How seriously should we be taking the FA Cup this season?

[brian017]

It’s only 2 extra matches before the league is over. Go for it

 

[Rood]

honestly Im not that bothered about the FA Cup at all - it is a distant 3rd priority and I would have played an even weaker team last night

we are going to end up with serious fixture congestion - getting back in the CL has to be the focus and I think these extra cup games will harm our league and Europa form

 

[MS4]

FA Cup is FA Cup. We should definitely try to win. It's the cup of England. We all should want this trophy

 

[Dante]

It should be a very, very distant 3rd priority.

Our future depends on Champions League participation far more than winning the cup for the thirteenth time.

 

[Zlatattack]

Very seriously. Only noddy clubs don't take cup competitions seriously. Manchester United is expected to participates in all competitions with the aims to win those competitions. Silverware is supposed to be bread and butter at Manchester United - at least it was in the Manchester United I grew up watching.

We have no chance of winning the league, the league cup is over - we're in the QF of the FA cup and R16 in the Europa. We should be looking to win both competitions.

The expectation from the top to the bottom of this club should be that level of ambition. Anyone who works for the club (related to football) who doesn't share it - has no business being at the club.

The prestige of a club is built on trophies - not on financial figures published by accountants.

March is difficult month of fixtures for us, but thankfully, we've got an easy draw in the Europa and FA cup, Spurs are hobbled and City aren't looking indestructable anymore. If we get through that, without injuries - we should be on course for 4th.

I think this season will go down to the end. Spurs have a difficult run, Chelsea have a harder end to the season than us - as long as we keep on winning - the oppo will drop points. It's not the end of the world, we don't have a big gap to make up. No reason not to focus on cup competitions too.

 

[DickDastardly]

Win the CUPS at all cost.

Place in the league means nothing.
If we win the EL - we qualify for the CL next season.
If we win the FA, we go tied in with Arsenal at 13.

And winning game by game is most important.

Not to mention winning two cup finals! That's two finals worth watching - match going fans will fecking enjoy it, winning it with style would be so boosting for
everybody involved in this club, new players especially!

Shift resting top players for league games and go strong teamed in the cups. We NEED to win them both!

 

[Lentwood]

We should go all out for every competition we are in - it's not as if we're competing for the league title

I could understand SAF playing kids in the League Cup when we were regularly competing for three major trophies - we've no excuse now!

 

[Organic Potatoes]

It’s a luxury trophy. Looks nice but doesn’t get you anywhere.

In terms of priority, it’s such a distant third as to not be concerned about unless we get into the final.

 

[L1nk]

Why wouldn't we go for it? We're in the Quarters we'd be stupid not to try our best to add any silverware at this point. More FA Cups is always good, League Cup i'd definitely play kids, but FA Cup has at least something in it, we aren't competing for the league and I know CL spot is important, but the PL is so trash this season there is absolutely no excuse why we can't go all out for the FA Cup and a minimum of 4th

 

[Nickosaur]

Can't believe some of the replies in here. I'll celebrate like a mad man if we win it. It's a trophy ffs and we've been shite for years!

 

[NotoriousISSY]

Still a great competition in my eyes.

I mean winning it over and over without it being a springboard to higher-level success gets you into the Arsenal territory, but when City won it in 2011 you can mark it as the true starting point for what was about to come.

 

[TMDaines]

Take everything equally seriously, but tailor squad selection to the level of opposition, demands and necessity of rest accordingly.

The idea that we are somehow good enough to pick and choose, and if we only focussed on one thing that would greatly increase our chances of winning it, is asinine. We could have a poor fortnight and find ourselves miles off top 4 pace in the league and be out of Europe.

Only last year Chelsea finished fourth and won the EL, beating Arsenal on both counts.

 

[Tiber]

A lot of future plans will be fecked if we don't make it into the champions league. Top 4 or winning the europa league should be our sole focus.

If we win the FA cup then great, but that wont help us bring in the likes of Sancho - which is what it takes to actually become competitive

 

[dove]

Imagine being a football club and not taking a competition seriously. What's the point then?

 

[Organic Potatoes]

Imagine being a football club and not taking a competition seriously. What's the point then?

What’s the point of the FA Cup?

 

[Inigo Montoya]

A lot of future plans will be fecked if we don't make it into the champions league. Top 4 or winning the europa league should be our sole focus.

If we win the FA cup then great, but that wont help us bring in the likes of Sancho - which is what it takes to actually become competitive

I agree but at least making an effort to win a trophy is important.

Many a successful career has begun on the back of an FA Cup win

 

[Inigo Montoya]

What’s the point of the FA Cup?

