out carrying injuries having had regular cortisone injections, leaving many of those players now virtually crippled. Tommy Smith, one of those 14 players Liverpool used can barely walk.

Now players play regularly til their late 30's, and it is rare to hear of a player retiring at 28 (which was how old Coppell was when he retired).

Spacey is right, football (and society) have moved on, and trying to pretend otherwise is delusional.

The voice of reason

[Hoop Blah]

All I'll say on this is, I understand why Coppell does it but I certainly don't agree with it, or even agree with the need for it.

As it happens we got our comeuppance and it was refreshing to see so many other clubs taking the cup games seriously and putting pretty much full strength sides out.

[SCIAG]

All I'll say on this is, I understand why Coppell does it but I certainly don't agree with it, or even agree with the need for it.

As it happens we got our comeuppance and it was refreshing to see so many other clubs taking the cup games seriously and putting pretty much full strength sides out.

The Big Four didn't (though Liverpool's was pretty strong).
Villa didn't.
City didn't.
Hull and Stoke didn't.
Pompey didn't.
Sunderland's was slightly weakened.

[Huntley & Palmer]

They are all Premiership teams though, where as we are a Championship team. We have no excuse

[Platypuss]

All I'll say on this is, I understand why Coppell does it but I certainly don't agree with it, or even agree with the need for it.

As it happens we got our comeuppance and it was refreshing to see so many other clubs taking the cup games seriously and putting pretty much full strength sides out.

The Big Four didn't (though Liverpool's was pretty strong).
Villa didn't.

Chelsea's was actually pretty strong I thought.

Villa's was strong too.

[Huntley & Palmer]

Bar the goalkeeper, Liverpool had a first XI out as well. So SCIAG is just talking a lot of rubbish

[Hoop Blah]

All I'll say on this is, I understand why Coppell does it but I certainly don't agree with it, or even agree with the need for it.

As it happens we got our comeuppance and it was refreshing to see so many other clubs taking the cup games seriously and putting pretty much full strength sides out.

The Big Four didn't (though Liverpool's was pretty strong).
Villa didn't.
City didn't.
Hull and Stoke didn't.
Pompey didn't.
Sunderland's was slightly weakened.

Well I did say 'pretty much full strength' sides!

The Chelsea side was pretty strong, some obvious rotation yes, but they've also got a few players out injured I think.

Same with Villa. I'm sure I caught a snippet of O'Neil saying that he'd only made something like two unforced changes to the side.

The Portsmouth team looks reasonably unchanged too, a few changes yes, but nothing too major unlike some of the others.

[clauski]

Fair play to Cardiff - played their strongest side and got their just desserts.

Indeed - and last season their players and supporters had the experience of a lifetime because they take the competition seriously.

And in 05-06 and 06-07 the Reading supporters had the times of their lives because we took the league more seriously then the cup.

Although as per the Daily Mirror article the two aren't necessarily interlinked - we didn't have those great years just becuase we rested players in the cup, in all likelihood it made little difference, as it did last year when we went down.

[Vision]

Bar the goalkeeper, Liverpool had a first XI out as well. So SCIAG is just talking a lot of rubbish

BabeLOL.

[Mr Angry]

And how long is Alonso likely to be out having picked up 7 stitches in a gashed foot in that game v. PNE?? If he isn't fit for the games against Madird and they lose, would Rafa still be happy to have played him?

Or Shaun Wright-Phillips, picking up a hamstring? 5-6 weeks is what I read - in other words, a third of the remains of the season; could make the difference between being reasonably safe and being in deep relegation trouble...

And therein lies the point of Coppell's reasoning; OF COURSE injuries can happen in training or in League games, you cannot eliminate risk 100%. However, you can mitigate that risk by resting key players for games deemed less important than others - that is Coppell's view, and as fans we either accept it, protest by not bothering to go to Cup games, or go to Coppell's car parking space and demand his sacking!

As he has said, he and the club have a different agenda to the media and, by the sound of it, a proportion of our fans.

There is a further angle to this; playing squad/fringe players, who have something to prove in cup games >>> playing established players for whom the motivation is less than 100%. Chelsea played a pretty full strength side against Southend, and failed to beat them - would their fringe players have got the same result?? Same with Stoke, West Brom, Pompey etc etc etc.

As always, nothing is so clear cut as being able to say "Decision A is right, Decision B is wrong".

[Sun Tzu]

Have to say I tend to agree with the comment that said they understand Coppell's approach but wish it was different !

But Coppell has delivered unprecedented success for the club and the fans and frankly I'm prepared to give up a cup run (not that we ever had cup runs when we DID field full strength teams) for what we've had in the league.

