FA Cup 2021

[SF_]

Wycombe away for us, hard to give a shit whether we progress or not when we can't attend. Both cups should have been cancelled this year.

God knows what team we'll put out, there will be rotation anyway.

Still struggling with big injuries, 4 of the first 11 at least, Rudd, Bauer, Pearson & Sinclair, 5 if Browne is still unavailable.

Not sure if Iversen will start or if Ripley will get a sympathy game, want to see more of Bayliss too who was decent against Forest but Molumby might take his place.
I'd be surprised to see Evans starts a single game for us and Riis needs the minutes so hope we see him from the start.

Not even going to guess at a team.

 

[thewwfc]

I would like to see us go for this 100%.

You could argue we should throw everything into our relegation dogfight and that a cup game is just a distraction for us.

But realistically we're expected to go down anyway, so I'd rather we go for this all in and try for a memorable cup run, at worst it means we play 2 or 3 extra games unless we really, really fluke it beyond all realms of likelihood.

Ainsworth has said we'll be going for it full pelt too - but to be fair he's said that before about other competitions, and then the named squad doesn't quite mention the hype, so we'll see.

I'm sure PNE will have more quality than us on paper even if they do play the stiffs, but so what, we can only worry about our own team selection, not the opposition's.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Playing Reading in the most boring tie of the round. Already played them twice this season. Think it could be a pretty changed side given the first is will be on the rearranged qpr game in midweekso might be good to see a few who haven’t featured as much.

Feels like most people aren’t really up for the cup this year.

 

[Super_horns]

Man U away - we've played them so often it's not really got that appeal anymore and with no fans going either.

Plus we are rubbish away from home.

Just be a routine 2/3-0 defeat.

 

[Atavistic]

2-0 up against Coventry already, though I'd honestly forgotten we were playing until I saw the goal updates starting to come through on Twitter.

More keen to see injured and fringe players get minutes than I am concerned about the result. For example, great to see Mumba back after his highly promising cameo in the league against Swansea earlier in the season.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Missed the first 10 or so mins as didn’t realise it was an early kick off but currently beating Reading 1-0 with a lovely goal by Moncur from a Bree cross. Brilliantly controlled volley. Very apparent to see what Bree gives us, been excellent down the right hand side and constantly looking to push forward. He’s been a big miss for us so really good to see him back.

Morrell has also done very well in midfield which is good to see as he’s not really got going here so far. Defensively think we’ve looked a little shaky at times, which probably to be expected as 2 of the 4 have had injuries they are coming back from.

 

[Atavistic]

That second half was more like a training game than an actual competitive fixture, but that's no surprise when the match was all but over after ten minutes anyway. Into the 4th Round draw we go, I suppose.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Ended up pretty fortunate to go through without having extra time. Reading had some real chances that second half and we are probably indebted to Sluga that we got through, although if I’m being harsh I think he ended up making more work for himself by often palming the ball back into danger.

Some quite good performances from players who haven’t featured as much recently, not sure about a few though. Hylton missed a real sitter in the second period as well, still works hard but he’s done as a goal scorer I think.

 

[SF_]

Looks a really compact and narrow midfield from us, interesting tick considering Wycombe look to get plenty of crosses in the box.

Our defence and keeper today are piss poor. Both Teams to score surely.

Ripley
Rafferty, Storey, Hughes, Earl
Molumby
Bayliss, Ledson
Potts
Riis, Stockley​

 

[Super_horns]

Sadly seems you were right about the defence !

 

[SF_]

Josh Earl cost us two goals in 8 minutes, unbelievable, this guy can't play LB in a back 4.

This defence today would ship goals for fun in L1.

 

[SF_]

Can't say I was bothered about the result of this game too much but it would have been nice to see some positive performances to suggest there's competition in this squad. Conclusion, there isn't.

Rafferty, Storey & Stockley need to get the fuck out of this club.

The midfield still looks weak as piss without Pearson.

Major question marks whether Earl & Bayliss can offer anything to the team this season and our new signing had a very poor debut.

 

[thewwfc]

Can't say I was bothered about the result of this game too much but it would have been nice to see some positive performances to suggest there's competition in this squad. Conclusion, there isn't.

