Very briefly, we are matched against a top quality Manchester City side in this year’s Carling Cup…away.
Do we want Chris Hughton to field our strongest possible side, in the hope we can retain OUR trophy, or should we rotate our squad, with an eye on Europe and the Championship, effectively admitting we ‘don’t mind’ if we’re knocked out at this stage, despite being holders?
I know the poll only has two options, and it IS hypothetical, so excuse the simplicity, but simply use the comments below for more in depth debate……
Russ
UPDATE – 52% of you thought (at the time of poll closure) that we should try to retain our Carling Cup. It sounds like the lads heeded your advice, and went all out to do just that. Losing 2-0 away to Manhester City is a better result than a 2-0 home loss to Bolton IMHO. It’s cliched, but at least we can now focus on the league…and Europe…and at least Zigic is back
Keep Right On!
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Try and win every game. It’s the same as saying that every time I go into work, I’ll concentrate on the job and not waste time surfing the t’interweb………oh!…
At what cost Gerrit? It is not as though our squad has a great deal of depth, and injuries to a few key players could see us out of Europe and spiralling down the league. The team that goes out to play will of course be trying to win, it is more that given the current circumstances it is better to focus our energies in other areas.
Is this poll suggestting that if we field our first choice players and make a real big effort we can expect to win at Man City?
Surely we’ll lose whatever we do.
@T&W…I don’t think I’m saying don’t rest key players, but I certainly wouldn’t play 6 or 7 youngsters. City will play a third or fourth XI, so, in a two-horse race, we must have a chance. Look at Wolves and Stoke last night. 🙂 Orient came close, as did Shrewsbury and Forest. I bet they played near first-choice XIs. I don’t buy the old ‘we can’t play two matches a week’ nonsense, especially this early in the season. Not on their money. They do nothing else all week!
If we go into the match expecting to lose by three or four, it could be a cricket score.