I have left writing the verdict on the Capital One Cup Tie at Sunderland as long as possible as to be honest Im seething at how we have thrown away our best chance of glory this season.

I still cannot work out why putting out an effective reserve was a case of over confidence or arrogance, the answer is probably a combination of both, having seen the goals conceded on television whilst I can concur that we needed to give certain players a run out, what this game told us that if Boruc or Lovren get injured then we are going to be stuffed.

But it wasn't just that the experienced player on the fringes that were found wanting, we didn't bolster them with enough true first team teamers to enable them to get not only their confidence up but get them used to playing in a winning team, if players are injured we want their replacements to be able to slot in with a winning mentality, giving them a run out in a game where they have been beaten by just about the worst side in the Premier ship is helping no one.

But the most annoying thing is that we have thrown away a chance of glory, people go on about concentrating on the league etc, but just where will this league campaign lead us ? at best 6th and that could be worth no more than if we finished 10th or 12th in terms of establishing ourselves as the genuine Champions League contenders that we want to be, I have said many times, if we want to be a top club then we need to get the winning mentality of a top club and that means showing that we mean business in winning trophies rather than chasing the money of the Premier league.

What we have shown last night is that we are no better than those teams who are too scared about relegation to risk a shot at the League Cup, those teams are destined to be also rans in the Premier league until the day they finally slip into relegation, put bluntly we missed a chance to make ourselves stand out from those clubs below us.

Some will point out that the top clubs play their reserve sides in this competition, that's true, but that's because their reserve sides can beat most other sides in it and at the end of the day they still end up winning it or getting close, all we proved was that our squad is sadly lacking in depth

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brady100 added 16:40 - Nov 7 Agree, but there was no chance that we will ever take this cup seriously and we must just learn to get on with it and blood our younger players. The reaction of Poch at the final whistle said it all, laughs and smiles! No consolation to those fans who made the trip up north. Lets move on and focus on the league and FA cup.
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Scummer added 17:00 - Nov 7 It is great that the youngsters are getting the experience and showing the coaching staff what they can do. It also highlights the capabilities of some of the more long-standing playing staff. I'm not sure that I agree with your statement that chasing trophies is the way to establish Saints as Champions League contenders. I think that they know full well how they plan to get there and I don't think that becoming League Cup winners is necessarily a step in that plan. Swansea seem to be a shadow of last year's team and they aren't exactly threatening the top four places.

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ItchenNorth added 17:09 - Nov 7 Nick the game has changed so there’s no point banging on about ‘not taking the cup seriously’. Right or wrong, like it or not the league is number one priority for managers and clubs these days !
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thegeneral added 17:22 - Nov 7 I was pretty annoyed when i saw the line up, but after watching 20 mins of the second half on a dodgy stream, i turned off not caring wether we one or lost. We handed it to Sunderland on a plate without one thought to the fans so fook em. I feel really sorry for the guys that travelled up there and they should be refunded for an abysmal display by a very second almost third string team, KD, Hooiveld, Ramirez, Fox, Lee only reiterated why they aint good enough for the premiership.

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CaptSensible added 18:09 - Nov 7 Don't you think that the fans who travelled up there knew that we would most likely play a B team. Agree about Boruc and Lovren then again that's probably why he left them out so there's less chance of being injured for the big games coming up. It makes me shudder thinking of starting a game against Chelsea with Kelvin and Hooiveld.
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densham41 added 18:28 - Nov 7 Totally agree with you Nick. I was gutted at the final whistle. This was a trip to wembley and possible trip to Europe gone down the drain.
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schatfield added 19:28 - Nov 7 100% agree if boruc or lovren ever get injured, we are seriously stuffed. Kelvin Davies was awful, really bad. Hooveild and Yoshida not much better. Why play kids with these awful pros? so bad...no confidence. and not surprised we lost this game.
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ericofarabia added 20:02 - Nov 7 Over the last few years our attitude towards Cup Games has been shameful. Making wholesale changes doesn't help the players coming in at all, and invariably they fail to show what they have to offer (if anything at all!!). Unfair to judge them unless they have a few good solid 1st XI starters in the team to hold the shape whilst blooding youngsters or bit players. A healthy chunk of revenue has been frittered away - a TV game and good crowd was up for grabs, but maybe a pitiful loss to Sunderland was seen to be better than a tonking at SMS v Chelsea?

