There will be those too who dismiss the Carling Cup as a Mickey Mouse trophy, but memories are sometimes short when it suits in football, especially given the significance of being the only trophy in the cabinet from last season at Old Trafford.

No, there is nothing anyone can say that will change my view that United went into last night’s game expecting to win and we should take our hats off to West Ham who simply wanted it more than their illustrious opponents, on the night.

Despite their poor form so far this season in the Premier League, where they are still rooted firmly in bottom place, West Ham managed to look anything but relegation fodder for most of the game.

It was a fantastic team performance from the Hammers, but the inspirational Nigerian striker Victor Obinna who set up all four goals stood out for all the right reasons and it would certainly help the cause if he could replicate that form regularly in the remainder of the season.

Former Man Utd player Jonathan Spector was also a man inspired, notching up his first two goals in English football with a header and a close range finish, both in the first half, while Carlton Cole rounded up proceedings with two more in the second half.

West Ham progress to the semi finals of the Carling Cup for the first time in twenty years and with their own player of the season Scott Parker on the bench!

So what are the omens for West Ham and particularly their manager Avram Grant, he says that his methods were vindicated by the result last night, insisting that he changed nothing but continue to do what they have been doing all season while they have been losing games.

“We continued to do what we did when we lost games and everybody said we needed to change something. We didn’t change anything. I’m very proud, and very happy.”

With echoes of last season when he took Portsmouth to the FA Cup Final while being relegated from the Premiership, Grant insists that West Ham have been playing great football all season but not getting the results and he believes the tide has turned on the back of last night’s historic victory.

The Carling Cup result may temporarily ease the pressure on Grant’s position at Upton Park, but West Ham need to build on last weeks Premier league win with a result away to Sunderland on Sunday to start believing in themselves.

The betting tips still show Avram Grant as the most likely Premier League manager to lose his job and all the time West ham are in or hovering around the relegation zone the pressure is unlikely to ease for him.

Hodgson left out the entire starting eleven players from the previous encounter against Manchester United; and when Liverpool went  ahead after only nine minutes, it looked like a good decision.  But when Northampton drew level in the second-half, and even more shocking, went ahead 2-1 in extra-time Roy Hodgson was probably wondering what was going on.

David Ngog appeared to save the day with an equaliser four minutes from the end of extra time to take the cup tie to penalties. Beforehand, both teams had chances cleared off the goal line to win the game.  But it was Northampton who went on to win on penalties 4-2.

Listening to football phone-ins after the match several callers suggested the Liverpool job was too big for Hodgson, a step too far and that he couldn’t cope with the pressure of expectation.  Maybe those fans don’t know the level of success Roy Hodgson has had in football management, and why he was targeted as a replacement for Rafa Benitez this summer.

As a player Roy Hodgson was on the books with Crystal Palace in the 1965-66 season but only ever played at non-league level, most notably for Gravesend & Northfleet (now Ebbsfleet United) between 1969-71.  But as a manager he has had success at club level in Sweden with Malmo, in Italy with Udinese and Inter Milan and in England with Fulham; though his time at Blackburn was less successful. Possibly his greatest managerial achievement was taking Switzerland to the last 16 of the 1994 World Cup & qualifying for the Euro 96 finals.  Before then Switzerland hadn’t qualified for a major tournament since the 1960s.

There’s no denying the poor start Hodgson has made at Liverpool, who are currently 16th in the Premier League with five points from a possible 15, but things need to be considered here.  Firstly, Roy Hodgson has by and large inherited a squad from Rafa Benitez; and the squad is not that good.  Steven Gerrard, Pepe Reyna, Fernando Torres, Glen Johnson and possibly Martin Skrtel & Dirk Kuyt on their day aside, Liverpool are not a team with strength all over the pitch, let alone in depth.

The addition of Joe Cole is a step in the right direction but there is no way that Liverpool can continue to be considered one of the best sides in the Premiership, let alone a member of the so-called ‘Big Four’.  Past glories need to be forgotten and money needs to be made available to rebuild a depleted squad left in a worse state by Rafa Benitez than he inherited from Gerard Houllier.

