It must be very tempting to put out our strongest team against Lincoln for if Lady Luck shines on us this could be the year we can go very deep into the competition, and yet I'm not sure we shouldn't at least be continuing with testing out alternative strategies even if the personnel remain largely the same. With injuries, loans and suspensions the room for experimentation has lessened, and for those players deemed unlikely to be with us next year perhaps this is one to miss, and yet a couple more injuries in this fixture which might be quite a brutal one might make them vital cogs in the latter part of the season. Will be very interesting to see which way SD plays this. A Cup run can be a great motivator but sometimes it can be the albatross around ones neck.

Didn't Wigan win it and go down look at them now the sooner we are out of this competition the better I want 9 more points not what is now a worthless cup win

I think we need to play a full strength side to give the newcomer/injury or suspension replacements even more game time together before 'Ull City etc etc away.
There's absolutely no reason for progress in the Cup to be a hindrance to our overall development this season - not with this manager and this squad !

Steve1956 wrote:Didn't Wigan win it and go down look at them now the sooner we are out of this competition the better I want 9 more points not what is now a worthless cup win

One team in 145 years? Hardly conclusive, is it.

Bournemouth, Liverpool, and Derby are among the clubs that played their reserves sides, got knocked out, and their league form fell apart. Is that what you wantBurnley to do? Or don't you think it could happen? Hard though it may be to imagine, there are still players who want to play at Wembley. If the manager tells them that they can't play at Wembley, that we're playing to lose, just so we can try and finish higher up the league (and use the money to sign a better player to replace you) - don't you think that might fail to incentivise him to bust a gut?

I think it's time for the club to get their nuts out and go for a cup.

We have a reasonable cushion right now and a cup run can help galvanise the team.
Didn't that happen during Coyle's promotion season?
Capital punishment etc.

Some of the bigger clubs will be looking at League spots right now, champs league places etc.
Others will be distracted by a relegation battle..

Becasue of where we are the answer is both. We should be able to garner the necessary points for survival and at the same time take the Cup seriously.

Nevertheless I expect a side similar to Bristol - not quite full strength but with enough first team experience, with Westwood in for Defour and tarks in midfield (unless Sean decides that his physical strength would be useful in the back four to combat their chunky striker). It's an opportunity to give players a full match who don;t always get one.

Pope
Darikwa Mee Keane Flanagan
JBG Tarkowski Barton Westwood Arfield
Vokes

(or perhaps Tarks for Mee and a 4-4-2 with Barnsey, or a 442 wiht tarks for joey)

Apart from Pope Darikwa and Flanagan that's effectively a first team

The magic of the FA Cup dosent exist anymore a competition no one is really interested in till later rounds,if you win it the win is devalued because said big clubs play their poorer players I want three more wins in the Premier League not a run to the next round of a devalued antiquated competion run by knobheads.

Run by knobheads or not, a recent winners trophy would look good at TM.

If we get there are we to assume you wouldn't be attending Wembley?

Sidney1st wrote:I think it's time for the club to get their nuts out and go for a cup.

We have a reasonable cushion right now and a cup run can help galvanise the team.
Didn't that happen during Coyle's promotion season?
Capital punishment etc.

Some of the bigger clubs will be looking at League spots right now, champs league places etc.
Others will be distracted by a relegation battle..

The team is galvanised mate,and we are looking to cement maybe a top ten finish give me that over a tinpot cup competition anyday.

Sidney1st wrote:Run by knobheads or not, a recent winners trophy would look good at TM.

If we get there are we to assume you wouldn't be attending Wembley?

No..I hate that big London

Steve1956 wrote:The team is galvanised mate,and we are looking to cement maybe a top ten finish give me that over a tinpot cup competition anyday.

Steve1956 wrote: No..I hate that big London

I'm going to stop now, you're clearly fishing.

Steve1956 wrote:The magic of the FA Cup dosent exist anymore a competition no one is really interested in till later rounds,if you win it the win is devalued because said big clubs play their poorer players I want three more wins in the Premier League not a run to the next round of a devalued antiquated competion run by knobheads.

I think you're missing the point. We will not be awarded any Premier League points if we lose on Saturday. That's not how it works. We get awarded Premier League points by winning or drawing games, and whether we win or lose tomorrow, that won't be affected.

You say people don't get interested until the later rounds - there, I agree. But haven't you noticed? These are the later rounds. Win on Saturday, and it's the last 8. I'm interested.

As for antiquated competitions, what's wrong with that? Is Murray's Wimbledon win worthless because the competition started in the 1800's? Is the Premier League worthless because it also started (under a different name) in the 1800's? Don't knock a competition for being old.

Sidney1st wrote:I'm going to stop now, you're clearly fishing.

I'm most certainly not fishing,let's just agree to disagree, it's all about opinions, if we win the FACup I will buy your season ticket for next season.

When you look back on previous seasons which sounds better :-

Remember that season we came 17th

or

Remember that season we won the FA Cup at Wembley and qualified for European football the season after

dsr wrote:I think you're missing the point. We will not be awarded any Premier League points if we lose on Saturday. That's not how it works. We get awarded Premier League points by winning or drawing games, and whether we win or lose tomorrow, that won't be affected.

