Obviously we'd all love to smash boro and give the arse two footballing lessons, but I'm just interested to see what people would prefer, given the choice. I think I'd go for the first one. A cup run is always nice, but there's a lot of good teams still in it, so the chances of us actually winning are pretty slim. Plus it's more games to fatigure / injure our players, I think on balance I'd rather we focused on the league. We need every win we can get in the league to catch the mags. Some people on here might claim they don't care about finishing above them, but I think deep down we all know it's a pretty big deal to all sunderland and newcastle fans... Imagine the bragging rights if we finished above them after Bruce did everything in his power to drag us down!
definately 2, we are safe now in the league, and losing to Arsenal wont hurt that much i would not have thought. but getting through the next 2 rounds of the cup, will be a huge boost to the area (and i live in boro, so really want bragging rights)
I would take the cup win's everytime. Football is all about winning thing's, and we ain't gonna win the leauge.
Cup.... You lads deserve a trip to Wembley, for all the years of suffering and yet still turn out in hoardes every week... So cup for the fans.
I can see us picking up 10 points in the league by mid march so logically.... We'll be safe pretty soon, cup all the way for me this year. I'm usually the other way round as we are always around the relegation zone.
Can see us beating Boro but, only just. Can't see us beating Arsenal in the league (maybe a draw) or cup but, stranger things have happened.
I'd take finishing just below the craas in the league this season, in exchange for the FA Cup in a heartbeat. I've dreamed of seeing Sunderland win a trophy after nearly 40 years without anything and that would trump finishing 5th, 6th or 7th imo. Que Sera Sera were going to Wembley...........
Well if they beat Boro.....they are on tv yet again in the next round... Seems the tv stations like SAFC at the moment... Wednesday 8 February 2012 Fourth Round Proper Kick Off No. Home Away Live on 19:45 2R Middlesbrough VS Sunderland AFC Live on ITV1 Saturday 18 February 2012 Fifth Round Proper Kick Off No. Home Away Live on 12:30 3 Chelsea VS Birmingham City Live on ESPN L 15:00 2 Everton VS Blackpool or Sheffield Wednesday 15:00 6 Norwich City VS Leicester City 15:00 8 Millwall or Southampton VS Bolton Wanderers 17:15 7 Sunderland AFC or Middlesbrough VS Arsenal Live on ITV1 http://www.thefa.com/TheFACup/Fixtures
Can't win the league, would be hard to get into europe at this stage, unlikely to catch the Mags (but not impossible) so for me losing to the Gooners in the League then taking them in the Cup after hopefully beating Boro would be sweet. If we do that then IMO we can go all the way.
I doubt if any club has had there 3rd, 4th and hopefully 5th round games shown in the same season. Well certainly a team not in the Big 4 or 5. If we do get past the Boro and Arsenal with there only being the quarter, semi and final left all our games would be shown live on TV.
I've gone cup, as I think it's our genuine hope of European football and a glorious season. MON likes the cups, and he's won them with lesser teams than us. I think the league for us will be as it is now, 8th, and that's a smashing season.
