The Carling Cup: Harry, you cannot be serious? Or can you?
The Milk, Littlewoods, Rumblelows, Coca-cola, Worthington or Carling, call it what you will! I still, and always will refer to it as the League Cup.
True, the competition introduced in the early sixties as a midweek floodlit knockout tournament, has become less and less prestigious over the years, but it is still an opportunity for a club like ours to have a cup run, ending up playing in the first ‘League’ Cup final at the new Wembley Stadium.
Obviously winning it will bring in some silverware and as some think, more importantly, a chance to secure a place in Europe (for this season at least until UEFA stop it.)
We don’t yet know how much emphasis Harry will put on it this year, but given that it is now seen (and accepted) by ‘larger’ clubs as a lower priority than other competitions, and also that some clubs make a point of fielding weaker teams I think it should be high enough up Harry’s agenda for it to be deemed important.
Boro, Blackburn & Leicester (twice) have all won it in the last ten years, so why can’t we?
Pompey play Leeds in the second round on Tuesday and as I see it there’s no excuse for not taking it seriously this time around. Another showing like the one at Newcastle last year just won’t do.
Ask yourself these questions. As I have.
Do we have to concentrate on premiership survival as we have in past years? – No, there’s still a job to be done, but surely we can’t use that as an excuse.
Is our squad big enough to risk injuries, bookings, suspensions? – Yes, we have seen more quality and numbers ‘in’ than ‘out’ this year so it appears so.
Do Pompey want European football? – Yes, at least if we want to continue to be a progressive club.
My questions to you fellas are a) how seriously should Harry take the League Cup this year and b) how far do you think Pompey can realistic progress?
Written by Chix.
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