Up for the FA Cup or throw it at the 'Wall: Leicester fans split on how seriously to take it
Leicester City are 10 points clear at the top of the Championship, so what should be the approach for the FA Cup? Can the Foxes use a trip to The Den to blood some cubs?
Millwall? Get in and get out
James Knight
Life's too short to be sacking off cup competitions. Yes, Leicester have a lot of games ahead, and yes, we don't want to lose key players, but the reality is that we're talking about a handful of extra games at most. We may as well flutter our eyelashes at a cup run, rather than saving our strength for Sheffield Wednesday at home on a Tuesday night in April when we're 37 points clear in the league.
Some changes are inevitable, but I hope that Enzo has instilled enough of a winning mentality into his troops that even with slightly different personnel, we're still in the right frame of mind to beat Millwall comfortably.
I was at the last cup game at Millwall, which was a memorable game more in hindsight for the legendary nature of some of the players who took part (Molla Wague and Bartosz Kapustka, anyone?) than it was at the time, and where resting a bunch of players did us no good whatsoever.
If anything, comedy cup defeats can derail momentum even with a second string team. So let's get in, get the job done, and get out.
Winksy with his trotters up
Jamie Barnard
Bigger fish to fry. I’ve always felt this about the cups when we’ve been going for a league title and, now that we’ve won it before, the FA Cup very much takes a back seat for me.
There are three rounds of the competition before the end of March and that, to me, screams too much distraction in a period where we could feasibly get promotion secured on form to-date.
We have 13 league matches between now and the end of March. That’s a total of 39 points to play for in that period. Usually you need 75-80 points to make the play-offs and 80-90 points to secure an automatic promotion spot. We are currently on 65 points. 8 or 9 wins likely gets us back in the Premier League.
So ring the changes, Enzo. Give Harry Winks a weekend with his feet up. Let Ricardo and Justin rest those delicate ligaments. May the only wings Mavididi and Fatawu be seen on this weekend be chicken wings.
I’d keep Cannon in the team, so that he can continue to build his match fitness, and give those that have been on the fringes a chance to get some minutes. Marc Albrighton whipping in crosses, Hamza Choudhury crunching legs and big Ben Nelson heading away long balls… it’s all tailor made for The Den.
Wrap it up
Helen Thompson
I'm not quite matching Nigel Pearson levels of apathy to the cups this year, but I would also love to avoid any injuries and additional tiredness. Which I think ultimately means I just want the game wrapped up on Saturday. No replays that literally no fan or player want in a tie like this.
Enzo Maresca seems like the kind of manager who likes to be totally professional so I think he will look to strike a balance of resting some of those who've carried a lot of game time (Winks, Hermansen etc.), but not disrespecting Millwall either by fielding an entire team of youth players. He should turn to some of the fringe players who still have something to prove or those like Callum Doyle who are looking to rebuild some fitness and form after injury. A slightly tweaked side when confidence levels are high could and probably should still see us through.
Assuming we put in effort and commitment though, I wouldn't be devastated should we lose. Sure, it feels like we owe Millwall one after the last January FA Cup meeting but perhaps they fancy a cup run more. It would be nice to have one ourselves but given everything happening in the league, it isn't my number one priority. Given we play them twice already, it isn't the most exciting of ties so hopefully it can be a more entertaining contest than I'm expecting.
Rotate, rotate, rotate
Jamie Thorpe
In all honesty, and I know this is likely to be unpopular, but I'd rotate as much as possible and wrap certain players up in the softest cotton wool money can buy.
Ricardo, Winks, KDH, Fatawu, Mavididi, Faes. Hugely important players who have all played a massive amount of football, why risk it? Following Millwall, City face a resurgent Coventry before a stuttering, but still dangerous Ipswich visit the King Power, two games that we want to be at our best, well-rested and with a full squad.
Our priority this season simply must be promotion, there is no other goal, get back in the big leagues first, then chase the silverware.
This means something
Becky Taylor
Why not take it seriously? One of my favourite days watching Leicester City was the FA Cup final win, I cannot imagine saying 'no thanks, I'm not bothered' to the chance of another day like that.
Taking the FA Cup seriously and making wholesale changes for the Millwall game do not need to be mutually exclusive.
