Saints play a weakened side at Sunderland and lose..

[symyjym]

It wasn't that inexperienced a team though. There were several players in that team with plenty of Premier League experience, albeit some who have recently been out of favour. If Rickie Lambert hadn't missed an open goal from 2 yards out in the 2nd half and earned Southampton a replay, we wouldn't be having this discussion. The team Pochettino selected should have been good enough to beat a team fighting relegation, that it wasn't is down to the players having the wrong attitude on the day.

Read bhafc99 post #15

Pochettino clearly doesn't want to be there and has no interst in the FA Cup. He has probably already got another club to go to next season and is likely looking to getting fired for an easy way out rather than see out this season.

Now Southampton are safe they will be better off getting a new manager in for the end of season so they can have a head start on next. We will see later how this plays out.

 

[symyjym]

Didn't we play weakened teams when we face Port Vale and Reading and still won?

So who were the weak players we fielded in those games?

 

[The Camel]

It's so sad how much it has deteriorated, when I was a kid the FA Cup was everything.

The most important competition of all.

FA Cup final day was equal to Christmas Day as my best day of the year.

Now my little boy is the exact age I was when I loved it so much (8).

And although he loves football, he doesn't even bother to watch FA Cup games.

 

[Acker79]

So who were the weak players we fielded in those games?

"Weak players" well, you can probably point to the southampton players and argue they are not weak. But we are talking weakened teams - a team that features players who are not considered first choice, players may be considered good enough, but when looking at the squad as a whole they are not the strongest starting eleven. Case in point: Calderon. Good player at this level, but still second choice because he is not considered as strong as Bruno (by the manager, at least).

So with that clarification in mind:

Brezovan
Calderon
El Abd / Dunk
Chicksen
JFC (when everyone is fit, JFC doesn't make the matchday squad)
March (was not being used until the Reading game, beyond a few late substitutions)
Obika / Barnes (? - arguable, seems to be an assumption he wouldn't have been a regular starter if everyone was fit, but was the only fit striker we had for a while, though Ulloa had been back for five games prior to reading)

 

[Hiney]

That game yesterday summed up everything that is wrong with modern day football.

It's outrageous that teams take the piss out of the fans by fielding weakened teams.

I remember when Sunderland won the FA Cup in 1973 they played Manchester City in the 5th round. The first game (2-2) was at Maine Road and the crowd was 54,478. The replay at Roker Park was watched by 51,782.

They then went on to play Luton Town at home in the Quarter-Final - 53,151

 

[symyjym]

"Weak players" well, you can probably point to the southampton players and argue they are not weak. But we are talking weakened teams - a team that features players who are not considered first choice, players may be considered good enough, but when looking at the squad as a whole they are not the strongest starting eleven. Case in point: Calderon. Good player at this level, but still second choice because he is not considered as strong as Bruno (by the manager, at least).

So with that clarification in mind:

Brezovan
Calderon
El Abd / Dunk
Chicksen
JFC (when everyone is fit, JFC doesn't make the matchday squad)
March (was not being used until the Reading game, beyond a few late substitutions)
Obika / Barnes (? - arguable, seems to be an assumption he wouldn't have been a regular starter if everyone was fit, but was the only fit striker we had for a while, though Ulloa had been back for five games prior to reading)

All teams play their second choice keeper.
Calderon can't be classed as weak.
El Abd didn't play against Port Vale and Dunk was playing alongside Upson.
Chickson deserved his place and put on a smart show.
JFC does an ok job.
March? Everyone has been crying out for him to play. Can't believe you put March on your list
Obika scored and did a good job.

Anyway why don't you go on the Shamptons fans forum and get their view of the game and defend their manager.

 

[Acker79]

All teams play their second choice keeper.
Calderon can't be classed as weak.
El Abd didn't play against Port Vale and Dunk was playing alongside Upson.
Chickson deserved his place and put on a smart show.
JFC does an ok job.
March? Everyone has been crying out for him to play. Can't believe you put March on your list
Obika scored and did a good job.

Anyway why don't you go on the Shamptons fans forum and get their view of the game and defend their manager.

Did you deliberately ignore that first paragraph? It isn't about "weak players" it's about "weakened teams" - teams who have rested first team regulars giving spots to second choice, youth players, reserves, etc.

Focusing on "weak players" distorts the discussion. I specifically cited Calderon to illustrate that point.

