The following article was written by James Murphy of Football Fancast. Make sure to check out the latest news, blogs and podcasts at FFC – ed.
The Carling Cup has lost a certain amount of glitz and glam in recent times, not that it had too much glitz and glam in the first place. News north of the border surrounds ways in which to rejuvenate their current set up, and it got me thinking about the current format of the Carling Cup.
Does anyone really hold the cup competition in high esteem any more? Arsene Wenger in the past has shown little respect to the competition as year after year he has fielded lesser teams against the opposition. However, this season with the club desperate for silverware the Arsenal boss has taken the competition a little more seriously.
With uncertainty surrounding the Carling Cup I was thinking a great way for it to gain back some of its creditability and respectability would be to open it up to teams from Scotland, after all you do have Welsh teams competing year after year.
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With the inclusion of Celtic, Rangers and co would the competition evoke more interest from the fans? I personally think it would. I think something like this is more likely than to occur than Celtic and Rangers joining the Premier League.
If the competition was opened up to teams from other countries, namely Scotland, revenue within the cup would increase, thus suiting all involved, including clubs and sponsors. I feel that the inclusion of teams form north of the border would be a better idea than the others that have been brought up.
So what do you lot think, would the inclusion of teams from Scotland enhance the competition and put it back on the right track? If you’re not a fan of that idea why not mention ways in which you think the competition could be made more credible.
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Nay Jocks.
That idea is a good one. How many others agree?
The league cup is a rubbish competition, it should be scrapped as it is no better than training sessions.
Rubbish? Don’t speak about your own mother like that.
The reason why we haven’t won a trophy since 2006 is because we don’t take the League Cup and FA Cup seriously. We always field a weakened side in these cup games and look what happens, we lose to the likes of Barnsley, Reading and Northampton. I personally think we should put a greater emphasis on these cup games since it’s a trophy after all. There’s no harm in playing 2 or 3 of your big guns in these games. If we had played a stronger team in these matches, maybe we would have won either the League Cup of FA Cup from 2007 onwards. And if we had won the League Cup this year, we can get a Europa League place incase we don’t finish in the top seven.
From 2006 onwards, we’ve always come close to winning a trophy but are any of those the League Cup or FA Cup? We got to the Champions League final in 2007, got to the Champions League semi-finals in 2008, second in the League in 2009 and got to the Europa League semi-finals in 2010 but we’ve never even come close to winning the domestic cups.
Maybe winning either the League Cup or FA Cup will end our 4 year trophy drought but since we’ve been knocked out by NORTHAMPTON at home and we’ll probably get humiliated at Old Trafford in the FA Cup under the clown Hodgson, our only hope of winning silverware this season is in the Europa League.
“The reason why we haven’t won a trophy since 2006 is because we don’t take the League Cup and FA Cup seriously. We always field a weakened side in these cup games and look what happens, we lose to the likes of Barnsley, Reading”
What?!
Team vs. Barnsley: Itandje, Finnan, Carra, Hyypia, Riise, Benayoun, Lucas, Alonso, Babel, Kuyt, Crouch.
Team vs. Reading: Cavalieri, Degen, Carra, Agger, Insua, Benayoun, Lucas, Aquilani, Gerrard, Kuyt, Torres.
These are teams strong enough to win against Championship sides.
That’s even worse! We field such a strong team and still manage to lose to teams like Barnsley and Reading AT HOME!! Maybe if the manager and the players actually took the game seriously then we would have won!
In response to Eric winning the league cup or FA Cup is meaningless. Houllier won the 2 cups and Benitez won the FA Cup and we still did not push on and win the Premier League. Going for these 2 cups only gives the players and manager an excuse to do even less in the Premier League.
The League Cup and FA Cup aren’t the big trophies but they are still considered silverware. Fans have been moaning about our trophy drought since 2006 and I personally feel it’d be nice if we could win a trophy this season even if it’s the FA Cup. And I wouldn’t actually say it’s meaningless since the winners do get prize money and a place in the Europa League(this may be important since we might not get top seven this season under fat Roy). Also, even if some people think it’s meaningless, I still don’t want my team to get knocked out by some team three divisions below us at Anfield.
we have a fan here in Kenny, who couldn’t give a s*** if the team win or loses. you don’t even care if we lose to northampton at home because you think the cup is meaningless. liverpool is a club aiming to win every trophy so i guess this isn’t the club for you. perhaps you would be better supporting bolton or fulham?
I like it!
Eric, you would be better off supporting the likes of Aston Villa with that view of yours. The Europa League is also a tinpot competition. Bob Paisley used to always say that the only two competitions that mattered were the league and the European Cup and I think his opinion would carry some weight.