Whether Roy Hodgson is the right man for the job or not, I believe Liverpool have got to be satisfied with a mid-table finish at best this season, and hope that new owners are put in place by next summer and money made available, not simply to buy new players but to reinvest in their academy to bring on a new generation of young players like Steven Gerrard & Jamie Carragher.

Stoke were no doubt lifted by the surprise half-time appearance of Tony Pulis who had not been present for the first half due to the death of his mother; and the result was crucial.  This is Stoke City’s third consecutive season back in the top flight of English football, and it has been their home form that has kept them in the Premier League thus far.

As for Aston Villa, what were they thinking when they appointed a manager in Gerard Houllier who has still not been released from his current position with the French FA. Last night, Caretaker Manager Kevin MacDonald told reporters he was still unsure when Houllier was going to take charge of the team.  For now he had been told to pick the team to play against Stoke and again on Saturday at home to Bolton Wanderers.

To suggest Aston Villa is a club in turmoil is far from the truth.  However, the next six weeks could be very important in deciding the fortunes of this so-called ‘sleeping giant’.

Following their home game on Saturday with Bolton they will play a very difficult game against Blackburn Rovers in the third round of the Carling Cup. In all honesty, neither side may play their strongest teams.  But if Sam Allardyce decides to strike while Aston Villa’s morale is low, Blackburn could quite easily knock Villa out of the cup.

After the Carling Cup game next Wednesday (22nd September), Aston Villa will play two difficult away fixtures at Wolves and Tottenham. They do not play another home game until they host a goal-rampant, ultra-inform Chelsea on Saturday 16th October.  And if that wasn’t bad enough, their only other home game in the Premier League in October is against arch-rivals Birmingham (31st October).

With an away game at Sunderland between the two, it is clear to see that Aston Villa needs the French FA to release Gerard Houllier as soon as possible.  And if the situation carries on until the end of October, Houllier could quite possibly arrive to find Aston Villa languishing amongst the relegation places.

Furthermore, the longer this bizarre situation continues, the more vocal the fans were air their disapproval and the higher eyebrows will be raised at the owner Randy Learner’s decision to appoint a manager who is actually not available!

Lastly, once Gerard Houllier eventually arrives at Villa Park he will have big shoes to feel with both the fans and club expectations, if he is to exorcise the ghost of Martin O’Neill; and there is also the small matter of how he consoles goalkeeper Brad Friedel and defender Stephen Warnock.  Both players were told they were surplus to requirements when Houllier became manager at Liverpool.

As one alcoholic striker once said, ‘it’s a funny old game’.  But its stories like this that makes the game of football as exciting as the results themselves.

michael owen injured again

You have to feel sorry for Michael Owen, Manchester United who took a flyer on signing the former England regular on a reported pay per match basis last year have reported that the player will not feature in the rest of the season following a hamstring injury picked up in the Carling Cup Final at Wembley on Sunday.

Alex Ferguson has said that the injury is worse than first thought and Owen will need yet another operation after pulling up in the game against Aston Villa and being replaced on the pitch by Wayne Rooney.

Owen had made the most of one of his rare starts for Manchester United by scoring the equalising goal for his team, but his injury left the current England favourite Rooney to score the winning goal to take the Carling Cup back to Old Trafford.

The chances of Owen making the South Africa World Cup playing for England were already extremely slim given the few chances that he has had to impress at United, but now there is no chance of a recall to the England squad and I wonder if there is a future for the player who was not so long ago considered among the most feared strikers in the game.

It remains to be seen whether Michael Owen can overcome this latest setback and indeed if he does will he ever get close to the fantastic player he was or will he decide enough is enough and turn his back on the game for good.

carling cup predictor

Carling are inviting football fans to take part in the Carling Cup Final Predictor Challenge ahead of the game on Sunday 28th February 2010.

Entry is free and fans can take part in the challenge up until 2pm on Cup Final day by registering on the Carling website and simply predicting the final score in the game featuring Aston Villa and Manchester United.

If you guess the score correctly you will stand a chance of winning a replica team shirt signed by the 2009/2010 Carling Cup winning squad.

