Knockout Competitions in Relation to Board Confidence - Has This Changed?

I have been searching the forums for about 20minutes looking for an answer to this but I can't find one - I am probably being stupid and it's probably in big capitals somewhere but as I cannot find an answer I feel I should ask the question again:

Is the Carling Cup still going to be rated as a real competition alongside the FA Cup?

eg If I lose in the Carling Cup will the board get angry even if I do an Arsene Wenger and play my "reserves"

For me this was very annoying in FM08 as I enjoy playing youth players in the competitions which I pay less attention to - not to insult the League Cup but I do not pay particular attention to this competition - however in FM08 the "board confidence" could completely crumble due to a bad performance in the League Cup - this is not very realistic in my opinion which is why I was wondering if it has been changed?

Also, I have thought of another question so I will ask this now as well:

If I am say Brighton and I get drawn against Manchester United in the 3rd Round at Old Trafford of the FA Cup, will the board still expect me to get to the 4th Round of the Competition if this was their start of season expectation?

The reason I ask is that it seems unreasonable to expect a team to get to a certain round of a knockout competition if they are drawn against teams which are clearly far better than them and in FM08 when this happened it could also make your "board confidence" crumble.

Many Thanks in advance for all your help

Cant say ive seen an answer to it either. All ive heard is that "board confidence has been improved". But i certainly hope changes have been made that reflect the importance of each competition, and how realistic the ambitions are if you have to come up against a top club.

It best had of been fixed!!

I hope the issue of being expected to reach the next round despite being drawn against far superior opposition has been sorted.

If I am drawn against Man Utd, but I'm managing, say, Grimsby and one round short of the expectation, I hope the board then reconsider and say something like:

"We understand Man Utd is a next to impossible task, we just hope the team does itself proud/is not humiliated."

Losing 2-0 would be greeted with:

"We are proud of the teams performance in the FA Cup 3rd round, hopefully the draw will be kinder next year."

Well the board confidence has IIRC been fixed , but i will wait and see for myself . Hopefully 09 will be the best manager game i have ever played i have high expectations .

"If I lose in the Carling Cup will the board get angry even if I do an Arsene Wenger and play my "reserves""

Wasn't Sir Alex the true pioneer of this, albeit less successfully, in the mid 1990s (York City anyone?)

erm I have no idea mate...I just thought I'd give an up to date version cause I thought people would understand better! (Y) haha

You are probably correct!

Haha sorry Gavin I was just being pedantic, I agree with your point though, massively frustrating for the board to be annoyed with poor performances in the lesser cups, including the community shield! Another related point is the fact that confidence ought to be revamped for pre-season friendlies, always irritating that a failure to break Wolves down in a friendly should have a bearing upon confidence in the same couple of months involving a 3-0 thumping of Chelski.

You know.. i'd love to have an option of telling the board exactly what i'd be doing. For example, telling the board 'I want to be allowed a poor performance in the League Cup as long as I do well in the Champions League.'.

So you can put more emphasis on one competition and less on another.

I hope the issue of being expected to reach the next round despite being drawn against far superior opposition has been sorted.

If I am drawn against Man Utd, but I'm managing, say, Grimsby and one round short of the expectation, I hope the board then reconsider and say something like:

"We understand Man Utd is a next to impossible task, we just hope the team does itself proud/is not humiliated."

Losing 2-0 would be greeted with:

"We are proud of the teams performance in the FA Cup 3rd round, hopefully the draw will be kinder next year."

THIS.

I always get asked to reach the 4th round of the FA Cup, and nearly every single year, I get a top 4 team in the 3rd round.