FA Cup or Uefa Cup?

[T.Reis]

Maybe I'm wrong about this folks (and put me in my place if I am) but why is Pardew sacrificing the League for the cup?

I'll admit, maybe being Canadian I don't have the same level of prestiage for the FA Cup that people do in England but wouldn't we be better off with a Uefa Cup Spot instead of going for the FA that still has a handfull of top quality teams in it.

He sacrificed our league game vs Bolton for our FA game vs Bolton. Now he sacrificed our league game vs Portsmouth for the FA game vs Man City.

To me, before he made these decisions I though we had a better chance at the last Uefa Spot then lifting the FA Cup.

I hope we win the FA Cup though so I could eat my words.

League or FA Cup?

[claret50]

I opted to poll for the FA cup, purely for sentimental reasons, a good question T.Ries

[hammer_scout51]

Chances are even loosing in the FA cup could bring a EUFA cup spot. My opinion is 6th spot was always going to be out of our reach. Whereas the cup tends to be a great leveller.


We just have to hope we keep going.

[west_ham]

AP admitted that the only success he had as a player was getting to the Cup Final. So it seems he wants to give that same experience to this team.

Also we should consider the teams we have left to play in the PL:

Premiership A Sat 25 Wigan 15:00
Premiership A Wed 29 Man Utd 20:00
Premiership H Sun 02 Charlton 16:00
Premiership A Sun 09 Chelsea 12:00
Premiership H Sat 15 Man City 15:00
Premiership A Mon 17 Middlesbrough 15:00
Premiership H Sat 22 Liverpool 15:00
Premiership A Sat 29 West Brom 15:00
Premiership H Sun 07 Tottenham 15:00

AP has to weigh these fixtures up and decide on how many points he could expect to finish with. I think he has done this and has decided that he should go for the FA Cup.

Also it's been a while since we won the FA Cup, 26 years!!

[Birminghammer]

I think the first goal was always Premiership survival. Having more or less secured that we look to how well we look to finish top half of the league.

European qualification is a bonus as is a decent cup run - all extra cash.

The glory of the FA cup also includes Euro qualification of course, maybe even as runner up.

There is nothing like winning the cup though. I remember the streets of Hornchurch filling up in May 1980 as we emerged bleary eyed into the sunshine. Time to repeat the act.

[norwaytips]

Losing the FA cup final, will almost certainly mean Europe for us next year. Winning it means that we are in it. There is also the glory of winning the FA cup. Not like winning the PL, but a lot more glory than finishing 6th.

We are now just one game away from Europe by taking this route. We still have at least another 5 or six victories to get in via the league. It's just a matter of playing the odds. Good call by Pardew......So far. lol. Tony:)

[DJ_Madrazo]

Losing the FA cup final, will almost certainly mean Europe for us next year. Winning it means that we are in it. There is also the glory of winning the FA cup. Not like winning the PL, but a lot more glory than finishing 6th.

We are now just one game away from Europe by taking this route. We still have at least another 5 or six victories to get in via the league. It's just a matter of playing the odds. Good call by Pardew......So far. lol. Tony:)
Completely agreed. Our chances of qualifying for UEFA via the league aren't great. We only have to win one more match to practically triple our chances of making it. I also agree with the guy up there who said that FA Cup glory and Europe are bonuses. We've proved that we're no yo-yo club and that alone surpassed the piss taking crap many of our critics we're saying last June.

[Ruby_ynwax3]

definately the fa cup... think about it, we're soo close to the final and win a cup! in the other side, we are having tough games in the premiership and it's harder to win the uefa cup... also if we win the fa cup, you get a spot in the uefa cup.