• Moderators, please send me a PM if you are unable to access mod permissions. Thanks, Habsy.

2021-22-23-24 News Thread

andyt said:
I don’t know about other leagues, but France had 2 domestic Cups. The League Cup was played for 26 years until the pandemic ended it.

There was a guy from Scotland on One of the old boards who took umbrage to any suggestion that the League Cup be discontinued. IIRC, his point was that it was a financial windfall for the lower level teams when the big boys came calling. But if the Prem is splashing more of their TV money to the EFL, maybe the time has come to end it. Leagues One and Two play for the EFL Trophy, so they have 3 cup competitions and a 46 match league schedule to contend with.
Click to expand...
I remember that argument, and I thought he was full of crap then ... and his arguments have only gotten less plausible with time. We're talking about a competition that only dates to the early 60s, not to ancient of days so the tradition angle doesn't cut it. It only involves the top 4 flights, which means this supposed financial windfall is bestowed on the handful of League One and Two clubs "lucky" enough to be ceremonially beheaded by a Premiership club in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th rounds, when most of the carnage ensues. Because, let's face it ... the Championship sides don't have anything to gain in this competition and they certainly don't need to be trying to sell tickets to a Cup match against freaking Gillingham (no offense) in the middle of the serious business of trying to get promoted to Golden Goose Land. And is selling out your home ground that big a windfall when you seat 11,000 (sticking with Gillingham for no apparent reason)? The TV money for this thing is spectacularly paltry, so the real windfall for a lower division side is the rare occasion of a visit to a Premiership stadium ... a thing that happened FOUR TIMES in the current competition. FOUR. It's like some sort of very, very specific and weird lottery ... congrats to Crewe, Wycomb, Oldham and AFC Wimbledon. This whole Carabao Cup boiled down to your "windfall" ... by which I mean your opportunity to go on the road to get beaten by a team several light years better than you. Generally by their Under 23s and Over 35s, mind you.

The French took the opportunity of the pandemic break to kill their unpopular league cup and the Brits should do the same. There's no meaningful tradition, there's no predictable financial advantage for the small clubs and nobody watches the thing. There's a reason you can't keep a TV sponsor ... it's basically a charitable contribution. I'm absolutely shocked that it's not brought to you by a Crypto outfit at this point. It would be fitting because the whole thing is ridiculous.
 
jeffbear said:
I remember that argument, and I thought he was full of crap then ... and his arguments have only gotten less plausible with time. We're talking about a competition that only dates to the early 60s, not to ancient of days so the tradition angle doesn't cut it. It only involves the top 4 flights, which means this supposed financial windfall is bestowed on the handful of League One and Two clubs "lucky" enough to be ceremonially beheaded by a Premiership club in the 2nd, 3rd and 4th rounds, when most of the carnage ensues. Because, let's face it ... the Championship sides don't have anything to gain in this competition and they certainly don't need to be trying to sell tickets to a Cup match against freaking Gillingham (no offense) in the middle of the serious business of trying to get promoted to Golden Goose Land. And is selling out your home ground that big a windfall when you seat 11,000 (sticking with Gillingham for no apparent reason)? The TV money for this thing is spectacularly paltry, so the real windfall for a lower division side is the rare occasion of a visit to a Premiership stadium ... a thing that happened FOUR TIMES in the current competition. FOUR. It's like some sort of very, very specific and weird lottery ... congrats to Crewe, Wycomb, Oldham and AFC Wimbledon. This whole Carabao Cup boiled down to your "windfall" ... by which I mean your opportunity to go on the road to get beaten by a team several light years better than you. Generally by their Under 23s and Over 35s, mind you.

The French took the opportunity of the pandemic break to kill their unpopular league cup and the Brits should do the same. There's no meaningful tradition, there's no predictable financial advantage for the small clubs and nobody watches the thing. There's a reason you can't keep a TV sponsor ... it's basically a charitable contribution. I'm absolutely shocked that it's not brought to you by a Crypto outfit at this point. It would be fitting because the whole thing is ridiculous.
Click to expand...
Thank you for this Jeff. I was too lazy to look up the "advantages" of playing this Cup, and your last point is what I was thinking. 100% with this.
 
Steve Cherundolo was named head coach of LAFC, replacing Bob Bradley. He coached the Las Vegas Lights in USL Championship last year, his first senior level head coaching position. He had been an assistant at Hannover and Stuttgart and was head coach of Hannover’s U15 and U17 teams.
 
Spurs could face another Covid outbreak ahead of their League Cup semifinal against Chelsea. After the problems they had in Decembed, with 3 matches postponed, it seems to me like they might want to do a deep clean at their training site. This is from an article at The Athletic (behind a paywall).

Speaking to the media ahead of the Chelsea match, Conte said: “We are checking a couple of situations about COVID concerning players and we’ll see.

“We are not sure 100 per cent whether they are going to miss the game.