Rafferty, Storey & Stockley need to get the fuck out of this club.

The midfield still looks weak as piss without Pearson.

Major question marks whether Earl & Bayliss can offer anything to the team this season and our new signing had a very poor debut.

Obviously that wasn't a full strength PNE side but still a morale-boosting win, and amazingly we didn't piss about with timewasting even with a comfortable goal cushion.

As you say, can't imagine any of your fringe players can complain about being sidelined after that.

 

[SF_]

Obviously that wasn't a full strength PNE side but still a morale-boosting win, and amazingly we didn't piss about with timewasting even with a comfortable goal cushion.

As you say, can't imagine any of your fringe players can complain about being sidelined after that.

Ikpeazu is five times the player Stockley is and the Leicester loanee looked decent.

 

[Super_horns]

We don’t look like scoring but have been competitive at least .

 

[Kenneth E End]

Well for the first 30 mins yesterday I thought Luton Reserves did very well against Reading Reserves. Moncur got a very well taken goal; a player who really is starting to hit his potential this season. But after that point we go into cruise control and in the second half especially we rely on Sluga to keep us in it and get the clean sheet.

I thought the back four did pretty well - Galloway was surprisingly impressive despite not playing for 14 months as was Bree. Osho making his debut looked very composed.

The midfield seemed to fade a bit in the second half and unfortunately Hylton looks a cart horse at this level.

Since lockdown 1 we had been decidedly below average at home but we are now unbeaten in 7 games at the Kenny.

This competition has to be a real opportunity for us this season. We are in a good place in the league - get a good draw and hopefully we can get into the last 16 where there is considerable monetary jumps for a club like ours. From there I suppose anything can happen.

 

[Kenneth E End]

We don’t look like scoring but have been competitive at least .

Another year without a trophy. Maybe the empty cabinet could be flogged to finance your current manager's payoff?

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Well for the first 30 mins yesterday I thought Luton Reserves did very well against Reading Reserves. Moncur got a very well taken goal; a player who really is starting to hit his potential this season. But after that point we go into cruise control and in the second half especially we rely on Sluga to keep us in it and get the clean sheet.

I thought the back four did pretty well - Galloway was surprisingly impressive despite not playing for 14 months as was Bree. Osho making his debut looked very composed.

The midfield seemed to fade a bit in the second half and unfortunately Hylton looks a cart horse at this level.

Since lockdown 1 we had been decidedly below average at home but we are now unbeaten in 7 games at the Kenny.

This competition has to be a real opportunity for us this season. We are in a good place in the league - get a good draw and hopefully we can get into the last 16 where there is considerable monetary jumps for a club like ours. From there I suppose anything can happen.

I wasnt that impressed with either Osho or Galloway to be honest although both had mitigating circumstances.

Galloway didn’t offer much going forward and actually spooned a few out of play, defensively he dived in a few times which made him easy to beat.

Osho I just didn’t think looked very sure of himself and the amount of joy Reading had in the second half really showed exposed a bit of a makeshift back 4. Galloway obviously coming back from 14 months out and Osho had an out of position Potts playing next to him in a position where partnerships are so key. Few last ditch clearances from him but on the basis of that game I wouldn’t very comfortable with him starting a championship game.

 

[Super_horns]

Another year without a trophy. Maybe the empty cabinet could be flogged to finance your current manager's payoff?

Still might be the playoffs !

 

[Atavistic]

Barnsley away for us in the 4th Round. Not too exciting for either team, but also pretty winnable for either (not least because Barnsley gave us a real good game in the league recently).

Decent draw for Luton away at Chelsea, bound to bring in some TV money for them.

EDIT: And the winners of our game against Barnsley will face the winners of that Chelsea vs Luton match at home. An okay draw, but I think I'll be sick of Luton if things align and we end up playing them for the third time this season (or maybe fourth by then, I can't remember when they come to us in the league).

 

[Kenneth E End]

Fuck Covid.

Us and Norwich have history in this competition too.

We’ve played Reading 3x already since July.

 

[Atavistic]

Please don't remind me of that. That game was a particular low point of Hughton's reign.

Given our record against Luton this season, I'd fully expect us to lose again if we ended up against them again.

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

It’s a great draw but how disappointing that we’ve drawn Man United home and Chelsea away in the cups this year and not been able to go to either.

