The cup that cheers.. E.F.L Away to Wrexham Tues Feb 11th 7-30.

[boltonboris]

I would absolutely trade this one in for a win at Shrewsbury on Saturday

[Bertie Wooster]

I would absolutely trade this one in for a win at Shrewsbury on Saturday

This 100%, I'd actually trade it for a draw !

[BWFC_Insane]

Just win both. Simple.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Just win both. Simple.

That's my boy.

[GhostoftheBok]

This game is more important than the competition it happens to be in. Most people live their lives based on the narrative they build in their heads. Players are no different.

If we win, or at least pay well, then it's part of a positive story in which we've won 4 of our last 5 and shown resilience.

If we lose, or play very badly, then we've lost 2 of the last 3 and struggled against one of the worst sides in the league at home in the one we did win.

March and April look tough on paper and we need the players to look forward t the challenge, not shrink from it.

Schumacher is in a bind with the limited time he's been here and selection issues, so it's not a reflection on him if we do lose; but he only has a couple of weeks to get the squad set up for the run in.

[boltonboris]

This game is more important than the competition it happens to be in. Most people live their lives based on the narrative they build in their heads. Players are no different.

If we win, or at least pay well, then it's part of a positive story in which we've won 4 of our last 5 and shown resilience.

If we lose, or play very badly, then we've lost 2 of the last 3 and struggled against one of the worst sides in the league at home in the one we did win.

March and April look tough on paper and we need the players to look forward t the challenge, not shrink from it.

Schumacher is in a bind with the limited time he's been here and selection issues, so it's not a reflection on him if we do lose; but he only has a couple of weeks to get the squad set up for the run in.

How would you approach playing against Wrexham Ghost? They're a tough team to play against. Deep lying, they'll use height and physicality over us, but if we want to keep the ball from them and be patient, they'll happily sit in their shape and stop us in their 3rd

Personally, I'd let them have the ball a fair bit without us being too deep. Our best chances of hurting them should come from turning the ball over and hitting them on the counter

[The_Gun]

Surely JOT doesn’t start. Rest him up for Saturday please, Stevie.

Collins is also supposedly available for tomorrow, but I’d not be in favour of starting him either.

[Bertie Wooster]

Surely he won't risk anyone in this game, I actually can't see the point of taking any risk with any player in this game - he should play as many non 1st teamers as possible.

Best case is a final against Birmingham where they could possibly outnumber us crowd wise 2:1 (as I doubt that we would take 30,000 to this), and would possibly beat us quite comfortably. It's defeatist admittedly but IMO there is nothing attractive about either this game or the competition in general.

[Mar]

Getting a bit tired of the whole business of downplaying this competition. We could do that for every competition and end up saying 'its only a game of football'.

This competition is as good as we make it. Play to win and reap the rewards. Sure it might not have the gravitas of the league, the FA cup or the league cup, but it does have gravitas. Down the years the history of the Sherpa Van Trophy has resonated in the memory and so would this, should we go on to win it.

I'm sure Schumacher has unfinished business after our 4-0 cup final win and I would be delighted for him to win it this time around with Bolton.

Evatt's winning of the competition was perhaps the pinnacle of his Bolton managerial tenure. We're so far off the automatics that we may as well give this as good a go as we can. Keep the winning run going, keep up the effort levels and don't willingly give results away to our play off contenders.

Lets get at them and show them we mean business.

[BWFC_Insane]

Surely he won't risk anyone in this game, I actually can't see the point of taking any risk with any player in this game - he should play as many non 1st teamers as possible.

Best case is a final against Birmingham where they could possibly outnumber us crowd wise 2:1 (as I doubt that we would take 30,000 to this), and would possibly beat us quite comfortably. It's defeatist admittedly but IMO there is nothing attractive about either this game or the competition in general.

Doubt he risks anyone tbh. But from Schumacher’s point of view I guess that promotion is still difficult. Right now we’d be a long shot at best and it could be all over by the end of March looking at the fixtures if things go badly, so he’s probably not that opposed to a Wembley visit in this if it presented itself.

It’s a balance, if we play JOT or Collins tomorrow and either get injured it would I think not be considered a great choice given history for JOT and Collins carrying a knock. But I don’t think he has much scope to rest many others - indeed we know he doesn’t.

[Mar]

Just to make this game more interesting...

If we were to win it, we'd have the chance of beating Peterborough in the semi final to get to Wembley. Imagine the buzz of the crowd if that were to happen. Would be some great scenes.

[Bertie Wooster]

Just to make this game more interesting...

If we were to win it, we'd have the chance of beating Peterborough in the semi final to get to Wembley. Imagine the buzz of the crowd if that were to happen. Would be some great scenes.

I doubt that we would get even 10,000 on for that semi-final.

[Mar]

Just to make this game more interesting...

If we were to win it, we'd have the chance of beating Peterborough in the semi final to get to Wembley. Imagine the buzz of the crowd if that were to happen. Would be some great scenes.

I doubt that we would get even 10,000 on for that semi-final.

Well we're certainly not going to get more supporters going with swathes of negativity. Doesn't matter how many we get, what matters is the end result. Heck, we only had 3007 watching the Bolton 8-1 Man Utd U21's match. I'm sure those paying certainly enjoyed the site of Bolton 8 Man Utd 1 on the scoreboard.

Lets enjoy it for what it is.

We've got a great record in this competition. Last time we lost was 2022 against Hartlepool (that Dixon mistake). Sure we've been knocked out on pens (Blackpool) or lost points on pens (Aston Villa U21s), but we've not lost in normal time. Lets keep that going.

