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Crystal Palace stunned Old Trafford on Wednesday night with a 2-1 extra-time victory in the Carling Cup quarter final. Sir Alex Ferguson fielded a weakened team against the Championship side, who completely deserved their win as United’s strength in depth was once again lacking.
With Manchester City five points clear in the title race and United struggling to confirm their progress from the Champions League group stage, the League Cup was perhaps a good chance of silverware this season. Surely it is slightly disrespectful to the supporters to deny them a possible chance at another trip to Wembley or a two legged semi final against one of their arch rivals.
Chelsea, Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal also fielded second string sides in their quarter final games with varying levels of success, but it is almost as if they don’t care about the competition anymore, which is a sad reality.
If it wasn’t that the players were too tired to play, then it was the managers disrespecting the competition and denying the supporters the chance to be competitive in all competitions. Are supporters of successful clubs bored of playing in cup finals? Are they bored of visiting the new Wembley, seeing their side walk up the famous stairs and lift the trophy?
Premier League rules force clubs to play their best team possible in every league game but no such rule applies for cup competitions. This allows managers to rest first team regulars and give the squad players a chance which rarely ends up in them progressing to become first team regulars the week after.
A Championship side will be in this year’s Carling Cup final and the two second tier semi-finalists have both claimed Premier League scalps along the way. Both Palace and Cardiff have taken the competition seriously and their supporters will be extremely excited about the possibility of a trip to Wembley next year if they can win their two legged semi final.
With the FA Cup third round draw taking place on Sunday, Premier League and Championship sides enter the competition and will be eager to find out their opponents for early January. The majority of top flight clubs will face weaker opposition and inevitably field a weakened side from their usual league 11, leaving them vulnerable to a shock. As much as everyone loves an FA Cup upset, I feel every team should take the once great cup competition seriously again.
Fans who travel all around the country to follow their club deserve the strongest possible line up to give them the best possible chance of victory. Every fan from every club wants to go to Wembley and it is up to the managers to give them the best chance of that. Hopefully the FA Cup draw will deliver some glamorous ties and clubs will go all out to win the trophy to make it as competitive as possible and make any giant killing an unarguable success.
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