Jamie Carragher wants rule change as Everton crash out of Carabao Cup v Fulham
Jamie Carragher wants extra time to be scrapped in all competitions after Everton were knocked out of the Carabao Cup on penalties to Fulham on Tuesday night.
Chelsea also beat Newcastle in a shoot-out after both quarter-final clashes finished 1-1.
In the Carabao Cup, extra-time has been scrapped, meaning that draws go straight to penalties.
That’s something ex-Liverpool defender Carragher wants implemented across the board in knock-out competitions such as the FA Cup and the Champions League.
“Everton v Fulham and Chelsea v Newcastle [went] straight to pens with no extra time, is a much better spectacle than an extra 30 mins of football when players are shattered and terrified of making a mistake,” said Carragher via his personal Twitter account (19 December).
“No more extra time in any competitions, please.”
In another tweet, he added:” There is more prestige in winning the FA Cup than the Carabao Cup, but the Carabao is a much better competition. No replays, no extra time, we know the draw right away and the cup final is not competing with the end of Premier League season and Champions League final a week later.”
Carragher’s former club Liverpool are, of course, still in the competition.
He’s spot on
Almost every football fan should agree with Carragher here.
You rarely get a thrilling 30 minutes of extra-time so why not bin it off and get to the main event? Penalties.
Everyone loves a penalty shoot-out, you rarely get a poor one.
Even when players are missing penalties left, right and centre, it makes for an incredible spectacle and they also throw up some more unpredictable results.
They’re not quite a lottery but they are way more fun to have than a 30-minute slog of tired players just trying to not lose instead of trying to win a game.
The Carabao Cup is showing a good example here by getting rid of extra-time.
If it happens in the FA Cup and even the Champions League and other UEFA competitions, that would be great too.
However, there will be some pushing for it to stay because extra-time was an absolute thriller in the 2022 World Cup final between Argentina and France.
In other Everton news, Micah Richards and Gary Lineker obsessed over Everton with a league title shout.