I guess you enjoyed being dumped out of the Europa League last season by Athletico Madrid and Northampton in the League Cup this season. And I guess you wouldn’t mind us getting thrashed at Old Trafford in the FA Cup as well. You have a chance to win silverware, albeit a domestic cup, but you couldn’t care less about the team being eliminated by a League Two team, that’s how true a Red you are. The Europa League is pretty much the only realistic cup we can win this season but if you think it’s a ‘tinpot competition’ then stay at home and sleep while other fans are watching us play against Sparta Prague and Manutd in the FA Cup. Oh yeah and please don’t start moaning if we don’t win any silverware this season since you think those cups are meaningless.
Eric, it is because of so-called fans like you that the club has not one the league since 1990, the Premier League is crap this season but yet you would be happy to finish seventh and win one of the three micky mouse cups, very ambitious attitude from you, your real name wouldn’t happen to be Roy Hodgson by any chance?
So it is because of so-called fans like me who actually cares about Liverpool FC winning silverware, that the club has not won the league since 1990…right…that makes sense. Never once did I say I would be happy to finish seventh but because we have this clown managing the team, I’m afraid we’re more likely to finish seventh than fourth. That’s why winning one of the cups may be important this year cause if we don’t finish in the top seven, we won’t even get the Europa League next season! How can you call yourself a Red if you couldn’t care one bit about the team winning or losing in the cup games?!
Fans moan about our trophy drought year after year but yet, they couldn’t care less about the team losing in the domestic cup games.
Get Rid of it, the Italian and Spanish only have 1 league cup competition why do we have to be different. Ok the F.A. cup is the oldest competition so we can keep that but who cares about the Worthless cup (Worthington Cup) now (Careless cup) Carling. It would mean less games for our top players, especially if the FA aren’t going to bring in a winter break.
I think a good idea would be to have all the teams that have qualified for Europe aka Champions league and Europa to give it a miss and only have the rest. This will mean some minnow or those Premier League clubs who are mid-table or relagation battlers can dream to win a cup and have a more realistic of winning it, this will make it more interesting, besides the top clubs usually the top 4 don’t play their strongest teams anyway.
However don’t see this happening because of money all those top 6 sides will want to be in it, and the fans and neutrals come to see them big teams play.
oh and the sponsors would have something to say about it, theyd probably pull out because the top 6 teams arn’t playing.
Scotland need to stick to what whey have,just as England should!!! The next thing from you will be combining them again in the premiership. ENGLAND DON’T NEED THEM !!! People like you need to start thinking about all other English clubs that would suffer though allowing Scottish teams in! Let go and join Norway or Sweden!
Let ‘them’ go and join Norway or Sweden!!!
To KENNY the fan who couldn’t give a s**t & to ZAHID the Clueless!!!
A question for you 2 clowns. HOW DID WE ( LIVERPOOL FC ) BECOME THE 20th CENTURIES MOST SUCCESSFUL TEAM??? We won more silverware in England & in Europe than any other team. To Kenny who quoted Paisley,” only 2 comp’s matter the league & the European Cup”, I say BOLLOCKS you should’ve read on, but that’s right “you don’t give a s**t”.Is that why Paisley went on to win this GREAT CLUB: 1 UEFA ( EUROPA ) CUP ( tinpot comp as Kenny would put it or the give it a miss cup as Zahid would put it ) 3 LEAGUE CUPS (as Kenny would put it the MICKEY MOUSE CUP or as Zahid would put it, the couldn’t CARELESS CUP) & 5 COMMUNITY SHIELDS, HE ALSO WON THE LEAGUE 6 TIMES & EUROPEAN CUP 3 TIMES. That’s a heck of a lot of Silverware in the corridors of ANFIELD & to think these 2 clowns would think, say & write that half of them are WORTHLESS!!! I hope SANTA brings you both magnifying glasses and some LAXATIVES so at least you’ll see 1st hand the s**t that you’re producing.
spot on
in response to Julie, you obviously have a total inferiority complex in relation to Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City and Tottenham. Did Evans, Houllier or Benitez push on and win the Premier League after winning the mickymouse cups, no they didn’t.
Does that mean the domestic cups and Uefa/Europa cup are meaningless? Just because none of the above managers were able to win the Premier League doesn’t mean the cups they won are meaningless.
Julie, you forgot to include the tinpot European Super Cup as well.
In response to Eric and Julie (husband and wife actually) the club is so lucky to have fans like you two, Man Utd will be gifted the title this season because Liverpool set their sights so low by concentrating on TINPOT MICKEY MOUSE COMPETITIONS like the europa league, competitions like the League Cup, FA Cup and the Europa League give the primadonna Liverpool players an excuse to do even less in the Premier League. Julie you forgot to mention in your very common foulmouthed rant that in each of the seasons that Paisley won the League Cup he also won either the European Cup or the League title. Substandard managers like Evans, Houllier and Benitez tried to cover up for their inability to win the Premier League by targeting the MEANINGLESS cup competitions.
