Could this be a chance to salvage something from the season? I know it's not our priority but hope Benitez takes the Leeds game seriously. Arsenal, City, United, Spurs, Liverpool, Everton, West Brom, Newcastle all out. We have a really good chance of picking up this trophy if taken seriously.
I'd write it off, play the kids and concentrate our forces and efforts on 4th place, way, way more important long term. Notice Arsenal, Man u Spurs drop out of these dopey comps earlier than we do most years, and so play fewer games. No team in the PL is good enough to win them all, so why bother ?? Prioritise is the professional way to go.
I'd go with CP on this! Have some top squad on the bench if we need extra punch to get a result, but our focus this year must be on the PL placing!
Have to disagree boys, we are 3 games away from Wembley, that's not to be sniffed at. We are still in a good position to secure top 4 but the C.L and league have now gone so if we want to win something this year, we have to take all remaining comps seriously. Don't mind us putting out a few fringe players as long as we approach the game/s will the right attitude. Maybe I'm old enough to remember when even winning the league cup was a dream for us CFC fans!!
Go and win it. We want the silverware. And also the season isn't in that bad shape yet. Still a long way to go.
I'm in two minds on this, I felt we had taken on too much last year and something had to be sacrificed which left us lower down the league (and having to face ridicule from other team supporters who just didn't get this), and being of the older generation of supporters this didn't go down well with me, I still value top of the PL as the ultimate. Yet I was soooo pleased we won the CL, but it could have been a much worse scenario if we hadn't. This season we are still a bit hit and miss with our games at the moment different players, different manager, CL already blown, so I'm gonna stand on the fence on this one and hope our 'manager' knows what he's doing.
Well I think we should go for it tbh. We hae a great chance of winning it. Leeds next week is going to be very tough but hope Rafa put out a good team for it. They are our rivals and if we lose... well... it will be unbearable. Especially for those of us making the trip to West Yorkshire. If we beat Leeds then in the semi finals it would be us, Villa, Swansea/Boro and Bradford. Why not go for it? There are only 4 games left and it's a piece of silverware. Win this competition and get 3rd place and that would be a good season imo.
Benitez has a good record in cup competitions and although it won't mean anything for him at the end of the season (Champions League and FA Cup didn't help De Matteo), for the sake of a few extra games you might as well get the silverware and enjoy the day at Wembley.
Liverpool fans still bang on about their great treble year....Uefa Cup/FA Cup/League Cup.....something we could still manage. Not the treble we'd like but a treble none the less. It's over before Europe starts again. Take it pretty seriously,winning should be a habit to help breed confidence.
You've already got the distraction of the Club World Championship, I can't see why you'd be wanting to field your first team in the League Cup as well. Finishing in the top 4 will surely be a priority this season so I don't see why you'd want to use the League Cup for anything more than blooding kids into the professional English game.
My view is that it isn't an either/or situation. Why can't we take the COC seriously and still get top 4; especially as COC finishes 3 months before the end of the P.L season anyway? By all means blood some kids but field a stong enough side to get the job done. A trophy is a trophy after all.
Cup is a Cup you should go for it, day out at Wemberley and possible silverware, watching our teams win things is the dream and should never be forgotten no matter how "small" the cup is.
You could win the League Cup and finish top 4 but I'm saying you shouldn't put finishing top 4 at more risk than it has to be by tiring them out further in the League Cup. I think we have different opinions on what is "taking it seriously" is, I'd say it means playing the majority of your first 11 that's available and only replacing players with quality experienced players rather than inexperienced youngsters. Personally I'd just play all youth and fringe squad players, as much as trophies are great and finishing 4th is considered a bit of a joke, the fact is that even 4th is worth much more to clubs than the League Cup or FA Cup or Europa League.
I think you need to increase the quality of the side being put out as you approach the end of a comp like the COC. I.e if you progress to the qtr's onwards you should take it more seriously especially like this year when all the other big sides have gone out. If we can get past Leeds we'd be more than capable of beating the remaining sides over 2 legs and then you're at Wembley.
At this point I don't see why we shouldn't go all out for it. We're currently in the quarter finals and have to play against a mid-table Championship sides to make it through to the semis. Like the OP said, all those Premier League sides along with another 9-10 are now out. As far as I'm concerned any competitive trophy is worth winning. Let's not get into the Arsenal mentality and concentrate on just the Arsene Wenger Top Four trophy.
Well; it's still a decent cup to win - maybe 4th after CL/Prem/Fa but it's still a good thing to win. I'd say go for it - not like we're in for a heavy season now we are out of the CL is it.
Fail comment. Other than the Premier League every competition that we are in is a realistic chance of silverware for us.
