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After watching Man United play Burnley last-night in the so-called "Worthless" League Cup it came as a surprise to me that not only had Sir Alex Ferguson fielded a reasonabley strong side for the match - showing that he's serious about winning the Worthington Cup this year, but Stan Ternent's side (who knocked-out Spurs in the 3rd Round) seemed to never give-up and showed great fighting spirit and determination that provided us (the viewers) with a competitive and rather entertaining match overall for one of United's "easiest" competitors so-far this season.
Normally when a big-name Premiership team like United is drawn-against a lower division team of hopefulls like Burnley the Premiership manager will field a team of youngsters and forgotten first-teamers now lost in the reserves, as this competition is often seen as a 'waste-of-space' with the Premiership title, the FA Cup and the Champions' League to fight for instead. The little team will give it all they've got to get through, and often do-so, casuing a great "Cup Upset" over one of Britain's biggest and most succesfull clubs. It has already happened with Arsenal this season, and has been happening to United and a few others for the last few years.
In the long-run, the one team that ends-up lifting the League Cup victoriously towards the end of the season is only a small Nationwide League club - or maybe a below-average Premiership team like Leicester City a few years back.
By only offering a place in the UEFA Cup for the next season this cup may seem pretty useless to the bigger teams at the top who will almost certainly guarrentee themselves a place in the Champions' League next-season by finnishing the season in the Top 3. But for one reason or another, Sir Alex Ferguson has seen sense in fielding a stronger side than usual in this competition, whether he thinks it means anything to his team or not.
And fair-play to him! He may have still squeezed one-or-two promising youngsters in there aswell last-night, but giving a lower division team some REAL competition for once we saw what was to be a rather entertaining match of 2 halves, with some great football being played and a lot of chances going begging.
If Ferguson hadn't have given the likes of van Nistelrooy, Forlan, Giggs and Scholes places within last-night's squad, then it probably would have been a less entertaining match of mistakes, leading to Burnley going-through to the Quarter Finals, satisfying only those last-night backing one of Chris Waddle's former-sides (And no - that's not United!).
When we switch on to Sky Sports or pop-down to watch our local teams, live, what do we expect to see? Why don't we just go out and do something-else, returning home later in the night to catch-up with the scores and highlights on ITV and the News?
It's not just about the match being live, or seeing all the action as-it-happens.
When we watch a match, any match, we expect to be entertained. We want to see some brillaint goals, Beckham-style free-kicks, crunching tackles, slick passing movements, skill and great control, fierce competition to really get the match going.
What we don't want - or often expect to see - is a match that is entirely one-sided with all the action coming-and-going again within only the first 30 minutes. That is something we often see in Cup matches and friendlies when a smaller team is over-powered by a side of European and International Superstars, and even when a team with a huge world-wide reputation fails miserabley as the youngsters fielded for that one game simply cannot keep-up to the standards of even a Third Division side. But in saying that, as an Arsenal fan it must have been great to see Spurs crash-out against Burnley like that! Even if you were already on your way-out yourselves... Then again, Glenn Hoddle fielded a strong team on the night, one with Redknapp, Keller, and Sheringham and all the rest who looked like they had set-out to win.. But they didn't. And we thoroughly enjoyed seeing Burnley run-rings-around-them as their fans began to look-away in disbelief.
If Man United met Real Madrid, or Arsenal met Juventus in the Champions' League Semi-Final, and one side consisted of a mixed-'n'-matched team group of in-experienced youngsters and one-time hopefulls now lost behind the rest, while the other team sent-out all-stars from around-the-world, and the best they had to get the job done right - in both legs, then we simply wouldn't enjoy watching that match as-much as we would have if both teams had come-out onto the pitch for the kick-off equally-matched. Even the supporters of the team on the right-end of that 6-0 scorline would be waiting for this match to finnish as they already know the final-score!
So next-time we see a Second of Third Division team drawn-against a top-side from the Premiership, whether it be in the Worthington Cup-or-not, I think that the managers of today should think about who they intend to play in the forthcoming "easy" fixture, whether he intends to have this competition's particular trophy in the Trophy Cabinet come May or not, it just helps to make the game more entertaining.
