According to reports Saints are likely to play their fringe players at Sunderland in the Capital One Cup, the only fringe we should be thinking about is that we are on the fringe of a Wembley final.

The advantage of the Sunderland cup tie being postponed is that we now know where our route lies ahead of us, beat the mackems and its a home tie against Chelsea, beat them and we are in the semi finals and o the fringe of a Wembley final.

I say this every league cup round, but that doesn't mean its not true, when are Saints and indeed every other club outside of the top four going to take this competition seriously.

At the moment much of the Premier League is playing for money not glory, they are more worried about the threat of relegation than they are of actually winning something and having to play more games in Europe and this is what is inherently wrong with today's game.

Chase money and you will never catch it, especially in the Premier League as you can bet your bottom dollar, for every increase the likes of Saints get in revenue, the bigger clubs will get more.

Chase success though and money will come, win the Carling Cup and you make a big statement of intent across Europe, not only is there the extra income derived from your own supporters snapping up merchandise and also attending games, but if we want to sign players of a higher calibre then offering them even Europa League football is a bigger incentive than not, players want glory as well as cash, ask a player if he wants the chance of winning a cup or would he rather sit in mid table then there will only be one answer.

So come on Saints the only "Fringe" we should be talking about after the game at the Stadium of Light is how we are on the fringes of our first major cup final in 35 years.

Photo: Action Images

brady100 added 15:40 - Nov 5 I agree that we must take this game seriously, however our hands are tied really in terms of keeping the squad happy and getting players games. This means that like it or not Kelvin, Corky, Gaston, Davis, Jos, Maya, Fox and Lee etc will all start possibly alongside Osvaldo which I think will be a good opportunity for him to get some game time and hopefully a goal. Sunderland will also make changes and I think we have enough quality to come in, get the win and we can head toward a home game with Chelsea and look at playing a full strength side. Lets also take into account we are fast approaching a very busy Christmas period and injuries to key players would be a disaster with some big games on the horizon. Do you not agree?

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Whatsforpud added 17:13 - Nov 5 We have a squad of players, so that if a first choice player is unavailable for any reason, then another takes his place. You have to give ALL the players some competitive games, or else they won't be properly able to deputise when needed. Perhaps if we get through this round, the perceived first team will be put in. There is glory in cup competitions, but the way recent seasons have gone, I think most Saints fans have a bigger eye on the league.

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SaintNick added 21:26 - Nov 5 Lets be honest about having a bigger eye on the league, our chances of making the top 4 are not good, top 5 a little better, top 6 still slim, top 7 maybe, top 8 probably as high as we could go, if we don't finish 5th then we might as well be 8th, time we started chasing glory that we have a reasonable chance of attaining
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SaintDavo added 10:47 - Nov 6 I agree that it is a good chance to play some of the squad players but I also agree with Nick that we should take this trophy seriously as it is our most realistic chance of silverware which surely is what evry club is aiming for. Yes we want to finish as high as possible in the league, but surely we should give this league cup a real good go, what better way to prove that we are a very good team and if we were to win it people might just take us more seriously. Champons league is probably a step too far for now but we are definitely heading in the right direction. Love the team spirit and the footballe we are playing, long may it continue. One final point about the league cup, if clubs are NOT going to take it seriously why dont we scrap the competition ???

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Whatsforpud added 11:58 - Nov 6 If we keep the competition, perhaps it needs to be made more different from the FA Cup. The main current differences are that it is for league clubs only, and there are no replays. Another idea would be to have a seeding system, and set out the whole draw like Wimbledon tennis. (not sure how you would organise who plays at home though!)This might have the effect of making the FA Cup more special.

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bstokesaint added 12:36 - Nov 6 I agree with Whatsforpud we need to give as many as our players a run-out as possible. Although we should aim for silverware we should be able to do it whilst putting some faith in our fringe and squad players. If Boruc or Fonte/ Lovren get injured we'll need Kelvin or Jos/ Yoshida to fit straight back in. In some games this season I think Cork would have done a better job than Wanyama and he certainly deserves some game time. He changed our season when he came back from injury last season. And as for the strikers why not give Lee a game? He's a different kind of striker to J Rod and SRL and let's be honest none of our strikers have been prolific so far. They've put in decent displays yes, but no-one's been 'on fire'. Personally I'd give Osvaldo a start and tell him he has 45 minutes to show what he's about. As I said before I'm not writing him off, but he needs to start justifying his record signing price tag. Let's be honest, even with a few fringe players in our side we should be able to beat a Sunderland side who'll do well to stay in the Prem.

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halftimeorange added 13:03 - Nov 6 Perhaps this cup competition should be open only to those teams who didn't qualify for Europe during the previous term. If the same Saints team plays as in the last round and performs as poorly we might well get beaten. Even Jack Cork played badly then!
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ItchenNorth added 13:22 - Nov 6 We all bang on about playing to much football, so imo this completion should be for the Football League clubs only and not for the Premiership. After all, teams near the bottom of the Premiership would rather resource first choice players to the most important competition; their league campaign. Those near the mid table will aslo be mindful of their position and some of these clubs will already be playing in the Europa League. Nearly 1/3 of the Premiership clubs play in Europe anyway. The FA Cup would take on greater significance in the eyes of fans and clubs (something most have moaned about in recent years) and the England team might (lol) benefit from having a squad of players not washed up by playing 50+ club games per season.

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surreysaint added 13:50 - Nov 6 "...our first major cup final in 35 years." Whhaaaa? Did i dream 2003? If i did it was a fantastic dream. Which is me saying i agree with everything you say bar that bit! ;)
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