KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum Are we just a Cup team?

This is an article taken from the LFC Official Site. What do you guys think? In all honestly, I can't say I agree with his overall theme that a Cup victory is better than finishing in the top 4. I don't know if this guy realizes how far behind financially we are falling by missing CL for a 4th season. Reading this article frustrated me to be honest.

"Just a cup team...

Question: who scored the goal in 2005-06 that secured their team fourth spot in the Premier League?

Give up?

It was Thierry Henry. A hat-trick for Arsenal against Wigan on the final day as Tottenham – food-poisoned Spurs – lost to West Ham.

Now try this one: which player lifted the FA Cup in the same year?

Too easy, I know.

It was Steven Gerrard, after the most engrossing domestic showpiece of the modern era.

The point being that the Champions League may be football's El Dorado, but nobody remembers a triumphant march to fourth spot.

Financially, entry into Europe's premier club competition is important – of course it is. But why do we follow football? Is it to brag about our team's bank balance, or is it to enjoy days like May 13, 2006?

That's why it irks when the media dispatches the tired smear that Liverpool 'are just a cup team'.

Arsenal have qualified for the Champions League every season since Henry's treble, but what has it led to other than healthy finances?

People talk about attracting top players, but a lack of Champions League football did not deter Luis Suarez, Sami Hyypia, Jari Litmanen nor Didi Hamann from a transfer to Anfield.

Arsenal haven't won a single trophy since 2005, and trophies – not coffers – are what football is about.

The league title is the trophy Liverpool fans crave most, and our league form this season has not been as good as any supporter would have liked.

But did anyone really think this – the first full campaign for our manager and owners, seven new signings bedding into the team – would be the year when our too-long wait for the title would end?

And that being so, which is a better consolation prize: fourth spot and entry into the Champions League or, possibly, two cup wins?

Do Arsenal fans remember what they were doing on the night Henry scored his hat-trick? Some might. But I bet you couldn't find a Liverpool supporter without a story to tell about the evening after the Gerrard final.

Days like these are the apex of life in the stands. Days like Saturday: beating your local rivals in a semi-final at Wembley. Days when your match ticket will be preserved in a shoe box under your bed alongside a stub from your first concert and your childhood bank book. Days that ever so slightly change who you are.

Liverpool may be 'just' a cup team right now but which of the 91 other English league sides have had more of these days since the turn of the century?

A treble in 2001, including the drama of a late comeback against Arsenal and a nine-goal European final; a League Cup win over our fiercest rivals in 2003; the aforementioned FA Cup in 2006; a possible FA and League Cup double this season. And, of course, Istanbul: a fifth European Cup, a night some Liverpool fans would describe as the greatest of their life.

Would you swap all this for Arsenal's cache of two league titles and three FA Cups? No Liverpool fan in my office would.

How about Chelsea's collection of three league titles, four FA Cups and two League Cups? This is tougher – but it was still a toss-up for all those colleagues I questioned.

Which leaves Manchester United - whose 12 major trophies since the turn of the century include seven Premier League triumphs - as the only team to have unquestionably given their supporters more joy than Liverpool over the past dozen years.

There isn't a Liverpool fan alive who is happy that United have been the dominant force in English football during this period, but 90 other clubs would surely love to be seen as a cup team as defined by Liverpool since the Millennium.

Just a cup team? Tell that to those who stood in the Westfalenstadion in 2001. Tell that to those who were in Cardiff when Gerrard felt-tipped memories into our minds. Tell that to anyone who spent a month's wages travelling to Istanbul. Tell that to these people and see if they care."

@JimmyRiceWriter

How many premier leagues have We won in the last 20 years? How many cups have won in the last 20 years? A cup side we are.

Very true. I think this is partly down to the fact that the so called 'lesser' teams have all got better, whilst the 'top' teams certainly aren't their peak. All of them are in transition bar City, that are still searching for a team spirit and identity. There is no team that is as good or together as those in the past that have won league and cup doubles, and all the lower teams all play at a much higher standard and most push the top teams really hard in games.

Leagues go in cycles though, the EPL (at least in terms of top teams being of the highest quality) is on a bit of a dip.

can't argue that point carheex stats make it very clear we are a cup team

We are a cup team and I'd trade for titles.

Was we just a cup team in 04/05?

No, of course not, that was the Champions League "cup" win, the be all and end all pinnacle of football!

Therefore that year doesn't count.

We're a Premier League club that has fallen below expectation for the last few years in the League. This year we have performed better in the domestic cup competitions than we have over recent years. We always did pretty bad in the domestic cups, getting knocked out in early stages to average teams.

This does not make up for poor League form, but it doesn't indicate we are solely a cup team either.

We should be challenging and going for everything. It's a shame we haven't matched expectation in the League again this year.....but we aren't a "cup team" because of that.

But in Italy and Spain there doesn't seem to be a trade off. The usual suspects do good in both cups and league - including CL.

I think that says something about the general quality in those leagues, but also about the present quality of EPL's top teams.

Have you seen how slow (and defensive) the teams play, with lack of tempo in Serie A? They used to be like it when the Serie A was the best league in Europe. However the teams and players were far better back then and they could pull it of better than they can now. It's an average league nowadays.

Apart from Napoli in the league, the rest just stroll without breaking a sweat. Milan tried doing it against Arsenal in the 2nd leg and they nearly paid for it.

Italian teams tend to be arrogant and lazy. They get caught out a lot when they do, they've been found out many a time over recent years. It's a different culture and work ethic. However, when they do it and are smart with it, they can be very hard to breakdown, because they are so defensive.

Therefore, they can maintain freshness and fitness in cup competitions better than Premier League teams, who tend to go at it 100%, high tempo, in most games.

Which equates to more injuries and tiredness in our league in comparison and lesser chance of being consistent across all competitions.

Man United managed to do it, but since they've lost world-class players and are starting to age, it's very difficult to pull of.

Look at this year for them for instance. In comparison to a season with Ronaldo and a younger team.

you and me both

even just for 1

Agreed,but thats not possible,if you cant win the league then win the cup,if you can't win a cup,then you're Everton.