Five Crucial Home Games, all six pointers

[SaintRam]

Paul Clement has already made it clear that the Cups are important to him. For me, reduce the games to 48 and go all out for promotion. it would not bother me if we put the U21s out against Portsmouth.

You're welcome to your opinion, but thank christ you're not a head coach/manager

[Rampage]

I saw Wigan ruin their promotion chances with long Cup runs a couple of years ago and I believe that it was a factor last year for us. The purpose of a forum is to allow people to have their say. My view about the Cups is partly formed by the last two seasons.You cannot get injured in a game that you are not playing in. Kenny Daglesh once said that he was completely fit on an average of four games a season. Top players play a lot of games when not 100%. This can lead to aggravated injuries and longer absences. This is the season for Derby to get into the top two and they should due whatever it takes to get there.

[ilkleyram]

But, Rampage:

1) football is also about the fans.  And this fan likes the cups, likes us doing well in them and also thinks that they offer an opportunity to win trophies and get into Europe, Championship or not

2) Dalglish played in an era when pitches, sport medicine in clubs and size of/squads or rotation weren't at the level they are now

3) our squad currently has two good teams - that may change over the next few weeks of course.  Plenty of room to put out strong teams but not play everyone every game

4) winning is a good habit for a club. And winning cup games can have a very positive effect on performance in the league, and rarely has the opposite effect.  Lose a cup game and you move on and concentrate on the league.