Quote:
Originally Posted by Mr K
Teams used to get fined for fielding under strength sides. Not that the big boys would give a toss about that. Maybe chucking them out of the cup and European competitions would have more effect.
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I think they are allowed to rotate provided they pick a side which is capable of winning the match.
Though Steve Cooper did make 11 changes from the Southampton starting line up all but 1 of the players who did (who was a 19 yr old lad making his debut) have played for us in the league this season. The back 4 I think started matches as a unit. But then there's always the issue of the players playing together anyway when you do that, change 1 or 2 usually doesn't disrupt the flow of the team as much as 11.
Given that we played Chelsea on Sunday, then Southampton the Weds after, then Blackpool, we have a LC QF with Wolves tomorrow, and then again in the league vs Leicester on Saturday (with both league matches around the cup ties then it does make sense to give players a break as there are a lot of fixtures together. There are also a few knocks (Lingard is out for a few weeks, Mangala has missed most of the season, Niakhate hasn't played since August, Richards hasn't even played for us yet) and other injuries (Awoniyi went off vs Southampton but that didn't look too serious) so they could probably just argue the other players were too tired or not fit enough to play 90 minutes or something.
As for kicking a team out of the cup who's already lost (and is not likely to qualify for Europe) this seems a bit silly. I think Liverpool actually played the kids in a league cup semi a few years back because the first team was off somewhere else in another competition. I do agree using the squad can devalue the team out there but that really is ultimately the club's decision.