If you were Gus - what would YOU do for the replay

[Tooting Gull]

I think Gus has made some mistakes this season, but I felt genuinely sorry for the bloke yesterday. Our crippling list of injuries and suspensions has left him between a rock and a hard place - and a decent draw and potential opponent in 4th round later could make it worse.

It must be double figures, our injuries/bans, and that is making the main job of doing okay in the first season back in the Championship difficult enough.

Gus admitted yesterday his instincts were to play ALL the kids for the Wrexham match, but after reading all the usual press about disrespecting the FA Cup last week went against his better judgment and played far more senior players than intended.

The result? A desperate injury to a key player, a rejuvenated LuaLua. After that, there is no way Mackail-Smith was coming on, and there is no way Buckley was staying on.

He hinted he might play all the kids for the replay, the clear implication being we cannot afford any more injuries to first-teamers, not a single one. He might get the club fined for that. What would you do?

 

[LABHA]

Lets see who we get in the draw 1st

 

[Bob!]

Depends on the 4th round draw.

If we get a chance to test ourselves against Premier League opposition again I'd like to think we'd play a strong team

 

[dgh123]

I would stick a good side out, comprising of experience and youth, so not a 100% first team, just one that will do the job...

 

[nick c]

He will play all the development squad,guaranteed.

 

[Tooting Gull]

I'm not sure some 50-50 side is enough, Wrexham are better than that. You either commit fully to win the game and play the best team, OR you play the kids. It's one or the other for this game, and I think it's a very tough call at the moment.

 

[cloud]

Depends whether he is planning to sell any players, who he won't want cup-tied.

Sound like a cup run is the last thing we need anyway, with no players.

 

[Albion Dan]

Id play the kids regardless of the draw. We cant afford any more injuries and to be honest a big draw 4 days before Palace away would be a disaster imo.

 

[pasty]

Who we draw in the 4th round should be completely irrelevant. He should put a team out to win the game.

 

[El Presidente]

Who we draw in the 4th round should be completely irrelevant. He should put a team out to win the game.

I don't think there was a master plan to get a draw yesterday to be fair to Gus. He thought the team would have been strong enough to beat Wrexham, if Kaz had been fit for all 90 minutes he may have been right.

 

[El Presidente]

Who we draw in the 4th round should be completely irrelevant. He should put a team out to win the game.

I don't think there was a master plan to get a draw yesterday to be fair to Gus. He thought the team would have been strong enough to beat Wrexham, if Kaz had been fit for all 90 minutes he may have been right.

 

[Rugrat]

Some of the kids are better than some of our reg's, so whatever team he puts out it will be difficult to tell if he's putting a strong or weakened team out

 

[pasty]

I don't think there was a master plan to get a draw yesterday to be fair to Gus. He thought the team would have been strong enough to beat Wrexham, if Kaz had been fit for all 90 minutes he may have been right.

I agree. I wasn't insinuating he didn't put a team out to win yesterday. What I meant was to those saying "lets see who we draw first" that the draw should have no influence on the team Gus puts out for the replay.

 

[albie_noobs]

I think it was a mistake to play so many youngsters yestreday, Gus got away with it because 1-1 in the end wasn't a bad result considering. If they'd got hammered 1-4 it could have seriously destroyed some of those young lads confidence.
Gus should take a leaf out of Martin O'neill's book, he's fielding a full strength team against Peterborough in an attempt to maintain the momentum of their league form. Momentum is a wonderful thing and I think we missed a trick to build on our glorious victory over the Saints, I take your point about injuries but surely less games means less injuries and a win yesterday would have meant no trip to Wrexham where at least some 1st teamers will have to be risked.

Also to those that booed at the end..........hang your heads!!

 

[Tony Towner's Fridge]

To progress , it needs to be an experienced team. Remember FC United last season and our rather lucky scrape through? A 50/50 mix will be a difficult one with which to progress.

TNBA

TTF

 

[Tooting Gull]

I think it was a mistake to play so many youngsters yestreday, Gus got away with it because 1-1 in the end wasn't a bad result considering. If they'd got hammered 1-4 it could have seriously destroyed some of those young lads confidence.
Gus should take a leaf out of Martin O'neill's book, he's fielding a full strength team against Peterborough in an attempt to maintain the momentum of their league form. Momentum is a wonderful thing and I think we missed a trick to build on our glorious victory over the Saints, I take your point about injuries but surely less games means less injuries and a win yesterday would have meant no trip to Wrexham where at least some 1st teamers will have to be risked.

Also to those that booed at the end..........hang your heads!!

I would disagree with the analysis that he played too many kids yesterday. He only started with two, both in defence (where we had a genuine crisis), and further up the pitch it was all seniors apart from JF-C, who played and scored against Saints.

You could argue that as the two other kids were ready to come on when Wrexham scored, maybe he should have gone for more experience and changed his mind. But I am sure the LuaLua injury influenced that decision.

Compared to what he wanted to do, it was almost a team of pensioners. The replay may be different.

 

[The Merry Prankster]

He will play all the development squad,guaranteed.

Which is really annoying as my compulsion is forcing me to go to North Wales.

 

[Stumpy Tim]

He should either put out a full-team or all the kids. The problem with half and half is that they don't know each other well enough, so we look even weaker. When all 6 kids were on we looked much better as the midfield knew what they were doing. Beforehand it was a little all over the place

 

[pauli cee]

i'm sure it will be a very young/weakened side, but personally i think we should go there with a strong side and go for the win, i think most people (including players) wouldn't mind a decent cup run....

 

[albie_noobs]

I would disagree with the analysis that he played too many kids yesterday. He only started with two, both in defence (where we had a genuine crisis), and further up the pitch it was all seniors apart from JF-C, who played and scored against Saints.

You could argue that as the two other kids were ready to come on when Wrexham scored, maybe he should have gone for more experience and changed his mind. But I am sure the LuaLua injury influenced that decision.

Compared to what he wanted to do, it was almost a team of pensioners. The replay may be different.

I
I was referring to the finishing line up and the substitution after they scored which was at best baffling, and at the worst, arrogant and potentially damaging.