It's OK to field a fair-number of youngsters, but you can only expect to get slaughtered in the 'papers tommorow after throwing it all away - again - because you didn't include you Thierry Henrys and your Michael Owens.
Why will fans want to pay money to see on a regular basis when they see that idols like David Beckham and Seaman might not even be on the pitch when the time comes to hand-over their ticket and walk-through the gates into their pricey seat at the center of Row C, North Stand?
You all enjoyed watching the United match last-night, didn't you?
When you saw United last-season it wasn't that much fun to see Nardiello and co. running-round and giving the ball away in a team that looked like it was lost in the woods late at night, was it?
So by mixing up the talent a little bit, you get an entertaining match to see that you won't be a simple walk-over. And then everyone's happy (except for the losing team, of course!).
Normally when a big-name Premiership team like United is drawn-against a lower division team of hopefulls like Burnley the Premiership manager will field a team of youngsters and forgotten first-teamers now lost in the reserves, as this competition is often seen as a 'waste-of-space' with the Premiership title, the FA Cup and the Champions' League to fight for instead. The little team will give it all they've got to get through, and often do-so, casuing a great "Cup Upset" over one of Britain's biggest and most succesfull clubs. It has already happened with Arsenal this season, and has been happening to United and a few others for the last few years.
In the long-run, the one team that ends-up lifting the League Cup victoriously towards the end of the season is only a small Nationwide League club - or maybe a below-average Premiership team like Leicester City a few years back.
By only offering a place in the UEFA Cup for the next season this cup may seem pretty useless to the bigger teams at the top who will almost certainly guarrentee themselves a place in the Champions' League next-season by finnishing the season in the Top 3. But for one reason or another, Sir Alex Ferguson has seen sense in fielding a stronger side than usual in this competition, whether he thinks it means anything to his team or not.
And fair-play to him! He may have still squeezed one-or-two promising youngsters in there aswell last-night, but giving a lower division team some REAL competition for once we saw what was to be a rather entertaining match of 2 halves, with some great football being played and a lot of chances going begging.
If Ferguson hadn't have given the likes of van Nistelrooy, Forlan, Giggs and Scholes places within last-night's squad, then it probably would have been a less entertaining match of mistakes, leading to Burnley going-through to the Quarter Finals, satisfying only those last-night backing one of Chris Waddle's former-sides (And no - that's not United!).
When we switch on to Sky Sports or pop-down to watch our local teams, live, what do we expect to see? Why don't we just go out and do something-else, returning home later in the night to catch-up with the scores and highlights on ITV and the News?
It's not just about the match being live, or seeing all the action as-it-happens.
When we watch a match, any match, we expect to be entertained. We want to see some brillaint goals, Beckham-style free-kicks, crunching tackles, slick passing movements, skill and great control, fierce competition to really get the match going.
What we don't want - or often expect to see - is a match that is entirely one-sided with all the action coming-and-going again within only the first 30 minutes. That is something we often see in Cup matches and friendlies when a smaller team is over-powered by a side of European and International Superstars, and even when a team with a huge world-wide reputation fails miserabley as the youngsters fielded for that one game simply cannot keep-up to the standards of even a Third Division side. But in saying that, as an Arsenal fan it must have been great to see Spurs crash-out against Burnley like that! Even if you were already on your way-out yourselves... Then again, Glenn Hoddle fielded a strong team on the night, one with Redknapp, Keller, and Sheringham and all the rest who looked like they had set-out to win.. But they didn't. And we thoroughly enjoyed seeing Burnley run-rings-around-them as their fans began to look-away in disbelief.
