Will our young lads ever get a chance?

I thought a home game against a Wigan team likely to be weakened with 3 games in 6 days would have been ideal to blood a couple of youngsters. Even 5 minutes at the end of a game that had long been over as a contest would have been a wonderful experience for a 18 or 19yo.

Are our kids just not that good enough?

Manny made 10 changes over the team that played on Sunday, but we saw that he's bothered about the tournament by making sure he had some first teamers on the bench to bail us out if we needed it.  Unfortunately, it did mean no space on the bench for the kids, hence why we ended up with Yaya, Navas and Negredo on the pitch in a game that really didn't need them.

I'm just glad we didn't get a repeat of the Aston Villa debacle last season, where our bench was even worse than the eleven starters, leaving us down and out against Villa's weaker side and all us poor supporters pissed wet through and bored to tears.

I agree we need to take the competition seriously, but couldn't we have had one just one young lad on the bench?

Lopez got most of the game, Boyatta was back in,. Richards looked immense, Lescott and Garcia really less so..

If we had brought on younger players I doub't the scoreline would have been close to 5-0

My thought is that we could have brought someone on at 3-0 or 4-0. The game would have been over and those few minutes would have meant everything to a young lad.

Lopes said that his standing ovation when he was subbed was the best feeling in his life. It can mean that much.

I'm not disagreeing with you, Dawg.  But it's a bit tricky getting the young 'uns to play when they've all been sent out on loan elsewhere.  Maybe the problem is we're still not quite there in terms of risking an early cup exit on the basis of getting other trophies elsewhere.  I dare say Manny has been told if he doesn't bring silverware in the door, he'll be leaving through it.

Its a tricky one, I think last night was keeping the fringe players happy rather than the kids but it was nice to see Lopez and Boyata while still making sure we are in the hat for the next round.

The only player I don't understand not being around the squad last night was Guidetti?  He has had 1st team experience going to Holland and he would have been ideal for the last 15 mins when Negredo came on?

I thought Boyata did very well again, just makes me wonder what MP does not see to have used Garcia in our poor league games.

Boyata did well, but then he was up against a championship side so it's a bit difficult to say whether he's up to the challenge.  Mind, that said, there's plenty of PL sides would struggle in the league below and Cardiff had just come from there, so maybe he wouldn't have been that bad a shout.  And he still played better than Garcia last night (I had to check to make sure he was definitely playing!!)

I suppose it's only fair Jovetic got the nod last night to be on the bench, but I'm not sure why we had Negredo there instead of Guidetti.  Maybe if we get drawn against a League 1 side in the next round...  although there's only Tranmere left in it from that league and they've got to beat Stoke first.

I think we needed to avoid another Villa performance, plus it gives further game time for the players to gel, Navas and Jovetic opened their accounts, which will be a weight off
It was also another outing for MP's attacking philosophy with a different 11 from sunday ( apart from Fernand) Lopes looked very good, some great touches, he will surely progress to the 1st team more this season, and with the FA CUP to come, I'm sure he will get much more game time.
If every trophy counts, then I can understand MP's reasoning, plus with a game every 3 days it will keep the momentum going and hone his attacking philosophy at the same time

Beware - totally agree.....nothing would be worse than to stall the momentum......and dishearten the kids.

Lopez did well last night - Boyata was solid.

Guidetti must still be short of fitness IMO. Anyway, when you have Jovetic crying out for games, Dzeko dropped for Sunday, why bring in Guidetti over those 2?

I think when Guidetti is fit, he'll get his chance at some point.

TBF.....Lopez, Rusnak and Evans look the only 'real' possibilities at this point to progress into the 1st team.....the others have another year or so to wait.