Comments on: United Face City In Semi http://www.thereddevil.co.uk/united-face-city-in-semi/2009/12/03/ One fan's opinions and predictions of all things Manchester United and football Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:01:17 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v= By: The Red Devil http://www.thereddevil.co.uk/united-face-city-in-semi/2009/12/03/#comment-486 The Red Devil Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:57:23 +0000 http://www.thereddevil.co.uk/?p=1401#comment-486 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. 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.

]]> By: Mike T http://www.thereddevil.co.uk/united-face-city-in-semi/2009/12/03/#comment-485 Mike T Fri, 04 Dec 2009 13:22:09 +0000 http://www.thereddevil.co.uk/?p=1401#comment-485 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 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…..

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