Relevance of the Carling Cup

The results of the third round of Carling Cup 2010/2011 have been quite surprising with so many upsets happening at this early stage. The biggest shock being Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester City all knocked out in their first game. This once again raises the perennial question by some as to why this competition still exists as England is the only major European football association that has two domestic cup competitions with the Carling Cup traditionally being the tournament that gets the least attention.

Arsene Wenger is one manager who has received much criticism for his approach to the tournament as he sees the competition as an opportunity to blood his youngsters and give them some match experience; a policy which he has stuck with for several seasons despite Arsenal being trophyless since 2005. This approach prompted Tottenham manager Harry Redknapp to taunt Wenger in his pre-match press conference with his comments suggesting fans would prefer to watch their team win a trophy than to watch promising youngsters gain experience. It would appear that Wenger took his advice by naming a squad that surprised most as it included the likes of Arshavin, Nasri, Chamakh, Eboue, Koscielny and Rosicky who all participated in the action. The match ended with Arsenal winning 4-1 and it will be interesting to see Wenger's approach in the upcoming round.

Chelsea also came up against premiership opposition and were shocked by Newcastle at Stamford Bridge. The Chelsea team, as expected, was missing key players including Drogba et.al, but so was Newcastle who left their regular starters on the bench.

Liverpool's defeat was most surprising however as no one would have expected Northampton to defeat a Liverpool team which included players such as Ngog (current leading goalscorer) , Babel, Lucas, Agger and Jovanovic.

Interestingly it has been Manchester United (double defending champions) who fielded the least experienced team in terms of minutes played in the premier league this season, however they didn't have much difficulty in defeating Scunthorpe United 5-2 to progress to the next round. The practice of fielding youngsters with some experience players is somewhat a gamble, but by gauging opposition correctly and by selecting the right balance of players top teams can still be successful as Sir Alex Ferguson has proven over the past couple seasons, and even Jose Mourinho during his time at Chelsea. It is also interesting to note that the winners of the tournament over the last six seasons are Chelsea, Tottenham and Manchester United (current in top four of the premiership).

With that being said, the Carling Cup is still relevant in my opinion and despite the upsets that have already occurred this season, I am predicting that a strong premiership team will eventually be crowned champions come March 2011.