Alex Ferguson: Carling Cup vital for young players
Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson today insisted that the Carling Cup was an important competition as it allowed younger players at the English Premier League giants to gain some valuable experience at first-team level.
The Carling Cup is the lesser of the two domestic knock-out competitions and one where several managers at bigger clubs opt to give their youth academy prospects a chance to shine on the big stage.
Ferguson is one of those managers and he will be fielding several of his youngsters in his side’s third-round clash with Scunthorpe United tonight.
Ahead of the game, he said that, win or lose, getting to play in a senior cup competition was vital to his young starlets’ development after winning the trophy in each of the last two seasons.
'Cup gives everyone a chance'
He told the club’s official website that: “The League Cup has served us well over the last few seasons. It allows me to keep everybody happy in terms of giving them games and reaching the last two finals has obvious advantages. But, in retrospect, going
out in the early rounds — like we did against Coventry City and Southend United — are good experiences, too, even if we would always prefer to win.”
United will be heading into this game on a high after they defeated bitter rivals Liverpool 3-2 in the league on Sunday, but Ferguson takes his men to Glandford Park tonight with the expectation that Scunthorpe will provide his players with a difficult test.
He told Manchester radio station Key 103 that: “They are a handful on their own ground. We know what it will be like but we have experienced this kind of situation before and did well at Barnsley last year, so hopefully we can do the same again.”
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