[GhostoftheBok]

So we will go as strong as we can (according to the pre match presser), but youth player will feature at some point.

"As strong as we can" can mean a lot of things, but it's safe to say Schumacher intends to go for this one.

[GhostoftheBok]

How would you approach playing against Wrexham Ghost?

I honestly don't know, mate. I think it's tough to know who will be safe to start and who won't, which massively impacts how you'd approach this one.

I'd expect us to focus on getting in behind their wingbacks and getting early balls into the box.

[BWFC_Insane]

Just to make this game more interesting...

If we were to win it, we'd have the chance of beating Peterborough in the semi final to get to Wembley. Imagine the buzz of the crowd if that were to happen. Would be some great scenes.

I doubt that we would get even 10,000 on for that semi-final.

Well we're certainly not going to get more supporters going with swathes of negativity. Doesn't matter how many we get, what matters is the end result. Heck, we only had 3007 watching the Bolton 8-1 Man Utd U21's match. I'm sure those paying certainly enjoyed the site of Bolton 8 Man Utd 1 on the scoreboard.

Lets enjoy it for what it is.

We've got a great record in this competition. Last time we lost was 2022 against Hartlepool (that Dixon mistake). Sure we've been knocked out on pens (Blackpool) or lost points on pens (Aston Villa U21s), but we've not lost in normal time. Lets keep that going.

They are more or less glorified reserve games. Let’s keep it in perspective. Nobody gives a damn about beating sone Man Utd kids and not should they. Those teams have no place in this competition anyway, they make a mockery of it.

[Mar]

Just to make this game more interesting...

If we were to win it, we'd have the chance of beating Peterborough in the semi final to get to Wembley. Imagine the buzz of the crowd if that were to happen. Would be some great scenes.

I doubt that we would get even 10,000 on for that semi-final.

Well we're certainly not going to get more supporters going with swathes of negativity. Doesn't matter how many we get, what matters is the end result. Heck, we only had 3007 watching the Bolton 8-1 Man Utd U21's match. I'm sure those paying certainly enjoyed the site of Bolton 8 Man Utd 1 on the scoreboard.

Lets enjoy it for what it is.

We've got a great record in this competition. Last time we lost was 2022 against Hartlepool (that Dixon mistake). Sure we've been knocked out on pens (Blackpool) or lost points on pens (Aston Villa U21s), but we've not lost in normal time. Lets keep that going.

They are more or less glorified reserve games. Let’s keep it in perspective. Nobody gives a damn about beating sone Man Utd kids and not should they. Those teams have no place in this competition anyway, they make a mockery of it.

Nobody gives a damn about League One games until you end up playing in them. Same goes for this competition. We're in it, lets go to win it. Same goes for B-team. It's the level of interest that will vary massively, but doesn't mean we can't enjoy the journey.

[Dave Sutton's barnet]

Schuey: “We will probably have Aaron Collins available,” he added. “He trained with us today and the injury has settled down. It was a bang on his hip, so he did part of the session this morning, so that's a bonus and a positive for us.”

[knobpolisher]

There are also a number of league one matches going ahead tonight, we could drop to 9th depending on results.

[brommers95]

Was just looking at Schumacher's propensity to play youth team players in this competition during his time at Plymouth to see if any of them might start tonight.

The training video posted yesterday shows several B-Teamers being involved so I'm assuming they're in contention to be in the matchday squad:

During his time in charge at Argyle he certainly put a lot of faith in youth teamers, starting at least three youngsters in the first three rounds of the 22/23 EFL Trophy.

(Age of player art time of game in brackets)

Plymouth Argyle EFL Trophy 22/23 Season

Group Stage Game 1 v Bristol Rovers:
STARTED: Oscar Halls (17), Jack Endacott (17), Will Jenkins-Davies (17)
SUBBED: ON Freddie Issaka (16)

Group Stage Game 2 v Swindon Town:
STARTED: Oscar Halls (17), Jack Endacott (17), Will Jenkins-Davies (17)
SUBBED ON: Freddie Issaka (16)

*Halls and Jenkins-Davies both scored in this game and Endacott and Issaka assisted a goal each as Argyle won 3-1

Group Stage Game 3 v Crystal Palace U21s:
STARTED: Oscar Halls (17), Finley Craske (19), Jack Endacott (18), Will Jenkins-Davies (17), Caleb Roberts (16)

2nd Rd v Charlton:
STARTED: Oscar Halls (18), Brandon Pursall (18), Finley Craske (19), Will Jenkins-Davies (18), Caleb Roberts (17)
SUBBED ON: Jack Endacott (18), Freddie Issaka (16)

3rd Rd v Wimbledon:
STARTED Oscar Halls (18), Brandon Pursall (18), Finley Craske (19), Jack Endacott (18), Caleb Roberts (17)
SUBBED: ON Freddie Issaka (16)

QF V Bristol Rovers:
STARTED: Jack Endacott (18)
SUBBED ON: Oscar Halls (18), Freddie Issaka (16)

SF: No youth players used

F: No youth players used


Clearly he's not reluctant to use the younger players in these games. With only 13 senior outfield players to choose from for tonight (two of those being Collins and Osei-Tutu who probably won't be risked), there's definitely some scope to give minutes to some of the B Team.

LB/LWB in particular is looking a problem area with Schon and Murphy both unavailable. He could go with one of Jones or JDC, but it could also open the door for Inwood to start there.