Just because "all teams" play their second choice keeper, doesn't mean our team wasn't weakened.
Calderon - addressed above
El Abd played v Reading.
Why? What has Chicksen done to deserve his start? While it may be prudent to give him a start so he isn't completely thrown in the deep end should we need him, while he may have trained well, he is still second choice.
I didn't say JC isn't any good, I said with everyone being fit he doesn't make the match day squad, he is not first choice unless injuries require it.
March is a kid currently trying to make the step up, something that is only happening now because he was able to show he could contribute when he was given his first ever competitive start for us v Reading. He was not a regular first teamer until given a chance in the cup. That a player that was part of a weakened team has taken the opportunity to push for a regular start doesn't mean the team wasn't weaker than the regular first eleven.
Obika has only featured as a late sub, other than the cup.


I have no interest in defending Southampton, or their manager. That has nothing to do with it.

I am not suggesting we should field a weakened team, or that our chances are better if we field a weakened team. Just that fielding a weakened team does not automatically mean you will lose or is the only reason a team does lose, pointing out that we fielded weakened team in both previous FA Cup rounds.

 

[symyjym]

Did you deliberately ignore that first paragraph? It isn't about "weak players" it's about "weakened teams" - teams who have rested first team regulars giving spots to second choice, youth players, reserves, etc.

Focusing on "weak players" distorts the discussion. I specifically cited Calderon to illustrate that point.

Just because "all teams" play their second choice keeper, doesn't mean our team wasn't weakened.
Calderon - addressed above
El Abd played v Reading.
Why? What has Chicksen done to deserve his start? While it may be prudent to give him a start so he isn't completely thrown in the deep end should we need him, while he may have trained well, he is still second choice.
I didn't say JC isn't any good, I said with everyone being fit he doesn't make the match day squad, he is not first choice unless injuries require it.
March is a kid currently trying to make the step up, something that is only happening now because he was able to show he could contribute when he was given his first ever competitive start for us v Reading. He was not a regular first teamer until given a chance in the cup. That a player that was part of a weakened team has taken the opportunity to push for a regular start doesn't mean the team wasn't weaker than the regular first eleven.
Obika has only featured as a late sub, other than the cup.


I have no interest in defending Southampton, or their manager. That has nothing to do with it.

I am not suggesting we should field a weakened team, or that our chances are better if we field a weakened team. Just that fielding a weakened team does not automatically mean you will lose or is the only reason a team does lose, pointing out that we fielded weakened team in both previous FA Cup rounds.

Southampton has everything to do with this, that's the title of the thread.

Southampton will avoid relegation even if they lose the rest of their games, and they are not going to catch up for a top 5 finish. The only thing they had left to play for was the FA Cup and they gave Sunderland a free pass. If they were only slightly off the pace in the Prem I could understand it.

If you watched the game yesterday you would have seen how awful and lackluster it was.

 

[Acker79]

Southampton has everything to do with this, that's the title of the thread.

Southampton will avoid relegation even if they lose the rest of their games, and they are not going to catch up for a top 5 finish. The only thing they had left to play for was the FA Cup and they gave Sunderland a free pass. If they were only slightly off the pace in the Prem I could understand it.

If you watched the game yesterday you would have seen how awful and lackluster it was.

The thread is about southampton, but the conversation veered away to a separate discussion on Brighton fielding weakened teams in the previous rounds. Southampton have nothing to us v Reading or us v Port Vale (or us v Hull, really). How well Southampton played, how justified they were, irrelevant to the point that brighton played weakened teams and won both previous rounds.

 

[joeinbrighton]

Everton just fielded a weakened team today and won 3-1. No-one will really talk about it though because they won. You can get away with it if the result is favourable, the difference is Southampton's result and performance was abject so it gets highlighted.

 

[Questions]

The thing is there is no real need for us to field a weakened team. They have had a break of 6 days and then get a break of 5 days before a break of 7. Not that hard that surely ? Or have I missed a game out.

 

[symyjym]

The thread is about southampton, but the conversation veered away to a separate discussion on Brighton fielding weakened teams in the previous rounds. Southampton have nothing to us v Reading or us v Port Vale (or us v Hull, really). How well Southampton played, how justified they were, irrelevant to the point that brighton played weakened teams and won both previous rounds.

The team that Shampton put out couldn't even pass to each other. When we played Reading they didn't even break into our half, and that said getting to the play offs is and was a priority. Shampton have not got anything to play for now, their season is over. There is a time for playing a weakened side and a time to go for it, MP got it wrong.

They played a weak selection with a weak mentality. Even Lallana said they let a great chance slip to make FA Cup quarter-finals.

 

[nicko31]

My guess was Southampton really were complacent yesterday, they recently did very well against Arsenal with a lot of players out. They heard Sunderland would play a weakened side and thought they would still have enough even with 7 changes, well they got it completely wrong.

I'm sure Hull will make changes tomorrow, lets not be fooled. We will need to field a strong chance to have a decent chance

 

[krakatoa]

They were crazy to field a weakened team when they've got nothing else to play for this season. Very strange.