A Carling Cup with Importance: When Are We Going to See That?

The Carling Cup/Worthington Cup/Coca-Cola Cup has been used as a show window for the big sides to reveal their young talent in the wings and those who want to push for a place in the side. It's the natural growth phase of a footballer, coming up through the ranks and the reserve teams. Does this mean that the cup itself is secondary?

Wednesday night we saw a previously assumed out of form (the most preposterous assumption to date) Carlos Tevez play team football and come out triumphant with four goals and one assist to his name in a 5-3 win for Manchester United against a Blackburn Rovers side that is yet to be "INCEspired."

United conceded three at home because Gary Neville was playing centre-back with Jonny Evans and was caught out on more than one occasion against the feisty Benny McCarthy and Matt Derbyshire. Biologically, instincts seem to slow down with age and with defenders having a short lifespan it is more clear now with Gary Neville than ever before.

Remember, Gary Neville was never a racy full-back but he had a steely determination that made up for his athletic inability. He had the guile and workhorse mentality that would make him the captain of a United side with 20-somethings and sometimes younger charging all around the park.

But now the pace of the game has quickened to such an extent that, even with the opponents United face, his liabilities on the pitch can be exploited even before you can say, "Gary, keep up with him."

Going back to the farce that has been created around the Carling Cup as a stepping stone for the youngsters: No one has ever asked a footballer about it, or maybe they have. A cup is a cup, and nothing means more than victory to an athlete.

Don't you think that the regulars of the Arsenal side may have been robbed of a medal because some cavalier artists lost to Burnley?

Manager Arsene Wenger would have been all over the media, saying how the experience is invaluable. Definitely!

One thing that's for sure is that you do not get sweet-footed young guys yet to strike complete puberty that can play centre-back. Composure in front of the goal is wonderful to watch, but they need someone with the same composure when you have your keeper behind you counting on you to mark the striker and counter his every move.

I am sure Arsene Wenger knows all this.

In any case, Paul Scholes makes his return and many others get a game. Tevez showed his apparent class and Gary Neville his shortcomings. Maybe the Carling Cup is meant to get players back into form that you cannot usually do in important league games.

Then again, I am sure Arsene Wenger knows this, too.