Quote Originally Posted by Blink 1nce Quince 2wice View Post
The fact we have a wafer thin squad is precisely why we won't win the league and why we cannot pin our hopes on it whilst forfeiting the cups. All it takes is for one important player to be injured for one game and his replacement to have a mare resulting in dropped points. Said replacement may not even need to have a nightmare.All it takes is for him to not be of the requisite quality. In reality that scenario will probably happen several times over this season and it could even happen tomorrow, resulting in an accumulation of dropped points.

Gone are the days of us winning the league with a prominent base of 15 players like in 2004. They were individually and collectively better than the current side and even then were monumentally fortunate in terms of injuries. The current side are falling like hot sacks a crap.

The year Scolari was at Chelsea may have fell a part but we weren't the ones to capitalise and take advantage. If City implode this season it is more likely that one of Man U or Chelsea themselves will take advantage.

IF we buy in January that is actually just as much reason for us to not throw the COCup because we will be better equipped.

That said, I don't see why it needs to be a choice between strict first team players or the under 21's. We won't have all our players available (at any 1 point this season!) and we needn't play a team entirely of kids.....just a mix of 1st teamers, fringe players and younglings. Ie Giroud, Gnabry Flamini, Rosicky, Wilshere, Monreal, Jenks...... Moreover, Chelsea may well not play a best 11 either and will mix and match just as I am proposing we do.

Even Wednesday's team against WBA wasn't 11 kids and if it was, we would have most definitely gone out in my honest view.
The same logic applies to to a cup game. One slip and you're out of the competition.

Did we not lose our opening game of the season? But where are we in the league right now? It's possible to recover in the league because other teams can slip too. We have to at least maintain the best and in form first team players we have up until January. If we're still in the race for the league by then, we have as good a chance as anyone else. If we actually challenge for the league this year, it's a big statement. A League Cup victory and scraping 4th won't be big enough. It would be nice to break the hoodoo but I'm thinking back to the original purpose of the Emirates and what Gazidis said this summer. We're looking at competing with the elite clubs in Europe and my expectations for this season have gone up a notch.

I agree that the league cup can act as a spring board but I just don't think we have the squad to do it this year or not right now. Against Chelsea, we should play the young players and maybe a few players that are struggling for form and need games. Wilshere, Arteta and Rosicky maybe.....forget risking Giroud or key defenders. It's too risky. Forget playing Ozil or Cazorla as well.