Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank wants the two-legged semi-final to be scrapped to stop “the same boring teams” winning the competition
Thomas Frank has called for the two-part format in the Carabao Cup semi-finals to be scrapped to stop “same boring teams” from winning the competition. Newcastle lifted the trophy in March, ending a run of 11 consecutive wins in the competition by big six clubs.
The current Premier League table includes Bournemouth and Sunderland, but Crystal Palace won their first major trophy with the FA Cup. And before Wednesday’s visit to St James’ Park, the former Brentford manager insisted the League Cup calendar should be changed to give smaller teams a chance of winning silver.
“There should only be one semi-final,” said the Dane. “I said it before at Brentford and that’s why I’m so happy to say it again. It’s much easier for smaller clubs to play just one game if they want to beat bigger clubs.”
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“So if you really want someone to break out and it’s not the same boring team that’s winning – except for Spurs, of course – then you have to skip one semi-final. For everyone else who plays so many games, it should be just one.”
“So if it’s a money issue, somebody needs to fix it. If the Premier League is paying the EFL, as far as I understand it’s because of that, somebody fix it. It should be very, very simple.”
The last time an EFL Cup semi-final was played with only one leg was in the coronavirus-hit 2020-21 season, when Tottenham defeated Frank’s then-Championship side Brentford 2-0. Spurs sacked Jose Mourinho a week before losing to Manchester City in the final.
Frank Bees’ side lost 3-1 to Newcastle in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals last season after making five changes.
“That was a long time ago,” said the Dane. “I remember we lost.”
Frank’s Tottenham side won the Europa League last season and are now third in the Premier League after going unbeaten in five away games and scoring five goals from set pieces, including two headers from Mickey van de Ven against Everton.
And the 52-year-old Dane said he has a long history of working on transfers, starting with Frederiksvaag’s Under-12s and then with Denmark’s Under-17s that defeated Jordan Pickford’s England team at Euro 2011.
“They were very, very good at football and **** on set pieces,” he laughed. “We worked on it under an old-school, serious coach in Viggo Jensen, and in the Euros we scored the first goal against Serbia, then won 3-2 and then beat England 2-0 in the second game.
“But Brentford were the real game-changers, especially the concentration of Matthew[Benham]and especially the concentration of Rasmus Ankersen.”
“If anyone has to give credit for long throws, it’s Rasmus Andersen. He loves it. He was very, very happy when he scored the second goal with a long throw on the first day and beat Arsenal.”
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