Do you know much about English football

 

[TMDaines]

A lot of future plans will be fecked if we don't make it into the champions league. Top 4 or winning the europa league should be our sole focus.

If we win the FA cup then great, but that wont help us bring in the likes of Sancho - which is what it takes to actually become competitive

Are people not learning anything from Ole’s cultural reset? If we finished a point off fourth, won the FA Cup final and lost in the EL final, and Sancho used that to turn us down for a CL-qualified Chelsea, then good riddance to the guy.

I want people who want to play for Manchester United, players who come to United for the longer term, looking to achieve the most they can out of their career here. If they just want to be in the CL immediately then feck off to Chelsea. Even Pogba arrived on that basis, and in fairness to him, I don’t think any of us has seen the sound, progressive investment to match his ambition.

Yes, CL qualification will be one more box ticked when signing players, but no player signing for an English team can really assume and demand continual CL qualification nowadays. You can work for it, but it can’t be handed to you. City and Liverpool will cycle out again at some point.

 

[SER19]

With a chance to still get top 4, and potentially 2 cups, that's what we should be aiming for especially with squad depth improving and both January signings going exactly what we hoped.

Seeing solskjaer lift a cup as manager would be very special for me as a fan

 

[Organic Potatoes]

Do you know much about English football

Yes. But you didn’t answer my question.

What does winning the FA Cup get you, aside from respect from English fans?

 

[LawCharltonBest]

Let's win a third of the treble bitches!!!!!

 

[RedRonaldo]

Wouldn’t mind if we win it, but definitely not our top priority.
UEFA cup or top 4 in league is far more important.

 

[Inigo Montoya]

Yes. But you didn’t answer my question.

What does winning the FA Cup get you, aside from respect from English fans?

What does winning any trophy get you? If it’s financial reward you want then you can play your whole life and be very rich and still have no trophy to show for it.

What exactly is the point you’re trying to make

 

[King7Eric]

Wouldn’t mind if we win it, but definitely not our top priority.
UEFA cup or top 4 in league is far more important.

Compared to other times when you are distraught when we win a trophy.

 

[bosnian_red]

Easier said than done. Let's say this is our schedule
3-13 LASK
3-16 Spurs
3-20 LASK
3-21 Norwich

When will you start Lingard, Mata? Spurs? In order to play our best 11? Then start Lingard , Mata again at Norwich?

It's going to be Sunday (city home), thursday (lask away), sunday (spurs away), thursday (lask home), then probably Sunday for Norwich away in the cup before the international break. 5 game stretch. Lask should be easy and we can rotate just like we did for Brugges, at least for first leg. Norwich we can part rotate but keep some more key players in.
You take it seriously but you still manage the squad. We have enough depth for that. Defence can rotate adequately in all 4 slots, same with keeper. Matic and McTominay can rotate. Greenwood and James. Ighalo and Martial. Bruno Fernandes and Fred are the 2 who will need to be rested for the first leg against LASK, because they'll need to play every other game basically. Think they'll manage. Especially with fred as he doesnt leave for international week.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

This team needs to learn to win, it's a trophy, one of the most historic trophies in the world. Go for it. Says something when people are more bothered about getting fourth in a league that was only created to make money.

 

[bosnian_red]

Yes. But you didn’t answer my question.

What does winning the FA Cup get you, aside from respect from English fans?

Pride and a sign that the club is winning trophies still? Players want to win trophies. Fa cup is still a major cup for us. Players coming in will see us as a club that competed across all competitions, won the main domestic cup, and will think they can now add to that and take us to the next step. Rather than just being a team that won nothing but finished in 4th or something else.

Crazy when fans start ignoring competitions. If you are gunning for the league title and CL, yeah, it makes sense to put this on the back burner a bit (but still go for it). If you aren't, then it should be a priority. It breeds future success.

 

[sewey89]

What’s the point of the FA Cup?

What's the point of football?

 

[DomesticTadpole]

What's the point of football?

The F.A. Cup was part of this treble that we keep going on about and are very protective of.

 

[Valuedrug]

Spending our very limited resources in the domestic cups earlier in the season was unwise in my opinion. To be blunt, we’re only in the running for fourth now because our competitors are almost as inconsistent and wobbly as we have been for the majority of the season.

Now that we’re here though, with a solid shout of getting into the final stages of both the FA cup and the Europa League as well as competing for the top four spots, I think we can afford to go for everything...within reason. Anything that gets us into the Champions League should obviously come first, but I wonder how much the coaching staff believes a cup win would do for the current crop of players. I suppose it’s just as important to develop what we have, as it is recruiting for the future.

 

[sewey89]

The F.A. Cup was part of this treble that we keep going on about and are very protective of.