If Man United met Real Madrid, or Arsenal met Juventus in the Champions' League Semi-Final, and one side consisted of a mixed-'n'-matched team group of in-experienced youngsters and one-time hopefulls now lost behind the rest, while the other team sent-out all-stars from around-the-world, and the best they had to get the job done right - in both legs, then we simply wouldn't enjoy watching that match as-much as we would have if both teams had come-out onto the pitch for the kick-off equally-matched. Even the supporters of the team on the right-end of that 6-0 scorline would be waiting for this match to finnish as they already know the final-score!
So next-time we see a Second of Third Division team drawn-against a top-side from the Premiership, whether it be in the Worthington Cup-or-not, I think that the managers of today should think about who they intend to play in the forthcoming "easy" fixture, whether he intends to have this competition's particular trophy in the Trophy Cabinet come May or not, it just helps to make the game more entertaining.
It's OK to field a fair-number of youngsters, but you can only expect to get slaughtered in the 'papers tommorow after throwing it all away - again - because you didn't include you Thierry Henrys and your Michael Owens.
Why will fans want to pay money to see on a regular basis when they see that idols like David Beckham and Seaman might not even be on the pitch when the time comes to hand-over their ticket and walk-through the gates into their pricey seat at the center of Row C, North Stand?
You all enjoyed watching the United match last-night, didn't you?
When you saw United last-season it wasn't that much fun to see Nardiello and co. running-round and giving the ball away in a team that looked like it was lost in the woods late at night, was it?
So by mixing up the talent a little bit, you get an entertaining match to see that you won't be a simple walk-over. And then everyone's happy (except for the losing team, of course!).
Wigan are beating Fulham 1-0. Ellington the scorer.
I would be happy if Villa won the Worthington Cup this season, as it's a UEFA Cup place for us, which will save us entering the Inter-toto Cup.
I think that we have a good chance of winning it, and I'm sure that we can beat Preston today.
Sheffield United also have a chance to win it, after knocking out Leeds in the 3rd Round, and Sunderland in the 4th Round. It will good to see who wins out of Chelsea and Everton tonight.
I think that we have a good chance of winning it, and I'm sure that we can beat Preston today.
Sheffield United also have a chance to win it, after knocking out Leeds in the 3rd Round, and Sunderland in the 4th Round. It will good to see who wins out of Chelsea and Everton tonight.
Yeah, the mixed team Man united played last night was good. Believe it or not, I think it helped players like Phil Neville and Diego Forlan to be played amongst youth and reserve players, with some first team experience too. It probably gave them more confidence to be more senior players.
A good move by Ferguson to sub players like Forlan so the crowd give him an ovvation and make him feel comfortable in the club.
And you're right, I enjoyed the match a lot!
(:)
A good move by Ferguson to sub players like Forlan so the crowd give him an ovvation and make him feel comfortable in the club.
And you're right, I enjoyed the match a lot!
(:)
After watching Man United play Burnley last-night in the so-called "Worthless" League Cup it came as a surprise to me that not only had Sir Alex Ferguson fielded a reasonabley strong side for the match - showing that he's serious about winning the Worthington Cup this year, but Stan Ternent's side (who knocked-out Spurs in the 3rd Round) seemed to never give-up and showed great fighting spirit and determination that provided us (the viewers) with a competitive and rather entertaining match overall for one of United's "easiest" competitors so-far this season.
Normally when a big-name Premiership team like United is drawn-against a lower division team of hopefulls like Burnley the Premiership manager will field a team of youngsters and forgotten first-teamers now lost in the reserves, as this competition is often seen as a 'waste-of-space' with the Premiership title, the FA Cup and the Champions' League to fight for instead. The little team will give it all they've got to get through, and often do-so, casuing a great "Cup Upset" over one of Britain's biggest and most succesfull clubs. It has already happened with Arsenal this season, and has been happening to United and a few others for the last few years.
In the long-run, the one team that ends-up lifting the League Cup victoriously towards the end of the season is only a small Nationwide League club - or maybe a below-average Premiership team like Leicester City a few years back.
By only offering a place in the UEFA Cup for the next season this cup may seem pretty useless to the bigger teams at the top who will almost certainly guarrentee themselves a place in the Champions' League next-season by finnishing the season in the Top 3. But for one reason or another, Sir Alex Ferguson has seen sense in fielding a stronger side than usual in this competition, whether he thinks it means anything to his team or not.
