Stevenage Borough 1(4)-1(3) Watford Fc - League Cup First Round

I feel like I answered that in the last sentence of the second paragraph

 

We won on pens at Oxford (3-0) only 3 seasons ago. Dare I say it, but Bachmann was the hero.

 

That is not the same thing at all:

- I am being consistent in my preferring the team gets knocked out, and doesn't bother playing the first choice players. That post does not contradict that.

- The post you quote is not me stating what I want to happen - it is assuming that the club would still probably prefer to win, while evidently continuing to express my annoyance that they should be able to achieve their objective without wasting our first team.

Your reading comprehension skills are sorely lacking here. No surprise a certain poster lapped it up.

 

Maybe I misunderstood then, I though you were saying of course the first team players from saturday wouldn't put in the same level of effort again and would just treat it as a bit more pre-season fitness build up ? I was suggesting the reserves might have more reason to put themselves and actually try ?

 

Full game uploaded in the usual place for those that want to catch up on it!

 

Yeah that's what I'm saying, I'm assuming that was VI's thinking, too. Another 90 minutes of his key players learning the system, and looking for their weaknesses.

If I was HC I would have played more fringe players to see who stood out, but I can see why he chose to do that. Afterall, Penaranda scoring a banger a few years back in the cup didn't mean he was good enough to be starting in the league.

 

No, because there are still various worthwhile rewards for finishing as high as possible in the table which teams can compete for.

There is nothing worthwhile for a lower PL or Championship team to compete for in the League Cup.

Then just keep the FA Cup if people still want the chance of that happening. But as it is England is the only country in Europe to have two major domestic cup competitions. The League Cup is completely redundant.

I'd have rather we snuck in to Europe in 2019 than reached the FA Cup final - where if you remember we got effectively humiliated by City in front of a large audience. There wasn't anything to take "pride" in from that. It'd be the same in any Cup competition - maybe scrape a few wins until whenever you eventually get drawn against City, then get battered yet again. How exciting and worthwhile. Not.

 

Bit like we failed getting promoted with him playing most games.

 

Competitive games are still more effective for evaluating player performance than pre-season friendlies. And considering how bad QPR were and that yesterday was just the League Cup, we've hardly even had a full competitive game yet either.

And if you consider the numerous friendlies we played behind closed doors I don't suppose we played any fewer overall than in a typical pre-season? Maybe one fewer?!

 

My reading comprehension is fine. I just find it odd that you seemingly didn't experience a scintilla of disappointment that the battering which you expected did not happen. It always bothers me when we lose, however unimportant the game; and it also bothers me when I make a prediction which turns out to be wrong!

 

So the humiliation in the final means you wish you'd never had the semi against Wolves?

Extraordinary you think that that experience wasn't exciting or worthwhile.

I wish you happiness in other areas of your life.

 

Should also be said that it's a massive stretch to suggest that if we never played the 120 minutes of that semi against Wolves that we'd have made Europe, the gap was 7 points in the end and we had practically no backups in key areas of the squad

 

1988 Full Members' Cup v West Ham

 

Yep, Wolves semi was one of the 3 greatest matches of my life, along with Deeney day and 1999 play off final.

Cup matches provide thrills league matches just don't come close to. Only comparable league game was Fulham away when we got promoted.

That's not to say I wouldn't give my left bollock for a european campaign, but I'd rather get there via a cup win than league placing.

 

Yep, that's exactly what I'm saying. Why bother with cup competitions only five teams can possibly win? Scrap them both. They've got rid of replays, extra-time, FA Cup quarter-finals are now in midweek. They're both cooked now.

Who cares about Piddling Rangers of the South East Counties Combined Premier Division and whether they get knocked out in the extra extra preliminary round on August 5th?

I think we're at the stage where the only football that counts is indeed what matters to Pep, Jurgen and – at a push – Neville and Carragher. Scrapping the cups would mean more time for a European Super League too, so everyone wins.

