The League Cup in England has been in decline for quite some years now. Many teams choose to field youth and reserve players, while others seem happy to exit at the earliest opportunity in order to concentrate on the league. Attendances have been down and fans interest in the competition is dwindling. This season, with the aim of ending Arsenal’s trophy dry spell, Arsene Wenger has decided that he fancies winning the League Cup. Simply by fielding a few more first team players, Arsenal have made the semi finals fairly comfortably, and are now clear favourites to lift the trophy. The ease in which they have done this puts into question the validity of the competition as a whole. The League Cup cannot continue as a play thing for the top teams.
Already today in the third round of the FA Cup, we have seen a superb cup tie between Arsenal and Leeds United which ended 1-1. The stadium was full and the excitement levels were top notch. The magic of the FA Cup is very much alive and maybe the League Cup is now surplus to requirements. We now have access to more football on television than ever before. With the Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League and other top class European football, the League Cup sadly fades into obscurity.
Maybe it is time to get rid of the competition entirely? This would ease fixture congestion and remove the problem completely. However, lower league teams would then have less to aim for in a season. Perhaps teams that play in Europe could be excluded, or maybe all the teams in the Premier League? I believe that something needs to happen to the League Cup, it lacks drama and excitement simply because it is not taken seriously any more by lots of teams. Left as it is, the League Cup will wither and die, maybe we should kill it off sooner than that.
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