20 September 2006

Carling Cup Round 2, Day 2

And now I look silly, as three Premiership teams lose to lightweights in today’s Carling Cup games. So much for yesterday’s results. I really should know better, good sides always go out at this stage without fail. Manchester City (2nd year in a row going out this round) loses to League One Chesterfield, Fulham loses to League Two Wycombe, and Middlesbrough (04-05 winners of this tournament) goes out to League Two Notts County.

Ouch. Wish I could say I was surprised, but these are the teams you’d expect to go out at this stage. All three look as if they may be involved in a relegation fight, so their priority is obviously on the Premiership. All three are woefully inconsistent, especially Boro, who under Gareth Southgate can go from beating Chelsea 2-1, to losing to Portsmouth 4-0. It’s nice to see some things haven’t changed even though Steve McClaren’s moved on.

Third round draw is this Saturday morning. Liverpool/Newcastle review later on. FYI: Xabi Alonso will be heavily involved.

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