Weakened League Cup sides

Is there any reason why weakened League Cup sides for the top teams aren't coded into the game anymore?

I just played Arsenal in the League Cup 4th Round and was rather looking forward to a go against the kids

yeah i wish it was, only problem is what if a team like Arsenal start to do worse in the epl and then they end up being a mid-table side that will send out a good side in the league cup. If its always coded into the game that Arsenal will play their youngsters it might not be very accurate further into the game.

It would be a simple matter of checking against Arsenal's reputation.

I'd like to see a feature along these sort of lines. For example, Premiership teams playing a weakened side against League Two/One teams; this happens in real life and therefore adds realism to the game.

It wouldn't be difficult to do either. It's simply a case of having the game engine check the reputations of two teams, or the league difference and then deciding from there whether or not to play a full strength side, a mixture of youth and experience, or a reserve side.

It would be a simple matter of checking against Arsenal's reputation.

The only thing is i don't think their reputation would drop very fast even if they were finishing mid-table season after season. Although i may be wrong.

Big teams do still field weakened sides in the League Cup and FA Cup, but they won't do it willy-nilly. If you're Man Utd and get drawn against Arsenal, Arsenal aren't going to field kids against you.

In my game Man Utd faced Everton (high up in the Prem) in League Cup 3rd round and Hull (down in the Championship now) in the 4th round. They played a strong squad against Everton and an obviously weakened side against Hull. They did the same thing in the FA Cup, fielding a weakened side against Thurrock (Blue Square South relegation battler) in the 3rd round and a half-strength squad against Bournemouth (mid-table League 1) in the 4th round.

Arsenal played a weakened side against Hartlepool then a full-strength squad against Chelsea in the League Cup, then back to a half-strength squad against Hull. In the FA Cup they fielded weakened sides against Chesterfield and Cardiff, and will probably field a stronger squad against Premiership side Sheffield United.

Chelsea had a Europa League match 5 days before their match with Charlton in the League Cup 4th round for the second season with no match in between. Bosingwa played in both matches, but everyone else was different. Instead of guys like Cech, Lampard and Drogba, Charlton were fortunate enough to only be facing guys like Hilario, Jack Cork and Franco Di Santo.

It definitely doesn't work perfectly, though. FM09 and FM10 have had the concomitant, more serious problem of Arsenal et al. playing insanely weakened teams in league matches (often including four debutant seventeen-year-olds...) and then losing/drawing each time.

I played Arsenal once in the first game of the league season and they fielded a reserve squad against me (Hull City). They had Champions League qualifiers around the same time and I guess that was their priority. It was a pleasant surprise for me haha.

Also I played Man United twice in a row, one in the FA cup and the other in the league, and for the FA cup game they fielded a weakened squad. So I'd say it does happen. Maybe not as frequent as you would think, but it does.

That said, I do see some bigger clubs playing the likes of Torquay with a first team squad, so maybe not so realistic.

I played Chelsea (i'm Reading) in the league cup and they put out a "reserve" side - it was still strong but they played their players that have been sitting on the bench or not picked......so it does field a different line up in the cup in my game.