difficult to get too upset about that tonight.....

[GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary 2,026]

when the club aren''t bothered about the competition.

why else would we make 9 changes to our perceived strongest team.

If they don''t deem it as worthy of playing our best team when a quarter final in up for grabs , then its not worth the effort on our part.

.

If however the board take a dim view of that tonight....then its black mark against Neil that could count against him down the the line.

[littleyellowbirdie 3,103]

That team should still have been good enough, and conceding to 10 men, then failing to score three out of five penalties? This is humiliating.

[KiwiScot 1,679]

Leeds had made a lot of changes as well, it seems to be the accepted norm nowadays to "give" players a chance rather than play your best team. I do agree with the OP that we did not take this game seriously enough. Brady, Tettey, Dorrans, and Josh Murphy, Ruddy, Bassong, but a few more established players were needed tonight and it clearly showed.

[TIL 1010 5,159]

[quote user="GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary"]

If however the board take a dim view of that tonight....then its black mark against Neil that could count against him down the the line.[/quote]I am struggling to think who exactly on the board would take a dim view of that. Delia,MWJ,Stefan Philips and the boy Tom you can forget for starters.

[morty 0]

When did we all start caring about this cup anyway?

[nutty nigel 7,870]

Saw Tom yesterday. Lovely bloke[Y]

[lake district canary 4,778]

Disappointing last night, but let''s be fair, it was two makeshift teams, made up of players who were picked for reasons other than just winning the match.  Their goalkeeper won it for them and that is about it.  Reading much else into it is difficult, it was just one of those games that got away.

[TIL 1010 5,159]

[quote user="morty"]When did we all start caring about this cup anyway?[/quote]I care about all games that Norwich City are involved with and as for this cup maybe the memories of our first visit to Wembley back in 1973 invoke a sense of pride not forgetting of course 1975 which i admit resulted in losses both times but then the achievement of 1985. The name of the cup may have changed over the years but to us old codgers it is still the League Cup.

[Hoola Han Solo 448]

this cup is only taken seriously when we have a defeat in that gives certain fans a stick to beat the club and manager with. If we get promoted in may I really couldn''t give a f uck that we lost in the league cup.

[lake district canary 4,778]

Every loss in the cup is an opportunity missed and it''s a bit sad that cup competitions have become secondary to the league.  It still means a great deal to win a cup - as a day out, a cup final win is one of the best things you can imagine for your football club.  If you can remember 1985, you will know what I mean.  If you can''t, you don''t know what you are missing.

[Hoola Han Solo 448]

I''d sincerely love to be progressing far in cup competitions but still think promotion is a more satisfying achievement. As for 85, unfortunately I wasn''t yet here.

[SwindonCanary 457]

Cup or get back in the Premiership ?

[morty 0]

Agree with Hoola, the league is far more important right now.

[John C 0]

But I thought we had one of the best squads, in terms of quality and breadth, in the Championship ? That''s what I keep hearing. On that basis, surely a continuing cup run shouldn''t have been beyond us. After all, there would only have been a maximum of three more games to play anyway ! A quarter final appearance would have been a massive and exciting positive for the players, club and fans with the prospect of progressing to the semi finals. I for one was completely dejected with the defeat last night and of course the way we lost. We are now the club that just keeps on giving.... other clubs famous late late victories that they can talk about for years.

[Number 9 0]

Realistically if you look at what''s left in the competition, we wouldn''t have gotten to the semis.

I''m amazed that tettey was played

[hogesar 10,536]

Cup is important to me with the size of our squad and a quarter final round the corner.

It was also, at 1-0 and 2-1 an opportunity to prove to the moaners and groaners our ability to see out a game, along with a confidence boost for the players and fans.

[Crafty Canary 545]

Going out of the cup is not the issue for me as we wouldn''t win it anyway with the teams left in it. It''s the on-going defensive disasters that bother me. Even being 2-0 ahead doesn''t mean we are secure. On Saturday we play a team that has only conceded 9 goals in 14 league games whilst we concede at least 1 a game. Unfortunately I can only see a defeat for us, probably 2-0.

[GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary 2,026]

for those of us that were around for the ''85 final, we should just console ourselves that we were there to see us win at Wembley, back in a time when it was a tournament that both we and everyone took seriously....it wasnt too far behind the FA Cup back then in prestiege and certainly taken more seriously than even the FA Cup is now.

in those days in would be absolutely unthinkable to rest players in a cup competition.....if anything players would be rested in a league game beforehand to make sure they ready for the cup.

I can''t see those days returning anytime soon.

.

as for this competition, with the sides still in it and likely to go through tonight, the only draw that could have come out that I would have half fancied us would have been Hull at home.

.

..........now watch Leeds draw Hull at home.....

[Donkey dangler 0]

[quote user="littleyellowbirdie"]That team should still have been good enough, and conceding to 10 men, then failing to score three out of five penalties? This is humiliating.[/quote]

Where are the two lads who threw their season tickets at Gunn in the dugout? We need them now to make the point again.

[Donkey dangler 0]

[quote user="Hoola Han Solo"]this cup is only taken seriously when we have a defeat in that gives certain fans a stick to beat the club and manager with. If we get promoted in may I really couldn''t give a f uck that we lost in the league cup.[/quote]

Do you really think we are going to get promoted with our defence?

[Donkey dangler 0]

[quote user="Hoola Han Solo"]this cup is only taken seriously when we have a defeat in that gives certain fans a stick to beat the club and manager with. If we get promoted in may I really couldn''t give a f uck that we lost in the league cup.[/quote]

Do you really think we are going to get promoted with our defence?

[Highland Canary 78]

No supporter could expect our defence to get us promoted.

[johncolt 0]

Another reason why we should get upset is the boost that the loss, and the way we lost, will have given to Leeds for the forthcoming league meeting.

[GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary 2,026]

[quote user="johncolt"]Another reason why we should get upset is the boost that the loss, and the way we lost, will have given to Leeds for the forthcoming league meeting.[/quote]

i wouldnt have thought it will have too much bearing on that.....I''m fairly sure both sides will be barely recognisable from that of last night.

.

as I said in the OP....if the manager really wanted to do everything to ensure a win last night, he would have picked our best team, if he didnt deem it worthy of doing so, then I dont see why anyone should get upset about it when those at the club didnt even give us the best chance of winning that game.

.

now if you want to get upset at the fact that we didnt play our strongest team, then that''s another matter and would be understandable.

[Faded Jaded Semi Plastic SOB 1,210]

Ah, the old "we can concentrate on the league" mantra following a poor cup performance......

[curious yellow 184]

We had to give the fringe players a game. It can only help with future league games which are much more important.

Lack of match fitness could be reason we faded later on in the game. Basically it was a drawn game with a much changed side and the reason we went out was because their goalkeeper saved more penalties than ours.

This competition has been very good for us this season, but as we have learned previously, playing your second team can only take you so far.

[TIL 1010 5,159]

[quote user="curious yellow"]We had to give the fringe players a game. It can only help with future league games which are much more important.

Lack of match fitness could be reason we faded later on in the game. Basically it was a drawn game with a much changed side and the reason we went out was because their goalkeeper saved more penalties than ours.

This competition has been very good for us this season, but as we have learned previously, playing your second team can only take you so far.[/quote]And of course Leeds played their best players, yeah righto whatever.

[TIL 1010 5,159]

[quote user="Donkey dangler"][quote user="littleyellowbirdie"]That team should still have been good enough, and conceding to 10 men, then failing to score three out of five penalties? This is humiliating.[/quote]

Where are the two lads who threw their season tickets at Gunn in the dugout? We need them now to make the point again.[/quote]Blimey the last poster to mention the season ticket two must have been the late lamented Tangie. Multi posting one after the other as well it couldn''t be could it ? [;)]

[nutty nigel 7,870]

We''ll if Tangie is back it could be a sign that Lamberts coming back too.

Or even Worthy....

[GJL Mid-Norfolk Canary 2,026]

scant consolation....but Leeds won''t be going any further after that draw

....as the top 5 numbers in the draw appeared to be alphabetical from the teams that went through last night, I "think" we would have got Hull away.

.....winnable, but something we would have in all probability ar$ed up....