Whether a different approach would have dented our league performances or given us a trip to Wembley is conjecture, but realistically I'm not going to complain about what Coppell has delivered.

[eleventh earl of mar]

Maybe it would be better for all concerned if Coppell just admitted that he did not field his full strength team. We all know the reasons, and may or may not agree but the thing that really annoys me is the lack of honesty and fact that he considers that we will believe the rubbish he talks about the cup team.

[Sun Tzu]

Maybe it would be better for all concerned if Coppell just admitted that he did not field his full strength team. We all know the reasons, and may or may not agree but the thing that really annoys me is the lack of honesty and fact that he considers that we will believe the rubbish he talks about the cup team.

Hasn't he always been very open about it ?

We know the reasons because he's spoken about them so often !!

[eleventh earl of mar]

Maybe it would be better for all concerned if Coppell just admitted that he did not field his full strength team. We all know the reasons, and may or may not agree but the thing that really annoys me is the lack of honesty and fact that he considers that we will believe the rubbish he talks about the cup team.

Hasn't he always been very open about it ?

We know the reasons because he's spoken about them so often !!

He has never said that he has fielded a weakened side. He tries to convince that all players are equal, which is blatently not the case.

[readingbedding]

Who gives a flying phuck?

[Woodcote Royal]

So one of our senior players saying "I don't give a sh*t about the FA Cup" has nothing to do with this?

Surely this was taken out of context? He knew he wasn't going to be involved, so when he was asked a question about the game, he said "I don't give a shit". Is that not the case?

The quote I can find is

We're not going to win the FA Cup and I don't care about it, to be honest. I care about staying in the Premier League, as does everybody at this club.

Our Premier League status isn't protected by winning the FA Cup and it's a simple as that. It's a fantastic competition and perhaps one day we'll be in a position where we can compete for it, but not now.

That makes it pretty clear his and the club's attitude to the FA Cup.

Just as paranoids sometimes do have enemies, the Daily Mirror's attacks on Reading FC sometimes are justified.

Yep, that makes our view on the FA cup pretty clear.

If this really is the feeling throughout the club, thank God they've got it's best interests at heart and refuse to listen to another dose of sentimental claptrap on a familiar theme from those who should know better.

The Daily Mirror (sh*t socialist rag still smarting from JM's knighthood ) clearly feels that the FA Cup is bigger than RFC yet, just like the rest of the gutter press, they're always willing to print any cr@p, regardless of the impact it might have on others, if it sells their paper.

We did not create this system whereby a few top clubs have all the wealth but we have no option but to respond to it by looking after our best interests if we want RFC to remain in it's current form.

We have 2 seasons before our parachute payments expire.......................that's 2 shots at promotion before we will be unable to afford the team we've got let alone the one many would like to see.

As much as I would like us one day to have a serious tilt at winning the FA cup, a return to the top flight is currently a FAR greater priority that we can't afford to miss out on.

I haven't had time to read this whole thread but wholeheartedly agree with Vision's observations on page one and once more despair at those who are STILL so desperately in need of a reality check..

[Victor Meldrew]

When there were all those games being played over Xmas, on terrible pitches, with no subs etc etc, how old were players when they retired?

Generally anyone who got to 30 was seen as a veteren, and many players went out carrying injuries having had regular cortisone injections, leaving many of those players now virtually crippled. Tommy Smith, one of those 14 players Liverpool used can barely walk.

Now players play regularly til their late 30's, and it is rare to hear of a player retiring at 28 (which was how old Coppell was when he retired).

Spacey is right, football (and society) have moved on, and trying to pretend otherwise is delusional.

Stanley Matthews played until he was 50 and at the top level.
You say that players play regularly til their late 30s (RFC don't have any) so (regarding your sweeping generalisation)
what players are now playing in their late 30s at the top level?
Obviously medicare and dietary planning are miles better so players SHOULD go on for much longer-people are generally living longer and working for longer.
I don't think that your case is made that a couple of players once in a season playing 2 games in 2 days is asking too much.
Tell me how the game (apart from being quicker and players falling over more) has "moved on",something that I think is mediaspeak and you and your friend Spacey are hiding behind and has no great substance.
"Delusional"-look at yourself and Spacey,wimps.

[rabidbee]

Has anybody ever said that players can't play two games in three days? But if the opposition haven't played two games in three days, who do you think is likely to be fitter at the end of the second game? So, if you expect the opposition to rotate a few players, you would want to match them, and if you think they won't, you might hope to gain an advantage.

It's not oxf*rd rocket science.

[Woodcote Royal]

Nope, just more claptrap.

We have a 46 game league programme to contend with and our tiring core players do not need to be flogged like dead horses through a cup competetion as well, especially if our manager feels they would perform better in the league after a well earned rest.