3 things you may have missed from this week’s Capital One Cup fixtures
The Capital One Cup is now in full flow following the third round fixtures that took place this past week.We had the return of Luis Suarez in Liverpool’s defeat at Old Trafford and we have a very tasty fourth round fixture with Chelsea visiting Arsenal. Here are three things you might have missed from the Capital One Cup third round:
1. Nicklas Bendtner’s ridiculous new look
The self confessed Greatest Striker That Ever Lived made his eagerly anticipated (only by himself of course) to Arsenal’s first team following a two year absence during which he faded into obscurity.
If Arsene Wenger had signed another striker during the summer then Bendtner probably wouldn’t be an Arsenal player right now, but Wenger didn’t sign Demba Ba and the Great Dane made his first start since 2011.
Despite providing an assist for Thomas Eisfield’s goal against West Brom, the main talking point from the game was Bendtner’s new Thor look and many still question just how detached from reality the striker is.
2. Birmingham outpassing Swansea
Current Capital One Cup holders Swansea travelled to Birmingham as they looked to make another successful run to Wembley. Birmingham, not known for their passing prowess, simply outplayed Michael Laudrup’s team as they dominated possession and took their chances when they came along.
How often do you see Swansea lose the possession battle by such a large margin? Birmingham had 60% of the ball and Swansea’s fringe players lacked fluency and cohesion as the Blues caused something of an upset and marched on to the fourth round.
3. A tidy finish from Peter Crouch
Who remembers when Peter Crouch used to score with such frequency that we would see his infamous ‘Robot’ dance on a weekly basis? Yes, the Beanstalk used to be quite prolific but in recent seasons his productivity has reduced significantly.
New Stoke manager Mark Hughes will be hoping that Crouch can locate his goalscoring boots this season and the signs against Tranmere were promising.
Already 1-0, Crouch sealed victory with a lovely chip in injury time after some rather tidy control to take pluck the ball from the air.
It may not be long until we see that Robot again…
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