08-01-2023, 15:03
Notts County and Wrexham are both Division One sides masquerading as National League sides. We (Chesterfield) beat two EFL League 2 sides on winning runs, hardly allowing them a shot on goal. Boreham Wood seem to beat EFL sides for fun. The label Non-League massively misleads. At least half the sides in the National League would easily survive in EFL2.
So managers misperceive the strength of team they need to field to beat apparently lower opposition. Wednesday beat Newcastle because they were better than them. The same only more obviously so with Forest at Blackpool. And Coventry couldn't handle a Wrexham style that I think you might see Bromley capable of cancelling out.
On paper that West Brom team should have been capable of taking us apart, but they were 11 names who don't play together. Chesterfield do play together so we dominated the game and but for the ref' we would have won (which might have meant money in the next round but also would mean extra fixture/s we too could do without).
It seems obvious to me that the answer for the Higher League club is to start a strong team, get in front and on top and once they are cruising - take important players off and blood youngsters. As it is by starting weak they have to bring on the bigger names, who then have to work twice as hard and possibly face a replay to avoid humiliation.
If the FA Cup were like Wimbledon WBA would probably be seeded at about Number 26. If the 26th seed at Wimbledon went out for his first match playing the player ranked 95 in the world, and started serving half pace and refused to use his famous double-handed backhand, everyone would think he'd gone mental, but that's very much what football managers do in the cup competitions.
You should be able to beat us easily in the replay. Only a Stevie Bruce could have kept your side out of the play-off picture. I think, sadly, you may be losing Asante for a few games after that equaliser. Our fullback is very good at getting under people's skin. This time it cost us. Hey ho! Good luck with fielding your full team in the cup and going for promotion!
So managers misperceive the strength of team they need to field to beat apparently lower opposition. Wednesday beat Newcastle because they were better than them. The same only more obviously so with Forest at Blackpool. And Coventry couldn't handle a Wrexham style that I think you might see Bromley capable of cancelling out.
On paper that West Brom team should have been capable of taking us apart, but they were 11 names who don't play together. Chesterfield do play together so we dominated the game and but for the ref' we would have won (which might have meant money in the next round but also would mean extra fixture/s we too could do without).
It seems obvious to me that the answer for the Higher League club is to start a strong team, get in front and on top and once they are cruising - take important players off and blood youngsters. As it is by starting weak they have to bring on the bigger names, who then have to work twice as hard and possibly face a replay to avoid humiliation.
If the FA Cup were like Wimbledon WBA would probably be seeded at about Number 26. If the 26th seed at Wimbledon went out for his first match playing the player ranked 95 in the world, and started serving half pace and refused to use his famous double-handed backhand, everyone would think he'd gone mental, but that's very much what football managers do in the cup competitions.
You should be able to beat us easily in the replay. Only a Stevie Bruce could have kept your side out of the play-off picture. I think, sadly, you may be losing Asante for a few games after that equaliser. Our fullback is very good at getting under people's skin. This time it cost us. Hey ho! Good luck with fielding your full team in the cup and going for promotion!