I was referring to our starting XI. We should field our strongest team always in competitive matches

La la la your mum

And risked having a weakened side v Forest ? No thanks

Edited by babylonjohn (10 Nov 2022 12.01pm)

The top six have been asking for this or variations on it, or maybe they would prefer a by to the semi finals.

The problem is that TV would not be interested if the big boys withdrew so I am not sure what the answer is.

I agree with your thrust that too many clubs fail to take it seriously until the later stages just don't know what the solution is without devaluing the competition.

If the money is in European competition I can see them withdrawing at some stage but the cup will suffer.

One more point

In the last decade Man City have won this cup six times, Liverpool twice, Man Utd once, and Swansea won it back in 2013.

Smaller clubs say it's their best chance of a trophy but in last five years only Saints have made the final. In fact, the FA Cup has seen more "smaller" teams make the final, with Leicester even winning it in 2020-2021.

The big issue is that Man City's second XI is better than most team's first XI, so they can just throw it on the pile with their other trophies. Meanwhile the likes of Liverpool often stumble through the early rounds with youth and then bring out the big guns when it matters. The whole thing is a bit of a joke when a club our size leaves out some of its best players for a competitive game. Let's face it, if we really serious about winning then we wouldn't have left Zaha and Eze at home.

Thats the problem with it when you consider each place higher in the PL is worth £ 2.2 Million its a wonder any first team players are involved

Its a nothing cup thats only comes to life if you stumble into the semi finals and is not worth wasting time or resources on

Its generally cheating the fans the way clubs play weakened sides ,even lower league teams rest players for this shambles of a competition .
The format to fit the prize money would be for carabao to go sponser the girls , they need it more than we do

I like it as it's a chance for silverware, but I agree it needs a revamp of sorts.

I would suggest a north/south split until the semi finals and I would remove the two legged semi final format - have always disagreed with this as it reduces the chance of a shock result.

Lastly, I'd award the winner a space in the Europa League ahead of the Conference League - which to be fair, is more of a punishment than it is a prize.