West Ham vs Manchester United in the FA Cup 3rd round is an interesting draw especially since West Ham have a habit of upsetting the odds against Manchester United but my question is, is this a welcomed opportunity or an unwanted distraction for West Ham?
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A good cup run can do wonders for a team’s confidence, give players that are returning from injury that necessary game time to get match fit and give young players a chance to establish themselves in the first team. There is nothing better than a cup run to get the fans going and to get them excited and the feeling when you knock out a top team is electric. However for every positive there can also be a negative.
Players who are recovering from injuries can aggravate them further and playing more matches in tight time frames can make it more likely that fully fit players pick up injuries. Young players may feel the pressure and there is nothing worse then getting knocked out by a lower league team. But having said all this, the fairytale of the FA cup, the ups and the downs and the rollercoaster of emotions on the day mean every team has its chance to stand toe to toe and its who wants it more.
I think on this occasion I would have to say I wouldn’t be too bothered if we did go out against Manchester United. The reason’s for this are that we already have a depleted squad where many are injured and there isn’t much cover for the players that are already missing and I wouldn’t want to risk losing any more players. I also think that because it is our first season back in the Premier League surviving and thriving should be our main focus and priority and then next season we push on.
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As a West Ham fan I would be extremely happy if we were to go far in the FA Cup and knock out Manchester United so I don’t want people to get me wrong when I mention the negatives. I just feel the League is the priority this season.
If we do have a good cup run I just hope to see a few young players being pushed into the team to allow us to see what they can bring and offer. We are currently lacking a goal scorer so maybe play a young striker e.g. Elliot Lee.
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Whatever your feelings we all just want what is best for West Ham and I want Premier League status next season so this season this has to be our main focus not a good Cup run.
Carl Bateson
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With all due respect to the Hammers, I think this could be a good year for MUFC.
I loath this “rational”, “responsible”, “mature” argument about leaving the cups to concentrate on the league.
I also loath the argument about “securing premier league status and pushing on from there”. … Both arguments ooze in lack of ambition.
How are we ever win anything? Or achieve anything greater than expectations?
If we can knock out Man U from the cup then we can go on and win it. Fact. That should be the thinking! We have already beaten Chelsea and Newcastle, and ran Liverpool, Everton, Arsenal very close in the league. It shows a full strength WH can match anyone on their day. Why not turn that capability into ambition to win something??
Every game we play, every training session we have, there is a risk of players getting injured. It’s the nature of the game. But you can’t throw away chances of glory and winning in the cups to avoid injuries. Injuries happen, we adapt, move on. It goes into the history books.
I blame BS for us getting beaten in the league cup because he played a woefully under strength team and we got punished. that’s what happens with lack of ambition. zero chance of glory!
The english FA CUP is the greatest cup competition in the world! We should go out there and try to win it.
My point is not a lack of ambition and am not trying to say I don’t want success am only stating that in my opinion I want premier league security that’s all… I would be extremely happy to beat man united and get to the final but at the cost of been relegated then my answer would be no
And you state a full strength west ham squad currently we don’t have a full strength squad. I hold all the ambitions of every west ham fan and want to win trophies.
I believe early on in the season we proved that we had the squad capable of achieving more than just safety. After 13 games into the season we should have been looking up and but for Carlton Cole’s sending off, Diame’s hamstring and a couple of daft performances against Reading and Wigan we would still be looking up.
Although safety is not a certainty until the points are on the board, it IS or SHOULD BE a pretty safe bet. And we are in January and an extra few faces still to come in (ref: Gold’s twitter account yesterday). So… I see no reason to play a weaken side against ManU to protect anybody from injury.
… We are not full strength because I think Diame is a great player! But we have Joe Cole to sit in his place. We have Carlton Cole playing better than Carroll was. Personally I’m happy with O’Brien at left back and Demel at right back. We also have Vaz Te and Collison back, and both of these players I’m sure will prove to be much more valuable to the team than people currently consider.
I apologise if i seemed overly critical of the article, not intended, i just wanted to put in my tuppence worth.
No offence taken we are all fans and we all have out opinion.. my opinion maybe over cynical and I accept that… maybe it’s a good day to try some of our young boys?
Seems like BS agrees with you Carl. An experimental WH side faces a weakened ManU side.
I kind of fancy us to win it though. COYI!!
Good article and I agree with alot of what you wrote, however as Carl suggested “Wheres the ambition” We need to aim for champions league, europa league and try and win Silverware (especially the FA Cup).
I leave you with one question…What is a club without ambition?