How does playing a cup game effect league form?

[k2bluesky]

I can't quite grasp how playing a cup game against two part-time opponents on a Saturday, when the players would otherwise be having a day off and thus losing match-fitness should effect they way they play against league opposition - surely it's not harder to beat a non-league side (when we play very nearly a full first team squad??)
Twice we have struggled now at home in the cup and the loss at Hartlepool and draw at Southampton can't really be linked to the cup games any more than other league games we play, certainly doesn't seem to effect Saints or Sheff Wed or Charlton, it's down to a loss of form and our style of play not being as good as Gus thought not to mention a certain Lua Lua not being available.

 

[clippedgull]

It boils down to the manager thinking that his squad players can adequately compensate for the first team players against part time opposition, which over three games now they have failed to do. This tied in with the fact that our strike force is currently non-existent in scoring ability. Let's hope it's a blip and not something that will continue for too long.

 

[murraymints4brighton]

True, but you need about 48 hours recovery after a game so having a cup game Saturday, training Monday, then playing Tuesday, is certainly not ideal. However the fact remains that our strikers are playing pretty poorly at the moment. Murray had a poor game Saturday but is the best we've got and should certainly start ahead of the ineffectual Wood and quite frankly embarrasing Barnes. The amount of chances he misses is criminal and the 7 goals he has scored are a complete farce considering the chances he has had. Sandaza, as I hoped, looked like the Ruud Van Nistelrooy type striker we don't have. Yet we still need a nippy guy up there to get on the back of defenders and stretch games and that, since the Lua Lua injury, is what we have missed.

 

[Return of the Rev]

We are not as good as we think we are teams like exeter came with fear and backed off to let us knock it around woking/fcunited had nothing to lose no fear we have been rumbled

 

[trueblue]

It's not just about fatigue, although giving regulars a couple of weeks to recover now and then will do no harm as it allows them to fully overcome any niggling problems. It's about making sure key players are not at risk of injury.

 

[Scotty Mac]

since the team changed against woking, we seem to have lost all the momentum gained from the fantastic october we had

 

[chez]

We seem to have lost a lot of confidence and in my opinion the style of play we use is not effectiive when employed by a team low in confidence.

 

[the right footed denilson]

This.
We've lost that swagger, the arrogance we had. We just knew we'd play/pass teams off the park, not the case atm.

 

[saslowi]

It's not only about a single game. After this replay we will have played six cup games this season. A small run in the JPT and Leauge Cup could easily double that.

 

[Brovion]

The mistake was in not treating Woking as just another match to be won. The FA Cup is different from the League Cup and JPT inasmuch as the games are scheuled for Saturdays, i.e. it takes weekends out of the League campaign. If we'd lost to Woking we'd probably wouldn't have had a match on Saturday. Consequently there would have been chance of going into next weekend's 'important' (I've noticed that all league games are deemed to be 'important') match a bit under-cooked as we had a week off to go stale.

As it is we probably WILL be a bit under-cooked as the team will not be the same as the one that played FCUM. Momentum has been lost, and if this blip does become a slump it will be because we made the mistake of not treating the Woking and FCUM matches as just normal games. Or rather, normal 'important' games.

 

[Thunder Bolt]

This.
We've lost that swagger, the arrogance we had. We just knew we'd play/pass teams off the park, not the case atm.

I think that's far more to do with the loss of LuaLua and injuries/suspensions.

 

[Silverhatch]

Gus's only mistake has been to not really follow through on his belief that "any" cup is a distraction to the main business of winning the league.

He should have played a completely alternative squad and made it so different to the league squad that there was no chance of one affecting the other. Of course there would have been melt down on the boards and loads of soul-searching about devaluing the FA Cup etc, but the FA Cup's been shafted for years. The only way the old lady will ever regain her lustre is if the FA Cup winners are given the fourth Champions League place.

 

[chez]

I think that's far more to do with the loss of LuaLua and injuries/suspensions.

I'm not sure we can blame things on Lya Lua's injury. After all for most of our away games we played the majority of the game without him by choice.

 

[whitelion]

It's not only about a single game. After this replay we will have played six cup games this season. A small run in the JPT and Leauge Cup could easily double that.

I thought we were out of the JPT and League Cup ?

 

[Dickyboy]

were talking injuries and bookings