Comment: Carabao Cup still looks way down the agenda at Wolves
The Carabao Cup has not been a competition Wolves have prioritised in recent years – but is it now time for that to change?
Nuno Espirito Santo has consistently fielded much-changed teams in it, with last year’s exit at Villa coming after he named an extremely youthful line-up.
With no European football to look forward to this coming season, though, many would argue the competition should be taken more seriously.
After all, going all the way would clinch a shiny piece of silverware, and would be something tangible to show how far the club has come under Nuno’s guidance.
A Wembley final – to right the wrongs of the still-painful FA Cup semi-final loss to Watford in 2018/19 – would be nice.
However, there are also signs which point towards continuing the status quo.
The first is that the prize on offer to the winners, aside from the trophy itself, is different this time around.
Rather than gaining a Europa League place, the last ones standing in the Carabao will enter the final qualifying round of the Europa Conference League – Uefa’s third-tier competition which will begin next year.
It will primarily be contested by teams from lower-ranked Uefa member associations, and the winner of it seals a Europa League place for the following season.
Yes, Wolves have openly admitted that they want to be competing for European football year-on-year, but they probably did not mean the Europa Conference League.
Some would enjoy more trips across the continent – even if it is against lesser lights from the likes of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan and Belarus – and you would have to think they would be one of the favourites to lift the inaugural crown. It is far from must-have for Wolves, though, to be fair.
The second sticking point is how jam-packed the first few Carabao rounds are.
Wolves – reporting back for training on September 1 – are set to kick off the new Premier League season on September 12.
The second round of the Carabao, where Wolves will enter the competition, is taking place on September 15 and 16.
Then the third round is on September 22 and 23, and the fourth on September 29 and 30.
So, for example, if Wolves were to get to the fourth round, they would be playing six matches in less than three weeks.
After a gruelling 383-day, 59-game campaign and so little time to recharge the batteries as well, such a busy first month would not be ideal for Nuno & Co.
What will they do, then? Well, weighing up those factors, it would not be surprising to see Nuno turn to his fringe players once more.
A deep cup run is something many fans crave, and rightly so, but given it is such a tight time-frame and the prize on offer – let’s be honest – is not the most enticing, the Carabao trend is highly likely to continue.
Sticking with the strongest side for the league and looking to build as much momentum as possible ahead of the FA Cup third round in early January seems like the best bet.
Another high finish in the top-flight table and a significant FA Cup foray – hopefully clinching Europa League, not the Europa Conference League – would go down a treat.
But as far as the Carabao goes, in truth, it is hard to see anything changing.
