Carabao Cup 2019/20

[Hobo]

39 minutes ago, Adam said:

As for the devaluation of the Carabao Cup itself...to be honest I've been saying for a few years that they should either scrap it or take the Premier League teams out of it. I'm sure there'll be more talk of it tomorrow when United and City field second-string sides and thrash their respective lower league opponents. I'd personally be in favour of making this competition for the 72 EFL teams only, gives Championship sides a realistic trophy to chase. Then you can revert the EFL Trophy to a tournament just for Leagues One and Two, throwing in some National League teams like they did in the 2000s.

I agree with this completely. 

I think The Football League itself has devalued it's own competition by not moving the fixture.  You would have to think that they would much prefer to see Liverpool getting to the Semis or the even final than Aston Villa? They forced the club to do this. I do think it is a bad look on the EFL's part.

It is probably unlikely to happen, but really is there anything to stop other big clubs doing the same as what Liverpool did tonight as a rule if they really wanted? Not just playing the kids but sending the academy staff as well.

[Colly]

If Neil Ruddock had started I might have watched.

[TCO]

3 hours ago, Hobo said:

It's like Béal na nBláth all over again!

 

The inexperience is showing really. Sloppy defending and poor final balls and weak finishes. Elliot is doing brilliantly though

Still haven't forgiven Jonathan Rhys Myers for what he did.

This whole thing was a farce really. Fixture should 100% have been moved, good learning experience for the young lads though.

[Adam]

2 hours ago, DavidMarrio said:

@Adam just saw a stat, Kane was the most experienced member of our team with 50 senior appearances, 49 came playing for for you lot last season 

Aye I saw that, makes sense. He played basically every game for us last season, was easily one of the best midfielders in League One. Scored some cracking long-rangers too, one was from 30 odd yards out. There was a lot of surprise when Liverpool didn't loan him out in the summer, but they said they were keeping him for this competition when we enquired about getting him back.

[DavidMarrio]

14 hours ago, Cymbols said:

Shame the opposition didn't turn up. Could've been a few more really. 

 

[Gazz]

Liverpool should have held a raffle and all the winners got to play.

Would have been hilarious watching Villa lose 2-1 to a team full of chunky 40 somethings and a 63 year old left back not named James Milner.

[Cymbols]

1 hour ago, DavidMarrio said:

 

We’ve been getting that a lot

 

[DavidMarrio]

10 minutes ago, Cymbols said:

We’ve been getting that a lot

 

You were damned either way.

Win: you've beaten a bunch of kids

Lose: beaten by a bunch of kids 

[MDK]

22 minutes ago, Gazz said:

Liverpool should have held a raffle and all the winners got to play.

Would have been hilarious watching Villa lose 2-1 to a team full of chunky 40 somethings and a 63 year old left back not named James Milner.

No joke on nothing I suggested that at work. That or a Liverpool Legends team captained by Traore. 

[Arjen Robben]

 

[Cymbols]

I work with that reporter’s GF. She’s a fucking tool, so I’m not surprised that this is the kind of thing he wanks off to.

 

[Baddar]

Obertan could do that, too.

[Adam]

Obertan? I did that in a five-a-side game not too long ago, and I'm dreadful at football.

[Kyle]

I wrote us off at 2-0 down and went about my business. It's penalties time thanks to a beauty of a strike by a recently defrosted Leighton Baines.

 

...its the hope that kills you.

[Adam]

Another plus tonight though with the comeback. One day we might challenge in a cup ey.

Need a manager in sharpish as well, in time for January. Even though Dunc is doing a sterling job as caretaker.

[Lineker]

Manchester derby in the semi finals. Leicester play Villa.

[Baddar]

Might not win this one.

[DavidMarrio]

Pretty embarrassing half from United there. Surely it can't get much worse than that

[Baddar]

2 minutes ago, DavidMarrio said:

Pretty embarrassing half from United there. Surely it can't get much worse than that

We have no creativity whatsoever in the side. The difference is night and day. Since 0-3, City could have scored 3 more.

And if Ole doesn't demand money this month to bring a couple of players in who can make chances for the front 3, then he deserves to be sacked tbh. Because it'll ultimately lead to his sacking anyway.

[Lineker]

Quote

Kevin De Bruyne has revealed it took all of 15 minutes in training for Pep Guardiola to plan Manchester City’s 3-1 mauling of their neighbours Manchester United in the first leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final.

City were beaten by United in the Premier League last month but on Tuesday evening at Old Trafford Guardiola made an astute tactical change. With centre forwards Sergio Agüero and Gabriel Jesus on the bench, he played with a false nine in a fluid front line of two No 10s.

The Belgian revealed that City trained in the morning of the match but spent little time on tactical drills. “We did 15 minutes this morning. That’s about it,” he said, adding: “But it’s not like we never did it before so we did already a sometimes against teams who prefer to play man against man – Cardiff, United I think Barcelona the way we did it the first year. So we’ve done it a couple of times.”

City, winners of the competition for the past two seasons, swept into a commanding lead with three goals inside the opening 38 minutes at Old Trafford. Marcus Rashford kept United’s hopes alive by pulling one back 20 minutes from time as City eased off in the second half.

City have now won seven of their last 10 matches at Old Trafford in all competitions and are responsible for four of United’s last 12 home defeats.

“I think but I think overall we played well,” said De Bruyne. “Even the second half they tried to put us under a little bit more pressure and we made one mistake and they got a goal out of it but I don’t think they had a lot of chances. I think we should have scored more today but in the end 1-3 is a good advantage. And we know it’s not over but it was a good game for us.

“Bernardo Silva was outstanding and scored a stunning opening goal while Riyad Mahrez added the second. The third was an own goal from Andreas Pereira.

City have adapted to the threat of counterattacks, believes De Bruyne.“I think we had our chances, we still tried to stay more in shape defensively. People always look that we try to keep the ball but we try to keep the ball in a certain way so that defensively we don’t try to get caught, obviously. We play that way and everybody knows there is space in behind - that’s the risk you take with the way that we play and that’s something we have to calculate. But I think we minimised these counter-attacks and I think we played well offensively.”