League Cup No Longer A Joke!

Gone are the days of teams putting out weak teams when it comes to playing the League cup, nowadays every team sees it as being a potential trophy and have started fielding teams that can win it.

In years gone by we have seen the top teams Arsenal, Chelsea, Man Utd and the likes putting out a team of reserve players when they play the league cup and inevitably get beaten.

The last two years however may have changed the mind-set of all managers when they come to play the league cup, Liverpool under Kenny Dalglish in 2011 made it one of their priorities to win a trophy and saw the League cup as a potential chance for that.

Liverpool fielded their strongest team from the first match they played in the cup and went on to win it against Cardiff in the final, Last year Swansea saw it as an opportunity for them to get a trophy and by fielding a strong team they went all the way.

Before this the competition was seen as a bit of a nuisance and it only tired out the players but now managers are realising that winning any trophy is good when trying to implement a winning mentality in players.

If we look at the remaining amount of Premier League teams in round 4 this year, it is 13 out of the 16 in the round, this is two more than last year and the year before.

The quarter finals will be a better indication of the change in emphasis in the league cup as there is a possibility we could be left with only Premier League teams.

This is certainly a welcome change as teams are finally treating the League Cup as a decent trophy making it more competitive, it also increases the enjoyment for the fans with games becoming more exciting and meaningful.

This years Capital One Cup could be one of the best in recent memory with Man Utd, Spurs, Man City, Chelsea and Arsenal all still in the competition battling it out to get to Wembley.