Avoiding the Drop

It's filled with disgusting beer.

Today we get two massive Carling Cup matchups.

Neither should be happening.

It is absolutely laughable that Liverpool and City are being made to play these games 48 hours after a Premier League meeting.  Even worse, the reasons for the refusal to schedule are absolute horseshit.

The FA throws a fit whenever a manager doesn’t take the league cups seriously and puts out a youthful lineup with no real worry of winning the competition.  But why exactly should the managers take this competition seriously when they’re asked to piggyback on a game played so recently that the bumps and bruises are yet to start to fade? They shouldn’t. Screw this tournament.

Liverpool could not have their matchup with Chelsea moved because there is no room in the schedule. Even though had Stoke won the previous leg, the match would have been moved because they have Europa League action this week.  So what the hell? Oh right, it’s because the week it would be moved to, December 12, has Chelsea playing City on Monday night because the league moved it from the weekend so it could be a marquee television matchup.  So basically the FA lied to Liverpool and City because their bigger interest is prime television audiences rather than the “integrity of the cup.”

I have just seen Liverpool’s team sheet and they are not rolling with kids, outside of Coates and Kelly, and they don’t really count as the kids.  So Kenny has fielded a relatively strong side even though he could have been forgiven for sending the kids to face the LEGENDARY HOME SUPPORT OF CHELSEA.  His prime concern was with the fans who paid to see this match, he didn’t want them to feel cheated. I can’t blame him.

But all in all, this entire scheduling fiasco is really just another sign of what football is really about: using tradition as a mask for financial concerns.  It’s a business, and I guess I cannot begrudge them for that.  But still, this stinks.

So treat this as an open thread if you want, and dump stream links in the comments seeing as this proud tournament has such horrible television coverage.