The competition is open only to fans over the legal age limit. To take part first register on the Carling Cup Final Predictor Challenge website and follow the instructions, it is that simple.

Good Luck!

Both Wenger and Hughes were involved in a verbal confrontation throughout most of the game, bending the ear of the fourth official, with the Arsenal boss at one time moaning that Hughes had left his technical area.

Wenger was particularly animated, often literally dancing in anger on the touchline at every refereeing decision that went against his team, as Manchester City finally took control of the game in the second half.

The much lauded young Gunners were, in the end, no match against the experience of Manchester City and despite the obvious qualities of the Arsenal squad, how long can they continue without a trophy to show for their efforts.

It has become the norm for the bigger teams to field their less experienced players in the Carling Cup competition and Chelsea followed the example of the Gunners by changing eight players from the team that had beaten Arsenal on Sunday for their game at Blackburn Rovers.

Inevitably they too paid the price of inexperience, losing out on penalties to Rovers, with Paul Robinson the goalkeeping hero with a brilliant save save from Ballack’s penalty and also denying the youngster Kakuta.

The game should never have reached that stage as Blackburn really deserved to win in normal time, only to see Ferreira equalise in the final moments of extra time. At 3-3, Blackburn kept their cool to run out 4-3 winners on penalties.

Carlo Ancelotti said after the game that he was disappointed with the result after a triple half time substitution gamble put Chelsea back into the game. The loss of Kalou with 20 minutes of normal time remaining meant that Chelsea had to play the remainder of the game with only ten men. But he did have the grace to shake the hand of Blackburn’s victorious caretaker manager Neil McDonald after the defeat.

Manchester City will face local rivals United in the semi final, a classic in the making surely, while Blackburn Rovers will play Aston Villa in the other two legged game.

After an intriguing opening, the highly anticipated fixture petered out into extra time as Spurs sat back and soaked up a flurry of attacks from Manchester United.

By the time penalties came around, the outcome seemed less lottery and more destiny as the premier league leaders once again got a result even whilst not playing their best football.

All eyes will now turn to a crucial fortnight of football in the league; any points dropped by Chelsea or Liverpool would surely turn the “three horse race” into a “one horse cruise” until the end of May.

The incident happened after Drogba foolishly celebrated his goal in front of the Burnley supporters and was hit by missiles thrown by a group of fans. The Chelsea player acting instinctively picked up one of the coins that had been thrown and aimed it back into the crowd.

Chelsea went on to lose the game on penalties and Burnley progressed to the quarter final stage of the Carling Cup.

Drogba immediately apologised for the incident, having acted in the heat of the moment. He was subsequently charged by the FA for violent conduct and accepted the consequences today. It was never going to be anything less than a three match ban following the precedent of a similar incident involving Liverpool’s Jamie Carragher against Arsenal a few seasons back.

It is a long time since Drogba has dominated the headlines for his footballing ability, this season has been hampered by injury as was much of the last season. The arrival of Nicolas Anelka to cover for Drogba while in the 2007 African Nations Cup may have looked to be temporary cover for the Ivory Coast player, but it is the Frenchman who is now on top of his game. It seems a long way back for Drogba if he is to recapture the excellent form he showed in 2006.

Drogba opened the scoring, much against the run of play, from a free kick just outside the box. But Spurs hit back half way through the second half, when Bridge was judged to handle inside the area and Berbatov scored from the resulting penalty kick.

The game livened up a bit in the final minutes of normal time with Chelsea at last having a good spell and Tottenham always quick to break. Neither team could score and the game went into extra time, with Woodgate scoring the winning goal when Cech punched the ball back at the defenders head and into the empty net.

Chelsea frankly were always second best, Spurs coping with their three pronged attack with ease while playing the better football throughout.

 Juande Ramos and Gus Poyet deserve praise for the way they have instilled a confidence and discipline in the Spurs team, every player looks very comfortable with the ball and they look more solid than the Martin Jol days.

It makes you wonder what Ramos might have done had Chelsea captured him when Mourinho went. On this evidence Avram Grants Chelsea side are going to struggle  if they are serious about still winning the league title.