And fair-play to him! He may have still squeezed one-or-two promising youngsters in there aswell last-night, but giving a lower division team some REAL competition for once we saw what was to be a rather entertaining match of 2 halves, with some great football being played and a lot of chances going begging.
If Ferguson hadn't have given the likes of van Nistelrooy, Forlan, Giggs and Scholes places within last-night's squad, then it probably would have been a less entertaining match of mistakes, leading to Burnley going-through to the Quarter Finals, satisfying only those last-night backing one of Chris Waddle's former-sides (And no - that's not United!).
When we switch on to Sky Sports or pop-down to watch our local teams, live, what do we expect to see? Why don't we just go out and do something-else, returning home later in the night to catch-up with the scores and highlights on ITV and the News?
It's not just about the match being live, or seeing all the action as-it-happens.
When we watch a match, any match, we expect to be entertained. We want to see some brillaint goals, Beckham-style free-kicks, crunching tackles, slick passing movements, skill and great control, fierce competition to really get the match going.
What we don't want - or often expect to see - is a match that is entirely one-sided with all the action coming-and-going again within only the first 30 minutes. That is something we often see in Cup matches and friendlies when a smaller team is over-powered by a side of European and International Superstars, and even when a team with a huge world-wide reputation fails miserabley as the youngsters fielded for that one game simply cannot keep-up to the standards of even a Third Division side. But in saying that, as an Arsenal fan it must have been great to see Spurs crash-out against Burnley like that! Even if you were already on your way-out yourselves... Then again, Glenn Hoddle fielded a strong team on the night, one with Redknapp, Keller, and Sheringham and all the rest who looked like they had set-out to win.. But they didn't. And we thoroughly enjoyed seeing Burnley run-rings-around-them as their fans began to look-away in disbelief.
If Man United met Real Madrid, or Arsenal met Juventus in the Champions' League Semi-Final, and one side consisted of a mixed-'n'-matched team group of in-experienced youngsters and one-time hopefulls now lost behind the rest, while the other team sent-out all-stars from around-the-world, and the best they had to get the job done right - in both legs, then we simply wouldn't enjoy watching that match as-much as we would have if both teams had come-out onto the pitch for the kick-off equally-matched. Even the supporters of the team on the right-end of that 6-0 scorline would be waiting for this match to finnish as they already know the final-score!
So next-time we see a Second of Third Division team drawn-against a top-side from the Premiership, whether it be in the Worthington Cup-or-not, I think that the managers of today should think about who they intend to play in the forthcoming "easy" fixture, whether he intends to have this competition's particular trophy in the Trophy Cabinet come May or not, it just helps to make the game more entertaining.
It's OK to field a fair-number of youngsters, but you can only expect to get slaughtered in the 'papers tommorow after throwing it all away - again - because you didn't include you Thierry Henrys and your Michael Owens.
Why will fans want to pay money to see on a regular basis when they see that idols like David Beckham and Seaman might not even be on the pitch when the time comes to hand-over their ticket and walk-through the gates into their pricey seat at the center of Row C, North Stand?
You all enjoyed watching the United match last-night, didn't you?
When you saw United last-season it wasn't that much fun to see Nardiello and co. running-round and giving the ball away in a team that looked like it was lost in the woods late at night, was it?
So by mixing up the talent a little bit, you get an entertaining match to see that you won't be a simple walk-over. And then everyone's happy (except for the losing team, of course!).
Normally when a big-name Premiership team like United is drawn-against a lower division team of hopefulls like Burnley the Premiership manager will field a team of youngsters and forgotten first-teamers now lost in the reserves, as this competition is often seen as a 'waste-of-space' with the Premiership title, the FA Cup and the Champions' League to fight for instead. The little team will give it all they've got to get through, and often do-so, casuing a great "Cup Upset" over one of Britain's biggest and most succesfull clubs. It has already happened with Arsenal this season, and has been happening to United and a few others for the last few years.
