Man City have just stopped at the round of 16 of the League Cup after a 1-2 defeat to Tottenham away. In the last 8 matches in this arena, The Citizens have lost 4. Before that, they won 23/24 matches. That achievement also explains why Pep Guardiola is the coach who has won the most League Cups in history. There was a period when he and Man City won the championship 4 years in a row (2018 - 2021).
The Spaniard did not appear too upset after entering the press room at Tottenham Stadium, having declared he would not “waste energy” on this match more than a month ago. The City boss had prayed to the gods to protect his team from injury. However, in the defeat to Spurs, Man City lost two more players with injuries to Manuel Akanji and Savinho.
The matches that drag on, week after week, with such intensity, have become a nightmare for all coaches. Winning the League Cup does not bring any prize of value other than £100,000. For a top team like Man City, aiming to win the Premier League and Champions League, the League Cup is a burden. Pep's hints that he wants to give up the League Cup also show that the quality of this tournament is increasingly declining, no longer a place for quality teams to compete.
From a more negative perspective for the tournament organizers, Man City having to travel to London to play League Cup with Tottenham is like depriving Pep Guardiola and his team of a precious day off. The current English champions' squad of injured soldiers is getting thicker and thicker, each match that has little meaning now is no different from a disaster.
Including the recent loss to Tottenham, Man City have played 7 matches in the last 20 days. Savinho's injury is the 4th injury the team has suffered in that period. Pep has hinted that he will never put Erling Haaland in such matches.
Man City fans are very understanding of the club's current situation and are no longer so hungry for trophies that they have to push their players on the pitch to work hard in the League Cup. After the final whistle, the winning side Tottenham did not feel too happy, while Man City fans stood up to applaud their players and then left. They saw a defeat as a release for the players and for themselves.
Many of Man City’s League Cup matches have not been as exciting as they once were. A 9-0 win over a team like Burton Albion is not remembered by the Citizens’ fans. Or the 2021 final, when Man City played at Wembley in front of about half the Wembley crowd.
While Pep has never said the League Cup is not worth playing, on-field experience has shown that the manager sees the second-tier English competition as a mere game. Against Spurs, he made six changes to his starting line-up since last weekend's win over Southampton, compared to nine for the Watford game. Throughout his City career, Pep has made an average of 6.8 changes to his starting line-up in League Cup games, compared to around 4.3 in Champions League games.
Now the League Cup is just a place for Pep to test his young players, with Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Taylor Harwood-Bellis, Liam Delap and Tommy Doyle all making their debuts in the competition.
"This tournament is really good to test players from the academy. Nico played like the version we saw in pre-season. Jacob played well and Jahmai was special in the minutes he played as a centre-back. As for James McAtee, he was fantastic" - Pep shared.
No one wants to give up a title, especially someone as "greedy" as Pep Guardiola. However, with a tournament that has won so many titles and is so small in scale compared to the main competitions, it is understandable that Man City would give up.
