League Cup 2003 - 2004

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1

we join the League Cup (sponsored by Carling) in the third round:

**Third round draw **




Bristol City                   v Southampton 
Everton                        v Charlton 
Nottm Forest                   v Portsmouth 
Blackburn Rovers               v Liverpool 
Bolton                         v Gillingham 
Wigan                          v Middlesbrough 
Wolves                         v Burnley 
Blackpool                      v Crystal Palace 
Chelsea                        v Notts County 
QPR                            v Manchester City 
Reading                        v Huddersfield 
Aston Villa                    v Leicester 
Tottenham                      v West Ham 
Arsenal                        v Rotherham 
Newcastle United               v West Brom 
Leeds United                   v Manchester United

Ties to be played week commencing 27 October - hopefully y’all reply to this thread - Everybody loves Football right? :smiley:

2

Carling Cup draw

Bitter rivals Leeds and Manchester United will face each other in the third round of the Carling Cup.

There is no love lost between the pair, with both clubs having decided to reduce the ticket allocation for away fans in their Premiership matches to reduce the risk of trouble.

Notts County, currently in administration, will be looking for a much-needed financial windfall when they travel to Chelsea.

Blackburn boss Graeme Souness will lock horns with Gerard Houllier again when holders Liverpool visit to Ewood Park - the pair having fallen out after the recent Premiership meeting at Blackburn over a Lucas Neill tackle.

One of the other top ties sees London rivals Tottenham at home to West Ham.

3

Some interesting ties in this round. However, I can't see the likes of Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea fielding their strongest sides in this competition while they are all still involved in the Champions League. As has been the case in previous seasons, the League Cup affords these top sides the opportunity to 'blood' their youth teams.

Lets see which players Messers Freguson, Wenger and Ranieri select this week.

MM

4

Re: League Cup 2003 - 2004

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Talha: *
....
Everybody loves Football right? :D
[/QUOTE]

Did you mean Soccer?

BTW: Everybody loves Raymond :D

5

Tue Oct 28 2003 - Carling Cup Third Round
(Half-time scores in brackets)

Bolton (1)2 - 0(0) Gillingham

Reading (0)1 - 0(0) Huddersfield

Arsenal (1)1 - 1(0) Rotherham Utd

Arsenal win 9-8 on penalties

Blackpool (0)1 - 3(1) Crystal Palace

Bristol City (0)0 - 3(1) Southampton

Leeds United (0)2 - 3(0) Man Utd

After Extra Time

QPR (0)0 - 3(1) Man City

Wolves (0)2 - 0(0) Burnley

6

English League Cup Results - Wednesday 29th October

Blackburn Rovers 3 - 4 Liverpool
Everton 1 - 0 Charlton Athletic
Wigan Athletic 1 - 2 Middlesbrough
Tottenham Hotspur 1 - 0 West Ham United (After Extra Time)
Nottingham Forest 2 - 4 Portsmouth (After Extra Time)
Aston Villa 1 - 0 Leicester City
Chelsea 4 - 2 Notts County
Newcastle United 1 - 2 West Bromwich Albion (After Extra Time)

Hey you geordies, what happened? Lost to WBA and at St.James's too... unbelievable!

C'mon you Spurs!

MM

7

unbelievable :mad: i can’t believe this we have lost to a divison 1 side and @ our home ground. :mad2: this is not happening. our side wasn’t strong enough maybe thats the reason but stil no excuses dis was a doddle a strol in the park we should’ve murdered them the quailty in our side is far superior and better than theirs but they got the basics rite and we didn’t ***********

8

Carling Cup fourth round

The Carling Cup fourth-round draw has thrown up a south-coast derby between Southampton and Portsmouth.
Holders Liverpool are at home to Bolton while Manchester United travel to West Brom.

The other all-Premiership ties see Manchester City take on Spurs at White Hart Lane, Arsenal entertain Wolves and Middlesbrough host Everton.

“I think it’s true to say if there wasn’t Carling Cup fever on the south coast, there certainly will be now,” said Portsmouth boss Harry Redknapp.

“It’s an amazing draw and it’ll be a big game for everyone on the south coast, but we have a lot of big games coming up and we’ve also got to keep our focus on where we’re going in the league.”

Everton assistant boss Alan Irvine says his club deserved a better reward for their victory over Charlton than an away trip to Middlesbrough.

“We felt we did not deserve to lose that league game at Middlesbrough, so we will not be going there frightened in anyway,” said Irvine.

Full draw:

Aston Villa v Crystal Palace
Reading v Chelsea
Tottenham v Manchester City
Southampton v Portsmouth
Liverpool v Bolton Wanderers
West Brom v Manchester United
Arsenal v Wolves
Middlesbrough v Everton

9

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Mystery Man: *
Some interesting ties in this round. However, I can't see the likes of Man Utd, Arsenal, Chelsea fielding their strongest sides in this competition while they are all still involved in the Champions League. As has been the case in previous seasons, the League Cup affords these top sides the opportunity to 'blood' their youth teams.

Lets see which players Messers Freguson, Wenger and Ranieri select this week.

MM
[/QUOTE]

Wow! So so true Mystery Man!

