Carabao Cup Final Liverpool v Newcastle ** Spoilers ** [16th March 2025 @16:30]

Bigpig said:
I dunno.

I have very much enjoyed smashing the likes of Chelsea, Arsenal and now Liverpool in the final
Click to expand...
You must have been unbearable in School today :p

And I'm sure you did but imagine it not taking 50 years to see your side win a trophy. That's not a dig btw, as I've tried to make clear, this is a sincere point. The League Cup doesn't have much of a future so rather than scrapping it like everybody else has done (and I've always been in favour of), make it a competition that provides an opportunity for other clubs Bigpig's to explode with excitement.
Ayahuasca said:
Surely the better argument would be to scrap it altogether then rather than turn it into some Mickey Mouse cup that would only survive a few more years.

Pretty sure you didn't have to explain it wasn't because of the competition lmao, the point was that the moment wouldn't have happened if the sides in Europe were excluded. I didn't argue their joy would be different, I said it's not comparable to the Conference League and that fans of other teams actually enjoy it.
Click to expand...
Ok, well I disagree with the first comment and that's the basis of my entire argument. The Europa Conference League & West Ham's win sums it up perfectly for me. You say nobody cared and I think we all agree it's a second rate competition. UEFA could have just stuck to the Europa & CL and I'm sure nobody would have said anything but you ask any West Ham fans, players and management what they think. I'm sure I said something after their final about seeing their joy making the competition worthwhile and I'd rather the League Cup became our Europa Conference League than it going altogether.
 
DavieJG said:
If it's genuinely too many games then it results in fatigue, injuries and defeat. If you win it then it's clearly not too many games. Newcastle are very much an outlier in winning it without European football.
Click to expand...

You're making quite a leap. It's possible to win games and still have too many injuries and be playing too many games. These are not mutually exclusive as you seem to think.
 
If they scrapped it teams would end up playing something else or some daft friendly in Dubai.

We just need to face facts that football is on more than Coronation Street. Look at the new CL, more games, give it two years there will be more games in that, another European cup for teams that finish in 15th and down so the likes of Man U and Spurs can be in Europe. Its never ending.
 
BaZ87 said:
Ok, well I disagree with the first comment and that's the basis of my entire argument. The Europa Conference League & West Ham's win sums it up perfectly for me. You say nobody cared and I think we all agree it's a second rate competition. UEFA could have just stuck to the Europa & CL and I'm sure nobody would have said anything but you ask any West Ham fans, players and management what they think. I'm sure I said something after their final about seeing their joy making the competition worthwhile and I'd rather the League Cup became our Europa Conference League than it going altogether.
Click to expand...

I’d already countered that point, as the conference league is a new, truly tinpot competition with no history. As you say, pretty much only those involved with West Ham cared, whereas yesterday that quite clearly wasn’t the case.

They aren’t viewed the same way for me and many others it would seem and I’d rather it stayed as it is or just scrap it entirely if it’s not sustainable.
 
Last edited:
Ayahuasca said:
I’d already countered that point, as the conference league is a new, truly tinpot competition with no history. As you say, pretty much only those involved with West Ham cared, whereas yesterday that quite clearly wasn’t the case.

They aren’t viewed the same way for me and many others it would seem.
Click to expand...
Ok but I'm not saying they're the same. I'm saying that removing the biggest sides and as you say, devaluing the competition, won't make it worthless as seen by West Ham & the Conference League. It will still serve a purpose, it will still bring joy to supporters of the side that wins it. My argument is this is a better alternative than the inevitable and the competition not being a thing in the future.
 
Agree there is so much football on TV that it dilutes the whole experience as a fan. International friendlies detract from the PL and have been a joke for years as well. PL managers want to protect players from injury so don't want them to go. The friendlies against San Marino are a joke. It provides no comparison to what we face in tournaments with the pressure and good quality teams.
The Carabao cup has no money in it. Football is all about money. It's no wonder it's not prioritised. It just needs removing from the calendar so we can focus on doing the already vast schedule properly. If your team isn't good enough to get in Europe, then they can focus on climbing the PL, which will be easier without Mickey mouse cups getting in the way.
 
