So, it eventually came to pass that two missed penalties and a failure to hold on to a slender lead in extra time mattered little as Liverpool eventually, by the skin of their teeth, won the League Cup. They triumphed in Sunday’s final against Championship opponents Cardiff City 3-2 on penalties after a titanic 2-2 draw which lasted the full 120 minutes.
Kenny Dalglish was all smiles as he celebrated Liverpool’s first trophy since 2006 and he may well have been grinning; the victory was the Glaswegian’s first taste of silverware in his second stint as club manager in little over 12 months at the helm. A fine effort, I’m sure we can all agree. Although, let’s not take away the credit their opponents’ performance merited. The Bluebirds from the Welsh capital put on a display which was full of courage and confidence and manager Malky Mackay can build on this as he looks to guide his team to promotion in the remaining months of the season.
In the aftermath of the game, there are a few points to be reflected upon. First of all, as we’ve touched on, Cardiff City more than matched their illustrious foes for the majority of the match and may well have won the game – if only Kenny Miller had been more composed when clean through with 90 minutes on the clock. The gap between Premier League and Championship wasn’t as glaring as some people may have expected it to be.
Indeed, Cardiff were in front for a large period of the game thanks to a fine finish from impressive youngster Joe Mason in the 19th minute. Secondly, while pocketing some silverware, Liverpool still have many areas to attend to on the pitch – namely their lack of conviction in the final third, something which affected their game greatly for the first hour.
Cardiff can walk away from the final with their heads held high after containing Liverpool for large parts of the game and when going forward, playing with lots of invention and purpose. Their narrow defeat on penalties reflects well on the current state of Championship football and possibly brings into the question, once again, the gap between the top flight and the second tier of English football. Maybe it isn’t quite as wide as it once was. Maybe the quality of the Premier League’s big guns isn’t as potent as it once was.
Don’t get me wrong, in terms of financial clout, pulling power and household names there’s no contest. There’s a world of difference between, say, Manchester United and Blackpool. But, in footballing terms, out on the pitch – I would argue that the gap is getting smaller. Take a look at some of the promoted teams and how they’ve fared this season – Swansea City beat and outplayed Arsenal 3-2 at the Liberty Stadium, Norwich City picked up a point at Anfield against Liverpool in a 0-0 draw and could have won. QPR, whilst struggling have performed admirably at times, namely against Man City in a narrow 3-2 home defeat.
The League Cup is widely derived in this country for being a ‘Mickey Mouse’ tournament and whilst not containing the romance of the FA Cup or the blood and thunder of the Premier League, the final last Sunday went a long way towards restoring its credentials. The Championship did itself the world of good with Cardiff’s tremendous display and Liverpool, whilst not performing to their full capacity, can mark this down as a starting point as they look to embark on a new era under King Kenny.
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The Cardiff game merely confirms the fact that Liverpool is a Championship side.
Hey Crosby, credit to Cardiff for a gutsy performance, but lets not get carried away, matched LFC please don’t the stats tell you anything 30 odd something shots at goal ok some were a way off sure, i lost count on the corners and the time in each others half was huge. So if LFC were on song then is it fair to say that the score line could have been 6-0 or 8-2 so why don’t people mention the fact that the game was so one sided when it came to all the stats that if LFC had finished well the score line would have been a lot. Just saying that give Cardiff credit thats all fine but don’t talk rubbish when it comes to the other Premier League teams.
Has as been pointed out,look at the stats for the match.lfc have struggled all season to turn dominance into victories.with a bit more composure in front of goal,they should of won comfortably.credit to Cardiff though,I thought they defended heroically and looked quite descent going forward.its always been difficult to judge the gap between championship and prem based on a one off game.the best gauge,in my opinion,is to look at how promoted teams do over 38 games in the prem.on that basis you have to say there,s still a sizeable gap.more often than not,promoted teams go straight back down.if not after one season,than certainly after two.part of the problem is that the best players from a promoted team tend to get snapped up by more established prem clubs so they,re having to replace the players that helped them get into the prem in the first place and that’s not easy when you’re trying to stay in the top division.