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Something of a free hit given it’s the League Cup and an opportunity for some of the lads who’ve been on the bench in the first two games to start but we probably want to give some players an opportunity to get more game time.

                         Crocombe
Efete      Pearson     Smith      Amos
                   Green        Morris
JMD                   Wearne        Clifton
                           Pepple

Green and Efete have looked ok but need more minutes I think to get themselves properly up to full tilt, Morris or Holohan is no biggie, just need someone else there. Wearne looked quality and will benefit from a run out. Pepple as a loan striker is a risk but as he won’t want to risk Taylor, I see no alternative.

Quoted from Mariner_09

Something of a free hit given it’s the League Cup and an opportunity for some of the lads who’ve been on the bench in the first two games to start but we probably want to give some players an opportunity to get more game time.

                         Crocombe
Efete      Pearson     Smith      Amos
                   Green        Morris
JMD                   Wearne        Clifton
                           Pepple

Green and Efete have looked ok but need more minutes I think to get themselves properly up to full tilt, Morris or Holohan is no biggie, just need someone else there. Wearne looked quality and will benefit from a run out. Pepple as a loan striker is a risk but as he won’t want to risk Taylor, I see no alternative.

I thought Battersby would be in goal to give him some experience.

Isn’t it about time we got our footballing fortune and get a televised game against a prem side? It only takes one win, two wins and the top 7 premier league sides join us. Play the strongest side and keep it settled. Mess about in that other cup if necessary

Quoted from thevera

Isn’t it about time we got our footballing fortune and get a televised game against a prem side? It only takes one win, two wins and the top 7 premier league sides join us. Play the strongest side and keep it settled. Mess about in that other cup if necessary[b][/b]

Play the youth in that and see what happens. The League Cup has provided us with some of greatest nights in my life time over the years - biggest giant killings home and away, biggest home crowd since the 50s, yep play strongest team. And we'd never have had a mention on the John Peel show without it...

Play the strongest team for me in both this and the FA cup. The other cup I shall not name I personally would rotate the squad.

Quoted from Limerick Mariner

Play the youth in that and see what happens. The League Cup has provided us with some of greatest nights in my life time over the years - biggest giant killings home and away, biggest home crowd since the 50s, yep play strongest team. And we'd never have had a mention on the John Peel show without it...

When we beat Liverpool?
Was he complimentary towards us?

A cup run would be great and I see no reason why we can't go through with a rotated team, which is testament to the strength of our squad. Cropper, Pearson, Amos, maguire-drew, Wearne are all more than capable of coming in, and maybe even Khouri too. Wouldn't be surprised if People starts too with Taylor not having trained much, back-to-back games in the space of a few days may be a bit much.

Quoted from thevera

When we beat Liverpool?
Was he complimentary towards us?

Yep, and I can't actually remember too much - I was on cloud 9 of course, leaving Liverpool in the car with 2 Liverpool fans. I'm sure he congratulated us but I think it more along the lines I can't believe we've really just lost at home to Grimsby. We have that affect don't we - that's why we hold the record for the most managers sacked after being beaten by us.

Quoted from Mariner93er

A cup run would be great and I see no reason why we can't go through with a rotated team, which is testament to the strength of our squad. Cropper, Pearson, Amos, maguire-drew, Wearne are all more than capable of coming in, and maybe even Khouri too. Wouldn't be surprised if People starts too with Taylor not having trained much, back-to-back games in the space of a few days may be a bit much.

All the people?

Quoted from Limerick Mariner

Play the youth in that and see what happens. The League Cup has provided us with some of greatest nights in my life time over the years - biggest giant killings home and away, biggest home crowd since the 50s, yep play strongest team. And we'd never have had a mention on the John Peel show without it...

You're not allowed (Papa John's Trophy)

"EFL clubs must have at least four 'qualifying' outfield players in their line-ups, with such a player meeting these requirements:

Any player who started the previous or following first-team fixture
Any player who is in the top 10 players at the club who have made the most starting appearances in league and domestic cup competitions that season
Any player with 40 or more first-team appearances in their career
Any player on loan from a Premier League club or any EFL 'Category One' academy club
A club can play any eligible goalkeeper in the competition."

Knowing Hurst he’ll make a couple of changes but I’d expect a relatively strong side. Why not go for it, opportunity to play a decent team early on in the tournament.

I can't see anything but Hurst going full strength for this.

His hand is pretty much forced by the lack of options anyway.  Perhaps he'll want to have a proper look at Pepple but in all honesty I've no idea on the type of striker he is, which shapes what you play around him to an extent.  Taylor starting would be a risk and then we've no other options (unless someone else comes through the door today).

