Should we take the FA Cup seriously?

duffer

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Can we ban Chelsea fans as well?
Hi duffer :wave:
I'm the reigning, defending "best non-United poster" (a title I've held for two years), I'm ban-immune and deserve more respect than that post, even with white text.

I don't normally white-text but I'm kidding. I'm not even the best Chelsea supporter on here, let alone best out of all the "non-Uniteds".
 

Suedesi

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Listen, I absolutely love the FA Cup. I think it is an amazing competition and I enjoy it every year.

But tbh, I’ve only just found out we are in it this year. On one hand lifting that trophy would be amazing, but it is also obvious that any trophies won from after we come back will not really mean as much. We wouldn’t be proper FA Cup winners for the season as the trophy will always have a massive asterisk next to it.

How does everyone else feel? I’d give my left testicle to win the trophy normally... this year just would feel off.
Should we take the FA Cup seriously? Is "we" the fans, the club, the players?

If it's the fans, none can change how you feel. Some might cherish, some might ignore it, some might hate it. TO each his own.

As for the club/players, they are professionals they are duty bound to take it seriously and give it their all.
 

AFC NimbleThumb

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Don’t know about anyone else but I simply like watching United win things; I get a buzz winning the League Cup.

If we are in it we should try to win it.

We scraped through yesterday; that should be the last game we rest starters this season.
 

Striker10

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who are we not to? player want to win trophies...
 

RedPed

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Hate these types of threads. They're just so dumb. What kind of manager/player would advocate not taking a game seriously?
 

alexthelion

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I'm the reigning, defending "best non-United poster" (a title I've held for two years), I'm ban-immune and deserve more respect than that post, even with white text.

I don't normally white-text but I'm kidding. I'm not even the best Chelsea supporter on here, let alone best out of all the "non-Uniteds".
Tempting fate?
 

AFC NimbleThumb

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LASK second leg?
Europa league games will commence at the end of the domestic season August 5 - August 21.

It’s rather obvious I’m discussing the domestic run-in but this is RedCafe so yes rest who we like vs LASK when that comes round but until then we should start strong & use the 5 subs wisely.
 

Dante

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Depends on how the league campaign in going.

Thanks to the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday, I assume the West Ham PL game will have to be re-scheduled for midweek. Then the following Sunday, we've got a 6-pointer in the final league match against Leicester. It could potentially make for a very congested run-in.

I'd put top 4 as a higher priority than the FA Cup this year. The next few months will be the weirdest transfer season in living memory. And United have a unique chance to get one over on everyone else if we can promise potential transfers targets that we'll be playing in the CL in 20/21.

This is not to say that winning trophies is always less important than getting into Europe. It's just that our club is at a particular moment in its evolution, and this is a critical point where we either make it onto dry land or stay in the ocean for a few more generations.
 

Betson

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Hate these types of threads. They're just so dumb. What kind of manager/player would advocate not taking a game seriously?
It is an example of the small time mentality that has effected some of our fan base to even consider not going all out to win this with only two games to win it and some of our biggest rivals to play.

What kind of mentality would a supporter/player/manager have to have to not badly want to win it from here. Ole is right , it about time we started winning trophies again. And it is is about time we started acting like a big club again.
 

RedPed

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It is an example of the small time mentality that has effected some of our fan base to even consider not going all out to win this with only two games to win it and some of our biggest rivals to play.

What kind of mentality would a supporter/player/manager have to have to not badly want to win it from here. Ole is right , it about time we started winning trophies again. And it is is about time we started acting like a big club again.
Exactly. Completely agree. We would never have done the Treble if Fergie had that mentality. I get the need for rotation etc., but once you start going down the road of games being unimportant, you're doomed to fail. People on here were w*nking themselves silly over Poch but that was one of the biggest gripes with Spurs fans. He had no time for cup games. And Mourinho being indifferent to the derbies used to wind me up something terrible.

You can say a lot of things about Solskjaer but at least he's got the right mentality. Thankfully he's in charge and not some of the fools on here.
 

DarkLord

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Potential all Manchester or London derby. Tasty. I'm glad we are up against Chelsea, they owe us one. Hope we face off City in the final, we seem to have their numbers' this season and beating them to the FA Cup would be glorious.
 

Wumminator

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It is an example of the small time mentality that has effected some of our fan base to even consider not going all out to win this with only two games to win it and some of our biggest rivals to play.

What kind of mentality would a supporter/player/manager have to have to not badly want to win it from here. Ole is right , it about time we started winning trophies again. And it is is about time we started acting like a big club again.
Exactly. Completely agree. We would never have done the Treble if Fergie had that mentality. I get the need for rotation etc., but once you start going down the road of games being unimportant, you're doomed to fail. People on here were w*nking themselves silly over Poch but that was one of the biggest gripes with Spurs fans. He had no time for cup games. And Mourinho being indifferent to the derbies used to wind me up something terrible.

You can say a lot of things about Solskjaer but at least he's got the right mentality. Thankfully he's in charge and not some of the fools on here.
Did... did you read the Original Post?
 

WR10

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City, Arsenal, Chelsea and United semis. Hasn’t been this important in a while
 

RedPed

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Did... did you read the Original Post?
Why is it even a question and why wouldn't the trophy mean as much after the lockdown? Sure the parameters have changed slightly but they've changed for everyone. We just have to get on with it rather than debating on whether it's worth it or not. Are you suggesting that we shouldn't bother with the Europa League as well?

Your title is a bit click-baity but I still stand by what I said, these 'take it seriously' threads in whatever guise they appear are dumb. I can understand a Sheffield United mulling this type of situation over but it should not even be entering United's thought processes. But that is just my opinion. Like I said, thankfully Ole is all about getting his hands on trophies. He'll be all out to win it.
 

