I'm not sure scrutinizing this years Carling Cup exit will provide too many answers to anything Ed.
Dunno, West Brom went to OT a few days later & got a result.
We didn't seem able to go there and get a result. This notion
that the performance matters in a knockout cup competition
is barmy.
In general our performance in cup competitions has been woeful.
Now obviously, it would be harsh to be too scathing about last
years abysmal return in the cups but as you say going out of
the Capital One when you're
not in Europe is a hell of a lot different
than if there's a CL or Europa League campaign to deal with.
The mentality seems to be stuck in the Rafa era when it could be excused/
dismissed as we have bigger fish to fry - we don't!
Which brings us to the attitude of Kenny, success breeds/is built on success.
He went out of his way to take the domestic cups seriously & reached two
finals, winning one, qualifying for Europe - granted to the detriment of our
league campaign.
So are we a small club which focuses solely on the league, jettisoning cups
at the first opportunity?
Or are we a club focussed on winning things?
There's a difference there and it's worth keeping in mind when the question of
the club moving forward/progressing, standing still or moving backward comes up.
Lots of supporters will cling to the nonsense that the league is our bread &
butter and prioritise it at all costs. That's a misinterpretation imo because the league
is the bread and butter for every club in the division. What the guys originally meant
by that was that
winning the league was the true measure of the health of the
club because it showed that over the course of a 38 game season (or whatever it was
back then) the club has answered every footballing question thrown at it and come
out on top.
Meantime we seem to think (and the owners obviously, given that they sacked Kenny)
that it's all about top 4 and CL. Well finishing 6th is nothing - a points total meaningless.
The health of the club is reflected in the extent to which the squad peforms over the
course of the season and meets the challenges or footballing questions thrown at it, big
games, pressure games, injuries and fixture congestion - 6th and a points total as progress
in a season with no European football, an early exit from the Capital One cup?
So I think these are questions which the manager needs to be addressing honestly in press
conferences, instead of waffling on about the performance of the team in a knockout competition,
or how many
humble guys and
gentlemen we have in the squad
