FA Cup or 5th?

Woolly Blue · March 13, 2016

Tubey said:
If you actually judge success based on domestic cup competitions, your mindset is very much small time

Some of us only have one phone mate and are happy being serfs, with just the odd tasty crumb being thrown to us from time to time.

Zezti · March 13, 2016

"Remember that 5th place finish of 15/16?"
or
"Remember the FA Cup of 15/16?"

Not much of a competition in my eyes.

Tubey · March 13, 2016

Woolly Blue said:
Some of us only have one phone mate and are happy being serfs, with just the odd tasty crumb being thrown to us from time to time.

?

Gwladysstreetlad · March 13, 2016

johnnydawg68 said:
Rooney says hi back.

It's over a decade since Rooney left and things have changed. We don't need the money and for the first time in a long time we can really afford to have ambitions.

Dutch Toffee · March 13, 2016

I'd be over the moon with a cup finish. I'm extremely dissapointed with our league position.

As for the question. After yesterday definitely the FA Cup.

BlueToff · March 13, 2016

johnnydawg68 said:
A variation on a question we've discussed here over the years, substituting 5th for 4th this time.

Before you have a go I'm quite aware we haven't won the cup. If we don't the question is moot.

But would you feel differently if we had played more consistently in the league and finished 5th again, which isn't rare for us, but been eliminated from the cup?

Would you consider the season a disappointment, even if we end up in exactly the same place?

This is more a psychological question than anything. I'm curious. I think I probably would feel better with 5th, but then we don't get trophies for 5th.

FA Cup. Why would we want 5th instead (not that we're going to get it), when we'd literally get nothing more for finishing 5th...

FA Cup any day

messymascot · March 13, 2016

If we finish 5th I think I'm let's do better next season if we win the cup I'll be getting that drunk on May 21st that I won't be remembering my name!!

Woolly Blue · March 13, 2016

Tubey said:
?

It was just a skit on "Two phones Tubey" mate.
Made sense to me when I typed it, but I can understand the confusion.

Tubey · March 13, 2016

BlueToff said:
FA Cup. Why would we want 5th instead (not that we're going to get it), when we'd literally get nothing more for finishing 5th...

FA Cup any day

If it were a straight choice between 5th and an FA Cup, everybody in their right mind would choose the FA Cup, as you get Europe AND a trophy that way.

But in reality it never is that straight choice. If we were 5th right now, 2 points off the top four and 3 points off 3rd, I'd swap the FA Cup semi final for a chance at cracking that in a heartbeat.

BlueToff · March 13, 2016

Tubey said:
I'd rather aim for the top four and finish 5th, than not aim for the top four and win the FA Cup. Because a winning team should be aiming to finish as high up in the league as possible, with the cups considered a bonus.

If you actually judge success based on domestic cup competitions, your mindset is very much small time.

The trick is, like you say, to do both.

But your second point is baffling.

A domestic cup gets you Europe. It gets you a title. The aim of football is to win things, not finish 5th in the league.

Obviously our league form is a major let down and the reason we're underachieving, but ultimately a cup is always better, IMO, for a side like ours that hasn't cost £500mil etc etc.

I was two months old when we last won a trophy. I've never actually 'seen' us win one. I'm sure winning a trophy would mean more to our players - especially the young ones - than finishing 5th would either.

UpperLeftBlue · March 13, 2016

can we not do this again. this is not a like for like trade. anyone who picks 5th over lifting the FA Cup need their head examined.

BlueToff · March 13, 2016

Tubey said:
If it were a straight choice between 5th and an FA Cup, everybody in their right mind would choose the FA Cup, as you get Europe AND a trophy that way.

But in reality it never is that straight choice. If we were 5th right now, 2 points off the top four and 3 points off 3rd, I'd swap the FA Cup semi final for a chance at cracking that in a heartbeat.

I get your point.

Personally, just always wanted a cup. And obviously to finish as high in the league as possible and challenge for top four.

Goat · March 13, 2016

Tubey said:
?

SAV

Woolly Blue said:
Some of us only have one phone mate and are happy being serfs, with just the odd tasty crumb being thrown to us from time to time.

AGE

Tubey · March 13, 2016

BlueToff said:
The trick is, like you say, to do both.

But your second point is baffling.

A domestic cup gets you Europe. It gets you a title. The aim of football is to win things, not finish 5th in the league.

Obviously our league form is a major let down and the reason we're underachieving, but ultimately a cup is always better, IMO, for a side like ours that hasn't cost £500mil etc etc.

I was two months old when we last won a trophy. I've never actually 'seen' us win one. I'm sure winning a trophy would mean more to our players - especially the young ones - than finishing 5th would either.

OK, I'll clarify. If your primary barometer of success is the domestic cups, your mindset is very much small time.

The aim is never to finish 5th in the league - the aim is to win the thing, or achieve the next best prize, which is Champions League qualification.

Again, those who say "oh, we'd be in it for one season, who cares?" are again thinking small time. If you never aim to be in it regularly, you never will be.

The ultimate goal of any club in Europe should be to A- win the Champions League and B- win the domestic league. The domestic cups aren't part of that ambition; they are a secondary goal, a byproduct of success.