Why Brighton should take the Carabao Cup semi seriously
We all know what Brighton & Hove Albion manager Graham Potter thinks of the Carabao Cup. In the 2019-20 season, he did not even deem the competition worthy of playing his reserves in, instead sending out a team of teenagers for the third round clash against Aston Villa at the Amex.
Potter’s side for that 3-1 defeat to Villa had an average age of 21.5. Seven of the matchday 17 could not have joined Shane Duffy in Molly Malone’s afterwards as they were under the age of 21 and two of them were too young to legally have a spin of the roulette wheel at online casinos not on gamstop.
Potter couldn’t have taken the clash with Villa less seriously if he had dressed up as a clown and spent the 90 minutes riding a unicycle around the perimeter of the pitch whilst given out balloon animals to children.
That left a lot of Brighton fans feeling a little peeved. You know that when you part with your £20 for a ticket to watch Brighton in the Carabao Cup, you are unlikely to see a full strength side for your money.
But there is a difference between seeing senior back up players – the likes of Glenn Murray, Leon Balogun and Alireza Jahanbakhsh – and a starting line up who have you to Google to find out who they are.
Brighton season ticket holders could have watched a more experienced Under 23s side take on Everton a week earlier for free; here we were paying £20 to watch the Under 17s.
Obviously, there is no need for Potter to worry about shortchanging supporters for the visit of Pompey. Value-for-money is not the reason that Brighton should treat the Carabao Cup as something more than a creche this season.
Villa’s approach to that third round tie at the Amex could not have been in a starker contrast to Brighton’s. They brought 2,000 fans for starters, an obscene number for a Wednesday night game 177 miles from home in a competition that most people greet with a shrug of their shoulders.
Dean Smith did not quite name a full strength team, but he did come to Sussex with several of his big guns including Jack Grealish, who came off the bench to sew up the game with the visitors’ third.
Fast forward five months and Villa were striding out at Wembley in the final. Smith’s decision to not completely disregard the Carabao Cup was rewarded by a memorable afternoon for his players and club under the arch in which they were one game away from qualifying for Europe.
Brighton supporters know all about how good a day at Wembley is, even if the result does not go your way. The 2019 FA Cup Semi Final against Manchester City was one of the greatest occasions in Albion history with over 35,000 supporters cheering on the Seagulls.
The game against City came just 11 years after less than 100 fans have witnessed a 1-0 first round replay elimination away at Hartlepool United on a Tuesday night. Reaching Wembley was a sign of how far Brighton have come under Tony Bloom.
Brighton and Bloom have their own money-based priorities, namely staying in the Premier League. That is completely understandable given how much top flight football is worth.
Paul Barber revealed at the recent fans’ forum (once Potter had finished answering a question about whether he had asked Solly March to beat a man) that the riches on offer from the overseas broadcast deal accounted for the majority of the Albion’s income.
End up relegated, lose that cash and the balance sheet takes on a rather nasty look. Bloom has already invested over £300 million of his own money into the club; stemming those losses would require even more cash to be poured in by our generous benefactor.
That is still not an excuse for Brighton playing a youth team in the Carabao Cup, however. Because of the money that being a Premier League club brings, Potter could still name a starting line up which cost over £100 million to put together and not have to rely on a single player who started the 3-1 defeat against Chelsea in the opening game of the season.
Jason Steele might have to put his pint and golf clubs down to mind goal for 90 minutes. Joel Veltman is a Dutch international right back and Champions League semi finalist.
Dan Burn was one of the first names on Potter’s team sheet in 2019-20, Haydon Roberts is a highly-rated England youth international who scored Brighton’s goal against Villa last year despite being only 17. Bernardo could round off a pretty tasty back four.
Dale Stephens and Jayson Molumby is a midfield partnership featuring a bloke with over 200 Brighton games to his name and a player good enough to have made his international debut for the Republic of Ireland before his first Premier League start for the Albion.
Pascal Gross has created more big chances in Europe’s top leagues than Eden Hazard since the start of the 2016-17 season and Alexis Mac Allister is a full Argentinian international.
Deploy those two as number 10s in tandem and partner Jahanbakhsh – the third most expensive player in Brighton history – alongside Viktor Gyokeres up top and you have a starting XI which is packed with quality without having a detrimental effect on Potter’s current first XI.
The Albion have enough squad depth for Potter to not need to send out the kids again. A team featuring players of that calibre is more than good enough to overcome League One Portsmouth in the second round.
Preston North End or Derby County away from home await in round three. Again, Brighton’s stiffs should be able to brush aside mid table Championship opponents.
Win both of those, and Brighton are three wins from a Wembley final and four victories from playing in European competition for the first time.
In 119 years, Brighton have never won a major trophy unless you count the 1910 Charity Shield. The Carabao Cup represents the Albion’s best chance of writing their name in the record books and for Potter and this group of players to be remembered as the first in history to lift top level silverware on a national level.
Imagine a world in which football fans are allowed back to watch their sides in 2021 – with Brighton having lined up a European campaign after getting their hands on the Carabao Cup. Not to mention the day out at Wembley that could be had at the final if supporters can attend by the time the February final rolls around.
Premier League safety is understandably the overriding concern for Potter and the Albion this season. For fans though, there is more to football than scraping a 0-0 draw at Burnley to move another point closer to 40.
Nobody is saying that Potter should name his full strength side at detriment to the league campaign. But Villa last season showed what can happen if you take the Carabao Cup semi-seriously.
Brighton should play their senior squad rather than the kids and see how far it takes them.