“We have to check and also during the day if there are new positives or not. We are checking a couple of situations and then tomorrow will see the players that are available to play the game against Chelsea.”
Click to expand...

theathletic.com

Tottenham sweating over COVID-19 absences ahead of Chelsea clash

Tottenham Hotspur are facing an anxious wait over potential positive COVID-19 cases ahead of their Carabao Cup semi-final tie against London rivals Chelsea. Antonio Conte’s side travel to Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, having already had three matches postponed in December, when a COVID-19...
theathletic.com theathletic.com
 
andyt said:
Steve Cherundolo was named head coach of LAFC, replacing Bob Bradley. He coached the Las Vegas Lights in USL Championship last year, his first senior level head coaching position. He had been an assistant at Hannover and Stuttgart and was head coach of Hannover’s U15 and U17 teams.
Click to expand...
Ah, Cherundelo is a personal favorite. I hope he has a great career as a manager.
 
Liverpool has a Covid outbreak and the EFL is considering whether the League Cup semifinal match against Arsenal can proceed. Liverpool also have a FA Cup match against Shrewsbury on Sunday.
 
The Arsenal v. Liverpool League Cup match has been postponed to January 13, with the return leg on January 20. I still think a 2 legged tie in a tournament that nobody cares about is stupid, but there you go.
 
Ed H in Pasadena said:
Despite not having featured in a match for two months, Watford agreed (was strongly pressured into) to release Ismaila Sarr for AFCON.
Click to expand...
Watford seem to be actively trying to alienate African players at this point, after sparring with both Sarr and Dennis over their AFCON releases. I know the timing is annoying and all, but it's not like everybody didn't know that ahead of time. Claudio Ranieri is too old to get away with throwing tantrums
 
Ed H in Pasadena said:
But that's not as bad as the Sierra Leone manager getting death threats over his squad selection.
Click to expand...
I mean ... sadly, that's not all that unusual in African football. Uganda's manager basically had to abandon his apartment after he resigned following the 2019 AFCON, and he had actually done quite well. They ended up framing it as a "mutual consent" thing just to turn down the heat on the poor guy.
 
andyt said:
Grant Wahl tweeted that Carlos Cordeiro is running for USSF President again. That should go over well.

Click to expand...

Given that Carlos will get exactly zero votes from any representatives of the women's side of the game, and that he systemically alienated the youth vote for his entire tenure, it's tough to see why he'd even bother. Current leadership sucks, but so did his. Even the USSF isn't that stupid.

I mean, they are ... so ... yeah. I honestly think he wants back in to cover himself, because his hands are dirty in some of the player abuse situations that are supposedly being investigated more fully in NWSL and the USWNT. LOTS of stuff got reported to USSF on his watch that went absolutely nowhere. Maybe he has a better chance of avoiding personal liability if he's got the weight of the organization behind him again.
 
andyt said:
Spurs could face another Covid outbreak ahead of their League Cup semifinal against Chelsea. After the problems they had in Decembed, with 3 matches postponed, it seems to me like they might want to do a deep clean at their training site. This is from an article at The Athletic (behind a paywall).



theathletic.com

Tottenham sweating over COVID-19 absences ahead of Chelsea clash

Tottenham Hotspur are facing an anxious wait over potential positive COVID-19 cases ahead of their Carabao Cup semi-final tie against London rivals Chelsea. Antonio Conte’s side travel to Stamford Bridge on Wednesday, having already had three matches postponed in December, when a COVID-19...
theathletic.com theathletic.com
Click to expand...
Dier self-isolated and was replaced by Japhet Tanganga, who was directly responsible for two own goals. Final: 2-0.

Sad, because at one point the kid was very promising. You have to figure his Spurs career is shot after that, even if Conte left him in the whole match.
 
Meanwhile, in Italy
"Rising Covid-19 cases in the Bologna squad meant the local health authority (ASL) placed the team into quarantine for seven to 10 days from Wednesday.

But with Serie A refusing to cancel matches, Inter were forced to turn up and train before the game, as normal.

Officials even inspected the pitch and tested the goal-line technology, despite there being no Bologna players."

Click to expand...
 
The Liverpool Women's side in the FA Women's Championship have signed American Katie Stengel, who most recently played for Valerenga in Norway. The move reunites her with Reds Coach Matt Beard, who coached her with the Boston Breakers.
Hoping she can help our women's push to regain the top flight.

www.skysports.com

Liverpool Women sign American forward Katie Stengel

Stengel played under Reds head coach Matt Beard at Boston Breakers; 29-year-old could make her debut in Sundays FA Womens Championship trip to Blackburn Rovers Ladies
www.skysports.com www.skysports.com
Click to expand...
 
Ed H in Pasadena said:
The Liverpool Women's side in the FA Women's Championship have signed American Katie Stengel, who most recently played for Valerenga in Norway. The move reunites her with Reds Coach Matt Beard, who coached her with the Boston Breakers.
Hoping she can help our women's push to regain the top flight.
Click to expand...
Katie was a legend in college at Wake Forest and her kid sister plays for my NC State Wolfpack. She never really did much in NWSL, but has played for some pretty sketchy organizations. I hope she finds her form for your Reds.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top