We were pretty much at full strength for the game vs Gent (Lloris, Walker, Alderweireld, Dier, Davies, Wanyama, Dembele, Winks, Sissoko, Dele, Kane + Eriksen & Son came off the bench) and only ended up not flipping it on its head in the return leg due to Dele getting himself sent off very early on. 4 semi finals & a cup final in 5 seasons is very good and reasonable for a team with the 6th biggest revenue streams in the country regardless of who we've lost to in the other competitions that year. There is no god given right to win matches, we have to respect that there's 11 other players on that pitch fighting as well it's never a given.
Look at the other big 6 teams and their teams used for early round FA Cup & League Cup games and don't be surprised when you see names like Willock & Smith-Rowe, Nketiah & Jenkinson turn out for Woolwich, Camacho, Moreno & Jones turn out for Liverpool, Ampadu & Lofuts-Cheek turn out for Chelsea & Muric, Garcia & Adariboyo among others turn out for Man City.
We treat the cups with the level of respect our squad is able to. Stop complaining that we treat the cups any different when we are trying to be competitive on 4 fronts throughout a season, especially this season when the majority of our big players have literally had about 4 days of pre season training to their name.
The priority for competitions is the Premier League, the Champions League, the FA Cup & thennthe League Cup. The only time those priorities change is if we get injuries at certain times, get a good draw, hit a bad bit of form elsewhere etc.
You still haven't answered my question by the way. 5th and the FA Cup or securing top 4?