I always bang on about taking the FA Cup and indeed the league Cup more seriously, but this time there is another reason why we should be looking to put out a full side in this competition.

The FA Cup has been devalued in recent years with Premier sides putting out reserve sides in the competition, to me this is very strange, with only a handful of teams standing any chance of even qualifying for the Champions League let alone winning the Premier League, the FA Cup and indeed the League Cup represent the only chance for most clubs to actually taste a bit of glory.

I read somewhere that Mauricio Pochettino did not see the FA Cup as a priority, well what is our priority then ? do we want to be a football club trying to win things or are we merely a cash cow, for club like Saints at the moment 8th place is perhaps the height of our hopes, 7th a dream and after that we have little hope, there are clubs out there with much more resources who will clean up the top six as happens every season.

Yes Saints can build towards that dream of qualifying for the Champions league, but that building will be slow unless the Liebherr's decide to throw in the type of money that Man City and Chelsea have had thrown at them, interesting to note that the two biggest spending clubs have only a title apiece between them in the last seven seasons.

So are we a football club challenging for honours and European qualification even if it is only the Europa League or are we merely chasing the extra money from finishing a few places higher than 14th every season, perhaps instead of a star on jersey's to signify honours won, some club's will have a £ sign to indicate how much money they have won in a season.

But for the Burnley game Saints have a more importnat reason as to why they should put out a strong side, that is to try and get back to winning ways, in the final stages of the New Years Day defeat against Chelsea we looked shell shocked, a nine game run with only 1 win and 6 defeats has knocked the confidence out of us, we have got out of winning ways and we have got into bad habits and the Burnley game gives us an opportunity to start to rebuild all of those traits and get the side back in shape.

On such a run as we have been on, there is no point in worrying about getting players injured in the FA Cup, it could be said that those that will come in would do no worse anyway, so the Burnley game is a great opportunity to get the team back on course and actually used to winning games again, earlier in the season we expected to win and that shone through, now the opposite is true.

This is not to demean Burnley who themselves are a fine side and looking for a return to the Premier League, this wont be an easy game, however if we still want to be in the Premier to welcome them if they achieve their aim, then we need to get back to winning ways and good habits soon.

Photo: Action Images

Sango123 added 09:47 - Jan 3 Agreed. We must take this opportunity to get some goals, get a clean sheet and most importantly get our form and confidence back. We should put out a strong team as we will be back to playing just 1 game per week. We need to get back our form and confidence if we hope to climb higher in the league.
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slynch added 10:42 - Jan 3 In the last game many of the players looked tired, jaded and injured. I don't think this is the game to make them go again. Besides, Saints have an academy par excellence and players need to be brought on in a professional competitive, environment where failure is not the end of the world. I think a blend of first team players that need the fitness test and younger players that need the experience and opportunity to showcase their talents.

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SaintNick added 10:56 - Jan 3 I would agree that they looked jaded, but that is down to getting beaten so often lately, if they can beat Burnley and beat them well see how quickly the bounce is back in their step.
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Bulgarian added 10:59 - Jan 3 Agree with Nick, Sango and Slynch. Particularly liked the star and £ metaphor, cheers! IMO the problem is that for tomorrow we don't have a strong side - players looked awful against Chelsea, because they were exhausted - simple as that. I don't think Poch will risk Lallana, SRL, Shaw and the midfield. I am sure we will see Clyne, Maya, Kelvin, JWP starting. Possibly Osvaldo and Gaston as well (at last there's an opportunity to see them both on the pitch). To summarise - it's interesting, because Poch is in no man's land: he desperately needs to win, but he has to choose between the fringe and the tired. Not a nice perspective, so whatever happens - happy I will be if we snatch the win. BTW yesterday I finally started a Bulgarian Saints page ( http://bulgariansaints.wordpress.com/): for all fans who like SFC but somehow want to read the news and gossip in Bulgarian. I made a short review of TUI as the best Saints fan site worldwide. Even to my surprise, the BG Saints are not such a small group, hopefully they will increase as Poch contitues to say that "sky is the limit". Dreaming, COYR

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slynch added 11:03 - Jan 3 StNick: I will bow to your superior knowledge of psychology! But if you are right but the jaded players are still Jaded and lose to Burnley will they become suicidal?
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SaintNick added 11:05 - Jan 3 Nice one Bulgarian, what part of Bulgaria are you in, I was in Sofia back in October, very nice place it was too, who is your team over there
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SaintNick added 11:21 - Jan 3 slynch, you are right it could backfire, I do think we have to get the balance right, a spine of first team players along with youngsters
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Bulgarian added 11:36 - Jan 3 StNick: I am from the Danube city of Ruse, lived in Sofia for 16 years, now living in Poland. Bulgarian football merely exists, because of off-field non-sporting factors, it is mostly seen as a political means of distracting crowds or as a huge money laundry machine. This is why people with real interest in football choose the English game - it's not just the gold and glitter of the Prem, rather the deep fondness of the way football is an integral part of the nation's identity. My only club is Saints.

