In defence of Cup football.

6 Responses to In defence of Cup football.

1. Russell says:

   August 23, 2017 at 6:41 pm

   Thanks Paul I’m away on holiday therefore didn’t make the game your review has an edge of uncertainty with both the approach football has in general and our current manager to this competion and early rounds of the FA Cup , the only cup games I used to get fired for was the wonderful years of the European Cup Winners cup, you even see top sides not bothering of moaning about Europa cup games , the Premiership and the drive to get their has absorbed all momentum.

   As to last night’s game I’m just disappointed I didnt put a bet on us losing, although we beat them it wasn’t easy Ithinknthey are a decent side .

   I see Joe Mason is joining them on loan, guess that means n
   Noone deal ,so the wage baggage continues.

   Saturday game should be a cracker .
2. Lindsay Davies says:

   August 23, 2017 at 7:04 pm

   Well, Paul, it won’t surprise you to know that this result enraged me. I don’t care how many changes are made, Warnock should be able to find a team to beat Burton A at home. Your ‘chicken and eggs’ poser would normally be valid, but the answer to that one has been clear for ages – and implies a contempt for the supporters, the game, the competition that goes to demonstrate what a half-baked club ours can be. It brought to mind the last two months or so of last season, when there was “nothing to play for” and “they were already on the beach”…the performances were duly dull and inept. Looks like they were more ‘Colins’ than ‘Warnocks’ last night. Absolutely unforgivable not to give everything in every match – otherwise, they deserve our contempt, not our passion. A pitiable defeat.
3. Barry Cole says:

   August 23, 2017 at 8:25 pm

   Another complex and informative piece on stats and the team that played last night Paul.
   I don’t know how many times I have said we needed that midfield player and at last we have realised that the back up we have in that department is short should something happens to just one of them.
   People are giving their thoughts on which players should go but nobody did themselves any favours whatsoever last night. I know he is unlikely to join the queue but halford doesn’t seem to have the gift of taking a game by the throat no matter what position he plays in.
   It’s easy saying we changed 10 players but burton changed 7 as well. Not one player showed any desire to get into the first team. That really worries me as it seems that the majority of those players need to move on as they are not going to make the inroads required to displace any member of the first team. I should exclude Tomlin from this but only just. He flitted in and out and never really inspired the rest of the team.
   I know it’s only a cup game as everyone says but not long ago we were in the final of this cup and I didn’t think it made too much difference to our league form.
   We seem to wrap players up in cotton wool but surely the idea of having depth is when players are not performing or they get injured these players step in without changing the structure or performance of the team. We are a bit away from that at the moment .
   Roll on Saturday when we see the first team in action , as long as they don’t rest on their laurels, we should continue our winning run
4. BJA says:

   August 24, 2017 at 7:55 am

   Good Morning Paul, and everyone else. I have deliberately delayed adding my four pennyworth until after the draw has been made for the next round just to see who we might have played had we won. Oh, only Man Utd away. Good luck to the Brewers who thoroughly deserved the result on Tuesday, and shame on our lot for not taking the competition seriously.
   I can’t disagree with any of your ratings, but would add just two comments. Tomlin is bothering me for he is not influencing a game in the way his talents should, and young Coxe needs to understand how to defend against pace as Scannell ran him ragged on too many occasions.
   A big wake up call, and a demonstration that revealed our “strength in depth” is not as strong as some have believed.
5. The other Bob Wilson says:

   August 24, 2017 at 10:07 am

   Thanks for the replies everyone. I must say that share most of Lindsay’s opinions about our attitude towards cup competitions, but I do think that supporters are culpable as well. I think it needs to be remembered that forty and fifty years ago, the crowds for those early round Welsh Cup ties I mentioned were often very small and, often, you didn’t get many turning up for Finals either, so, at some levels at least, this lack of public interest in cup competitions is not a fairly recent phenomenon. It’s also true to say that significant numbers in our current fanbase have only ever known a time when the club they support have made it obvious that they see Cup competitions as being far less important than league games – by and large I’d say most of us who are critical of how things have become fall into the older middle aged/old category and, as such, I reckon we’re probably thought to be out of touch with how the modern game works.
   As for how we played, it was good to hear Nathan Blake being so critical of most of Tuesday’s team on the Blakey’s Bootroom podcast yesterday – I was a bit surprised at first about how strong his criticism was, but remembered that he is someone who has been pretty scathing in the past about attitudes towards Cup ties. I’m beyond anger now with how Cardiff City approach cup matches in the 2010s, it’s more resignation with me now, but, that said, I struggle to get my head around why players who will probably really struggle to get any first team game time until the FA Cup in January were so lacklustre – there is the chance some of them will leave on loan, but who would have been impressed by what most of the team produced if they were here on a scouting mission?
6. Clive Rymon says:

   August 24, 2017 at 11:03 am

   Hi Paul,I take my hat off to you to write a report on what we watched last night because it was a follow on from what we have seen from our team over the last few seasons.Looking at the players on show it would appear that anyone hoping for first team opportunities would be disappointed,however I think we know that take aplayer out of that team and into the first team and their levels would rise with one or two exceptions.

   We now look forward to Q P R where we hope we carry on the great start to the season.Lokking at a message board thread it appears we have only sold 16,000tickets for this game let’s hope we can get a decent walk up to support the lads,because if we can’t with us being unbeaten it does become a bit of a worry.Never mind onward and upward.

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