12 Feb 2015 21:39:03
Hi, long time lurker first time poster.

With the upcoming cup games in mind, would you guys prefer the team to go all out to compete in the FA cup and Europa league.

Or would you prioritise the league ?

Personally I would like to win trophies more than finish top four. With the added caveat of the Europa league winners obtaining a CL spot it would persuade me to play a strong team. The FA cup is also an enticing prospect as there are some "more weaker" sides left in the tournament than usual.

The race for top four as we know is very close at the moment and their are some strong teams vying for 3rd and 4th. I'd hate to come away with 5/6/7 in the league and nothing else to show for it.

anyway i'm sure i'm being naive, but feel free to discuss.

1.) 12 Feb 2015
12 Feb 2015 22:08:39
Welcome Bedders. I'm going to say the league myself mate, cups come as a lottery but I'm definitely with you that it'd be nice to lift some silverwear this season.
My thinking being though, I think if we fail to get top 4 even a cup won't save Brendan and here comes the new manager with new ideas, new players (transition) again,,,, and apart from stupid mistakes in the transfer window and opening his mouth too often, I'm actually happy with the young exciting players we have, the ideas of being a fast team, and generally the way of playing attacking rapid football and closing down like pit-bulls

2.) 12 Feb 2015
At the moment we seem to have big enough squad to compete in full intensity in all competitions to be honest and can be risky to prioritise - one bad game in the FA cup and you are out (need to win only 4 to win it though).

Obviously the jackpot this year is the EL - both a nice trophy and a CL spot. After that if I had to choose between the FA cup and top 4, I would take the FA cup. A trophy is a trophy and the FA cup is a big one. I am not sure that next year we will be strong enough to compete with the big teams in Europe, not in the later stages anyway. And the FA trophy is more important that just showing up for the group stages as we did this year.

I used to think on the early stages of this season that if we miss top 4 this season it will be very hard to go back there - and we may lose top players and find it hard to attract big names. I am not sure that this will be the case now. I think we are likely to keep most of the squad even without CL football and we don't have money to bring big names anyway.

3.) 12 Feb 2015
12 Feb 2015 22:34:22
Totally agree. Football is based on winning trophies, that's what success is measured on

4.) 13 Feb 2015
12 Feb 2015 23:06:16
Yeah the Europa league is a nice trophy; as i understand it the majority of other European league entrants take the tournament very seriously. Whereas regular premiership teams in the past like spurs just haven't! Will be interesting to see the outcome this year with the CL spot up for grabs.

I'm not sure how much i want Rodgers out now, i was a strong advocate prior to christmas; but now we have a bit of form and a new shape i'd be tempted for continuity rather than more transition. The consensus seems that rodgers will go, a trophy or two could sway the owners? though i'm sure that sentiment isn't too popular here!!!!

5.) 13 Feb 2015
12 Feb 2015 23:11:37
Another point, will CL football be as important financially to BPL clubs with the new Tv rights deal? Since that all BPL clubs will now be earning top dollar.

{Ed002's Note - Yes, of course.}

6.) 13 Feb 2015
IMO, Top4 is needed so we can keep our great players and progress with revenue and keep the debt down. I would like the FA Cup too BUT it will not make up for the investment made this year. But I do agree, a trophy is always nice.

7.) 13 Feb 2015
13 Feb 2015 01:40:45
After such an "well financed" summer, I would expect to be able to compete in all competitions for top honors.

8.) 13 Feb 2015
I would love to see a trophy - I can't actually see us winning either of the cups though. Based on that, I would choose top four again. As a squad, we should be able to do all of them, but I am not sure Rodgers could pick the right team for the right game to achieve that. Maybe he could - we will soon find out.

9.) 13 Feb 2015
13 Feb 2015 08:03:36
I can't see competing in everything to be an issue until right at the end where we'd potentially have 2 finals and 2 key PL decider games in a 10-14 day period. Let's worry about that when we come to it or if we get masses of injuries, aside from that it's not an issue to compete in 3