Carling Cup conspiracy theory

[Coelho 0]

Now I''ll try to keep this strictly non-libellous and non-specific, but I have lost count of the number of times I have seen bigger teams singularly fail to show up against lower-league opposition in the early rounds of the Carling Cup. I am not levelling this accusation at Paul Lambert or, indeed, anyone in particular, but surely there must be managers who see this competition as something of an inconvenience, especially with the opening rounds being shoe-horned in so early in the season when the primary focus has to be on making a good start in the league.Tonight there seemed to be a complete lack of energy - I wouldn''t expect us to be flying into 50/50s as if it was a cup final, but it was almost as if the collective mentality was ''see if we can win the game without putting too much in, and if it goes tits up then never mind''. There was no urgency, no fluency and no real desire to chase the game at any point. I''m sure that in the privacy of the dressing rooms/training grounds of larger clubs, there must be ''under the radar'' conversations about the relative unimportance of this competition. Why do we need the Sherpa Van Trophy or whatever it''s called nowadays, for the two lower divisions, as well as a League Cup and the FA Cup? All the League Cup is, is a backdoor to the Europa League, which most ''bigger'' clubs see as an inconvenience in itself anyway; a second-rate continental away day with just a fraction of the financial incentive of the Champions League.A bit of a confused and directionless rant after a few pints and a lot of soul-searching about what the hell happened tonight, I admit, but it''s there for discussion.

[Gingerpele 0]

I think (and hope) your right.

The League is the priority for every club, wether its staying up, wining the league ect etc etc. A good league finish is much more important than winning the Carling Cup, the FA Cup and Champions League are different, but for a lot of clubs the Carling Cup, and Europa league are just extras and not really worth putting too much effort into.

I really really hope, that tonights performance was down to a view amongst the players and Lambert, that we don''t really need to try, were not going to win it, and even if we did, look at the Brummies. If Lambert didn''t tell the players to take it easy, and not worry about the result, then i''m a bit worried, if we have the capacity to have 6/7 players who will be in or around the first team all season to just not perform thats really going to get us relegated. Of course two/three players having a real off day, can have a knock on effect on the rest of the team.

Maybe Lambert said, we don''t need to win tonight, don''t over do it, coupled with a couple of players really just having a bad game, brining down the rest of the team mean''t it just looked bad all round.

All we can hope, is this was a one off, and nothing like this will be seen in the league. I think most of us are expecting, even if we lose 5-0 to Chelsea, we will have still put up a fight and a decent performance, unlike tonight.

[Coelho 0]

[quote user="Gingerpele"]I think (and hope) your right.

The League is the priority for every club, wether its staying up, wining the league ect etc etc. A good league finish is much more important than winning the Carling Cup, the FA Cup and Champions League are different, but for a lot of clubs the Carling Cup, and Europa league are just extras and not really worth putting too much effort into.

I really really hope, that tonights performance was down to a view amongst the players and Lambert, that we don''t really need to try, were not going to win it, and even if we did, look at the Brummies. If Lambert didn''t tell the players to take it easy, and not worry about the result, then i''m a bit worried, if we have the capacity to have 6/7 players who will be in or around the first team all season to just not perform thats really going to get us relegated. Of course two/three players having a real off day, can have a knock on effect on the rest of the team.

Maybe Lambert said, we don''t need to win tonight, don''t over do it, coupled with a couple of players really just having a bad game, brining down the rest of the team mean''t it just looked bad all round.

All we can hope, is this was a one off, and nothing like this will be seen in the league. I think most of us are expecting, even if we lose 5-0 to Chelsea, we will have still put up a fight and a decent performance, unlike tonight.[/quote]If we put in a performance like tonight''s, we will lose 20-0 to Chelsea. [;)]

[Nexus_Canary 1,016]

Leyton Orient ???Tonight was a waste of time, we have bigger fish to fry  :)

[Canarino 0]

When did this competition become a waste of time? We wouldn''t be saying that if we got to the Wembley final. Sure, we''ve cleared out some fixture congestion, but the manner of losing is what''s really being debated. Us being very poor on the night doesn''t make this Cup worthless.

[Cantiaci Canary 557]

Within a few days no one will care about this.

We were similarly apathetic against Orient and look where we ended up.

It''s the League Cup for heavens sake ... it means nothing for teams in our position (look at what happened to Swansea and QPR too).

[pete_norw 0]

[quote user="Nexus_Canary"]Leyton Orient ???

Tonight was a waste of time, we have bigger fish to fry  :)
[/quote]

The clue was in Lamberts comments in the EDP I''m not going to risk survival for silverware. read into that what you will, but the team last night were made up of players that will probably not be in the 25, last night was a practice match for them and in my opinion they faild,  

[Coelho 0]

[quote user="pete_norw"]

[quote user="Nexus_Canary"]Leyton Orient ???Tonight was a waste of time, we have bigger fish to fry  :)[/quote]the team last night were made up of players that will probably not be in the 25

[/quote]That''s just about as wrong as it''s possible to be. Rudd, Ayala and Korey won''t need to be in the 25 because they are young enough not to qualify (and Ayala is a ''home-grown'' player). Martin, Whitbread, Drury, Fox, Hoolahan, Wilbraham, Surman and Jackson were the other eight starters, and they will all be in the final 25.