Pochettino never used to prioritise the League Cup - at Chelsea, it can provide respite
theathletic.com
Mauricio Pochettino did not come to Chelsea targeting the Carabao Cup, but a stuttering start to his tenure has shifted priorities
  • fa_football@alien.topOPBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    For teams like Chelsea and Manchester United, I think this makes complete sense.

    They’ve had a horrid start to the season and it is likely that neither team will make the top 4. So, a good cup run, although it is only the League Cup, will help lift the mood because it is a trophy nonetheless.

    Even if they put on a decent run to the semi-finals or even final, I think it’ll undoubtedly help in raising morale.

    • StandardConnect@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      Even if we had a big chance of “top 4” i wouldn’t want us throwing a cup to prioritise it.

      Treating top 4 like a trophy is everything wrong with modern football.

      • emessea@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        11 months ago

        You’re right to an extent but wasn’t it Wenger who said something along the lines of you don’t get players to sign by winning the FA cup?

        Finishing 4th isn’t the trophy, it just allows you to compete for a much bigger trophy.

      • mvp-a1@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        11 months ago

        Nah spending a billion in 12 months is everything wrong with football. And after spending a billion, your aim is semi finals of the carabao 🤡

  • L0laccio@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Rovers are half decent. I think Chelsea need to put out at least a few of the regulars to be sure of progressing. Potential banana skin tonight

    • ZaphodG@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      The Rovers have a massive talent gap. They lost Ben Brereton-Diaz to Valencia on a free transfer. They sold their GK Kaminski to Luton and their #1 GK Pears is injured. Their best defender Hyam is injured. They’re small and young up front. Justin Leonard is 18. He shows promise as 9 but he’s very inexperienced and will be pushed around by a larger CB. Dolan is 21. Szmodics works really hard but he’s small. Blackburn plays bring it out from the back. With an iffy GK and backs who aren’t athletic, an athletic Premier League squad that presses at all is going to force a lot of mistakes and get easy goals. Blackburn will have to rotate a lot of their squad and they have no depth. The Rovers will play hard but Chelsea playing squad players would have to be completely demotivated to lose.

    • BrownBearLG@alien.topBEnglish
      1·
      11 months ago

      Poch has said he is basically putting out his best 11 excluding a few to be rest and of course the massive injury list.

      • gsoClarke@alien.topBEnglish
        1·
        11 months ago

        And they didn’t look that good, did they? We will take the win and move on. That’s what tournaments are about, win and advance.

  • DifficultyMore5935@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    11 months ago

    Jose Mourinho always used this cup as a mid season motivation/progress check. It’s a great cup for teams looking to win the league (Not Chelsea currently) to get the taste of winning.