Leeds United face Newcastle United on Monday night in the Premier League.
However, ahead of that Elland Road match, Daniel Farke and his players had a game at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday night.
Daniel Farke left to rue his team selection against Chelsea ahead of facing Newcastle United.
Chelsea made nine changes for last night’s Carabao Cup third round clash, whilst Leeds United made eight.
No surprise with Chelsea making so many changes when they have a ridiculously large squad of players and they have such a tight schedule. Alonso’s team played at Arsenal on Sunday and face Hull this coming Saturday, so three matches in a seven day period meaning looking after some of their key players was inevitable.
However, Leeds United have a schedule of Saturday (1-1 draw at Brighton), Wednesday (Chelsea in Carabao Cup), Monday (Newcastle United). So last night’s Chelsea game was four days after their Brighton game and five days before facing Newcastle.
Chelsea were woeful in the first half at Stamford Bridge after changing almost their entire team, Leeds United were 1-0 up at the break but if they had kept their changes at a sensible level (rather than replacing eight first teamers) then surely they could have put this cup-tie out of sight against Chelsea’s second string.
Instead, despite going 2-0 up on 48 minutes, Leeds United paid the price of so many changes as Chelsea bringing on Palmer, James, Neto and Rogers for the second half then saw the visitors swiftly crumble.
By the time 20 minutes of the second half had been played, a 2-0 Leeds United lead had turned into Chelsea in control at 4-2. The match finally ending 6-3 to the home side and a telling stat was the fact that Chelsea scored their six goals from only eight shots on target, Daniel Farke having given a keeper (Zetterer) his Leeds debut in this cup game as one of the changes from his first choice eleven.
Especially when you aren’t in Europe, it is puzzling why a cub like Leeds United wouldn’t throw everything at a game that would take them into the last 16 of a cup competition especially when they had played four days earlier and the next game five days away.
So we are now down to 26 teams who could potentially win the League Cup..
The Carabao Cup fourth round draw will be held after the Man U v Brighton third round clash that is an 8pm kick-off on Wednesday 16 September.
The 16 teams that eventually progress will then face Carabao Cup fourth round ties in the week commencing Monday 26 October.
The full Carabao Cup third round schedule:
Tuesday 8 September Crystal Palace 3 Middlesbrough 0
Tuesday 8 September Sunderland 1 Hull City 0
Tuesday 8 September AFC Bournemouth 4 Lincoln City 0
Tuesday 8 September Leyton Orient 1 Bradford City 3
Tuesday 8 September Millwall 0 Newcastle United 1
Wednesday 9 September Chelsea 6 Leeds United 3
Tuesday 15 September Peterborough United v Barnsley 19:30 Sky Sports+
Tuesday 15 September West Ham United v Fulham 19:45 Sky Sports+
Tuesday 15 September Reading v Brentford 20:00 Sky Sports+
Tuesday 15 September Ipswich Town v Arsenal 20:00 Sky Sports Football
Wednesday 16 September Fleetwood Town v Sheffield United 19:45 Sky Sports+
Wednesday 9 September Everton v Wolverhampton Wanderers 19:45 Sky Sports+
Wednesday 16 September Manchester United v Brighton & Hove Albion 20:00 Sky Sports Main Event
Wednesday 16 September Coventry City v Aston Villa 20:00 Sky Sports+
Wednesday 16 September Liverpool v Tottenham Hotspur 20:00 Sky Sports Football + ITV
Thursday 17 September Manchester City v Norwich City 19:30 Sky Sports+