Following Chelsea and Arsenal's appearance in the League Cup final, managers of the Women's Super League criticized the "unfair" League Cup format.
Teams participating in the Champions League group stage enter the League Cup quarterfinals instead of the groups.
While the defeated semifinalists West Ham and Manchester City played five and six games, respectively, Chelsea and Arsenal only played two games to reach the final.
"They should be in everything or not at all," said Matt Beard, the manager of Liverpool.
According to Beard, the men's League Cup, where teams from Europe enter in round three, compares favorably to the women's.
Two more games than Arsenal and Chelsea will play in the 2022–23 competition must be played for them to win the trophy, including a two-leg semifinal and the championship game.
"The rules are unfair. After two games, Chelsea and Arsenal will compete in another final, according to Beard. They can use their academy and currently have large squads of 25 players.
Since 2017–18, a group stage has been a part of the women's League Cup's format, which includes the 24 teams from the Women's Super League and Championship.
The rule allowing clubs that made it to the Champions League group stage to forego the first round, however, was introduced last season.
Before the 2023–24 season, Aston Villa manager Carla Ward demanded that the competition's organizational principles be reviewed.
To put it nicely, she replied. Everybody should be able to enter a competition. To reach the championship game, some teams play seven or eight games, while others only play two.
Although you would hope that there would be discussions about how it might appear, you never know.
Despite criticism of the format, this is the first League Cup final in which two late entrants have advanced.
Manchester City, captained by Gareth Taylor, won the competition in 2021–22 after making it out of the group stage and defeating Chelsea, who had also started in the last eight, 3–1.
Last season, Arsenal also advanced to the quarterfinals, but Manchester United defeated them 1-0 at home.
Taylor said it was simple to criticize in retrospect after his team's 1-0 loss to Arsenal on Wednesday following extra time.
The previous season was the same. Regardless of the format, the rules remain the same, he said.
The rules are there from the beginning, so it's difficult to go back and review after the event.
"You can see how teams could make it to the final after just two games, but we are aware of the rules before the game.
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