I'll be the first to admit that I'm possibly over excited/over ambitious for what we could achieve this season, but is the league cup a genuine trophy to aim for? Especially in the modern game where the 'bigger' clubs are more European focused?
Why not? Swansea and Bradford made it last year. Wigan have recently. Boro and Bolton have been there too. It would be nice, yeah.
It's a modern thing to not get over-excited by the League Cup. It has always been a perfectly worthy trophy to win. An opinion which the glamour clubs seem to agree with once they get into the latter stages of the competition and the winners find that their season has been saved by it.
I have always said this is our best chance of a trophy...a good PL team in a competition with few rounds that some other clubs don't take seriously. However, like all cups it can be the luck of the draw.
Which would be nice but we're less likely to win it. I'd be more than happy with winning the League Cup.
Win either of the league or FA cup. Europa next season win that & we are in the champions league. Might be easier route than trying to get in to the top four.
I think the Europa League will be taken a whole lot more seriously with that champions league prize at the end of it which will probably see more English Premier League sides take the league cup more seriously. Win the league cup and you get into a competition which if you take it seriously you have a realistic chance to make the latter stages, and they by then who knows.....
Did anybody hear of Yeovil and Birmingham's match last night..? A Birmingham player was injured and their goalkeeper kicked the ball into touch. The player got up a few minutes later, without treatment and played on, but then directly from the resultant Yeovil throw-in they scored to make it 2-2 and extra time. To be honest, I couldn't see anything wrong with that. It wasn't as if Yeovil had kicked the ball out for the opposing side, but the Birmingham players wanted the ball given back to them. Anyway, there were handbags amongst the players and boos from the crowd, which lasted through extra time. To cap it, Yeovil scored again to make it 3-2, and then they let Brum walk in an equaliser. Birmingham went on to win the penalty shoot-out. Those with a Saints Player account can log into the Yeovil Player and watch the highlights, if they choose. For those that haven't, here's Gary Johnson's explanation: http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/23862467
Fed up with all this kicking the ball out. Its up to the ref to stop the game and allow the trainer on if he thinks the player is hurt. I've never understood why kicking the ball out = trainer can come on.
Well it's simple, they can't come on while the ball is in play. Referee stops game for a serious injury but there's still the sporting obligation not to take advantage of a situation where an opponent is injured (not seriously enough to stop the game but seriously enough that their team will be handicapped), hence players taking it on themselves to stop play. That sporting gesture should be reciprocated by the other side returning the ball to them. It's not in the rules but it's something everyone should understand.
Indeed, and I go along with that. But this was one side kicking the ball out for one of its own players and then expecting the ball back. You can see where that kind of behaviour could lead. Talking of injured players and the courtesy given to them, I find it rather odd that a player can injure one of the other side badly, either by deliberate or accidental foul, stay on the pitch, but the injured player must be removed to allow the game to continue. How this has come about can only be because of TV schedules, but the side with the injured player are playing at a disadvantage. A disadvantage not caused by them. Does anyone else not find it odd..?
TV schedules?? You've lost me there. If the injury is serious they can be treated on the pitch, often for a lengthy period. The reason they have to leave the pitch usually is to stop people feigning injury to waste time. Sure, it disadvantages teams briefly on the odd occasion the injury is genuine, but if they were allowed to stop the game for treatment you would see lengthy stoppages for fake injuries in almost every match. As for the Birmingham/Yeovil incident, it is odd in this case as Birmingham put the ball out themselves. Normally in that situation Yeovil would throw the ball to them and they would return it to the Yeovil keeper or something. Or Yeovil would throw the ball back to the defence and continue playing from there. I haven't seen this incident but I can understand why Yeovil felt obligated to give Birmingham a goal back. It's just a shame in a way that Birmingham ended up winning! Then again I'm sure Yeovil won't mind playing fewer games in their quest to stay in the championship.
