Tottenham Hotspur manager Thomas Frank has made a plea for the two-legged Carabao Cup semi-finals to be scrapped in order to prevent the “same boring teams” from consistently winning the competition.
Last season, Newcastle United ended an 11-year streak of victories by Big Six clubs in the competition when they defeated Liverpool in the final.
Also, Crystal Palace claimed their first ever major trophy in the FA Cup by defeating Manchester City.
Ahead of Wednesday night’s match against Newcastle, Thomas Frank suggested that the League Cup schedule should be altered to give smaller teams a better shot at winning silverware.
Thomas Frank gestures towards Micky van de Ven’s head as they celebrate their victory over Everton. (Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
“There should only be one semi-final,” the Dane insisted. “I said that before at Brentford and that’s why I’m very happy to say it again.”
“For the smaller clubs, if you want to beat a bigger club, it’s much easier to play only one game. So if we really want someone to break out and it’s not the same boring teams that are winning – of course except for Spurs – then we need to skip one semi-final.
“For everyone else that plays so many games, it should only be one. So if it’s about money then someone needs to fix it. If it’s the Premier League playing money to the EFL, because as far as I understand it’s because of that, so someone fix it. It should be very easy.”
The last occasion the EFL Cup semi-final was contested over just one leg was during the Covid-affected 2020-21 campaign when Tottenham defeated Frank’s then Brentford side 2-0.
Frank’s Bees were beaten 3-1 by Newcastle in the Carabao Cup quarter-finals last term following his decision to make five alterations. “That’s a long time ago,” said the Dane. “I remember we lost.”
Tottenham will be looking to build on their impressive 3-0 victory over Everton last weekend. The London club have climbed to third in the Premier League following five consecutive away matches without defeat and five strikes from set-pieces.
