Should we take the FA Cup seriously?

[Paul_Scholes18]

Such a ridiculous stance. We are in an unprecedented situation.

Did you demand SAF be fired in 2009? Or the many other times he played 2nd teams when he had to prioritise.

He won't be under this kind of mad schedule next year and will have a stronger squad.

Lastly, and thankfully, what you want doesn't matter.

Sure noone can have predicted this situation, but other teams coping too. We could have rested players in the easier games vs Viilla and Bournemouth if the players can't play all these games. Other teams do not rotate much and gets on with it.
This is a massive game vs Chelsea and we need a strong side for it. He could use the likes of Mctominay, Fred and rest Matic. Maybe rest Greenwood, but we need Rashford, Martial and Bruno/Pogba for that game. Defense we should not need to rotate anything. If he goes with Lingard,Mata and Pereira again then he deserves the sack unless he has coached them to play better which has not happened for a full season.

Regarding SAF I was not always happy when he rotated too much. Like vs Chelsea in the cup during his last season he should have gone with stronger sides given how much we always struggled at the Bridge. Although he was always rotating even in the league to keep a fresh side and rested even RVP and Carrick at times who was our key players that last season.

 

[patty123]

Difficult one this.

Part of me thinks yeah prioritise the CL as it could make a difference to revenue and potential signings.

No offense pal but there is no "could" it will, as you get less for being in Europa league and less we forget, we will also lose 25 million from what Adidas will have to give us if we get into CL.

 

[Nori-]

Winning the FA Cup won't make me feel any better if we lose the Champions League spot.

It's a rubbish situation that we have to prioritise one considering we've got this far in the FA Cup but so much this summer depends on us finishing in the Top 4.

3/4 first choice players who are feeling fit with the other 7/8 made up of back up players vs Chelsea.

P.s Don't forget they're in the same boat so will probably play a weaker team too.

 

[Toad]

I think after the Southampton game you could see the exhaustion. I wouldn’t be object to resting those who are shattered including Bruno and Pogba but having a very strong bench just in case.

If Pogba and Fernandes play this game then we are going to be in trouble against (maybe not so much West Ham but) Leicester in my opinion.

So long as we have a strong bench then I would be pleased to see them get a well deserved rest.

 

[DevilRed]

We should play the same players that got us to this stage in the FA cup.

McTominay. Fred. James. Bailly. Williams. Dalot. Jlingz.

They should be given a chance to impress.

Patented 5-3-2 please.

 

[cbmufc]

This goes against everything I traditionally stand for (winning cups > 4th) but I do generally believe of all years we need financial boosts anywhere we can get them. Perhaps this is UEFA's problem but the champions alone generates EUR10's of millions and throw in the 25 mill from Adidas, it's not a negligible amount

.If also the idea the likes of Sancho want champions league then that's another point, not to mention we need to start playing in bigger games to develop players and realistically the like of Fernandes, Pogba etc need to be in the champions league. Saying that winning a trophy will have a huge impact, and we do have the Europa to go for also. I don't think a Norwich style team should be played.

Let's get through Thursday and re-assess, yes we have played the same team but we've also won a lot of games comfortably. . . taking players off early and really playing 30 odd minutes with no intensity. That said we looked shattered the other night so Ole will need to make some tough decisions. I would rotate for Palace a little and same again for Chelsea. West Ham I'm not too concerned about - they may be safe by that point anyway.

I'm also not remotely bothered about playing city in a final, to be honest the thought of it makes me feel a bit sick.

 

[Fully Fledged]

At the moment I think we need to prioritise Thursday and next Wednesday over the semifinal of the FA Cup. I think that there are players in the starting 11 who need a rest if we are going to fight for the top 4.
I'd still try and win it but I'd try and win it without Matic, Pogba and Bruno in the match day squad.

 

[always_hoping]

Who remembers this. Mad to think those red rag labels are still popular today.

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[ruskyline]

I would rather go rest some key players tomorrow and take our chances against Palace to be able to field the best 11 against Chelsea.

 

[Class of 63]

I'd rather win the FA Cup than finish T4 every single day of the week, and if we beat Chelsea and City to do it all the better.

 

[ruskyline]

I'd rather win the FA Cup than finish T4 every single day of the week, and if we beat Chelsea and City to do it all the better.

But we will lose ocer 75 m of sponsorship from Nike and UCL money. For this reason, I say top 4 > FA Cup.

But this question is irrelevant because after tomorrow's game, we will have to play our best 11 until the end of season.

 

[Isotope]

But we will lose ocer 75 m of sponsorship from Nike and UCL money. For this reason, I say top 4 > FA Cup.

But this question is irrelevant because after tomorrow's game, we will have to play our best 11 until the end of season.

