Is Cup Success acceptable?

[dontcallme]

Thought I'd start this thread with a reply I wrote to a Ramos thread

This season is starting to feel despairingly like the beginning of last season. A huge amount of new players and beginning of the season optimism. Bad results and no grit or determination being shown.

The level headed fans (like me) keep thinking one or two good results and we'll be halfway up the table and then we'll forget about this slow start. Unfortunately the slow start keeps on continuing and worse than that the team isn't showing any real sign that things are going to get better soon.

We start to question the manager and as a club we're dying for stability so we need to believe Ramos is the right man for the job although there is nothing so far to show that he is, we just have to hope he is.

At the moment i'm clinging onto the hope Ramos will parallell Benitez. Confusing tactics and constant rotation meaning we don't achieve what we demand in the league but massive cup success comes at the end of the season to make sure we finish the season on a happy note.

We seem to start each season talking about our hopes of finishing top four and continuously find ourselves disappointed whether we just miss out or find ourselves nowhere near. I for one am not as obsessed as most with the Champions League. I'd much rather see my team lift a trophy. No doubt though I'd like to see us playing with flair and passion though which we aren't seeing enough of so far this season.

 

[Banny]

Not without a steady league campaign

 

[Montasura]

Not without a steady league campaign

Pretty much ditto that for me.

I haven't voted as neither option applies for me. In answer, No cup success on it's own is simply not acceptable. It needs to be accompanied by "A steady league campaign" as Banny puts it. I think, however, a top 4 is and always was unachievable this season.

 

[Damian99]

I don't think any of the top four teams put much emphasis on the Carling Cup and to some extent none of them probably care if they don't contest the FA CUP final these days either. The CL has become such a massive attraction over recent years that i believe the top four probably put our domestic cup competitions down the list of their prioreties, so long as they reach the CL they don't really bother.

We on the other hand don't have that luxury yet but personally i would settle(at some point) to win no domestic cups but achieve a place in the top four.

Whats a cup run consist of, winning 6 games, all of which could be against teams from lower leagues. The CC success was wondeful, don't get me wrong but i would rather Tottenham be contesting places at the top end of the table.

Was the CC cup victory more enjoyable than going into the last game of the season against West Ham under Jol, still with a shout of CL football, i know which i preferred.

 

[talkshowhost86]

Can't really vote for either of those options. Cup success isn't the only thing we should care about and league performances are more important.

But we certainly havn't got the players for a top four finish at the moment. And on current evidence you have to worry whether we have a top four manager.

There is quality in our squad but no tactical sense at the moment and we still have two big gaps in our squad in central midfield and upfront. There's probably enough quality to win us the carling cup again if the big teams put out their reserves and we turn up four games in a row.

But that'll be useless to us if we go down. And although it sounds dramatic to say so I think at the moment our main concern genuinely needs to be staying in the top flight rather than anything else.

 

[General Levy]

the poll needs more options.

 

[DC_Boy]

not only is cup success acceptable - it is wonderful and the very thing that our greatness as a club is built on

we are nowhere near to breaking the big 4, or even currently finishing top 4 - so I don't honestly know why people are even considering it as an option - but each to their own etc

winning a trophy and finishing 11th again would be a good season again

in fact winning a trophy and finishing 17th would probably represent a good season too -

of course finish 18th and a trophy is a very poor consolation

though I've said it before and I'll say it again - while I don't want or expect relegation - it might not be an unmitigated disaster - it may be that phoenix event we actually need - then again it might be the first stage on the way to the crematorium

life is, as ever, unpredictable

 

[VegasII]

Getting relegated would be equal to munching on the smelliest pussy imaginable.

 

[Chuba]

Not with relegation it isn't!

 

[tommo84]

The options in the poll are too far apart, as the real answer should be more moderate. No cup success alone is not acceptable, but we're not demanding a top 4 finish either. We should be comfortably top half, and among the best of the teams outside the top 4. By that standard we should have 9 points now. Instead we have 2 and are bottom. And lets not delude ourselves, right now we are among the worst 3 teams in the division and if all teams continued to perform at their current standard we would go down without much of a fight.

As for the comparison to Rafa Benitez, Benitez may change the starting XI often, but the system employed is consistent and the team's direction is usually clear whichever players start. Neither of those can be applied to us at the moment. To me it appears obvious that the manager is at lost as the team is right now, and in the absence of any evidence to the contrary in the next 2 league games, that can only lead to one outcome for the current management team.

 

[Krafty]

If we qualify for Europe next season (and dont get relegated of course) I will be happy. We should be aiming a high league finish but I think the team is still a season and/or two signings away from being ready to mount a campagin in the league.

 

[sundancer]

Did not vote as I think that both have there importance, however qualifying for Europe has to be a must otherwise we will lose what good players we have and will be unable to bring in the better players we need.