How seriously should Leicester City take the FA Cup this season?
After two defeats that have seen Leicester dragged back towards the relegation dogfight, it’s back to cup action this midweek. Should we go for another deep cup run, or favour trying to stay up?
Every year I want us to take the FA cup seriously. Every team should - it's got to be what we look at going for. Even when you've been terrible in the league, you've got to back yourself in a cup scenario.
In that favourite but pointless hypothetical argument, I'd 100% accept getting relegated if it meant winning the FA Cup.
I think with players coming back from injury and so far avoiding other Premier League clubs why not keep that ball rolling and play some players into form? It's allowed some positivity to stay around even when we've been awful in the league.
We have got work to do to stay up yet, so I'm not suggesting the mentality goes with my aforementioned hypothetical side, but rather use any cup wins to get some confidence for a run of form in the league too.
If we get a trip to Wembley, bonus.
Becky Taylor
I won't say the FA Cup should be our number one priority this season, but there's no reason we shouldn't be targeting more silverware.
We're only four points off the relegation zone but we've got a reasonably good run in and judging by the teams around us, I don't see any reason why we won't be pushing for the top half by the end of the season now we've got most players fit and three new January signings.
Another five wins should see us safe and if we beat Blackburn, we're only one more win from a Wembley semi-final. There's nobody in the draw that concerns me - even Man City are beatable on our day this season - and to reach two FA Cup finals in three years would be an amazing achievement, especially given the season we've had so far.
Jordan Halford
The FA Cup is certainly a nice distraction from the grind of the league. Now that we've finally won the thing, there's a bit of pressure off when cup games come around.
The atmosphere in the Newcastle end at Wembley on Sunday despite their defeat was a good reminder that those are the kind of days you want as a football fan, even if it often seems pre-determined that the bigger club will win. That's how our own recent defeat to Manchester United felt, but the better Blues beat the bigger Blues under the arch in 2021 - three wins from another Wembley final and we're dreaming again...
My natural inclination is still to prioritise Premier League survival but the FA Cup provides a good chance to get our attacking players back into goalscoring and creative form after a wasteful first half at Old Trafford and a non-existent 90 minutes against Arsenal. With that in mind, I'd be looking to keep the same front three and see what they can do against weaker opposition than they've faced in their first four games as a trio.
Of course, the main issue is whether James Maddison plays. Despite his importance, I'd be inclined to hold him back on the bench if he's available. We'll have more of the ball and will create more in this game by default. I'd prefer to give Boubakary Soumare a start alongside Wilfred Ndidi and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, aiming to dominate the midfield.
The other obvious outfield change is to play Ricardo Pereira. In goal, Daniel Iversen will have a blinder and start again at Southampton on Saturday. We're back to dreaming again...
David Bevan
The answer is, obviously, ‘very’. Not only do we have a genuine chance to win it but it would be strange to sacrifice that opportunity to try to boost a league season that we’re barely interested in anyway.
For me, there’s a secondary motivation as well. This is the last rodeo for a large group of the Leicester squad. We’ve known for a year now that there’s going to be a lot of departures this summer. But despite that, it’s never really seemed that any of the players themselves are desperate to leave. Everyone has continued to care, and most of them have a bond with the fans at the very least, even if they aren’t all bonafide legends.
The Cup is the last chance for them to go out with a bang. It would be a bit rubbish if, ultimately, Youri Tielemans and James Maddison are waving off a half-empty stadium as we seal 14th place on the final day.
Imagine how different it would all be if their last act as Leicester players is to take us to another cup final. A group of players - virtually the same players - taking a team that had never won the cup to two finals in three years would be an astonishing achievement, and do greater justice to how good they were at their best.
On top of all that, our last cup run was during Covid, when there were no fans before the semi-final and a skeleton crowd in both games at Wembley. It was great, but winning it in front of people would be better.
Two games from Wembley. One against a Championship team. Let’s go do this thing.
James Knight