I don’t think you understand what I said, Kenny. When did I ever say Liverpool should be “concentrating” on the cup competitions. All I said was that we should take the cup competitions more seriously. And perhaps you should write an article on your opinion, that Liverpool should concentrate on the league and forget about the cups. Send that to Hodgson and the board, let’s see what they think about it, shall we?
Eric, playing Julie’s favourite Torres against Reading last season in the FA Cup resulted in him getting injured and missing crucial Premiership games in the second half of the season and where did Liverpool finish because of that stupidity outside the top four of course. The mickymouse cups cause unnecessary fixture congestion in the second half of the season and give primadonna players the excuse that they are tired when they screw up in the Premier League. Less mickymouse games and the coaching staff might actually be able to accomplish something in training. Look at the old players in the squad Carragher, Gerrard, Maxi, Kuyt, Kygriakos among others, these guys do not have the legs to playing in mickymouse competitions as well as in the Premier League. The mickymouse cups should be used to play entire teams of the young players like Amoo, Suso, Ngoo, Wisdom, Robinson, Silva, Coady, Flanagan. These players are the future of the club and they are learning nothing playing reserve team football, they will not progress until they are given first team action but you and other fans think that it is better to have these young players stifled. Do you or Julie honestly think that Bob Paisley would have called a season where Liverpool won only the League Cup a successful season? Paisley only looked to win the League Cup as a physchological ploy to teams like Man Utd that Liverpool were too powerful to contend with in that era where they would also win the League usually leaving Utd in 2nd or 3rd place, but the argument these days that winning the League Cup would be good for the club to help it to progress is incorrect, it did not happen under Evans, Houllier or Benitez. 38 Premier League games a season should be targeted. Even allowing for the 10 games against the big 5 teams that you and Julie seem to be so scared of 84 points is available from the other 28 games against teams that have smaller wage bills than Liverpool. 86 points won the title last season, this season I would predict 79 points would be sufficient. The standard of the Premier League is getting poorer but yet fans like you and Julie think that the club’s energies should be targeting the mickymouse cups-very strange and defeatist attitude.
We’re not in the Champions League and we’re way behind in the Premier League so our only realistic hopes of winning silverware this season lies among the “mickymouse cups” as you call them. With Hodgson as manager, we won’t be anywhere near the top four so you might as well take the cups more seriously. Gerrard was injured while playing for England and Torres gets injured mostly with Spain, very rarely during the cups. Aiming to win what is possible is not being a “defeatist”, in fact, we’re being a realist since we all know we can’t win the Premier League. And Kenny, if you think you’re so smart and your points are right, why don’t you write an article to Liverpool FC and see what they think?
In response to LFC4life you said that Liverpool is a club aiming to win every trophy, are you sure about this? because I see no evidence of this club trying to win the Premier League. You seem to be more satisfied with winning rubbish like the League Cup than trying to win the Premier League. Liverpool fans would really want to stop setting their sights so low targeting the mickymouse competitions. All these mickymouse competitions do is get in the way of preparing for vital Premier League games. What is playing the likes of Northampton going to achieve? Liverpool are allowing the likes of even Bolton and Sunderland to be ahead of them in the League and yet fans like you think it is better to take the cups more seriously, are you for real?
Kenny, obviously you haven’t unwrapped your magnifying glasses from SANTA as you see something in my article that implies that the winning of silverware other than the PREMIER or CHAMPIONS LEAGUE causes unnecessary fixture congestion, causes player injuries & that targeting these MICKEYMOUSE CUPS is a defeatist attitude. Do your moaning to SEPP BLATTER & THE WEATHER GODS for starters. The majority of Liverpool’s stars have been injured in USELESS FRIENDLIES (LOOK!!! NOT A MICKEYMOUSE CUP IN SIGHT), the weather has caused more fixture congestion & games to be postponed (AGAIN LOOK!!! NOT A MICKEYMOUSE CUP IN SIGHT) so your comments hold about as much substance as your bowel movement after taking of a LAXATIVE!!! ( oh there’s S**T there but it’s not solid as you may think). There’s an old saying ” YOU GOTTA BE IN IT TO WIN IT” so being a realist, we are 15 pts behind Manure & have the same amount of games to play (SO A MIRACLE OF BIBLICAL PROPORTIONS IS REQUIRED) so for us to win the EPL ( according to KENNY & his prediction 79 pts would be sufficient ) we need to win 19 of our remaining 21 games( no draws ) & hope everybody else capitulates. As for the CHAMPIONS LEAGUE you have to be in it to win it & we’re not so we can’t!!! I know it’s difficult to open your eyes while those LAXATIVES are kicking in but to target the next available CUP is not being a defeatist it’s being REALISTIC!!!