We win the FA Cup (and more chance we win EL next year also), that money difference won't be that big. And we have actual trophy, instead of more money and 4th place "trophy". That 75m could go to owners pocket, and we only get a fraction of that anyway.

 

[The Oracle]

I'd rather win the FA Cup than finish T4 every single day of the week, and if we beat Chelsea and City to do it all the better.

Absolutely agree with this.
Genuine chance to win a major trophy!

People worried about not making Top 4, yet it's in our own hands.
If we balls up then we get another chance via the Europa League in August.

 

[Class of 63]

But we will lose ocer 75 m of sponsorship from Nike and UCL money. For this reason, I say top 4 > FA Cup.

But this question is irrelevant because after tomorrow's game, we will have to play our best 11 until the end of season.

Nothing breeds confidence in a squad more than winning a Trophy, and I think we'll qualify for next seasons Champions League by winning the Europa League anyway as long as we can keep Rashford, Martial and Greenwood fit.

 

[E-mal]

We win the FA Cup (and more chance we win EL next year also), that money difference won't be that big. And we have actual trophy, instead of more money and 4th place "trophy". That 75m could go to owners pocket, and we only get a fraction of that anyway.

We need the money to build the squad.

 

[ruskyline]

Nothing breeds confidence in a squad more than winning a Trophy, and I think we'll qualify for next seasons Champions League by winning the Europa League anyway as long as we can keep Rashford, Martial and Greenwood fit.

I think if we can't get top 4, we won't win FA Cup or Europa League. You need to go to these games with conference. I fully expect United to smash Palace tomorrow, minimum 3-0 so we go with full of confidence into Chelsea game.

 

[Bondi77]

As a fan I think we should take every game seriously and it makes me laugh how there is another recent thread about being the third best squad in the league.
We are playing Palace FFS!
If we cannot get the job done there by tweaking the squad that will allow us a strong possibility of winning the semi final then it pretty much much shows how strong we really are.

 

[Giggsyking]

Bruno, Pogba, Matic, Shaw, AWB, Maguire, Viktor, Martial, Rashford and Even Mason all need rest. So no, who cares about the fecking FA cup. Arsenal won it 3 times it in the last 6 years with no effect on their fecking "winning mentality". They keep being shit as usual the next season. So no play the second team.

 

[ManRed]

Don't care about the FA Cup this season and I would rather play a very weak team and devalue the competition. They screwed us over with the fixture schedule and we should return the favour.

 

[Greck]

As a fan I think we should take every game seriously and it makes me laugh how there is another recent thread about being the third best squad in the league.
We are playing Palace FFS!
If we cannot get the job done there by tweaking the squad that will allow us a strong possibility of winning the semi final then it pretty much much shows how strong we really are.

Yep our squad after the starting XI has a huge drop off but not big enough that a change or 3 makes Palace (14th) or west ham (16th) better than us. The concerns are massively overblown. We can rotate and still expect a W in the league games. It's not like our opponents are bringing world class players off their bench either. Teams aren't supposed to collapse when one player comes off the pitch

 

[Berbasbullet]

If we’re looking for precedent sir Alex chucked away a semi final with a weak side because we had Portsmouth (or was it West Ham?) mid week.

 

[Strelok]

Winning the FA Cup won't make me feel any better if we lose the Champions League spot.

It's a rubbish situation that we have to prioritise one considering we've got this far in the FA Cup but so much this summer depends on us finishing in the Top 4.

3/4 first choice players who are feeling fit with the other 7/8 made up of back up players vs Chelsea.

P.s Don't forget they're in the same boat so will probably play a weaker team too.

Yeah me too. I know most don't like it me neither but I really want CL football. And the players as well I think.

I don't know about Sancho but imo Pogba won't stay if we don't get CL football.

 

[Ryan Bobson]

But we will lose ocer 75 m of sponsorship from Nike and UCL money. For this reason, I say top 4 > FA Cup.

But this question is irrelevant because after tomorrow's game, we will have to play our best 11 until the end of season.

We have already lost all our Nike sponsorship money when Adidas started sponsoring us

 

[horsechoker]

We should play the same players that got us to this stage in the FA cup.

McTominay. Fred. James. Bailly. Williams. Dalot. Jlingz.

They should be given a chance to impress.

Patented 5-3-2 please.

They were given a chance against Norwich and needed our star players to come off the bench and win it in extra time.

 

[Who's Kissing Cameras?]

The way this seasons panned out and after the Southampton game id say Top 4 is more important.

I wouldn’t normally want to sack off the FA Cup but we need three wins in a row in the PL plus we still have a great chance to win the Europa League in August for our trophy. Like another poster I’d go with the team that done us so well pre Pogba, Rashford and Bruno’s return to the team, something like:

De Gea
AWB Bailly Maguire Williams
Fred McTominay
Mata Bruno James
Martial

Keeps some quality in the side but gives a rest to Pogba, Rashford, Matic, Shaw, Lindelof, Greenwood.