You say people don't get interested until the later rounds - there, I agree. But haven't you noticed? These are the later rounds. Win on Saturday, and it's the last 8. I'm interested.

As for antiquated competitions, what's wrong with that? Is Murray's Wimbledon win worthless because the competition started in the 1800's? Is the Premier League worthless because it also started (under a different name) in the 1800's? Don't knock a competition for being old.

Murray actually played the best players to win Wimbledon,you can't compare that with an FA cup win against inferior opposition,we have no chance of winning the FA Cup let's concentrate on what has made us super rich and forget a Cup Competition that's been on a downward spiral since Man -Utd didn't even enter it one year.

Steve1956 wrote:Didn't Wigan win it and go down look at them now the sooner we are out of this competition the better I want 9 more points not what is now a worthless cup win

Remember the high majority of these players is used to playing 46 league games a season....

Under Judas we played around 60 games and still went up. Winning can provide momentum and confidence, I'd rather go to Hull having won in the cup than on the back of an upset

Steve1956 wrote:Murray actually played the best players to win Wimbledon,you can't compare that with an FA cup win against inferior opposition,we have no chance of winning the FA Cup let's concentrate on what has made us super rich and forget a Cup Competition that's been on a downward spiral since Man -Utd didn't even enter it one year.

Stop, you're embarrassing yourself. You think losing at home to a non league side would be more of a help to the squad than if we won and got into the quarter finals of the FA Cup for the first time since 2003!?

HendricksHair wrote:Remember the high majority of these players is used to playing 46 league games a season....

People forget that part, something I've never understood.

Steve1956 wrote:I'm most certainly not fishing,let's just agree to disagree, it's all about opinions, if we win the FACup I will buy your season ticket for next season.

Thanks for the offer, but I'll decline.

Dyche could field a weakened side against Lincoln and lose not many people outside of Burnley would bat an eyelid its that poor a competition nowadays...an FA Cup Final win carries no kudos anymore because the big clubs are not interested in it....end of!

HendricksHair wrote:Stop, you're embarrassing yourself. You think losing at home to a non league side would be more of a help to the squad than if we won and got into the quarter finals of the FA Cup for the first time since 2003!?

I was actually at the Burnley v Wimbledon upset back in the seventies when the FA Cup actually meant something,strange how things change.

Steve1956 wrote:Dyche could field a weakened side against Lincoln and lose not many people outside of Burnley would bat an eyelid its that poor a competition nowadays...an FA Cup Final win carries no kudos anymore because the big clubs are not interested in it....end of!

Oh yeah I'm sure not many people will bat an eye lid at a premier league team with the second best home form in the league losing to a non league Lincoln side who've just reached the quarter finals of the FA Cup...

HendricksHair wrote:Oh yeah I'm sure not many people will bat an eye lid at a premier league team with the second best home form in the league losing to a non league Lincoln side who've just reached the quarter finals of the FA Cup...

I said a weakened side keep up fella.

Steve1956 wrote:I said a weakened side keep up fella.

And...? You said we could lose and no one would bat an eyelid? We lose on Saturday and the media wouldn't care what team we put out cos all that matters is we lost

The horse botherers would certainly care.

Just like they'd care if we won the final......

Or doesn't that matter either?

" Remember that season we won the FA Cup at Wembley and qualified for European football the season after".

I am now very interested in the FA Cup, but the latter part of the above quote is a good reason not to win the cup. Can the winner decline entry and what are the sanctions for doing so?

The sure way for a small club like us to get relegated is to be in the utterly pointless Europa League. Ipswich have never recovered and don't look like the will.

As someone else has mentioned, our lot are still used to playing 46 league games.

It's all about the fitness levels and if we can maintain those then it should be fine.

If we get to Wembley for the semi final then traditionally there is a big uptake in STs for most clubs. We have around 2-3k not sold this year so could be a big step for our development and progress.

Sidney1st wrote:As someone else has mentioned, our lot are still used to playing 46 league games.

It's all about the fitness levels and if we can maintain those then it should be fine.

Vokes even mentions it on CP, he says all the squad are still used to play in more games so having a cup run has no effect on them at all

summitclaret wrote:" Remember that season we won the FA Cup at Wembley and qualified for European football the season after".

I am now very interested in the FA Cup, but the latter part of the above quote is a good reason not to win the cup. Can the winner decline entry and what are the sanctions for doing so?

The sure way for a small club like us to get relegated is to be in the utterly pointless Europa League. Ipswich have never recovered and don't look like the will.

If we declined entry then I and I'm sure many many others would be very disappointed

summitclaret wrote:" Remember that season we won the FA Cup at Wembley and qualified for European football the season after".

I am now very interested in the FA Cup, but the latter part of the above quote is a good reason not to win the cup. Can the winner decline entry and what are the sanctions for doing so?

The sure way for a small club like us to get relegated is to be in the utterly pointless Europa League. Ipswich have never recovered and don't look like the will.

