Posted April 22, 200915 yr im a bad loser, i hate losing, i hate when Chelsea lose, i hate when England lose and i hate when any team im supporting or playing for lose. but a thought occured to me, could losing v everton tonight be a good thing? currently were in for 3 competitions with a squad of around 15, if we get any bad injurys to the core players were in trouble. so could going out of contention for the league be a blessing in disguise? it would enable us to concentrate on the FA cup and to a much bigger extent the prize we all want (especially roman) the champions league. were fairly safe in 3rd and definately safe for 4th so could afford to ease up in the league a bit and focus on the cups. were hoping beyond hope for the league, if games go our way we can win it but were relying on others. now the only problem i would have is if we ease up we lose our intensity and focus for the cup games we have left and this can cause problems. this isnt to say i expect to lose tonight, in fact fully expect everton are doing pretty much what im advocating here and focusing on the FA cup final whils keeping their 5th place safe. but would a loss be such a terrible thing? (after the initial pissed off feeling obviously)
April 22, 200915 yr I think it would dkw, although I see what you're saying. Reason being is that the momentum we have gathered under Guus has given the squad some of the confidence back that they lost under Scolari and I think that this has been and will be critical in determining how far we go in these final few games. The loss to Sp*ds aside, we seem to have regained a sense of invincibility, that we don't know when we're beaten and will refuse to give up. Given that we are still far from a perfect team, this mentality will be so important in the games vs Barca where we will have to dig deep, and I think any sort of loss right now could be a big psychological blow. We've had so many players out for proportions of the season that we shouldn't have to worry too much about players being knackered, so I say we go full steam into every game and see where it takes us. After last night's slip by Pool, I have even started to believe the league might, just might not be out of sight, so I would love to see us push hard on all 3 fronts for the final month or so.
April 22, 200915 yr Losing at home to both sets of scouse scum in one season would be intolerable - I hate losing to anyone, especially at the Bridge - and particularly against a bunch of scousers* * = or y*ds, gooners, mancs or dirty L**ds, or God forbid, Septic
April 22, 200915 yr I'm corcerned about injuries tonight as well, this is what i said on another thread........ With us now at wembley in May and in the CL semis against Barca, should we be stepping down our EPL campaign for this season and concentrating on the 2 cup campaigns ?Lets look at the EPL fixtures remaining for Manure... Man Utd vs Portsmouth Man Utd vs Tottenham Middlesbrough vs Man Utd Man Utd vs Man City Wigan vs Man Utd Man Utd vs Arsenal Hull vs Man Utd For us to have ANY chance at all, Manure must drop 7 points from the above fixture list. Even if they do drop 7 points, we still have to win every game and hope our goal difference is better than Manures. So for me the EPL is a big no no, well gone, should be forgotten. What do you lot think ? http://www.theshedend.com/index.php?showtopic=11152
April 22, 200915 yr Author I think Rafa has you brainwashed dkw. it would take more than that lovely, brilliant handsome spainard to brainwash me....oh bugger.. but i think some misunderstand me. put it this way then, as the league looks like we have very little chance would you take a loss tonight if it meant we could concentrate on keeping players fit and ready and win the FA cup and Champions league double?
April 22, 200915 yr I'd put out a "weakened" team tonight, bringing in the likes of Mancienne, Stoch, Woods & di Santo. But I think we'd still win!
April 22, 200915 yr We need to keep playing at least most of our first choice players every game for two reasons; firstly we don't have a big enough squad not to, secondly because winning is a habit. We should do what we can to ensure that as many of our key players are in the right shape for the Champions League games and the FA Cup Final but let's be sensible about it, wrapping up players like Terry and Lampard and unwrapping them for those big games won't really do them any favours.
April 22, 200915 yr Are you saying we should disrespect our opponents Everton are a small team after all...
April 22, 200915 yr I'm with Barn on this one. Players like Lampard, Essien, Terry and Drogba need to play every game in order to keep their form. Dropping them would only result in a drop in form and therefore results.
April 22, 200915 yr I'm not talking about dropping the likes of Lamps, JT, Drogs or Essien, but it might be an idea to give some players a rest - permanently in a few cases