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saintjeff52 added 11:40 - Jan 3 In the words of that odious man 'Fergie' " The team needs freshening up" Play the players from the 25 man squad who are not in the first team regularly, and REST the First Team. Next two League games are Must Win, and both are winnable. Incidentally, Crowd tomorrow will be around 20,000 I reckon, what with the cost, and shite weather. Roll on next week.
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SaintNick added 11:50 - Jan 3 Bulgarian - That seemed to be my take on it, I came across CSKA Sofia's ground whilst wandering around a park and it was very run down
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ItchenNorth added 13:04 - Jan 3 Jesus Perez is already tasked with talking to the media about this game; so expect a 2nd team / squad selection for this game people ! We should have plenty in our squad to beat Burnley, so I'd be resting three or four personally.
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slynch added 13:25 - Jan 3 It should be an interesting game. The Saints' Official Site has it listed as The FA Cup with Budweiser!!
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Bulgarian added 13:28 - Jan 3 StNick: :) you've been 300 meters away from my Sofia home. CSKA and Levski are Bulgaria's football "giants", nowadays totally held in ransom by obscure owners. Some recent BG football colourful facts: - the first half of last season "giants" CSKA played their home games at 2 other grounds (not that they are building а new staduim); - the owner of archrivals Levski demolished half of their stadium in order to rebuild it - last month the construction stopped, so now they will play at a literally half-stadium for the time being; - recent superheroes Ludogoretz (complete minnows 2 years ago) won 2 titles in a row and won their Europa League game against PSV Eindhoven in Sofia at the National Stadium in front of ... less than 5000 fans; - on June 29th protesting fans of CSKA smashed the headquarters of the Bulgarian FA, a vandalism without any major consequences until now: photos: http://www.mediapool.bg/privarzhenitsi-na-tsska-izpotroshiha-tsentralata-na-bfs- - 2 years ago Berbatov stated that if Bulgarians want to see football going in the right direction, they should make him head of their FA - an active pro already with an eye on politics. So, a mixture of astonishing stupidity, banal incompetence, greed and above all - total lack of justice. And still, Bulgaria is a lovely country with lots of calm, peace and modest inhabitants. Non-agressive English fans are very welcome in every cafe and pub as they maintain their semi-god status since the early 90-ties.

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davepid added 13:37 - Jan 3 We can all relax. JRod has just told BBC sport that we will qualify soon for the champions league. And there was silly us beginning to fret about performances on the pitch.
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SaintNick added 15:57 - Jan 3 Bulgarian - I might have walked past it, I was pleasantly surprised at how nice Sofia was, on the Saturday evening we went to a big restaurant in the park about 250 metres from the CSKA stadium whcch had plenty of Bulgarian food and dancing, I would recomend anyone to go there
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Bulgarian added 16:14 - Jan 3 Nick, I guess you were at the Old Houses, with some folk style dishes and programme. I appreciate you liked the experience. Any Saints fan needing advice on what to see in Bulgaria / Poland is welcome to write to me (tangalog@abv.bg). 2 years ago I met a group of 7-8 fans with families at the Black Sea - it was very pleasing to spot each other by the shirt/shorts. And a last Bulgarian curiosity: Saints trainee (2001-2002) Brian Howard, who last season played 23 games for Pompey, spent the recent half season at CSKA Sofia: 13 matches, no goals and 4 Ycards. Well, SFC is already so powerful that our outcasts (or even PFC's) are gladly signed by the Balkan giants.

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SaintDownUnder added 02:05 - Jan 4 Rest the players that need it. We need a bigger better squad so this is an opportunity to assess those on the fringe in a competitive game. If our fringe squad isn't good enough to beat Burnley how can they be expected to come on and influence a game against the likes of Chelsea, City, Everton, Arsenal etc etc......
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saintjeff52 added 16:44 - Jan 4 Oh well 5,000 less than I predicted. Sounds a good game at 4-2 though. Hope SRL injury is not serious. Need him in next two League games
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