We've got jonjo in the middle He knows exactly what the ball boys need Lascelles at back Chris Wood in attack how the **** are we still in the premier league
That was a reality check for him. To keep his feet on the ground. I think he thought it was his moment. Which it was. And he blew it. But to be fair he’s earned it. (Still looked like a tit though)!
I don’t think we can win it because it’s just too early for us. Two or three years we will regularly get to latter stages because at the risk of sounding like Alan Hansen, you can’t win anything with clowns. City had Rodri, Gundogan, Grealish, Alvarez, Dias and Laporte in the starting line up. We might get lucky and when the next rounds come about CL and PL takes precedence and they use kids but I’d still back City’s kids like Palmer over plodding idiots like Shelvey, Wood and Lascelles. With Jan coming we might have someone new in central mid and Isak will be available as well so you never know.
We could easily have beaten the City first team when we played them a month or so back. If we were to draw a team like them then I reckon we'll play our first team on principle, I can also see them resting players so a home draw against one of the big teams now may be our best chance of knocking them out. I'd prefer it if we got an easy team and they knocked each other out though Reality is we'll do better against them in the early rounds than we would do in a semi-final or final. Though they seem like a pipe dream just at the moment.
We knocked City out the cup a few years ago with a team containing Colback, Obertan and Haidara, anything can happen on the day! Plus if/when we face City it will basically be the first team. Now it's approaching the important rounds it will be more like the first team anyway I'd say, plus we've already seen Howe is now taking it seriously, as he didn't play Darlow or Karius last night.
Unless they draw eachother I want us to get City or Liverpool at home next round for this reason. If we were not pushing so hard for top 4 I might say different but as you say we are more likely to beat them in an early round and if they dump us out then we can get on with the league.
There's a good chance they will dump us out though - I want a cup run, it's been far too fecking long.
I'd be confident we can take either at home. By the time they get to a final they have the benefit of experience and also will up their game another level.
Given the next round is the week after the WC final, it might be a good time to play City/Liverpool as they're likely to have more missing on WC duty than we are
We could have Bruno,Pope,Trippier and Wilson all unavailable due to contesting the final 2 days earlier.