Last edited:
Shamikebab said:
You're making quite a leap. It's possible to win games and still have too many injuries and be playing too many games. These are not mutually exclusive as you seem to think.
Click to expand...
This is elite sport. If you win the game then you don't have too many injuries. If you keep winning the games and win the competition as one of these clubs often does then it's not too many games. Managers use this as an excuse for when they lose. If you only pick from around 15 players like slot then it is too many games. That's why the squads are bigger and why top managers learn to rotate.
 
Last edited:
BaZ87 said:
Ok but I'm not saying they're the same. I'm saying that removing the biggest sides and as you say, devaluing the competition, won't make it worthless as seen by West Ham & the Conference League. It will still serve a purpose, it will still bring joy to supporters of the side that wins it. My argument is this is a better alternative than the inevitable and the competition not being a thing in the future.
Click to expand...

It would essentially make it worthless, given that it's teetering on the edge of being tinpot. It would basically cement it as something that is no longer worth winning.

Fans of the winning side getting some joy isn’t all that’s required to make something worthwhile.

All this back and forth has given us more points to scrap it than to keep a gimped version around.
 
DavieJG said:
This is elite sport. If you win the game then you don't have too many injuries. If you keep winning the games and win the competition as one of these clubs often does then it's not too many games. Managers use this as an excuse for when they lose. If you only pick from around 15 players like slot then it is too many games. That's why the squads are bigger and why top managers learn to rotate.
Click to expand...
That is absolute nonsense. You sound like you work for the people that keep adding games to the calendar lol.
 
DavieJG said:
This is elite sport. If you win the game then you don't have too many injuries. If you keep winning the games and win the competition as one of these clubs often does then it's not too many games. Managers use this as an excuse for when they lose. If you only pick from around 15 players like slot then it is too many games. That's why the squads are bigger and why top managers learn to rotate.
Click to expand...
You might not be aware but more and more players are speaking out against the ever increasing workload they're being put under. In fact I believe shortly before Rodri picked up a season ending injury he spoke out and went as far as to claim that players were discussing strike action too.

If I get a chance I'll dig out a report that looked into the number of injuries in football and how they're increasing and how the PL (the only League with 2 domestic cups (and a 20 team league unlike many others)) is worst effected.

edit: here.
Ayahuasca said:
It would essentially make it worthless, given that it's teetering on the edge of being tinpot. It would basically cement it as something that is no longer worth winning.

Fans of the winning side getting some joy isn’t all that’s required to make something worthwhile.

All this back and forth has given us more points to scrap it than to keep a gimped version around.
Click to expand...
Ok, I disagree and we're just going round in circles now.
 
Last edited:
We stream rolled the 4th,3rd,2nd and now the first best team in the league to win the trophy. Made it look easy

PL and FA double will do me next season. Champion league treble maybe a step to far for us next season.
 
BaZ87 said:
You might not be aware but more and more players are speaking out against the ever increasing workload they're being put under. In fact I believe shortly before Rodri picked up a season ending injury he spoke out and went as far as to claim that players were discussing strike action too.
Click to expand...
Rodri went over the recommended 60 game maximum because he played every game in a euro 24 winning run. How can you threaten to strike? He's perfectly allowed to make himself unavailable for international duty. You can't strike from contracted games to allow you to play uncontracted games...
 
Last edited:
DavieJG said:
Rodri went over the recommended 60 game maximum because he played every game in a euro 24 winning run. How can you threaten to strike? He's perfectly allowed to make himself unavailable for international duty. You can't strike from contracted games to allow you to play uncontacted games...
Click to expand...
No he's not. FIFA can and have banned players for refusing to play International fixtures. And Rodri is a single example, read the report (or even the summary) I linked to. Injuries across the board are increasing year on year, particularly among younger players (almost trebled in 4 seasons) and in the PL.
 
Bigpig said:
We stream rolled the 4th,3rd,2nd and now the first best team in the league to win the trophy. Made it look easy

PL and FA double will do me next season. Champion league treble maybe a step to far for us next season.
Click to expand...
I could see them doing the FA next season but not the PL, would depend largely on who they get to replace Isak in the summer but even then I'm not sure I foresee them overtaking a rejuvenated Man City or an Arsenal with a new striker
 
Newcastle winning a trophy and somebody taking an overly excited Bigpig post seriously in consecutive days. We're living in strange times.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom