Prioritise Barcelona or Chelsea?

[jay_mcfc]

We will go all out to beat Barca at home, of that I have no doubt. When MP took over a lot of the emphasis was on performance in the CL and after the miscalculation in Munich I think he'd be under severe pressure if he played anything other than the strongest possible team. Other than that I think it will be the Chelsea game where one or two might get a rest but then you can see them resting one or two as well because they will see the Galatasaray game as a great chance to get through. I think Mourinho will be targeting the Champs league so we might both be in the same boat for the cup game.

 

[fbloke]

We've had four hammer blows which have impacted us hugely in the last 2 weeks.

1)Drawing Chelsea in the cup
2)Sergio's injury
3) not landing anyone in January
4) the loss of fernandinho

Because of the way the fixture list has fallen these four combined could derail us much further than just Monday's defeat. Starting next Wednesday we have 3 games in 6 days, all of which have a significant bearing on the season. One thing's for sure. You can't play our strongest eleven in all three. We have to rotate massively, but the injuries, particularly fernandinho's, mean than we are going to be weakening ourselves hugely, and we are already badly weakened.

I've been saying since the draw that the only feasible option is to play a very weak team for the middle game against Chelsea, to make sure we can get our strongest team out for Barcelona. But I'm starting to have second thoughts. For all the Champions League's prestige, we unquestionably have a much better chance of winning the FA cup should we get through. So what do we do ?

I still think Chelsea is the game to "throw", but it's a tough one.

Which game will Chelsea prioritise?

 

[kaz7]

If we have our best 11 ready for Barca then i am sure pellers will go all out for that match.Chelsea will put out a strong team for the cup as they don't play CL that week so will have the advantage anyway

 

[wolfie1988]

We've had four hammer blows which have impacted us hugely in the last 2 weeks.

1)Drawing Chelsea in the cup
2)Sergio's injury
3) not landing anyone in January
4) the loss of fernandinho

Because of the way the fixture list has fallen these four combined could derail us much further than just Monday's defeat. Starting next Wednesday we have 3 games in 6 days, all of which have a significant bearing on the season. One thing's for sure. You can't play our strongest eleven in all three. We have to rotate massively, but the injuries, particularly fernandinho's, mean than we are going to be weakening ourselves hugely, and we are already badly weakened.

I've been saying since the draw that the only feasible option is to play a very weak team for the middle game against Chelsea, to make sure we can get our strongest team out for Barcelona. But I'm starting to have second thoughts. For all the Champions League's prestige, we unquestionably have a much better chance of winning the FA cup should we get through. So what do we do ?

I still think Chelsea is the game to "throw", but it's a tough one.

Which game will Chelsea prioritise?

Chelsea don't have CL until the 25/26 Feb

 

[BobKowalski]

We've had four hammer blows which have impacted us hugely in the last 2 weeks.

1)Drawing Chelsea in the cup
2)Sergio's injury
3) not landing anyone in January
4) the loss of fernandinho

Because of the way the fixture list has fallen these four combined could derail us much further than just Monday's defeat. Starting next Wednesday we have 3 games in 6 days, all of which have a significant bearing on the season. One thing's for sure. You can't play our strongest eleven in all three. We have to rotate massively, but the injuries, particularly fernandinho's, mean than we are going to be weakening ourselves hugely, and we are already badly weakened.

I've been saying since the draw that the only feasible option is to play a very weak team for the middle game against Chelsea, to make sure we can get our strongest team out for Barcelona. But I'm starting to have second thoughts. For all the Champions League's prestige, we unquestionably have a much better chance of winning the FA cup should we get through. So what do we do ?

I still think Chelsea is the game to "throw", but it's a tough one.

Which game will Chelsea prioritise?

All of them. Mourinho is not going to pass up the opportunity to inflict another home defeat on us and dump us out of a competition. The media narrative alone will be too good to pass up not to mention the psychological effect of Chelsea beating us 3 times going into the title run in. Its kill or be killed with Mourinho and the war is just starting.

 

[Deleted member 58678]

Prioritise neither. We are more than capable of playing two big games in three days and the rest of the season ahead. A ridiculous question. they are both important and can have the same level of priority as each other. Same number of days before each game from the last; do the same thing in each of the three days, have exactly the same preparation for both, exactly the same.

We could be capable of playing four big games in a row and placing exactly the same emphasis of importance on all of them. And in the coming years we may have:
Sat-Prem title run-in/decider...Tues-CL Semi-final...Sat-FAC Semi...Sun(8days later)-Prem title run-in/decider...Weds-CL Semi final.

All four would be given the same importance, as should Chelsea and Barcelona which is just two games the week after next.

 

[alib]

FA Cup should be our 4th priority

1. Premier League
2. League Cup
3. Champions League
4. FA Cup

 

[Manchester33]

FA Cup should be our 4th priority

1. Premier League
2. League Cup
3. Champions League
4. FA Cup

I'd even put League Cup before league tbh. We're in the final now, no excuse not to win it.

 

[zandvoort blue]

All this talk of prioritising games is a load of rubbish. Being prepared to lose one game does not mean you necessarily win another and playing your stars doesn't stop players getting injured in training! We have to go out to beat Norwich, Sunderland, Chelsea and Barca - keep "trying to win the next game" - and pick sides accordingly. Ferna is one of our very best team, worth every penny of what we paid for him, but what did us on Monday, as much as anything else, was that replacements like Garcia and more especially Milner, were not available either. That's before we talk about switching the formation. Pick the team, get it out on the pitch and let it do the business. And don't be scared of anyone.

Agreed, the highest priority game at the moment is Norwich on saturday.

Football is all about ability, attitude and confidence. Concentrate on your next match as winning breeds confidence.

 

[super_city_si]

We've had four hammer blows which have impacted us hugely in the last 2 weeks.

1)Drawing Chelsea in the cup
2)Sergio's injury
3) not landing anyone in January
4) the loss of fernandinho

Because of the way the fixture list has fallen these four combined could derail us much further than just Monday's defeat. Starting next Wednesday we have 3 games in 6 days, all of which have a significant bearing on the season. One thing's for sure. You can't play our strongest eleven in all three. We have to rotate massively, but the injuries, particularly fernandinho's, mean than we are going to be weakening ourselves hugely, and we are already badly weakened.

I've been saying since the draw that the only feasible option is to play a very weak team for the middle game against Chelsea, to make sure we can get our strongest team out for Barcelona. But I'm starting to have second thoughts. For all the Champions League's prestige, we unquestionably have a much better chance of winning the FA cup should we get through. So what do we do ?

I still think Chelsea is the game to "throw", but it's a tough one.

Yes, the Chelsea one is least priority. It wont hurt us to have Chelsea fighting on 3 fronts. Knocking them out if the cup is a preference obviously, but the upside of them winning is that we have fewer games and they have more.