Cardiff City ended up 9-8 winners at the Cardiff City Stadium last night, but you have to factor into score line a 7-6 penalty shootout into that score.Therefore, we are in the draw for the fourth Round which we take place on Saturday lunchtime on Sky Sports show Soccer Saturday. We will have to wait until after presenter Jeff Stelling and his pundits of the day finish there usually, homage/love-in with all things Premier League before they get around to the draw round 'something to one' I suppose.
There are some really interesting names in the pot for the next round,
Liverpool, Cardiff, Chelsea, Everton, Man City, Southampton, Aldershot, Arsenal, Bolton, Blackburn, Burnley, C Palace, Man Utd, Newcastle, Stoke, and Wolves
The games kick-off the week starting Oct 24th and with Sky offering a free pass to its Sports Channels, you could watch the draw and the Cardiff City v Leicester City league game on Sunday. If you are not a Sky subscribers just check the channel this weekend (Virgin subscribers etc).
One team stands out from the rest! No it not Manchester United, but Aldershot who I class has the most beatable team left in the competition, no disrespect to them, but there are a lot of fans thinking that today. I suppose it is disrespecting Aldershot classed them has beatable. They themselves will have their fingers crossed for a big payday with one of the top Premiership clubs. So does that make them disrespectful to us?
Fans are already talking about Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, and Manchester City and of course, Liverpool and Bellamy while I would like to see them play each other while we progress quietly through the back door. Any of those teams in the final would suit me fine knowing that losing we could still be winners. They should all gain qualification for Europe via the Premier League mean the Carling Cup loser could be a winner with a spot in Europe.
We are three games from another trip to Wembley and a possibility of European football. Without some kind of a deal on entry back into the Welsh Cup the best route for the Bluebirds to bring back European football nights back to Cardiff.
The game last night saw a measly 8,000+ turnout with some fans demanding where the 13,000+ that disappeared from the last home game went. Most should make reappearance on Sunday for the League game. An even bigger crowd is on the cards for the top of the table clash with Southampton next Wednesday night. Why because it has always been like that since the beginning of the competition back in 1960? Fans just do not dig the League/Carling Cup.
A simply stat from history
- Average attendance in the League before Cardiff first ever game in the League Cup in 1960, 30.000+
- The first home game in the League Cup was only 12,000 for the newly launched competition and in the FA Cup that season 25.000+.
It has always been the same, the League Cup has always been the poor relation to the FA Cup and the League.
The big question should be with 17,000 plus season ticket holders these uber or ultimate fans to be found? A lot were not in the ground. Some of them are quick to have a bash at non-season ticket holders or part time support they like to label them has. Are they waiting on some kind of a freebie or something, you can bet they will be flashing their season tickets if we pull Manchester United out of the draw Sunday. I hope the club would give priority to fans who watch the previous Carling Cup game in that case.
Managers, players and fans all put down the Carling Cup even me calling in the ‘Reserves Cup’, but I would still like to see the Bluebirds win it and see the trophy in the trophy cabinet at the Cardiff City Stadium. The fourth round might be too early for some of the managers to think about first team squad again it will be down to whom they are playing. Domestic Cups are taking a back sit to Champions League football, promotion and general league survive a point in case is what happen to the three promoted to the Premiership last season, they all crash out in embarrassing results with the mind set on ‘must not get relegated’ even this early into the season. The words of the QPR boss Neil Warnock just about sums it up,
"I'm not disappointed to be out. "If I can't get motivated for the competition I can't blame the players if they can't."
I am thinking you cannot get your players motivated for a chance at European football because if they are dream on about Champions League football dream on and they also have little chance of qualifying via a league place either. I said it before the only thing on the mind of managers in the bottom half of the league is preserve their Premier League status.
No comments:
Post a Comment