Absolutely - I was replying to the comment asking what is the point of the FA Cup.

I replied questioning that theory - If all we're bothered about is qualification for champions league and money, then what is the point of football? I thought the joy of football was trophies, cup finals etc - Why anyone would turn their nose up at that when we're a win at Carrow Road away from Wembley is beyond me.

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Absolutely - I was replying to the comment asking what is the point of the FA Cup.

I replied questioning that theory - If all we're bothered about is qualification for champions league and money, then what is the point of football? I thought the joy of football was trophies, cup finals etc - Why anyone would turn their nose up at that when we're a win at Carrow Road away from Wembley is beyond me.

I did understand what you were getting at. The PL has brought great riches to clubs, but it has taken some of the soul out of it as well.

 

[Bocca9978]

What’s the point of the FA Cup?

To win it.

 

[Siorac]

Pride and a sign that the club is winning trophies still? Players want to win trophies. Fa cup is still a major cup for us. Players coming in will see us as a club that competed across all competitions, won the main domestic cup, and will think they can now add to that and take us to the next step. Rather than just being a team that won nothing but finished in 4th or something else.

Crazy when fans start ignoring competitions. If you are gunning for the league title and CL, yeah, it makes sense to put this on the back burner a bit (but still go for it). If you aren't, then it should be a priority. It breeds future success.

This point keeps getting repeated here but does it really? Arsenal kept winning the cup basically every year in Wenger's final seasons but it never bred any further success and that part of Wenger's career is considered a failure, a steep decline. And of course there's, well, us: we fired Van Gaal right after winning the FA Cup.

British transfer targets might, MIGHT care if we won the FA Cup - continental players almost certainly won't give a feck.

The way the fixtures work out - what with Norwich being right after LASK - we can put out a strong-ish team. Had we drawn someone like Sevilla or Inter I'd say focus on the EL games and play the backups at Norwich.

 

[bosnian_red]

This point keeps getting repeated here but does it really? Arsenal kept winning the cup basically every year in Wenger's final seasons but it never bred any further success and that part of Wenger's career is considered a failure, a steep decline. And of course there's, well, us: we fired Van Gaal right after winning the FA Cup.

British transfer targets might, MIGHT care if we won the FA Cup - continental players almost certainly won't give a feck.

The way the fixtures work out - what with Norwich being right after LASK - we can put out a strong-ish team. Had we drawn someone like Sevilla or Inter I'd say focus on the EL games and play the backups at Norwich.

It definitely helps maintain a level of success, to some degree. That part was considered a failure for them because they fecked up in the league when Leicester won. Of course winning the fa cups mattered though. Just because they didn't push on doesnt mean it didnt matter. And even still, they have trophies to look back on which is the thing that matters. Winning the FA cup and being competitive elsewhere was their peak. But they still has something to show for it. Look at Spurs. Competitive for a few years under Pochettino. Nothing to show for it, not even a league cup. A trophy would have done wonders for them IMO.

 

[sammsky1]

Given that stage we are into this ‘project’ it’s imparative we are able to attract the very best this summer, and that necessitates our qualifying for CL a next year.
Im not fussed if that that’s via winning Europa or finishing 4th/5th. Winning FA cup at the expense of that would be disastrous for our future plans.

So I’m not really fussed, and would be very irritated if we won the FA cup but didn’t make it into CL.

 

[Alabaster Codify7]

With a chance to still get top 4, and potentially 2 cups, that's what we should be aiming for especially with squad depth improving and both January signings going exactly what we hoped.

Seeing solskjaer lift a cup as manager would be very special for me as a fan

This can't be underestimated. Wasn't it Fergie who talked about every trophy won instills more of a winner's mentality into the players? It would do Ole and the team wonders.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Imagine being a football club and not taking a competition seriously. What's the point then?

To make money for the owner. Half the fans have been brainwashed to agree with that.

 

[Yakuza_devils]

When I was much younger the FA Cup Road to Wembley was a big thing back then. Unfortunately, the cup now is just a distraction and most EPL team play their under strength team. The magic of the cup have long gone. If we won, it will be a bonus. Nothing to shout about.

The priority in club football now is:

1) CL
2) EPL
3) Top 4
4) EL
5) FA Cup
6) League Cup

If the English FA change the system and winner of the FA Cup qualify for the CL then it will bring back some importance of the cup.

 

[RedRonaldo]

Compared to other times when you are distraught when we win a trophy.

Things have changed alot these days. I still remember we used to celebrate happily back in the old days when Cantona won us the FA Cup. But these days top 4 and CL football is everything. Not only for the money, but to attract top players too.
But sure, if we have already secure top 4, winning FA Cup would be great, it surely is something we would celebrate.