 

[gorky_utd]

I think tonight's results will also play a role. If Leicester drops points and we win then we can probably look forward to their match against spurs. If their is a chance that Leicester fails to get more than 2 points then I really don't see the point to play full strength against chelsea where the Wham game becomes the ticket to UCL. Otherwise if Leicester wins, then it is going to the last day anyway so maybe a stronger squad for chelsea match can be expected.

 

[padzilla]

I think the league has to be our absolute priority, we are almost already assured a Europa place next season i think. It would be great to win a cup this season but if we do lift the FA Cup and finish fifth it will remain bitterly disappointing, especially if we don't win the Europa League. Cups are lotteries at the end of the day, one bit of bad luck and we are knocked out. The league is always a better barometer of where a team actually sits.

 

[Nickelodeon]

Why the feck did they schedule the Chelsea-Norwich on the Tuesday and ours on Thursday? City and Arsenal are playing each other on Saturday and both played on Wednesday. Equal rest for both of them. Somebody should come out and explain this. Absolutely ridiculous.

 

[Siorac]

Why the feck did they schedule the Chelsea-Norwich on the Tuesday and ours on Thursday? City and Arsenal are playing each other on Saturday and both played on Wednesday. Equal rest for both of them. Somebody should come out and explain this. Absolutely ridiculous.

TV companies are pretty much in charge of scheduling and have been for years. It's ridiculous but sporting considerations are always secondary now.

 

[jamesjimmybyrondean]

Thread took a turn . Early posts were about us saying we should go for the trophy

 

[Berbasbullet]

I think we should play our best reserves.
Romero,
Williams,
Bailly,
Mctominay,
Fred,
James,
Ighalo

they can all play with Maguire, Bruno, Awb, and Greenwood.

 

[roonster09]

Thread took a turn . Early posts were about us saying we should go for the trophy

This thread was started with completely different intention and lost its meaning.

 

[downunder red]

Yes we do take the FA cup seriously. We take every game seriously. Play our strongest team every time. In saying that if a player says he's nackered rest him. We have enough talent on the bench to cover at least three players at a time getting rested. I would love to see us beat the likes of chelsea and man charity to lift the cup. People sound scared of playing shity in the final but isn't that what it is all about. I say bring it on. We are Manchester United!

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Rashford bloody well got to play this. If not I will kill Ole given the record that Rashford got vs Chelsea.

 

[Marcelinho87]

Yes we should take any competition seriously, winning breeds the winning mentality.

I hate when teams look down on competitions and it seems fans are eager to cheapen them too nowadays.

 

[Paul_Scholes18]

Yes we should take any competition seriously, winning breeds the winning mentality.

I hate when teams look down on competitions and it seems fans are eager to cheapen them too nowadays.

Agree with you. I hate that it is Pep who takes them all super serious and wins them for fun.
Us under SAF didn't win that many cups and part of the reason is he did focus on the league over cups a lot and rotated too much.
It frustrated me a lot particular with the Fa cup near the end.

 

[Greck]

Agree with you. I hate that it is Pep who takes them all super serious and wins them for fun.
Us under SAF didn't win that many cups and part of the reason is he did focus on the league over cups a lot and rotated too much.
It frustrated me a lot particular with the Fa cup near the end.

Furthermore teams that forego trophies typically do so to focus on winning the PL or CL and not because their shitting their briefs about not being able to make top 4 by beating relegation zone teams. Before the new CL knockout stage format teams had brutal late season schedules where they'd play weekend and weekday against huge sides consecutively. We'll be fine

 

[RkkMan]

We win the FA Cup (and more chance we win EL next year also), that money difference won't be that big. And we have actual trophy, instead of more money and 4th place "trophy". That 75m could go to owners pocket, and we only get a fraction of that anyway.

We need the money and prestige of the CL to sign players like Sancho and convince Pogba to sign a new deal.

 

[RkkMan]

Yes we should take any competition seriously, winning breeds the winning mentality.

I hate when teams look down on competitions and it seems fans are eager to cheapen them too nowadays.

Why not focus on the EL when the season ends then?? Using our best players in 3 games in a space of 7 days whilst still being in a tight top 4 race is not clever if it increases the risk of key players getting injured and at this point CL>>>> in order to make Sancho level signings, convince Pogba to sign a new deal and give us better PR cause it will not look good for the "Biggest club in England" to miss out on Europe`s elite competition 2 years running.

 

[Giggsyking]

We win the FA Cup (and more chance we win EL next year also), that money difference won't be that big. And we have actual trophy, instead of more money and 4th place "trophy". That 75m could go to owners pocket, and we only get a fraction of that anyway.

Adidas deal loss and CL league money is about 80m. It is literally all our summer budget. Miss out on CL and we wont be signing Sancho.