As Hull City are drawn away to Tottenham in the Capital One Cup fourth round, Peter Swan asks if the lure of Wembley will persuade Steve Bruce that later rounds will be better than watching paint dry.
As Hull City boss Steve Bruce said himself, the opening rounds of the League Cup are like watching paint dry. He wasn't wrong. Tuesday's game at the KC Stadium against Huddersfield was dismal and summed up why nobody's interested in the competition until the quarter or semi-final stage.
Bruce's main priority is keeping the Tigers in the Premier League, while his Huddersfield counterpart Mark Robins admitted his number one aim is keeping the Terriers in the Championship. Both sides made so many team changes it was never going to be the most cohesive game, full of flowing football.
Post-match, Bruce was asked when City were going to consider playing more first-choice players rather than just fielding a team strong enough just to "get by". He didn't really seem to want to answer that question and kind of brushed it off.
Such an approach to the game was not entirely pointless from City's perspective. There were two centre-halves staking a claim for a place against West Ham. Liam Rosenior and Stephen Quinn got more valuable game time under their belts, as did returning Gedo.
It's 36 years since City even reached the last 16, but I feel if Bruce's men can get through to the last eight then that's the time to field nearer a first-choice XI when they travel to Tottenham in the next round. After all, Wembley will then only be a couple of rounds away.
Is it time to scrap the League Cup altogether or have a revamp? Possibly. I think it will get scrapped or revamped eventually. The FA Cup is going the same way, in that it's all down to money.
Take rugby league. It's not who wins the league – which is the best team – it's all about the Grand Final, which is crackers. In football it's not about the FA Cup, it's about money and the league.
Should the League Cup be seeded in some way so the bigger clubs only enter at the later stages? I would say no, because cups still need the romance of the little clubs beating the big ones – look at Bradford last season.
Should the FA dictate that clubs must field a certain strength team in earlier ties, for instance have to play seven first-choice players or 75 per cent full-strength? No, I don't think so, all clubs must be free to decide how they want to handle their cup competitions.