Maybe run outs for Wearne and JMD and then you're down to rotating the lads at the back.

I know we've not had a cup run for a while but this is the one where there's little incentive isn't it?  May have changed but I thought the finances had been dropped out of the League Cup and you're hoping on a big away day to make any remotely decent money.

I would give Cropper and Amos a start, they need some game time. Would start JMD to see what he can do over 90 minutes. I would rest Taylor and start Pebbles. Give Wearn a longer run out too.

It would still be a strong team with those changes. But I would rather see the full strength team fresh at Rochdale.

Quoted from diehardmariner

I know we've not had a cup run for a while but this is the one where there's little incentive isn't it? May have changed but I thought the finances had been dropped out of the League Cup and you're hoping on a big away day to make any remotely decent money.

45% share of the gate money, no prize money until the quarter finals. So you’re right, need a big premiership team away for any decent money. Don’t know if that’s more or less incentive to try and go as far as possible.

Personally I think some sort of Carabao/Papa John’s hybrid (competition, not pizza/energy drink!) would solve a lot of problems with the big teams not really wanting to enter the Carabao. An early league based league cup but only for the 72.

Think essel and braithwaite should be involved to get some experience too.
Let’s bring our youth on and not see another couple of years wasted for them.

                       Crocombe

Cropper.   Waterfall.    Smith.  Amos

                   Green.    Morris

JMD.               Kiernan.             Wearne

                         Pepple

Quoted from gtfc98

All the people?

So many people

Quoted from monkeyboy

Think essel and braithwaite should be involved to get some experience too.
Let’s bring our youth on and not see another couple of years wasted for them.

Actually surprised to not see Essel on the bench at the weekend, especially with no other strikers available. The lad is incredibly raw and I'm not advocating him as the answer to the dilemma at hand, but just thought Hurst might have had him on there as a back up.

Edit: He didn't feature for the youth team either so presume he's injured.

I’d imagine a rest for Taylor and Green, who both haven’t fully trained and possibly some changes in the back line. Four or five changes from Saturday.

Based on the limited time I've seen the team, I'm not sure we need to play Green and Morris in the pivot. They both play a similar role but offer something different, so we could alternate them based on the opposition. When Maher is fit, he could play there too unless Hurst plans to slot him into a back three.

4-2-3-1:

                          Pepple

      Kiernan       Wearne         JMD

           Morris / Maher    Clifton

Amos       Smith        Waterfall       Cropper

                       Crocombe

4-3-3:

Kiernan / Wearne    Pepple         JMD

                Clifton            Holohan

                       Morris / Maher

     Amos        Smith       Waterfall      Cropper

I hope we give this a go..will be a test against aside that have had a great start- and whilst acknowledging the finance argument above - wouldn’t it be nice to advance?

I think he’ll go near full strength, need minutes in bank and it’s the best way of getting the team to fitness..matches. I’m expecting same side as Saturday tbh, with all subs allowed introduced along the way.

Feel a bit sorry that Pearson seems to have dropped into the background on manys thoughts, still feel he is a more than useful CB
and better on the ball than some think, suppose its a testament to the strength in the CB area we currently have, which has to be a good thing.

We're well stocked at the back aren't we? Our current alternative defence of...

Cropper--Maher--Pearson--Amos

...isn't half bad. Do we know how long Maher is out for? Think I might have missed that?

Quoted from Mariner_09

Something of a free hit given it’s the League Cup and an opportunity for some of the lads who’ve been on the bench in the first two games to start but we probably want to give some players an opportunity to get more game time.

                         Crocombe
Efete      Pearson     Smith      Amos
                   Green        Morris
JMD                   Wearne        Clifton
                           Pepple

Green and Efete have looked ok but need more minutes I think to get themselves properly up to full tilt, Morris or Holohan is no biggie, just need someone else there. Wearne looked quality and will benefit from a run out. Pepple as a loan striker is a risk but as he won’t want to risk Taylor, I see no alternative.

Why would anyone pick Clifton wide when he's a central midfielder and a wide play central? And a winger centrally?

Battersby to play in goal, also JMD may start too, according to Sky Sports News.

Crocombe
Cropper
Waterfall
Smith
Glennon
Green
Morris
Holohan
Maguire Drew
Wearne
Pebble

Think he will use two wingers, we have enough cover in midfield and cropper is more defensive then Efete, so works better with Maguire Drew I think.