Pardew on 4th round Carling Cup Draw: “It’s a tough game”
Posted on September 26th, 2011 | 25 Comments |
Alan Pardew sees the next rounds’ Carling Cup draw as ‘tough’ but is thankful we weren’t drawn away against one of the ‘top’ clubs. Pardew said:
“It’s a shame [that it’s an away draw], but we want games because these players want to play.
“It’s a tough game, but we could have been drawn against one of the top clubs, who are all still in it, away from home, so it’s not the worst draw we could have had, but it’s still a tough draw.
“Blackburn will be hurting from today [Saturday’s game against them] and that’s going to make it even more difficult.“
The full draw for the last 16 is as follows:
Wolverhampton Wanderers v Manchester City
Cardiff City v Burnley
Blackburn Rovers v Newcastle United
Arsenal v Bolton Wanderers
Stoke City v Liverpool
Aldershot Town v Manchester United
Crystal Palace v Southampton
Everton v Chelsea
I don’t think that’s a particularly good draw. I’m not talking about our own fixture but it would have been nice to see Man City v Man Utd, Chelsea v Liverpool or similar to get rid of some of the top seeds.
If we get past Blackburn in this round and make it through to the quarter finals, I wouldn’t be surprised if Alan Pardew gives the Carling Cup a bit more ‘priority’ and starts to think about playing his first XI, or at least not making 9 changes from his League side as he did last time.
I tend to agree that the League is the most important in general (what is it? £800,000 per place approximately?) but there comes a point when you think you might just be in with a chance of the cup and, unless we’re realistically targeting a European finish in the League, it has to be worth a shot.
Let’s face it, after a 42 year gap, any silverware would be welcome at St James’ Park and it seems like that’s the view of most Toon fans if our vote is anything to go by.
The ground swell of popular opinion among supporters clearly favours moving heaven and earth to win something – two generations of geordies have grown up not knowing the elation & pure joy of success!
Its not as if it is restricted to a narrow elite beyond our reach – I have seen dozens of clubs with a fraction of our tradition & support win cups and the respect & rewards that come with it.
Go for it! Theses are grim grey times – lets do our best to light up our lives with some long over due glory!
HWTL