How Big a Priority Should the Capital One Cup Be for Liverpool?
Liverpool begin their Capital One Cup campaign at home to League Two side Carlisle United on Wednesday evening.
Reds manager Brendan Rodgers will be looking to progress one step further in the competition than last season, when his side exited at the semi-final stage, losing in extra time to Chelsea.
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The Liverpool boss had fielded relatively strong teams throughout the competition, clearly eager to attempt to win a trophy in his third season in charge at Anfield. Alas, no trophy arrived and Rodgers subsequently became the first Liverpool manager since the 1950s not to win a trophy in his first three seasons.
In the early stages of his fourth season in charge, the pressure is firmly on the former Swansea City boss, with his side without a win in their last five games.
After three years and almost £300 million spent, many supporters are frustrated at Rodgers again looking to rebuild his project at the club.
There's a growing sense of inevitability about Rodgers' future at Liverpool, with most supporters having lost faith in the Northern Irishman either following the pathetic end to last season, or with the repeated mistakes in these first seven games of this season.
Owners Fenway Sports Group have made a rod for their own back by not sacking Rodgers in the summer and after the 6-1 defeat to Stoke City. By backing Rodgers they would now look foolish to fire him so soon into the new season. They could have had a clean break and allowed a new manager to bring in his own players in the summer.
So just how long will FSG wait until sacking Rodgers? Such a question has become like the early weeks of FSG's reign at Anfield when they acquired a side managed by Roy Hodgson with fans urging the new owners to put them out of their misery and fire the Englishman immediately.
One of Hodgson's biggest failings was the League Cup exit to Northampton Town on penalties—"arguably the most embarrassing Anfield result in Liverpool’s history," writes the Liverpool Echo's Ian Doyle.
Hodgson eventually left the club in January; FSG waited far too long to pull the trigger.
Rodgers knows that an embarrassing defeat to League Two opposition would increase the pressure on him further, so it's a difficult balancing act of not resting too many first-choice players.
Last week he kept behind six first-team players as the Reds kicked off their Europa League campaign in Bordeaux, and it's likely he'll make similar changes for this game.
The squad players impressed in Bordeaux—arguably more so than many of the supposed first-choice players have this season.
"We’ll be strong tomorrow night and we want to win," said first-team coach Gary McAllister previewing the tie, per the club website.
"We want to try to go as far as we can in the tournament. We had a good run in it last season, can we go one further?"
Still, there's no reason why Rodgers couldn't make eight changes, as he did for the Bordeaux game, and still get the needed result.
Adam Bogdan should be handed his first appearance for the club. The Hungarian stopper isn't playing under-21s football, so an injury or suspension to Simon Mignolet would leave him to then make his debut.
The likes of Jordan Rossiter, Jordon Ibe, Kolo Toure and Adam Lallana will no doubt start the game.
What Rodgers must not do, though, is become desperate, desperate by his own situation, and make fewer changes than he should. He, rightly, resisted such temptation in the Europa League last week, but with two more games without victory since that decision he may be tempted to start key players against Carlisle.
With bogey side Aston Villa at Anfield on Saturday, he must instead ensure he has his best XI available for the visit of a side who haven't lost at Anfield since 2010.
Priorities
With the Europa League meaning Liverpool have four competitions to compete in this season, the League Cup must firmly be bottom of Rodgers' priorities.
Liverpool progressed to the semi-final of the League Cup last season, but look at their results following each League Cup game:
Drew 1-1 vs. Everton
Lost 1-0 vs. Newcastle United
Drew 2-2 vs. Arsenal
Drew 0-0 vs. Bolton Wanderers (FA Cup)
Won 2-0 vs. West Ham United
Three draws, one defeat and one victory—dropping seven league points in the games after League Cup matches.
It was a similar story in the FA Cup, with the Reds dropping points to Everton and West Bromwich Albion after FA Cup matches in which they fielded full-strength teams.
Rodgers simply cannot afford for domestic cups to affect Premier League performance.
Even the Europa League should be prioritised over the FA Cup and League Cup due to that at least offering a route into the Champions League, albeit after a very long run to success in the competition.
While a domestic trophy may be nice to have, it isn't essential to Liverpool's future—whereas a return to the Champions League is.
As ever, then, the League Cup will be bottom of Liverpool's priorities this season, and Rodgers must reflect that in his selections.
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