Red Keane

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People on here were w*nking themselves silly over Poch but that was one of the biggest gripes with Spurs fans. He had no time for cup games.
I suspect (like Klopp) that the main reason why Poch wrote off the Cups was due to the fact he didn't have the squad depth to go on long Cup runs without compromising their form in the Premier League & Champions League. The ironic thing was that said lack of squad depth played the biggest part in why they failed to win anything under Poch.

So while I agree that you that Manchester United need to take all games and competitions seriously, United need to actually have a squad that can realisitically compete in all 4 main competitions within in a single season.
 

RedPed

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I suspect (like Klopp) that the main reason why Poch wrote off the Cups was due to the fact he didn't have the squad depth to go on long Cup runs without compromising their form in the Premier League & Champions League. The ironic thing was that said lack of squad depth played the biggest part in why they failed to win anything under Poch.

So while I agree that you that Manchester United need to take all games and competitions seriously, United need to actually have a squad that can realisitically compete in all 4 main competitions within in a single season.
Playing with the best you have is different to not taking the competition seriously. What club would not want to have two starting XIs in their squad. Some are just further down the line in attaining that than others and United are better placed than most to get there. Hopefully Ole will get the time and backing to achieve that squad depth but with contracts etc., these things take time. It doesn't mean we need to take competitions less seriously but we use the best of what we have at any given time. We've rested players for league games before and still lost so what was the point? Or players can be saved for specific games and end up getting injured in those games. It's all swings and roundabouts.
 

Red Keane

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Playing with the best you have is different to not taking the competition seriously. What club would not want to have two starting XIs in their squad. Some are just further down the line in attaining that than others and United are better placed than most to get there. Hopefully Ole will get the time and backing to achieve that squad depth but with contracts etc., these things take time. It doesn't mean we need to take competitions less seriously but we use the best of what we have at any given time. We've rested players for league games before and still lost so what was the point? Or players can be saved for specific games and end up getting injured in those games. It's all swings and roundabouts.
Hopefully the Glazers do eventually realise that they need to assemble such a squad. Regardless I would agree on all the points you have raised in this post (if I could like that post, I very much would), especially when I have been no fan of Tottenham's and & Liverpool's shameless attempts to treat the FA Cup & League Cup as if they are youth/reserve competitions.
 

RedPed

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Hopefully the Glazers do eventually realise that they need to assemble such a squad. Regardless I would agree on all the points you have raised in this post (if I could like that post, I very much would), especially when I have been no fan of Tottenham's and & Liverpool's shameless attempts to treat the FA Cup & League Cup as if they are youth/reserve competitions.
Yeah, completely agree. I'm just old school. I just love every competition we're in. I was completely gassed when we won the League Cup and Europa League a couple years back but even now some fans turn their noses up at it. I just don't get it.
 

Betson

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Did... did you read the Original Post?
Yes , are you really saying if we got in a cup final V City(or Arsenal) that you would not be that bothered if we won it or not just because you think there will be an asterisk after it?

I could not care if we were playing them the moon I would still hope we would be pulling out all the stops to win it , and if we do I will not be caring about imaginary asterisks. Just like Liverpool don't now , and the winners of the CL , EL etc will not either.
 

MyBloodIsRed

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No offense to Serge but if we want the cup I think we should be playing De Gea. I thi k DDG would’ve saved Cantwells.

I appreciate he’s the worlds best number 2 but let’s we should go all out to win
 

Web of Bissaka

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No offense to Serge but if we want the cup I think we should be playing De Gea. I thi k DDG would’ve saved Cantwells.

I appreciate he’s the worlds best number 2 but let’s we should go all out to win
Would he though? De Gea of this past two seasons is just.. wouldn't surprise me he wouldn't save that, making an error along the way.

That said, yeah, agree it's time to play De Gea for semi and hopefully final. Still worried though but better to gamble on him than Serge.
 

dalriada

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Would he though? De Gea of this past two seasons is just.. wouldn't surprise me he wouldn't save that, making an error along the way.

That said, yeah, agree it's time to play De Gea for semi and hopefully final. Still worried though but better to gamble on him than Serge.
You would think that De Gea expects to get the nod for the semifinal, and final if we get there, and Romero expects that to be the case. That's what happened in the 2016 FA Cup. I have high confidence in Romero, though, so I would have no issue with him for the semifinal - it would be remarkable if De Gea was dropped for a cup final, and he will have had more matches under his belt since the restart as well. As for Cantwell's goal, you could say Romero should have got down quicker, but he needs to get match fit as much as other players.
 

AaronRedDevil

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Have united beaten Chelsea this season? Seems like they always wins or draw against united.
 

lex talionis

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Of course we want to win trophies. But we also know we can't play our best XI twice a week and expect to win any trophies. The top priority right now is qualifying for the CL and the FA Cup is in no way relevant to that, which is why we Ole starts Ighalo over Martial and Romero over De Gea.

The only serious question is who should we start against Chelsea. That's 2-3 weeks away so who knows, but I'm pretty sure Ole is going to field a squad that he believes will be capable of beating Chelsea.
 

Carl

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Have united beaten Chelsea this season? Seems like they always wins or draw against united.
Can't tell if serious.. but just incase you are weve beaten them 4-0 and 0-2 this season.
 

JMack1234

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We should take every competition serious.

It would be massive for Ole and this team to actually win something, even if it's an FA Cup or a Europa League.
 

Bastian

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Surely not, at this point.

Wonder if Chelsea will field a b team.
 

edgecutter

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Had we won today and beat crystal palace I would be all for throwing our eggs into the fa cup basket, bit top 4 has to be the priority and that west Ham game is more important.