I think that you are being a little selective in what you are taking from what he's said. As you said earlier, he is probably trying to take the pressure off of the players. I am sure that we would all agree that it takes a lot more to win the league or champions league than it does the domestic cups. That is not to say that a domestic cup wouldn't be nice, it would, but I agree with Poch that it would change little.
What am I being selective in? You are the one who provided that quote, I hadn't even commented on that bit until you had highlighted it. You're making statements that don't seem all that relevant to what is being said. Yes the league and CL are much harder to win (let me make a prediction right now. Unless we're taken over by an oligarch of some kind or another, we're not going to win the CL in the next 10 years). What that has to do with (effectively) claiming
I think (and hope) that he is trying to take pressure off. But the repetitive nature of his comments about the cups, the line-ups he has put out on occasion and our performances in general in the cup competitions makes me not convinced that they're just a front.
One wonders why we don't just withdraw from one or two of these cups every season so we can focus on what are apparently the real prizes, seeing as we've outgrown the domestic cups.
Also it is completely disingenous to compare winning the Copa del ray as an Espanyol player to winning a domestic cup as a Spurs player.
Espanyol are a mid table club with a total of 4 trophies in their history (all CDR). Firstly, as I said, I'm sure you couldn't tell their fans that those 2 victories meant nothing. But yes, obviously winning a domestic trophy at a midtable club with little aspiration is not going to be the same at all as a club, historically reasonably sized, with some very good recent league performances and attempting overall to change the structure of the club to compete at the very top. You can't compare say Wigan's cup win, with a gtroup of players who had nothing to play for in the league other than avoiding relegation, to Spurs, who are attempting (apparently) to win the league. There is an inherent difference in outlook in those two squads and inherent difference in motivations and ambition.
I hope we win the FA cup for so many reasons. Because I love winning trophies as a fan and I think some people seem to have forgotten the joy of that. Because I personally do think it will help push us on and give the players confidence. That actually, when we're under the cosh, we do have the experience and steel to come out on top. That it will add a trophy to the cabinet. That it will (partly) satisfy some of our players, who have made it clear that winning trophies is important for them. That it will stop the media asking what we've won. And hopefully it will stop Poch making these disparaging comments about these trophies when we still haven't won the 2 big ones (or really even come that close).
