Arsenal Vs Doncaster Rovers (Carabao Cup 3rd Round)

I think this competitions prize money equates to one week’s wages of an elite player, so that’s definitely not an insentive.

However the cup is good for young players to get a chance and also for lower league clubs to have a crack against the Premier League teams. It should stay.

Making it a U23 competition is a better idea in my mind, with the option of three over 23’s for fitness / match sharpness cases.

Your taking a bigger hit on attendances with that option. One thing cup football does for clubs is give youngsters a chance of going to a match and thats important imo.

The idea of getting rid of the league cup completely just seems like big club syndrome to me. “We’re too big for this so fuck everyone else.” Realistically it’s the only “big” honour some teams have any chance of winning and their only chance of getting into Europe.

Want to keep your players fresh for Europe? If only there was an option to play the youngsters/reserves in the league cup instead :thinking:

I’d be up for a revamp or an opt out option for some teams if that’s what they desire but no need to scrap the whole thing.

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Not sure about this to be honest, because smaller clubs don’t seem to give many fucks about it either from what I can tell

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Good point.

Making ticket prices dirt cheap would help, as would a more proactive strategy in engaging schools / clubs near the ground etc.

Yeah this is key for me. It’s a pain in the arse for pretty much every team (except maybe those comfortable enough to survive yet not compete for anything).

Smaller clubs may not seem to care about it that much either, e.g. Burton Albion making a lot of changes vs Manchester United, but then if you shed this competition (and then the Fa Cup is next in the firing line) then what’s the point of each club having anymore than an 18 man squad. 11 to start, 7 more on the bench. No need for any others. Smaller squads then make it even harder for young players to get a chance.

There’s enough money sloshing around the game to support more than one domestic cup competition and the bigger squads necessary to play in them. This is just a case of nitpicking for the sake of it. The only justifiable complaint about the League Cup was ticket pricing for people going to the games and that now seems to be being resolved with discounted tickets. Who ultimately cares if attendances are a little down on league games, for most clubs they’re knocked out after a round or two and it’s not going to be much of a loss-making exercise, compared to the gain of playing their yoof and getting some potential shop-window time.

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I’ve been saying for a long time that the League Cup should only be for teams who didn’t qualify for European football. It’s the best solution.

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That doesn’t really hinder Spanish or German clubs at all.

Right.

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Make it the U25 or U26 cup. Can play with 3 players above that age.

Would still be a competitive cup, but giving such restrictions would force big clubs to use it as a development cup and force fuckers like Wenger to actually play fucking Nketiah or Willock against goddamn Doncaster fucking Rovers at home instead of boring cunts like Giroud. Would be good for the development of young talent in England, and would make for an interesting cup, IMO.

Another way to balance it would be to have restriction on players games played in the Premier League - that way big clubs would be forced to field their younger teams/U23, etc. plus a few others… obviously, the admin of it would be a pain and likely impractical, but I think it gets at the spirit of what would be interesting but doesn’t hurt the smaller clubs who rely on mostly older players.

All of these convoluted ideas, just fucking get rid of it

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This cup is so shit, FA Cup at least has prestige

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When English football dominated late 70s/early 80s and semi-dominated during the mid-2000s the League Cup was around too. I really doubt the League Cup in itself is a problem for the big English clubs in the Premier League and Europe.

Maybe Mourinho should adapt btw. People know what they get when facing his teams and get adjusted.

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Hmm I’m not sure about this. All teams will respect their league a lot more than the EFL cup, that’s a given. Making changes doesn’t automatically mean they’re dismissing the EFL cup as a waste of time though, Clough was clear about this the other night. Surely all clubs, whatever their level, need an opportunity to give their fringe players/those coming back from injury some minutes?

I also think having a trophy in the cabinet in February can be a great springboard in terms of momentum and pushing on. Mourinho has said as much, despite now saying it’s not a necessary competition.

Take the League Cup away and you’re also pricing out some fans who might not otherwise be able to afford to watch their team. £5/£10 tickets in most cases - to watch the likes of Sanchez and Hazard, bargain. On top of the FA Cup, it’s also still a decent revenue stream for lower league clubs – It helps spread money down the league ladder from the PL which can only be a good thing. Visiting a PL club (or even hosting one) must be quite a buzz too, especially if you get on the score sheet. As a player in league 2, say, what story would you like to tell your grand kids, “my team finished 12th in League 2” or “I scored at Old Trafford”?

I don’t get why people are so against this trophy. It is what it is, take it seriously or don’t if it’s that much of a waste of time - though I don’t see how teams who haven’t won a pot for decades can hold this view, but hey, that’s just my opinion.

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And yet our record is crap here :poldi:

Not picking on you specifically, but this is why I’m glad fans of big clubs don’t get too much of a say in how football is run!

Fucking get rid of it/make it so teams don’t have to participate if they don’t want to, so from what I can tell, that’s basically all Premier League teams.

Doesn’t bother me as the end result would be much the same for me either way.