Who cares about the Carling Cup?
Posted on September 21st, 2010 | 126 Comments |
It’s the same before every game in this particluar competiton. The team news pages of clubs that are participiating are full of names of reserve players who are set to get a chance and players who are just coming back from in injury or whatever.
The Carling Cup has now become the reserve cup, a poor relation to the FA Cup if you will. In reality it probably always has played second fiddle to the FA Cup although not quite to the extent we are currently witnessing. It just seems that nobody really cares about it anymore, me included.
That is not to say that if we got to the latter stages of the competition that I wouldn’t want Newcastle to go on and win it. Of course I would, seeing my team lift a trophy is what I dream about and is something I have yet to witness in my lifetime. If the Carling Cup changed that then I would be more than happy.
Which makes me wonder why I am being so down on the competition to be honest. I mean on the face of it this is the competition that gives some different teams a chance of winning some sliverware. Perhaps it is the fact that we have been drawn away at Chelsea, who are predictably going to field a weakened team, as we will no doubt. It still won’t make the game much easier though such is the quality that Chelsea have in their squad nowadays.
Maybe I am looking at the bigger picture a bit too much? I mean to me making sure we survive in the Premier League is the number one priority which means I am rather over-protective of our key players and don’t want them to risk getting injured in a competition that isn’t our main aim. Selfish? Boring? Maybe, but I hope you all understand where I am coming from?
At the end of the day the Carling Cup is not what it used to be. Once upon a time even the Manchester United’s and Arsenal’s of the world tried to win it. Now it appears that they will only try if their kids can get them to the final. To me that makes a bit of a mockery of the competition.
In short, if we can get past Chelsea and into the next round then I won’t be complaining, but I also won’t be complaining if we get knocked out.
Avoiding injuries is a must!
A lot of teams that claim to have won something in recent years actually mean they have won this.