In the long-run, the one team that ends-up lifting the League Cup victoriously towards the end of the season is only a small Nationwide League club - or maybe a below-average Premiership team like Leicester City a few years back.
By only offering a place in the UEFA Cup for the next season this cup may seem pretty useless to the bigger teams at the top who will almost certainly guarrentee themselves a place in the Champions' League next-season by finnishing the season in the Top 3. But for one reason or another, Sir Alex Ferguson has seen sense in fielding a stronger side than usual in this competition, whether he thinks it means anything to his team or not.
And fair-play to him! He may have still squeezed one-or-two promising youngsters in there aswell last-night, but giving a lower division team some REAL competition for once we saw what was to be a rather entertaining match of 2 halves, with some great football being played and a lot of chances going begging.
If Ferguson hadn't have given the likes of van Nistelrooy, Forlan, Giggs and Scholes places within last-night's squad, then it probably would have been a less entertaining match of mistakes, leading to Burnley going-through to the Quarter Finals, satisfying only those last-night backing one of Chris Waddle's former-sides (And no - that's not United!).
When we switch on to Sky Sports or pop-down to watch our local teams, live, what do we expect to see? Why don't we just go out and do something-else, returning home later in the night to catch-up with the scores and highlights on ITV and the News?
It's not just about the match being live, or seeing all the action as-it-happens.
When we watch a match, any match, we expect to be entertained. We want to see some brillaint goals, Beckham-style free-kicks, crunching tackles, slick passing movements, skill and great control, fierce competition to really get the match going.
What we don't want - or often expect to see - is a match that is entirely one-sided with all the action coming-and-going again within only the first 30 minutes. That is something we often see in Cup matches and friendlies when a smaller team is over-powered by a side of European and International Superstars, and even when a team with a huge world-wide reputation fails miserabley as the youngsters fielded for that one game simply cannot keep-up to the standards of even a Third Division side. But in saying that, as an Arsenal fan it must have been great to see Spurs crash-out against Burnley like that! Even if you were already on your way-out yourselves... Then again, Glenn Hoddle fielded a strong team on the night, one with Redknapp, Keller, and Sheringham and all the rest who looked like they had set-out to win.. But they didn't. And we thoroughly enjoyed seeing Burnley run-rings-around-them as their fans began to look-away in disbelief.
If Man United met Real Madrid, or Arsenal met Juventus in the Champions' League Semi-Final, and one side consisted of a mixed-'n'-matched team group of in-experienced youngsters and one-time hopefulls now lost behind the rest, while the other team sent-out all-stars from around-the-world, and the best they had to get the job done right - in both legs, then we simply wouldn't enjoy watching that match as-much as we would have if both teams had come-out onto the pitch for the kick-off equally-matched. Even the supporters of the team on the right-end of that 6-0 scorline would be waiting for this match to finnish as they already know the final-score!
So next-time we see a Second of Third Division team drawn-against a top-side from the Premiership, whether it be in the Worthington Cup-or-not, I think that the managers of today should think about who they intend to play in the forthcoming "easy" fixture, whether he intends to have this competition's particular trophy in the Trophy Cabinet come May or not, it just helps to make the game more entertaining.
It's OK to field a fair-number of youngsters, but you can only expect to get slaughtered in the 'papers tommorow after throwing it all away - again - because you didn't include you Thierry Henrys and your Michael Owens.
Why will fans want to pay money to see on a regular basis when they see that idols like David Beckham and Seaman might not even be on the pitch when the time comes to hand-over their ticket and walk-through the gates into their pricey seat at the center of Row C, North Stand?
You all enjoyed watching the United match last-night, didn't you?
When you saw United last-season it wasn't that much fun to see Nardiello and co. running-round and giving the ball away in a team that looked like it was lost in the woods late at night, was it?
So by mixing up the talent a little bit, you get an entertaining match to see that you won't be a simple walk-over. And then everyone's happy (except for the losing team, of course!).