Last WordNEIL MELLOR
feel like a big deal at all. Our FA Cup game at
Luton that felt like a bigger deal, but the world has
changed.
The Liverpool squad has a lot more continental
players from South America and Africa. Winning
the FIFA Club World Cup would, perhaps, enhance
their reputations more than winning the Carabao
Cup. So I’m sure the players will go there with
the Liverpool mentality of wanting to win every
competition they play in, but if the Reds hadn’t
qualiied I wouldn’t be watching.
I also feel the timing of it is unhelpful for
Liverpool – a distraction from the Premier League
at a time when we’re lying. Our irst league game
after Qatar is Leicester City away and, given the
position they ind themselves in, you have to say
they are genuine title contenders.
They were written of the year they won it and
Brendan Rodgers has done a very good job there,
but I still think top-four would be incredible for
them. Plus a lot can happen between now and
Boxing Day. Form, injuries and speculation ahead
of the January transfer-window could prove
unsettling.
For Liverpool it’s all about recovering from
Qatar and deciding who is in the best shape to go
to Leicester and get, potentially, a very big result.
Hopefully it will be a Merry Christmas for us all.If a young team is fielded in the Carabao Cup, how
they react will shape their development and careers
- Follow Neil on Twitter @NeilMellor33
Liverpool’s Carabao Cup and FIFA Club World Cup
ixture clash is due to the diferent footballing
organisations not being interested in each other’s
competitions.
The Premier League, FA, Football League, FIFA
and UEFA all want their competition to be taken
the most seriously. But, because Liverpool have
been doing so well, it has created a ixture pile-up
that means the Reds play twice in two days on
diferent continents.
It’s not a new issue. Manchester United
withdrew from the FA Cup in 2000 to play in FIFA’s
competition, but I’m pleased that Liverpool didn’t
concede their place in the Carabao Cup quarter-
inal. Now Jürgen Klopp has to manage his squads
accordingly.
The League Cup has been quashed in other
countries. France is the only other ‘big ive’ league
to still have a League Cup and they’re ditching it
after this season. We all know it ranks lower down
the priority list, but it is a competition Liverpool
have enjoyed good times in and I wouldn’t want
to see it scrapped. It’s certainly good for young
players’ development.
Young players develop better around senior
players and I remember going to Tottenham
as part of a very young Liverpool squad for the
League Cup quarter-inal in 2004/05. The likes
of myself, Darren Potter, Zak Whitbread, David
Raven, John Welsh, Richie Partridge and Mark
Smyth played alongside a few senior players, such
as Jerzy Dudek and Stephane Henchoz.
Tottenham had Paul Robinson, Ledley King,
Michael Carrick, Robbie Keane and Jermain Defoe
playing, but we beat them on penalties at White
Hart Lane. It was a really proud night for the
Academy and I think it will take something similar- something quite incredible – for Liverpool to
beat Aston Villa this year.
If a young team is ielded they have to approach
it as a learning experience – as good or bad as
the result turns out – because how they react will
shape their development. For some it could be the
biggest game they play in their careers. For others
it could be the making of them.
The rest of Klopp’s squad will be in Qatar for
the FIFA Club World Cup semi-inal a day later. I
have to be honest and say, personally, it’s not a
competition I’m getting that excited about.
I love English football. I’m not a fan of South
American football, North American football,
football in Africa or Asia. I only watch English
football and the Champions League as that’s how I
was brought up.
In 2005 I was a Liverpool player when the club
played in the FIFA Club World Cup and it didn’t