Yes, though I do think it is in better shape now than it was about 10 years ago. The FA did not keep up with the PL in terms of broadcasting and marketing reach, but does a far better job of that now.
because heās not playing at RBL, and therefore he wonāt be improving as a footballer.
That might be down to him, the environment, the RBL manager, or a combo, but its pointless when our young players go on loans but donāt get to play - better off back here, or a different loan.
Weāve seen with Owen Beck, how loans can go badly, but put them in the right environment and they can flourish, which he seems to have done and Dundee.
Since Diego back from injury, Thatās 4 fit forwards, from what Iām reading here is weāre light on the right, with the Egyptian never injured you wouldnāt notice this? I would think Nunez is capable wit Elliot more natural
Agreed, I donāt think Iāve ever seen Nunez play from the right but I imagine heād be just as effective at causing chaos from there!
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I think we should try to win what we can, while we can.
If we were offered the choice, right now, of being Premier League champions or winning the FA Cup, nobody would opt for the FA Cup.
But football doesnāt work like that. We have to play our games and see what happens! That is why itās all so compelling.
Letās imagine we throw in the towel and barely put up a fight, to concentrate on the league. We are out of the FA Cup. Arsenal might get a boost to help them in the league, and we might get a slap to make us second guess ourselves. Winning is a nice habit to acquire!
Now letās keep going. The League Cup is even less prestigious. Ā£100k prize money only pays Mo until Tuesday, so letās make sure we lose to Fulham. As for the Europa, itās not the Champions League, so letās bin that, too.
Now we are all in for the Prem. But nothing is guaranteed! Whatās to say Man City donāt win it anyway? (I know they are cheats). Or whatās to say we donāt lose form, after we enter into a spin from being knocked out of all the cups, so the confidence goes a bit, and the title challenge becomes an almighty scramble to try to finish in the CL places.
The variables are limitless, and we just donāt know what will happen. Which is why we have to play the games and try to win what we can, while we can.
Deploying your resources shrewdly is of course part of the requirement, as you canāt play the same 11 week in week out for the whole game. Thatās all up to the manager and his team.
But I hope we win, and I will be cheering us on to do just that.
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Thereās no way this kid is older than 12.
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If Luke Littler is 16, anything is possible!
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No surprise there.
A lot of the younger players training with the 1st steam.
From what Iāve seen of Bobby Clark, Iām a big fan. Wouldnāt mind seeing him play some minutes on Sunday or Wednesday.
Nice of the FA to give Fulham 45 hours more rest than us for our League Cup first match, innit?
Itās a Wednesday, itāll basically be as though we were in the Champions League and playing Sunday-Wednesday or Saturday-Tuesday, i.e. something completely normal and expected.
In any case Iād bet that the squad will be rotated for both matches so itās not as relevant, really.
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One team getting 2 days more rest than the other is irrelevant? 
Fulham play away against Chelsea three days after playing us. As things stand we have 11 days until we play our next match.
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Not as relevant, not that itās irrelevant. I think itās less relevant because thatās the rhythm weāve been training and playing to for years.
Iād go with this. Jota and Gravenberch as subs. Not a bad starting XI. Possibly would start with Gravenberch given Elliotās impact as a second half substitute.
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Nah, for me it was after Liverpool beat Newcastle 3-0 in 1974. What a game!
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I believe none of us sees this FA cup as a priority this season - in fact, all of us would rank it as dead last in the list of priorities right now. So none of us will lose any sleep in case of being knocked out.
That being said, we had a nearly full week (6 days) of rest since the last match, and despite playing again on Wednesday, the next match is followed by a winter break. In that regard, rotation does not need to be immense. The match is ideal to maintain rhythm. Besides, by winning here, we could further derail the season of a direct league rival (who happens to be in a bit of a slump). Hence, to play a full team of kids is simply not an option.
Of course, we need some rotation, and there will surely be a number of changes in comparison to the barcodes. We can expect Quansah, Macca, Gravenberch and Jota to start. Bradley and Beck are likely to be involved in some capacity (I guess one of them starts and the other comes on as sub) to allow Trent and Gomez at least a few minutes of rest.
Too bad Dom is injured, which limits the midfield options to only four players. Moreover, Elliott is arguably seen as the main RW option in Moās absence. Maybe Harvey will start in midfield for this one and Diaz on the right side of attack to allow for at least one proper sub in every department?
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The other variable for me is that we go back to Arsenal again in the PL in under month so we may setup our side considering what we want to keep under wraps/test out in preparation for the return match.
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Winning is habitual and pushes you to greater heights. The opposite is true too.
We should never get into the habit of giving up.
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