The Carling Cup 2011/12 Thread

[stokeriño]

Ugh. Today's forecast is cold, wet and windy. If Chelsea don't win tonight I could be the most miserable sod in the world as I drag my frozen, soggy self back home from Stamford Bridge.

[Lineker]

Chelsea: Turnbull, Bosingwa, Luiz, Alex, Bertrand, Lampard, Romeu, McEachran, Malouda, Torres, Lukaku.

Subs: Hilario, Ivanovic, Ramires, Mata, Ferreira, Kalou, Anelka.

Liverpool: Reina, Kelly, Carragher, Coates, Jose Enrique, Henderson, Lucas, Spearing, Maxi, Bellamy, Carroll.

Subs: Doni, Suarez, Kuyt, Downing, Adam, Skrtel, Flanagan.

Referee: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire)

Cardiff: Heaton, McNaughton, Taylor, Gerrard, Turner, Kiss, Whittingham, Cowie, Conway, Gunnarsson, Miller.

Subs: Marshall, Earnshaw, Quinn, Mason, Blake, McPhail, Ralls.

Blackburn: Bunn, Hanley, Givet, Dann, Lowe, Petrovic, Dunn, Formica, Pedersen, Blackman, Goodwillie.

Subs: Robinson, Rochina, Yakubu, Vukcevic, Roberts, Anderson, Henley.

Referee: Martin Atkinson (W Yorkshire)

Nasri and Hargreaves both start for City.

[Hobo]

Stok is lucky that we suck at penalties this year.

[Cymbols]

Cardiff fans chanting "you're getting sacked in the morning" at Steve Kean and the Blackburn fans joining in. Poor bloke. 1-0 Cardiff

[Colly]

Stok is lucky that we suck at penalties this year.

Luck? That's just what happens when you let a player worth -£15m take your penalties.

[MJB]

Lukaku has apparently just been booked after a foul by Bertrand.

To Phil Dowd, they all look the same apparently

[Colly]

You sure? Sky scorecentre and livescores.com both have it as Bertrand booked. Aquilani got away with it last week mind...

[MJB]

Saw it on Twitter and BBC Sport.

[Cymbols]

other way round, Lukaku foul, Bertrand card.

[Colly]

To Twitter and BBC sport they all look the same.

[MJB]

Actually turns out, I'm the dumbass who can't read

But the bottom line is, the wrong person got booked.

[Hobo]

Maxi puts Liverpool one up. Chelsea's high line allow Liverpool to catch them on the break.

EDIT: Martin Kelly's first goal for Liverpool makes it two!

[Summers]

What a fucking goal by Man City.

[Colly]

Great goal. And Frimpongs Dench vest is fantastic.

[Adam]

Great way to honour Speed tonight - Cardiff through, Bellamy instrumental in Liverpool's win and Leeds deal out a thrashing at Forest.

The semi-finals of this competition are shaping up to be really interesting now.

[Dingle]

Don't think I've ever actually wanted Cardiff to win a game before, but I'm glad they did tonight. Although I really hope Kean doesn't get fired simply so that we can thrash them next season. (We being Burnley). Oh and Miller was so unlucky not to get that goal when he tore Blackburn's defence and goalkeeper apart. Looked like a hand stopped it going in to me.

Liverpool deserved that victory and Bellamy was brilliant, not sure what to say about Chelsea at the moment. They need to find something or AVB is gonna go. And I like AVB . Terrible penalty by Carroll but I questioned choosing him for the spot kick when I saw him lining up for it.

Oxlade is brilliant, as is Pantilimon. Glad I've finally been able to see those two in action, Arsenal have a good young side coming through. It's a shame they all aren't a couple of years older so they could help the senior squad out, but they played well out there tonight. It's just a shame for them that Dzeko/Johnson/Aguero teamed up for a beautiful move and got the goal. I was half expecting Dzeko to power down the pitch and get it himself, but it was a good goal.

Although I personally would have passed to Nasri .

[Baddar]

They were shit for most of the game, but the Man City counter-attack was beautiful last night. I'm hoping for no shocks at Old Trafford tonight and a two-legged Manchester derby again in the semi's.

[Lineker]

What is this supposed confrontation that happened in the tunnel between Nasri and Frimpong?

[DavidMarrio]

Oh ermmm they'd been tussling throughout the game and as they were going off the field were still having a go at each other and it continued into the tunnel.

Such a good performance from us last night, the team played really well especially Bellamy who should in an ideal world be starting most games for me. Maxi getting another goal shows he can be an important player and I prefer him to be playing at times. While he hasn't got the pace he is quite an intelligent player getting into the spaces and positions he needs to be in. Made up for Kelly as well getting his first goal poor defending that. Thought Andy looked decent as well even if his pen was a bit crap and I think everyone in the pub wanted Bellamy to go on it. (Not taking anything away from Ross, it was a good save)

Dowd had a bit of a nightmare, Chelsea should have had a pen in the first 5 mins and then we should have had a pen 5 minutes after that. Plus how do you get Lukaku and Bertrand mixed up

[stokeriño]

Dowd had a bit of a nightmare, Chelsea should have had a pen in the first 5 mins and then we should have had a pen 5 minutes after that. Plus how do you get Lukaku and Bertrand mixed up

It's Phil Dowd. We know him well.

We were horrible last night, of course. The 4-4-2 diamond thing we tried with Josh at the tip got us nowhere and no one looked like they had a clue what they ought to do. Ramires improved things a little, but the fact was that once we got the ball 30 yards from goal we just stopped, thought for a few seconds, then passed it sideways. No attacking competence + time = loss through inevitable defensive slip-ups. At no point did we deserve to progress.

But in addition to all that, Phil Dowd is a terrible, terrible referee. And Carroll's attempts to get Luiz sent off by falling over near him were shocking.

Edit: Oh yeah, I forgot. Lukaku's #1 priority should be to improve his first touch, which at the moment is non-existent.