Palace Resul

Many will no doubt say that they aint bothered and we can concentrate on the league now etc, but that game was a chance for the fringe players to step up to the plate and to be quite honest, they didn’t !! Their keeper had nothing to do for large parts of that game ! Good to know that when we get injuries we have some real quality waiting in the wings !! :|

Sounds like we need touchline technology to me, lousy liner or what?[/quote]

To be honest it wasn’t even a good strike and the keeper was at fault for the poor punch and also for failing to stop the pretty poor shot !! :?

Standish, digressing for a moment ( not that the football was a riveting conversation !! ) 17th Dec @ The Ritz in Manchester ….Half Man Half Biscuit !! Chance to redeem yourself son !! ;)

I’d agree & disagree with that filmoss
I’d agree coz you’re right that it is a chance for the fringe players to stake a claim for the 1st team & many of them didn’t do that
I’d disagree with the last sentence that seems to indicate that you think that coz they lost & it wasn’t a great performance that is proof that Latics “back up” players aren’t good enough – for a start 3 guys started tonight who haven’t even been in town for 2 weeks & are getting used to new tactics, a new manager & new team mates, and they haven’t played a game for us before. They were bound to be rusty. As for the team as a whole it showed somet like 8 changes from the one that played on Saturday. I’d be pretty confident that every single one of those players could be counted on to perform & perform relatively well if they are called upon to start a league game in the event of injuries & suspensions. However you will only ever be looking at a Latics having to ask 1 or 2 of em to step in. If you had to ask 8 to step then it would disrupt any team (outside of some of the big uns).

Personally I’m disappointed Latics are out. I’m also disappointed that our manager treats the tournament as some sort of inconvenience. I’ll also be disappointed when he does the same in the FA Cup. I understand why he does it but I still find it disappointing

I can understand that the league is more important, and that we rested 8 players and we were away, and that it takes time fo rnew players to settle, and we do this every year.

However, Roberto if your listening, as a latics fan I want to see us win, and the continual embarassment of defeat by teams in this competition is getting too much. We win around 10 games a year and that is very hard for supporters, so a decent cup run would do everyone the world of good.

From a loyal dark side member, patience being tried again. When we lost the next 3 games in the league (I hope not) we will be in a really poor positions again.

Go on prove me wrong, but the half ars*d startto the season aint convincing me yet !

Rant over

:angry-soapbox:

He’ll argue that he did use it as an experiment though – we all know he sees that there’s only 1 formation to play football with so there would be little benefit to playing a 4-4-2 or whatever if he’s never gonna use it
His experiment would be to see how his fringe players compared to those he’s used so far & with the new players it was an experiment to see whether they were ready to start league games
I’m guessing that he got his answers – when Paul Jewell did it in our maiden top flight season he got his answers too although somewhat different ones!!!
As I said I understand the reasoning behind him (& others) doing it but I’ll never agree with it & I’m strictly “old school” in thinking that if a player can’t take a Saturday/Tuesday/Saturday schedule at this stage in the season then they shouldn’t be a professional athlete – Blimey I ref 2 games every weekend, its well known we cover more ground than players & I’m still fit as a butchers dog on Monday morning!!! ;)
I’m also a bit old school in thinking that if a manager is that petrified of not having all his first choice XI avilable to him that he plays a scratch side in the cup to avoid knocks/suspensions than he clearly doesn’t believe that his squad is up to the job

What I can’t figure out though from just looking at the line up & having not gone or heard any of it on TV/radio was who we had playing at the back & who played where – the only defenders I can see on the team list are Figueroa, Van Aanholt & Lopez. As the starting line up contaiend 2 left back, only 1 centre half & no right backs I wasn’t surprised when i saw the result

Really can’t understand why anyone is surprised. The club (more than likely) aren’t bothered about it, manager (clearly) isn’t bothered about it and the fans (majority thereof anyway, perhaps because of the attitude of the club) aren’t bothered, so why would anyone expect players on daft thousand per week – who know they are likely to be back on the bench/in the stand for the next real game – to be bothered, either.

I don’t like this situation but we are not much different to any other club in this attituide and it’s the way of the world, these days. Any of the 90-odd who weren’t already in London or its surrounds want their tits feeling for even bothering to go.

I’d even forgotten we were playing until half-time.