If we win the FA Cup this year and then sail through the Europa League next season we will have Champions League football at Turf Moor next year. I'm looking forward to that.

You spelt Championship wrong there.

Finishing 4th from bottom and day out at Wembley would be a fantastic end of season.

Seeing Tom Heaton lift the F A Cup with Sean Dyche looking up proudly clapping his team from the pitch below. Would result in 2 things.

Tears of joy and me replenishing the said loss of bodily liquid with several pints of celebratory ale.

Rileybobs wrote:If we win the FA Cup this year and then sail through the Europa League next season we will have Champions League football at Turf Moor next year. I'm looking forward to that.

I was planning for Champions League football via winning the Premier League title. I suppose winning the Europa Cup would do as well - not ideal, but beggars can't be choosers!

The first thing I learned about Burnley football club is that it won the cup in 1914. I think it's about time we won it again.

Ultimately, the point of the game is to win stuff - not to earn loads of money.

We have won it once in our history - two years after the Titanic went down.

Winning the FA Cup would be absolutely ridiculously fantastic for a club like Burnley - devalued competition or not. We are deep into it now, beat Lincoln and it's the last eight. We have to go for it.

I'd love us to win it but I agree it's a joke competition these days, used by most football league clubs as a chance to play reserve teams. Even the majority of the Championship clubs have been putting out reserve teams (Leeds, Brighton, Newcastle to name a few). It's lost its shine completely and become like the Worthington/Carling Cup. The only teams who seem to enjoy it are the League 2 and non league sides hoping for a ''magical'' away trip to a big club to get battered and reap financial rewards.

Tarks, Derek, Flanagan. Joey G, Pope and Sam in their preferred positions for me on Saturday. No reason we can't progress in the cup and stay up.

If Joey starts we win. He won't let standards drop and I'm sure he'd love a cup final.

Of course we should be playing to win the thing. In the results it lists teams not, (played reserves).
It still does go all around the world. Along with our third and fourth seasons in the PL this all goes to getting brand Burnley acknowledged.
As mentioned above the Europa league would be a concern. Few Britsh teams have gone deep into this farce and had a good PL season.

The worm turns when they get a sniff of Wembley, the teams in the quarter finals will suddenly manage to rustle up a full strength side, it no longer is the 'joke' it was a month or so before.

Let's be clear, we don't need replays - as soon as Defour started playing Saturday then Tuesday and for more minutes he got injured for example.

But playing Saturday, Saturday, Saturday with the occasional cup game in there - I don't see the problem. Just play the game, whatever game it is, and see where it takes us.

The joy of football is seeing your team do something you have never seen them do before. Getting to a major final after being cruelly denied against Tottenham would be a good one. Win the thing - that would be another.

Id love to win it.
People moan it's worthless these days and the big teams ain't bothered with it. But why should they? Some Fans of a club like ours ain't even bothered about it. I question a fan against Bristol who said he wouldn't care if we lost today. In his response he said staying up in the Premier League 'for the money' is more important. That's what kills football for me. Id expect a response of 'because I want to see Burnley compete with the best teams in England

If we get through this round and draw Manchester United at home in the QF then we'll see how many people aren't bothered about it.

Naturally, it's easy to not really care about the cup in the early rounds but the closer you get to the final the more a trip to Wembley becomes a reality.

TomBenderson wrote:Given it's the PL that's ruined the game, bit rich to want to do well in their competition rather than the FA's.

What's your beef with the FA anyway?

Oh right ruined eh? By the Premier League? ..the same Premier League that has made us rich beyond our wildest dreams,some of our support is running before it can walk

Funny some of our fans are so infected by premierleagueitis that they are more excited about whether we finish 13th or 16th than the prospect of 40,000 clarets walking down wembley way for a semi final. With Rovers an utter shambles there is a real chance to catch a generation of young fans and the publicity generated by the fa cup would be brilliant. Play Pope, Tarks, Johan and Scottie but Flanagan and Darikwa would be unnecessary risks. For me this game is a lot bigger than Hull and we can't afford to take Lincoln lightly.

If the FA cup used to be so much more valued in times gone by then that must mean the league was secondary?

Clubs must not be able to celebrate winning the title from days gone by with logic of this Steve1956 fella then?

Sidney1st wrote:The horse botherers would certainly care.

Just like they'd care if we won the final......

Or doesn't that matter either?

I have no interest whatsoever what they think....they have absolutely no significance in my life.....unlike some

Steve1956 wrote:I have no interest whatsoever what they think....they have absolutely no significance in my life.....unlike some

So you don't sing the songs, don't cheer that little bit more when we beat them etc?

Ok then....

Quickenthetempo wrote:If the FA cup used to be so much more valued in times gone by then that must mean the league was secondary?

Clubs must not be able to celebrate winning the title from days gone by with logic of this Steve1956 fella then?

The FACup was massive for the once in a lifetime opportunity to play and support at Wembley. Now ever twobit competition finishes there most players know they will get there at some stage. We've been 3 times in 30 years.