The circumstances are different though. Our team is very settled at the moment, they've had a tough spell of fixtures and many of the players look utterly exhausted. We are also more reliant on a handful of key players this time round.
As a general principle, when it is right to make changes, I advocate wholesale change as opposed to two or three. That was the mistake we made last year against Huddersfield. We didn't change the team enough and it upset those left out and those left in. All of a sudden, nobody knew who was first choice and who wasn't and everything got messy. If you make it clear that you're just changing the team around because you need to rest players, everyone knows where they stand. Those coming in can nudge themselves closer to the side, those out know why and that it's temporary.
The changes against Millwall were about spot on. NP inferred that he's less committed to the Cup than the league so to expect anything other than wholesale change is odd. I expect Stoke to make major changes too. Sadly, the FA Cup isn't what it once was. Unless the FA dramatically decide to increase the reward for winning it in terms of a Champions League place or huge financial rewards, it will inexorably deteriorate as a competition. See Paul Lambert's quote yesterday as an example. Truth told, tomorrow's game is nothing more than an inconvenience for us and most other sides with something much more serious to play for.
****tash.