I completely understand the sentiment behind anyone saying to sack off the FA Cup to focus on winning the league and promotion, but we're up against Millwall not Man City. Continuing our Championship form is the priority but you can be serious about a cup run to enhance your season.
Football is a squad game these days and the cups provide opportunities to players with fewer minutes under their belt to improve match fitness, whilst resting key players.
Avoiding injuries to those key players is always what I'm hopeful for, but that goes for any game, it's just for some reason if someone gets injured in the cup everyone questions why they were playing.
I'm happy to make a number of big changes, I'd expect Nelson, Coady, Yunus, Albrighton, Choudhury and maybe Marcal to all get the nod, which for me just gets them more prepared if called upon in the coming weeks. I'd love to see Will Alves get his chance but I fear he's still not quite ready.
Millwall will undoubtedly make changes too, last time we played here in the cup in 2021 they made 7 changes, we made 8 - even a certain Jannik Vestergaard making a cameo appearance - yet we strolled to a victory then.
All I see is an opportunity to harmonise the squad further, maybe help someone like Casadei find his feet and get out of the scapegoat basket, and importantly the (slim) chance of a new ground should we get our name in the hat for the next round.
Every season I want us to take every competition seriously and try to win every competition we enter otherwise what's the point?
Ch-ch-changes
Iain Wright
With this season's priority clearly being promotion, I'm inclined to say change the whole XI to something like this: Stolarczyk, Doyle, Coady, Nelson, Albrighton, Casadei, Yunus, Choudhury, Wanya Marcal, Maswanhise, Cannon. I reckon that team would still beat Millwall who'll inevitably make their own changes.
However, I don't think Enzo will look at it like that. He sounds like the sort of manager who always rates the next game as the most important one, while simultaneously imposing a 'winner' mentality.
Therefore, I do think there will be a few changes; Stolarczyk in goal, a well deserved rest for Winks and maybe two or three more, but not the wholesale ones I've listed above.
I feel that Enzo will fancy progressing through this round in the hope we get a Premier League team next, which can be used as a good bellwether as to where we are in his development arc.
A little from column A, a little from column B
David Bevan
It has to be a half-and-half approach with the mantra that we go there to win but it can’t derail the momentum if we don’t.
It’s tough to pick a Leicester City starting XI without knowing who’ll fall foul of Seagrave’s Random Injury Generator at the last minute but it’s a guilty pleasure of mine to try to guess the side, especially for a game that isn’t important.
I’ll guess at: Stolarczyk, Justin, Faes, Coady, Doyle, Choudhury, Casadei, Dewsbury-Hall, Albrighton, Mavididi, Cannon.
So rests for Hermansen, Ricardo, Vestergaard, Winks and Fatawu.
It’s not ideal though, for several reasons: AFCON and the Asian Cup, the injuries to Ndidi, Praet, McAteer, Vardy and Iheanacho reducing options throughout the front five, the fact that Hamza Choudhury seems to be the sole cover for both the inverted full-back role and Harry Winks.
In fact, it’s still difficult to imagine this side without Winks and he may play despite his importance to the promotion push.
Yet again it’s a squad that looks strong on paper but which turns out to be paper-thin because of injuries. Millwall away doesn’t feel like the right place to blood a ton of youngsters. Maybe we can get away with one or two of Nelson, Wanya Marcal or Maswanhise if the rest of the team is strong.
Free hit
Adam Hodges
Who doesn't love a cup run? With a 10-point gap opened up at the top of the league should we go full tilt for a cup or get minutes in the legs of fringe players?
I would say a bit of both. We were unfortunate to be drawn against Liverpool in the League Cup as I felt we could have gone deep into the competition and feel we can do the same in the FA Cup. It's also unfortunate that we have been drawn away to a fellow Championship team but it gives Enzo a chance to have a look at a few players.
I reckon the team selection will be a mix of fringe players (both young and old) and players coming back from injury. The team which finished the game on New Year's Day is an indicator of what's to come and I think Mads Hermansen will be rested for Stolarczyk with Callum Doyle, Ben Nelson and Jannik Vestergaard at the back.
Hamza Choudhury and Harry Winks will be at the base of the midfield. Wanya Marcal and Marc Albrighton (as captain) on the wings, Cesare Casadei and Yunus Akgün in the forward midfield positions and Tom Cannon leading the line.
It's a free hit but I think we have enough strength to get us into the hat for the next round.