 

[thewwfc]

Spurs @ home, could be worse but we played them a couple of years back.

However, in the incredibly unlikely event we get past them, Everton (or Sheff Wed..ok then, Everton) await - one of the only three teams left in the draw that we’ve never played in a competitive game, the others being Arsenal and Manyoo.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Please don't remind me of that. That game was a particular low point of Hughton's reign.

Given our record against Luton this season, I'd fully expect us to lose again if we ended up against them again.

And then dare to dream we get into the quarters. We actually played Chelsea in the Wembley SF in 1994 in a season where we were doing pretty badly in the second tier.

 

[chicowintry]

EDIT: And the winners of our game against Barnsley will face the winners of that Chelsea vs Luton match at home. An okay draw, but I think I'll be sick of Luton if things align and we end up playing them for the third time this season (or maybe fourth by then, I can't remember when they come to us in the league).

I wonder how unique a treble that would be? Losing to Luton in League Cup, league and FA Cup over 5 months

Be interesting to see what team we put out for our third meeting (whether it be the FA Cup or reverse league fixture).

Pos: Game 1 → Game 2 → likely Game 3
GK: Barden → McGovern → Krul
LB: McCallum → Sorensen → Quintilla
CBs: Klose-Zimmermann → Gibson-Hanley → unchanged maybe? perhaps Zimmermann if cup
RB: Mumba → Aarons → Aarons if league (assuming still here), Mumba if cup
CDM+CM: Tettey + Rupp → Skipp + Tettey → Skipp + one of McLean/Tettey/maybe Sorensen in correct position by then?
LW: Martin → Placheta → Cantwell
CAM: Stiepermann → Buendia → Vrancic or Buendia (if still here)
RW: Dowell → Martin → Hernandez (if fit by then?) or Buendia (if still here and not at CAM)
ST: Hugill → Stiepermann → Pukki

 

[That Fat Centre Half]

Chelsea for us tomorrow. Lampard is on the edge there and is now calling out journalists this week, got to think on the outside chance we win, or even put in a performance that makes them uncomfortable that might be it for him.

On bbc 1 so hoping we can give a decent account of ourselves.

 

[Kenneth E End]

Heavy snow also predicted for KO tomorrow which will make things even more interesting. We have only scored 7 times away from home all season, but it's all setup for a competitive contest. If Chelsea fans this is going to be a walkover, they better be thinking again.

Its been a tough week with Bournemouth and Brentford in the last few days - there may be the odd change, but no one should be rested with no midweek match.

I'd go with this line up:

GK Simon Sluga
RB James Bree
LB Kal Naismith
CB Tom Lockyer
CB Sonny Bradley
DM Glen Rea
CM Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall
CM Luke Berry
CM Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu
RF Harry Cornick
LF George Moncur
CF James Collins
Subs: James Shea, Dan Potts, Ryan Tunnicliffe, Matty Pearson, Danny Hylton, Elliot Lee, Jordan Clark, Kazenga LuaLua, Joe Morrell

 

[Atavistic]

We're putting out a stronger team than I'd have liked today, to be honest, with a full-strength defence when Aarons could probably do with a rest at some point. Good to see Hernandez and Rupp return to the starting line-up after their long injury lay-offs, and having both Hernandez and Placheta starting gives us a lot of pace on both flanks to work with, which should make things much harder for Barnsley.

In terms of appearance landmarks, Krul makes his 100th appearance for us today, while Tettey makes his 256th appearance to become the overseas player to make the most appearances for the club ever.

 

[Atavistic]

Dismal performance so far. Barely able to get out of our half for the most part against a Barnsley side who clearly want it more. Only reason we're dominating possession is cos we've spent a lot of time passing the ball between the back four while being pinned back.

Could easily be 4-0 to Barnsley at this point, such is how dominant they've been.

EDIT: And now it's 1-0 and, with how poor we're playing, that's game over. You can tell a lot of our players haven't played in a while, but I guess this means we can just focus on the league instead provided this doesn't hinder our momentum too much.

Truly terrible performance all around from us though. And, of course, just as Hugill is starting to find some form and get some decent minutes in the team, he ends up getting injured again to add insult to injury.