League cup
Why did Man City and Liverpool field reserve teams last night? They both crashed out of the only competition they've got any chance of winning! I just don't understand the logic. Neither team is in the champions league and neither team can win the title so that just leaves the Fa cup, the league cup and the Europa wotsit.
Post edited by Rebelstar without a cause on
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must cost a few ? to travel
WelL Man City i can see fighting for a champions league place this year and probably want to concentrate on that, unsure about Liverpool
Just the big teams dont take the cup seriously. Once they reach the semi finals etc they seem to suddenly want to win it.
Ferguson in the past used to field crappy sides in the old Coca Cola Cup as it was called, then when Arsenal/Chelsea started winning the league Ferguson then 'amazingly' took the Coca Cola/Carling Cup more seriously
Still think its a decent cup, granted the FA Cup is the big one but like you say for teams who 'may' struggle in the league/FA Cup then its a shame they dont take this one more seriously
Yep totally, i thought teams nowadays would like to do the triple. I mean Chelsea won the FA Cup/League last year, surely they might have walked the Carling Cup if they hadnt played reserves in most of the games.
But its not about the silverware, its all about Europe. If the winner of the Carling Cup had a champions league place then all teams would take it seriously, at the moment its just the UEFA Cup isnt it which has sadly turned into a mickey mouse cup also (Having tons and tons of qualifying and then group rounds doesnt help this one)
However, when clubs like WBA put out their reserves (they made 10 or 11 changes) it does make you wonder.
I'm not disagreeing with you, but I'm sure the owners would prefer a far more lucrative run in the CL rather than winning what is essentially minor silverware. Same for the players too I bet, they'd much rather be earning the mega bucks of the CL.
I'm not complaining, meant my beloved Baggies got through last night :-) :-) :-)
Yeah i agree, i do love the champions league (mostly the knockout stages). Ferguson used to make me laugh, he made the same point when Arsenal finished 2nd and went in the champions league. He said 'surely its only for champions....' etc.
What happens years later ? Doesnt utter a word when Chelsea/Arsenal won the league and Man Utd only got in finishing 3rd, flipping hypocrite !!
Not normally keen on the opening few games but must admit next weeks game with Man Utd is a huge one for them, playing away, they need to win this one.
With the Baggies its difficult to tell the difference.
What do you think of Platini's preferred format of one European competition with 256 teams, straight knockout from the start and minimal seeding?
https://discordapp.com/invite/cZt59EQ
Wasnt there controversy a few years back when Man Utd had to qualify for the champions league but they got a very tough qualifying game, then Platini and co panicked in case Man Utd wouldnt win that game so redrew and Man Utd got a much easier qualifier ? ('Might' not be true but i remember reading that a lot on footy forums).
I think the champions league should JUST be the champions. Liverpool shouldnt have been allowed to be in the CL the following year after they won it despite being defending champs. Then the rest of the european teams play in the UEFA cup which 'might' be taken more seriously.
Tough one though
Agreed. The issue is that currently the places are based on UEFA coefficients, which means that the 'stronger' football nations have more teams in it. Ironically I guess if you just picked #1 from each nation's league it would make it more equal but it'd probably be perceived as generally weakening the standard of the competition, fair or not.
Don't really know enough about the rest of it to form a strong opinion on this, the only thing I don't agree with is the way teams can effectively get knocked out of this and then 'drop down' into the Europa.
Agree with the post above, if you get knocked out of the champions league then dont put them in the UEFA. I dont follow the UEFA cup much but it seems so so much longer than it used to be with qualifying, then group stages etc.
I normally watch match of the day for the premiership now, the 'big' games such as Chelsea vs Man Utd i'll always watch on Sky but i must admit i'm not going to waste an afternoon watching Bolton vs Wolves (To be fair some of these games can be far better than the 'big' matchups).
OI!!!
I agree apart from the Liverpool bit. I believe a defending champion should always have the right to defend their title. It's one of the things I don't like about the WC qualifying, hosts and defending champions should always be in it regardless.
Yeah I think the Champions should always be invited to defend their title, like in the WC until the competition for places became too hot. I preferred the old way, when it was European Cup, UEFA Cup and Cup Winners' Cup with no seeding, but it'll never happen again. I remember when Real Madrid furiously reacted to being drawn in Round 2 against Milan in 1989, when Milan were basically a team of Supermen (they were 5-0 up on Real after an hour in the previous season's semi final), and Real got knocked out again (2-0 down after ten minutes!). It was after that that seedings were introduced and now we have the current slightly tired format. It's all about money.
https://discordapp.com/invite/cZt59EQ
Yeah i get your point, it was a difficult one back then as i dont think any winner of the champions league had missed out the following year had they ?
But what is the champions league ? Is it just the 'champions' of every league ? Or is it the champions and a few other top teams (non champions) or is it that plus the winner of the year before who might have missed out on even qualifying the year after (Liverpools example).
On a slightly different note, was it back in 2000 when Man Utd did that 'world club competition' and basically didnt bother with the FA cup that year.
I was torn on that Liverpool thing though, dont think the previous champion should automatically qualify if they have a poor season the year after, dont think theyve got a right as defending champions. Same for the world cup. If say Spain have a bad set of results after the world cup i dont think they should get a free pass.