I wouldn't label the domestic cups as Mickey Mouse. This is what enrage other fans. Just because we are out of them they've not suddenly turned unimportant. Tell that to Watford fans who are looking forward to the FA cup final.
Dilemma for Klopp next season. Does he continue with his prioritising of league and CL or does he compete in the domestic cups too? It would be a massive shame if such a good team AND manager finished with nothing at all.
We of the - slightly older persuasion - have always called the League Cup that. In reality, I still think it's a decent trophy, but as many have said we don't have the squad depth to compete for the lot. I'm a lot happier that we made the CL semis (at least ) and made a genuine attempt at the Prem, than if we'd faffed about struggling for top 4 with the League Cup strapped to our backs.
I'd like to think that if we improve in pre-season we will naturally be able to improve in the domestic cups. If we have players to come in for the front 3 and the full backs then that gives them the rest needed, those players need to be better than what we have now. I mentioned on the transfer thread that I think the likes of Wilson, and Brewster will help next season and maybe even Grujic. Add some transfers to them and I'd like to think we'll be a better squad overall and be able to compete in the cups.
We have a good first 11 but cannot rival City whose overall squad is much stronger. Look what they brought on from the bench last night, Sane, Jesus...When you have that depth in your squad you can compete in all competitions. They are missing two of their best players in De Bruyne and Fernandinho but still won 13 in a row. I think Kompany has been great for them but not sure he should have been on the pitch after that tackle last night, like the one against Mo Dalah. Refs are afraid to red card him and Fernandinho. We need to offload 5 squad players, you know who they are. We need to add four top quality players as the next step. I have loved watching the lads this season
I'd rather have a cup than nothing but I'm not complaining. Klopp was right to prioritise the big prizes. We failed, but at least we were in with a good shout until several weeks before the season ended. The team did as well as better than we realistically could have hoped for back in August.
The problem is that to bring our first 11 to par with City we had to spend record fees for 2 or 3 of our players. Can you imagine what it will cost to do the same for the whole squad? Even if we had the funds we will need top players to be happy to sit on the bench. I am also convinced that we are at our strongest when Klopp doesn't rotate.