You're right, though. Cups are not just about winning. They're about losing – preferably at the first hurdle so the players can concentrate on the stodgy, salted porridge of a proper 46-game league campaign.

 

Only a semi? I was like a flagpole by the end of the Wolves game.

 

I think Kuzask way back when gave an interview where he said he didn't make mistakes, before making one immediately after. May be me misremembering though.

 

Nope, no disappointment whatsoever. I was pleased when Healey missed.

I did not "expect" it to happen either, I just thought it should be possible - even without us wasting our first team. In fact maybe even with playing our reserves we might have done better as they'd have been more motivated. But cup competitions are oft unreliable things - it's far from the first time we've been knocked out early by teams who are ultimately still inferior.

 

We wouldn't have definitely made Europe, but we still had a decent chance. Our league form capitulated immediately after the Wolves game and on paper those 7 points were possible.

 

And of course if we’d lost to Wolves the players would’ve been over the moon and super motivated, and it’s not like as a Pozzo PL team we had a huge track record of going off the boil at the end of the season either, is it?

 

There's porridge on offer? I thought it was only bread and butter.

You've convinced me now. Your whole take is absolutely correct. Bring on the Super League - and lets concentrate on the golden fried sourdough and shaved zucchini with warm mustard mayo.

 

Can you DM the link please?

 

I'm content with the fact we did try and fight when things didn't go our way last night. There's a stark difference in trying and being poor, and being poor because we weren't trying. Last night was the former so makes the loss that much more tolerable. Stevenage also deserve credit for how they played and put us off balance with their own pressing and aggressive play which will, as VI said, prove to be a good learning experience for the squad. The game could have gone either way, and it went to them ultimately and both sides could say they should have won it.

I think Sierralta, Morris, Andrews and Martins come out with credit from that game (Will also put Livermore in that group, just) whilst Porteous, Hoedt, Louza, Kayembé, TDB and Bayo didn't do much to put themselves up or down the pecking order. Sema tries but he is not a RW. Desperately need another player there. Koné though, penalty aside was dreadful. Killed attacks, misplaced passes and looked slow of thought. Worst player on the pitch. Healey looked slow getting into the game, but did get involved nearer the end but we definitely need another option. There's a decent striker in Healey, I think he just needs game time.

Bayo however I thought pressed pretty well throughout the game up until the 90th minute but he was bulled at times by their CB's and was anonymous in spells. He did have some poor touches and he is too weak in a duel but also did some good give and go's and once again his movement is very good. Think there's some slightly harsh criticism of him because he's doing a fair amount of unsung work with leading our press at times and looks physically very fit for our pressing game. If he gets a goal every other game by virtue of his poaching sense (in spite of his finishing ability) then we can't baulk too much.

 

We didn't lose 5-3 on pens....it was 4-3....

 

Any videos of the pens? Thanks in advance if so. They didn't show all the pens on youtube.

 

I took a video of each one on my phone. Will see where I can upload them to

 

You can’t really tell from this video, but Porteous definitely took less time over his kick than any of the others. He might have volunteered to take one, but deep down I don’t think he wanted to. He wanted to get it over asap. He really shouldn’t have been in the first five takers.

 

Thanks, needed to see it to get closure on the issue!

 

Well Wolves lost that game to us and yet had the motivation to beat us 2-1 at our stadium in the league just two matches later...

After losing to us in the Cup, in their following games they drew 1, then won 3 on the bounce, and just lost 1 (to Liverpool). Which was a very good run which got them 7th.

 

All I have to say is that this finalist in the 2022 world Porridge-making championships believes that salt is an integral part of the dish:

https://www.theguardian.com/food/20...alian-chef-world-porridge-making-championship

 

A Caledonian thing I think?

 

He's Australian ? Presumably just throws the whole lot on the Barbie ?

 

If you have to edit out the bit about our end of season form being abysmal, there is no point asking you what exactly Wolves, a completely different club, have to do with it is there.