Other games 2024 - 2025

[Insidious]

Southampton
Brentford
Liverpool
Arsenal
Newcastle
Crystal Palace
Tottenham
Man United

No easy games, but maybe Southampton or Crystal Palace in the quarters would be great - would rather take one of the tougher sides in the semi-finals than in a one-off game.

[Steveo]

Yes - flip side is 2 big games v a big rival is more taxing for league

I dunno - I can never work out what’s best in these scenarios

[miller0863]

Home game most important, against ideally Southampton, Palace, Brentford, or Newcastle please

[miller0863]

Away again another long trip but we should progress.

[Insidious]

Home game most important, against ideally Southampton, Palace, Brentford, or Newcastle please

Away to Southampton - I'll take it!

[Insidious]

Yes - flip side is 2 big games v a big rival is more taxing for league

I dunno - I can never work out what’s best in these scenarios

Can understand that, but quality should win out over two legs and we are better than most.

Then, when it comes to a side where you feel you may be at a disadvantage (such as arguing that Arsenal are better than us) you want the chance to take them on at Anfield.

[Insidious]

Speaking of things being taxing for the League, we could really do with finishing in the top 8 sides in the Champion's League if we possibly can.

Otherwise (if we finished 9th-24th) there's a scenario where, if we went on to reach the League Cup Final.....and were also to win the 3rd round of the FA Cup......we would probably end up playing Saturday/Wednesday/Saturday footie right through to the end of February, with minimal wiggle-room for any reschedule/postponement sort of stuff.

That would be one heck of a slog.

[justincredible]

Doing well in this competition is the main reason we only win this competition. Bin....

[Insidious]

Doing well in this competition is the main reason we only win this competition. Bin....

We can absolutely put a side out against Southampton that has a good chance of winning whilst resting a number of lads who would normally be in the starting XI.

I understand wanting to ensure we go strong for the League and Champion's League and the nerves around being over-stretched and burnt out - I do - but there's a good opportunity ahead to get Slot a trophy and show any of our players that have doubts about a new manager that we mean business.

Our history and DNA are absolutely wedded to the tradition of winning silverware. The pots that let the World know how successful you are and that 90% of clubs (if not more) can typically only dream of getting their hands on.

We can acknowledge that the League Cup is less important than the attempt at the League or the Champion's League, particularly in a season where a couple of our rivals for both don't look to be as strong as normal, but equally we are 3 matches away from adding another Cup Final to the roster for our fans, in a Cup where 3 of the sides that had a decent shout at winning out are now out.

I don't see Man United, Tottenham or Newcastle beating us over two legs in that semi-final, given our squad's quality and having one leg at Anfield. If we navigate the Southampton tie and avoid Arsenal in the semi-final (who we could beat of course, but would be considerably tougher proposition) I think we probably have a Cup Final to look forward to.

The path is open. If we are to "let up" somewhere this season for the sake of our goals, I'd say we can use youth/fringe in the FA Cup, purely because the pathway to getting a trophy in early doors for Slot is looking very manageable.

[justme]

Peppy complaining about injuries. Hoping other teams lay down and let them win.. hes very Fergie like that in approach. Looking for the sympathy vote.