Skysports reports that Roberto Mancini says "Saturday is more important, the FA Cup is more important. The Europa League is more important."
With injuries to our rear-guard only just starting to ease, can Mancini be forgiven for fielding a very young squad with only four first team players ala Shay Given, Adam Johnson, Patrick Vieira and Jo Alves on-field.
The others were our next crop of academy graduates from our reserve team, yes they are very talented products of our academy but to throw them all in the thick of it at once was maybe a step to far.
Chelsea and Liverpool were also knocked out of the Carling Cup, Liverpool are no surprise with being they have to prioritise the Premier League and Europe if they have any chance of rescuing their disappointing start.
Chelsea on the other hand I find extremely bewildering as they have no good reason to get knocked out with the squad they have, is this a smoke screen to try throw Manchester City when we meet Chelsea next?
Not wanting to take any credit away from Newcastle but something was not quite right at Stamford Bridge.
Lets say if we loose against Chelsea in the League in a few days then what, will it have all been for nothing?
I understand Mancini resting our players for Europe but is the Chelsea game that important ?, will sacrificing the chance to win the Carling Cup be looked back upon as a failure for Mancini if we loose to Chelsea or do not bring home a Cup this season ?
While I am not that concerned about going out of the Carling Cup so soon, what I am concerned about is Mancini fielding such a selection in the near future.
I am all for the younger ones getting their chances but fielding a whole squad of fledglings is not the way to go.
Positive side of it is that it will lesson the amount of games our squad needs to play this season which is good if we are to go far in Europe, maybe this will be a blessing in disguise and we will be rewarded.
Lets just hope this don't come round to bite us in the backside and lets also hope Mario Balotelli comes back asap and running on all cylinders as we are going to need him.
Heres to hoping our lads can turn Chelsea over after a night off, good luck lads, especially with the amount of injured defenders we have right now.
