United Face City In Semi
From the very start of this season, I felt that Manchester City’s main priority, even more important than achieving top four status in the Premier League, was to win something.
It has been a long, long time since they lifted any kind of silverware and Mark Hughes, as an ex-Red will know more than most just how important it is to get that winning feeling amongst the players. Once you start winning trophies, it is almost like a drug. You want more, more, more.
Whilst the Carling Cup barely registers on the list of achievements for the likes of Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool, it would represent a significant marker for Manchester City.
The biggest obstacle in front of them is the two-legged semi-final against Manchester United.
Should they get past us then they will meet either Blackburn or Aston Villa in the final and I would not bet against City winning through against either of those.
As I said earlier, Mark Hughes will know all about the importance of getting that first trophy under his belt. He learned that from Fergie himself. Consequently, Fergie will know how important it is to prevent City from achieving it.
The Carling Cup does not exactly get the United supporter’s juices flowing these days but this tie has really added something special to it and this Semi-Final is bigger than the Final, whoever contests it.
We have already done them in the League, can we now do them in the League Cup?
Will Fergie stick with the young reserves for this one?
Big questions warrant big answers. Will we have them over two legs?
(Yes).
I dont like the fact that in this competition, only the semi-finals are played over two legs. Why isn’t the competition on a knock-out basis all the way through?
Obviously to favour the Top-4 cartel. God forbid any teams such as Grimsby should actually get through to the final.
Try and imagine a Grimsby v Aldershot final at Wembley…. not much glamour there and not much marketing opportunities either…..
I must admit, it does seem odd that the semi’s suddenly turn into two-legged affairs.
I think a few years ago, the League Cup was two legs all the way through but most managers felt that this meant that they had to play too many games and, as a consequence, the League Cup was pretty much treated with contempt and getting too far into the tournament was not desirable for them.
Like it or not, the Carling Cup is way, way down on the list of priorities for those teams contesting for the title and the Champions League.
However, now that it has been turned into more of a knockout tournament, the top teams give it a bit more attention – the fact that in the last nine years, the trophy has been won by top Premier League teams (including United and Chelsea with two wins each) probably bears this out.
In 2000, the final was contested by Leicester City and Tranmere. Do you remember that one? Does anybody? (Leicester won 2-1 by the way).
Whatever changes have been made to the tournament, I think it has been for the better and recent years have produced some great match-ups in the final.