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slynch added 20:22 - Nov 7 Pochettino is a tactical genius. He has near enough publically said that he doesn't wanna be in this cup and he put out the right team to do it. Yea. You're right, but if Shaw gets injured they're gonna get stuffed.
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felly1 added 20:28 - Nov 7 Totally disagree with you and most of the other posters on here. There is always a point in every season whatever club you support in whatever era where your teams form dips and one of the first things people will say is..the players are tired and need a break ,we play too much football etc etc . Yes it was not a great performance and it's a long old trip for the fans but you would have to be pretty naive if you thought we would had played most of the first team . Also how gutted would we be feeling now if Lovren, Boruc or Wayama suffered an injury and were ruled out for 6 games ,what would you be saying then?

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ExiledSupporter added 22:59 - Nov 7 What I saw was a side set up in the Pochettino mould/style but largely lacking energy and imagination and consequently a very pedestrian performance. No surprises about the performance of KD and JH (below the standard we have now come to expect) or Cork ( who remains a serious contender for the first team, not least because of his adaptability). But my real concern is the continuing mediocre performances of Ramirez who seems unlikely now to fulfill the expectations placed on his shoulders only 15mths or so ago. This is one of the key roles that is retarding the development of the first team's effectiveness in attack...and looks to have been a considerable waste of money. We need a high quality play maker as soon as possible and a replacement for Puncheon before we can expect to have a fully functioning attack.

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Jesus_02 added 10:04 - Nov 8 I was surprised with 10 changes. I completely understand the requirement for fringe players to get a competitive run out but is our squad that thin that we can only “risk” J-Rod? However having gone through the line up should we really have risked Shaw, Clyne, Morgan, Wanyama or Lambert against a physical team that are already in a relegation dog fight....my only change would have be the inclusion of Boruc…Davis (club captain or no) has had his day I’m afraid, and his inclusion can only be sentimental, (otherwise Gazzanigga would have started.

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davidhosey added 10:35 - Nov 8 Dont agree at all Nick. What if we had put out our first team and lost (like at Norwich) and Lovren or Spider or Lallana had been injured. Then we had lost to Hull ? I would really have been annoyed then. I dont care about the league cup. I care about the league and I care about us bringing on quality youth players. We have done this by trusting them in first class matches. So we lost..so what? I really care about what happens on saturday!!

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stmichael added 11:18 - Nov 9 First of all Nick the error Boruc made on Saturday was far worse than anything KD did at Sunderland. So try and be balanced , you actually went to print and said you did not blame AB for Stokes goal which is remarkable. Obviously AB is our number 1 keeper but if he gets injured and he will at some point our stand in has to have some game time. We made a policy that we would play our fringe players for the league cup. We played 3 games and did this in every game. We were consistent in this approach and did not mislead anybody. Many other teams do the same. In those 3 games we were able to give debuts to many young players and give senior players who need to play minutes on the pitch. I still think that the players on the pitch should have beaten Sunderland. Cork Rodriguez and Ramirez should have taken that game by the scruff of the neck but they were not good enough to do so. I would lay the blame at the players on the pitch who should have been able to win that game.

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montecristo added 13:52 - Nov 9 I think this gaame should be remembered for it having given debuts to Harrison Reed and to Sam Gallagher neither of whom played badly. And I am not ready to concede the Premiershipp title to any team just for the moment either. There is absolutely no reason why we coul not win it especially with one or two key additions in January.Man U and Liver pool do not have some god given right to win the league year after year nor do Arsenal. Our time is coming. And maybe sooner than you think

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