But the thing is with Chelsea is that they do have a lot of "good" players but only a couple of "world class" players so their second team would just be a normal side that they would play say every third week or whatever if you follow what i mean.

By the way Chelsea are favourites to win the cup - i think it all just basically goes on what managers say on how high up their list of priorities winning it is when it comes to the League Cup.

anyhow - Manchester United beat Leeds at Elland Road for the second time in 2 weeks.

Arsenal very nearly lost it but managed to get through in the end - though i don't think they would have really cared either way to be honest - apparantly they fielded a very weakend side - Anyway good to see that both Bolton and Palace went through - Liverpool and Blackburn go at it today - should be usual fun and games between those 2 - the managers have been at each others throats this season and both sides have their problems at the moment.

10

Damn! We're out - i'm not even sure whether it was a weakened side or not. Shola scored in the wrong net as well!

Actually it was a weekend side - here's the BBC match report:

Newcastle 1-2 West Brom

(After extra-time)
A Lee Hughes goal in extra-time saw West Brom knock Newcastle out of the Carling Cup at St James' Park.

Albion went ahead through a Shola Ameobi own goal in the first half before Laurent Robert grabbed a superb equaliser for the home side.

The Baggies then had to survive a Newcastle onslaught and had goalkeeper Russell Hoult to thank for taking the tie to extra-time.

But substitute Hughes snatched a famous victory for the underdogs 11 minutes into the first extra period.

The Baggies deserve credit for a spirited display, but needed the help of the woodwork on two occasions and some desperate defending to claim their place in the fourth round.

Lomana LuaLua headed against the crossbar and then Ameobi hit an upright in the first half.

Robson gave his fringe players a chance to prove themselves with the likes of Alan Shearer, Shay Given and Gary Speed left on the bench.

But West Brom went in front when Thomas Gaardsoe flicked on a Artim Sakiri corner and the ball cannoned off Ameobi's leg and into the back of the net.

Newcastle's response was immediate and unrelenting with LuaLua just off target with a spectacular overhead kick and then Hoult denying a viciously-struck Robert free-kick from 30 yards.

The West Brom keeper pulled off another excellent save to prevent half-time substitute Speed's header, but just as the home fans started to call for Shearer's introduction, Hoult finally succumbed.

Robert played a one-two with Ameobi on the edge of the box before rifling an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net.

LuaLua had a glorious opportunity to put his side ahead with 15 minutes remaining, but he tried to place his shot beyond Hoult and the keeper blocked.

Hoult had to respond smartly to keep out Phil Gilchrist's deflection two minutes into extra-time, but Stephen Harper produced an even better save two minutes later to deny Hughes at the other end.

LuaLua was just wide with a long-range effort on 98 minutes, and that was the signal for Shearer's introduction.

But United were behind again with four minutes of the half remaining when Hughes was left unmarked as he turned on to Neil Clement's pass and shot calmly past the stranded Steve Harper.

The Baggies continued to frustrate Newcastle as time ticked on and United eventually ran out of ideas.

Newcastle: Harper, Griffin, Bramble, Stephen Caldwell, Bernard, Solano, Jenas, Viana, Robert, Ameobi, LuaLua. Subs: Given, Shearer, Speed, Ambrose, Hughes.

West Brom: Hoult, Gaardsoe, Gilchrist, Gregan, Haas, Sakiri, Johnson, O'Connor, Clement, Dobie, Hulse. Subs: Murphy, Hughes, Wallwork, Volmer, N'Dour.

Referee: N Barry (N Lincolnshire).

11

Just think... if you goerdies had beaten the baggies then you would now be looking at entertaining Man Utd at St. James which would have been the tie of the round.

How can you say that Robson fielded a weakened side when the baggies were still the underdogs? Sounds to me like a lot of sour grapes!

The south coast derby promises to be an exciting tie.. as does the Spurs v. Man City (I feel the winner of this tie will go on to win the Cup).

Let see....

MM

12

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Mystery Man: *
Just think... if you goerdies had beaten the baggies then you would now be looking at entertaining Man Utd at St. James which would have been the tie of the round.
[/quote]

Yeah that is exactly what i was thinking actually :p

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Mystery Man: *
How can you say that Robson fielded a weakened side when the baggies were still the underdogs? Sounds to me like a lot of sour grapes!
[/quote]

Mystery Man however weak our side was we would have still have been favourites to win the match! ah well :p

[QUOTE]
*Originally posted by Mystery Man: *
The south coast derby promises to be an exciting tie.. as does the Spurs v. Man City (I feel the winner of this tie will go on to win the Cup).

Let see....

MM
[/QUOTE]

i reckon it'll be a Chelsea VS Liverpool final.

13

**League Cup 4th Round Full draw: **

Aston Villa v Crystal Palace
Reading v Chelsea
Tottenham v Manchester City
Southampton v Portsmouth
Liverpool v Bolton Wanderers
West Brom v Manchester United
Arsenal v Wolves
Middlesbrough v Everton

Ties to be played week commencing 1 December

14

Manchester United and Liverpool both out too but Chelsea and Aston Villa do go through - surely it will now be between 2 of them to win it?

West Bromwhich Albion continue their giant killing act - though you could hardly call it giant killing in the League Cup as big sides never actually put out their best sides!