Unlucky Cardiff. I thought (and hoped, tbh) they'd do it when they got the late equaliser and then Steven Gerrard missed his penalty in the shoot-out.
Cardiif deserve huge credit for their performance - they have done themselves and the Championship proud.
If you think of how much each club has thrown at it, and look at how they are performing in League, and in this game, it is to be expected that Liverpool win. I really don't think Kenny has improved them tremendously, spent a lot of money and still in 7th.
Cardiff played really well and emphasised the quality in this division. It will be tough for them to get over today and will make their game against West Ham so much harder. I was rooting for them today. On a separate not surely Gerrard should not be in the England starting XI on current form let alone captain.
As they showed on Sky in the preview, there have been a few upsets in this competition. Arsenal got it wrong last year. This was a good game, which isn't always true in Cup Finals.
If I had it my way, Liverpool, Cardiff and the Carling Cup would all cease to be. I think that sums up how much I care about this game.
But without it, the FA Cup would be a bigger thing, much like the Copa Del Rey. Now imagine winning that.
The one thing I thought while watching the game was that If Rickie Lambert had been playing for Liverpool he would have scored another hat trick. Carroll is a similar type of player, just nowhere near as good. True, he helped set up the Skrtel goal, but that was about all he did. With all the service from Johnson and Downing, and Bellamy when he came on, Rickie would have run riot. Shows how lucky we are to have him!
Arsenal have got to the League cup final playing youngsters in the past and often Barça and Madrid use the cup to play youngsters. I maybe should have said they do not regard it as very important, or certainly the fans don't.
They definitely do. More so than we regard the FA Cup to be important anyway. Look at the previous few years, at the teams that won it and the players they fielded throughout the tournament. It was a Real v Barca final last year. Sevilla, Valencia and Deportivo have all had success in the years that I can remember. This year's finalists, Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao, have been in 35 finals each.
What was it called during Franco's rule? I imagine the reference to the King of Spain (not Ashley Giles) was changed to something decent and military.
