Mikk

My point: So tonight was Liverpool vs Arsenal in the league cup and these are the teams, i've highlighted the regular players for both teams:

Liverpool

• 01 Dudek
• 37 Peltier
• 04 Hyypia
• 29 Paletta
• 28 Warnock (58 Alonso )
• 35 Guthrie
• 08 Gerrard
• 12 Aurelio
• 11 Gonzalez (11 Luis Garcia )
• 09 Fowler
• 17 Bellamy

Substitutes

• 25 Reina,
• 10 Luis Garcia,
• 14 Alonso,
• 15 Crouch,
• 23 Carragher

Arsenal

• 24 Almunia
• 31 Hoyte
• 05 Toure
• 20 Djourou
• 45 Traore (88 Connolly )
• 32 Walcott (74 Diaby )
• 04 Fabregas
• 17 Song Billong
• 15 Denilson
• 09 Julio Baptista
• 30 Aliadiere

Substitutes

• 21 Poom,
• 02 Diaby,
• 33 Connolly,
• 40 Lansbury,
• 43 Randall

Now as you can see, there is maybe 5 first team players from both side that play regularly and all the league cup is to these teams is a match for the reserves to run out but once they reach the final they won't get a look in as the manager will suddenly want to win the trophy.

Tomorrow night, League 2 Wycombe go against Chelsea and my money is firmly on Chelsea fielding a reserves team whilst Wycombe will be going all out to win and in my view, this smacks of disrespect to Wycombe as yes they have drawn Chelsea but it is more than likely going to be a reserve team they play.

Now in my opinion, what should be done is the top teams should register 25 players only who can play in the competition as the reserves have a league of their own and why should they have to play an extra game just because the first team want a night off.

Or, make the league cup a lower league cup from the championship down or from the lower half of the premiership down as this would free up the top teams to concentrate and stop moaning about the congestion to the fixtures {which really isn't much of a congestion considering the other leagues play 8 more league games a season}.


Overview: Either get rid of the top teams as they only respect the cup when they reach the final, limit the teams in the cup to the teams from either the lower half of the premiership down based on the previous season or from the championship down.


Sorry if i've rambled and yes i do know the result of the game tonight so don't shout too much or i'll bash you :up:

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Dmac

Well for one Paletta is not a regular.

Big teams have been in the cups ever since the start. A cup would not be a cup without top teams playing against the smaller teams. Sometimes we see giant killings and sometimes we see annihilation. There is already a trophy that is made for the lower clubs so what is your argument? That cup may not be for Championship teams but as a championship side that is desperately trying to achieve promotion and become a big team then they don't want to be playing with the smaller teams like that.

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Mikk

My arguement: Say Arsenal get drawn against someone like Accrington, you will instantly know Wenger will put out a 2nd XI. Now if i was an Accrington fan i'd be incredibly disapointed as instead of seeing people like Henry, Ljunberg, Van Persie, they will instead watch a reserve team for the price of a regular game.
Why should the reserves have to play extra games a season when they have their own league and tournaments to concentrate on and if they manage to get to the final they instantly know they probably won't be picked as the manager will all of a sudden want to win the trophy after weeks of saying the cup isn't important to them when obviously it is.
I'm not a fan of the big teams picking a weak XI as it disrespects the team they are playing and also other teams don't have the luxury of a proper reserves team since the FA limited it to the premiership as of last season so why should the top teams be allowed to do it?

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God

Of course their is. Their is the LDV vans cup (or something) for the lower league teams and like Dan said teams pushing for a premiership spot wouldent want to be against lower league sides when they will only improve by facing top sides.
Wycome will be the ones who benefit tomorrow as how often do they get to play a priemership side?
If all teams had to play their strongest sides then Arsenal, Liverpool, Chelsea or Utd would win every single year. With these playing weakened teams gives the managers a chance to see who is ready for the prem and also gives the opposition a fighting chance. If Chelsea had to play their first team, Wycombe may as well stay at home.

Btw Hoyte is third choice RB and Baptista has only started 4 games. So they arent regulars.

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God

Arsenal also reduce ticket prices for Carling Cup games and i think some other teams do aswell, so its not the same price.

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The Phantom

Sorry Mikk your argument doesn't make any sense...

*Small teams, especially teams with ones with financial troubles want to draw the likes of Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool, Arsenal etc. It attracts more people to their games. Most of them know not all the big players will play, but one or two could feature, and sometimes that's worth the ticket fee alone.

*'Big Clubs' have every right to field whatever team they like. Some field weakened sides in the FA Cup, so should they be banned from that too?

*You suggest leaving side’s out of the competition. Who would you leave out? I'm sure Man Utd, Arsenal and Chelsea would still want to play in the competitions. The younger players (and managers too) see it as a shop window to impress other league managers who may be looking for loan signings.

*Registering players could work, but it's a lot of administrative work to do at the beginning of a competition. You also have to remember that some lower league clubs might not have 25 pros at the club in the first place. What do you do about that? You can't ask certain clubs to register players, and others not to.

God

And in Newcastles case this season they have had a lot of injuries, those 25 players mostly would be in the treatment room.

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The Phantom

Yes, I believe most Premiership and some Championship sides do this as well. Reading did this last season. They played a somewhat second string side, but it was a game of football for £5. I wasn’t complaining.

I’m not sure about you, but I go and watch my team whoever the opposition is. Plus if they do filed a seconds string side, it’s still Arsenal football club. The likes of Aliadiere, and Theo Walcott have to start somewhere. Beckham, Neville, Scholes, and Butt can all approve that sentence.

The reserve league is a glorified version of youth team league.

Mikk

I do agree with all the points here but this is a competition.

You don't go to the World Cup with a 2nd XI {unless your england} would you? No you'd put out the strongest team to hopefully progress through the competition.

It just doesn't seem right to me when its the reserves that do the work and its the main team that get all the glory with a cup final.

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Tyler Durden

It serves a purpose for them. It gets their big squads playing, allows them to experiment and (the bottom line is) if the second string aren't good enough then they get dumped out (like we did to Liverpool last season hurrah!).

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