Do We Respect The FA Cup Or Bang On Forevermore About 1983?

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Sorry, but not quite getting this Lincoln jolly well played hoorah thing. WTF?!

 

[BBassic]

It was well played though. They beat us well. Granted, we had a hand in all three of their goals but we also weren't good enough on the day. Not sure what you're having difficulty understanding.

 

[goldstone]

The FA Cup is now swiftly becoming a shadow of it's former self. Only mid-table teams seem to be interested enough to field full-strength teams, all the others potentially fighting for promotion or fighting to escape relegation are fielding weakened teams. This used to just be a League Cup thing which has now spread to the FA Cup. Not that I'm arguing that it's wrong ... just a shame that the glory of the FA Cup is now a thing of the past.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Sorry, but not quite getting this Lincoln jolly well played hoorah thing. WTF?!

Don't fall into the trap of 'we should be beating teams like little Lincoln'. It makes it sound like we just let them win, which disrespects them more than the cup.
Well played Lincoln. They wanted it more than us.

It's what the Man City fans said to us, after their defeat at Withdean. I remember it well.

 

[Ernest]

The FA Cup is only just in front of the Checkatrade Trophy in importance these days

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Don't fall into the trap of 'we should be beating teams like little Lincoln'. It makes it sound like we just let them win, which disrespects them more than the cup.
Well played Lincoln. They wanted it more than us.

It's what the Man City fans said to us, after their defeat at Withdean. I remember it well.

Just find it more than a bit disgusting that we pick and choose which tournaments to properly engage in. We're not all that.

 

[BBassic]

I'd say, for this one year, given the chance we have of getting into the Prem that prioritising that competition is a complete no-brainer.

 

[Bry Nylon]

Just find it more than a bit disgusting that we pick and choose which tournaments to properly engage in. We're not all that.

We have chosen one competition to properly engage in because, understandably, someone is after a return on some of their 300+ million quid investment and we'll never have a better chance than over the next 3 months to achieve that. A few more league wins.

If that means fielding a massively weakened side in a 3rd round FA Cup tie so the proper players can focus on the league, then so be it. Yes, that side should have had enough to beat Lincoln but they wanted it more.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

Just find it more than a bit disgusting that we pick and choose which tournaments to properly engage in. We're not all that.

All things being equal, we put out a team that was capable of beating Lincoln. We had two full international players, for example. We didn't, so we should be man enough to say well done.

 

[Neville's Breakfast]

Just find it more than a bit disgusting that we pick and choose which tournaments to properly engage in. We're not all that.

I think we have engaged with the Cup. We have cover players who need to play and in the absence of a reserves league we need to play them in the Cup. I have no issue with yesterday's team selection.

 

[Seagull kimchi]

Can we please move on from this slightly shoddy and forgettable segment of what promises to be a pretty bloody excellent season. Seriously anyone out there who feels the need to make any kind of weird points of 'I told you so's' Pisss offff. We're doing great, as great as we ever have. Don't you see that?

 

[Eddiespearritt]

We have chosen one competition to properly engage in because, understandably, someone is after a return on some of their 300+ million quid investment and we'll never have a better chance than over the next 3 months to achieve that. A few more league wins.

If that means fielding a massively weakened side in a 3rd round FA Cup tie so the proper players can focus on the league, then so be it. Yes, that side should have had enough to beat Lincoln but they wanted it more.

I can only just live with putting out feeble teams in cup competitions - but I disagree with it whole heartedly. If the argument is "we need promotion more than a cup run" which also translates for others into "premier league survival", "top four focus" etc etc, then ok - but then we must be looking to put the effort in to strengthen the squad before the window closes in obvious areas of weakness. You can't have it both ways really - and granted, it isn't my money. Poor at Preston by all accounts and we've got some tough matches in the run in which could eat away at our lead quite quickly. A forgettable 4th round cup defeat to plucky old Lincoln will pale into insignificance if we blow the position in the league that we have now, and end up in the dreaded pay-off lottery again.

My viw is always play your best team, confidence breeds confidence, and a winning mentality is hard to beat. Crap at Preston, fortunate when poor against Sheffield Wednesday (athough brave), clumsy against Cardiff who could have scored several, and defeatist at Lincoln. It's not been a great month for the Albion either.

 

[Norman Potting]

Lets have a "what if...." What if we had been knocked out of the FA Cup in the early rounds in '83 - do you thing we would have managed to survive in the First Division for another season, or perhaps even longer

 

[Cheshire Cat]

No, no we don't.
Yes, yes we do (it was 34 years ago for FFS and we didn't even win the thing).

 

[Cheshire Cat]

Lets have a "what if...." What if we had been knocked out of the FA Cup in the early rounds in '83 - do you thing we would have managed to survive in the First Division for another season, or perhaps even longer

We were crap that season outside the cup run, and could not (should not) have survived.

 

[chimneys]

Mods can you merge these various threads on same subject.Clogging the Board now.

 

[darkwolf666]

I can only just live with putting out feeble teams in cup competitions - but I disagree with it whole heartedly. If the argument is "we need promotion more than a cup run" which also translates for others into "premier league survival", "top four focus" etc etc, then ok - but then we must be looking to put the effort in to strengthen the squad before the window closes in obvious areas of weakness. You can't have it both ways really - and granted, it isn't my money. Poor at Preston by all accounts and we've got some tough matches in the run in which could eat away at our lead quite quickly. A forgettable 4th round cup defeat to plucky old Lincoln will pale into insignificance if we blow the position in the league that we have now, and end up in the dreaded pay-off lottery again.

My viw is always play your best team, confidence breeds confidence, and a winning mentality is hard to beat. Crap at Preston, fortunate when poor against Sheffield Wednesday (athough brave), clumsy against Cardiff who could have scored several, and defeatist at Lincoln. It's not been a great month for the Albion either.

FFS we have won 3 out of 4 league games during January, and increased the gap between us and third place, oh and taken and held top spot in the Championship - yep, January has been a shit month for the Albion, hasn't it?

 

[GoldWithFalmer]

Where were the 25-30000 fans that were at Wembley when we had 100 or so for the Newcastle match (midweek replay 3rd round) away in the FAC in 1983? thread closed.

Unless you were one THPP?

 

[Questions]

I've thought about this all weekend. It's dead for us and most teams now because of the rise of the Premier League. It's irreversible. Who let it happen ? We all did. This isn't a riddle either.

Us older fans will always have 1983 and it's a shame that the younger ones won't but at least they won't have to endure 'Cup Final day It's a Knockout'

Come on now.......... Nostalgia rules Hokey Cokey.

 

[fleet]

We didn't really disrespect it - that team should have been good enough to win easily - they under performed (especially in defence) and Lincoln deserved to go through. That's what used to be called the magic of the FA cup.