If it’s a group format to start with what is the point of penalties?
Where else can you lose a cup game on penalties and still come away with a point!
The World Cup should look at this format, it’s incredible…
If only we knew someone who was brilliant at penalties, loves Saints and has a fair bit of spare time during the week.
It is fucking laughable!
When it gets to the end of the tournament, and the winners go up the steps at Wembley to collect the trophy, they will be greeted by…
Looking at the BBC earlier and apparently the competition has managed to reduce attendances…
The FA will be scratching their heads this morning and wondering why.
Its buggerall to do with the FA it’s the Football Leagues competition TBH
The Pope?
EFL FA PL FIFA, whatever. - all a bunch of cunts.
Originally posted by @Optimus-trousers
Sourced from Daily Echo article
Charlton 0-0 Southampton: Hunter finds huge value in Trophy
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SAINTS’ technical director Martin Hunter believes that the Checkatrade Trophy has enormous value in the development of the club’s young players and hailed the performance of his side after taking a well-earned point from League One Charlton Athletic tonight.
Hunter, who is in charge of Saints’ Under-23s, was pleased with the 0-0 draw at The Valley in the club’s first Group E match in the revamped competition, although was disappointed to lose 5-4 in a penalty shootout to miss out on a bonus point.
“I thought they were terrific from start to finish,” he said of his players. “It looked like a Southampton team playing our way.
“I was very pleased in terms of our defending and pressing and the way that we moved the ball through the thirds.”
Goalkeeper Alex McCarthy missed the crucial spot kick that gave Charlton the extra point, but Hunter was keen not to put too much emphasis on the shootout and would rather take the positives after his side more than held their own against senior Football League opposition.
“I was disappointed to lose it like that,” he said. “We planned what we were doing and the final penalty has hit the underside of the bar and gone out. The most pleasing thing is that we’ve got a point here against Charlton with a very young side – that’s good.
“The crux of the matter is the game. The penalty shootout is a peripheral thing. It’s how the players have coped in the 90 minutes of football.”
Saints did extremely well and could have had the win if Harrison Reed had dispatched a first half penalty after Jake Hesketh was fouled.
Hunter believes that the experiences of playing in a competition that involves established first team players can only be a benefit to Staplewood’s starlets.
“It’s very important,” he said of the competition. “It fits in with the philosophy of the club to give them as many experiences as they can and playing in a competition like this in front of crowd against senior players gives us a chance to benchmark them to put a marker down within the club.”
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Originally posted by @Optimus-trousers
Sourced from Daily Echo article
Charlton 0-0 Southampton: Saints drop point as keeper McCarthy misses penalty
Show/hide article…It wasn’t the most auspicious of starts for the Checkatrade Trophy at The Valley, but at least the first evening provided a decent advert for Saints’ up and coming generation of talent.
The whole competition, formerly the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy, has undergone a radical and controversial remodelling.
Officially this is a one year trial, and, in the eyes of the Football League clubs that voted for it, nothing ventured, nothing gained.
There was a universal acceptance that the competition needed something to spice it up.
The idea of adding teams with category one academies, essentially largely youth dominated sides of Premier League glamour teams, was deemed to be the way to go.
The format of regionalised group stages, additional points for a penalty shootout win if the scores are level, and a lot more money on offer, as well as the traditional Wembley final, were enough to get the changes passed.
Added to that was the thought that a visit from a Premier League big gun, even if the team was dominated by its youngers, would swell the crowds.
A smattering of big sides opted not to take part, and when it came to it, in the first time out at least, the crowds didn’t seem at all swollen.
The protest movement ‘B team boycott’, plus generally apathy, won the day.
At Charlton as Saints got their competition up and running, it was possible to physically count the spectators yourself half an hour before kick-off. It filled up a little for the start but not a lot.
Though there is something to be said for the principal of this change, as long as it doesn’t lead to a ‘B team creep’ into other competitions, but the whole format of the Checkatrade Trophy feels like a rush job.
Earlier in the day it was confirmed that bookings and red cards from this don’t count in any other competition, and even on the night there was uncertainty over whether the team Charlton called ‘Southampton under-23s’ on their scoreboard and in their literature, should in fact have been just Southampton.
Was this a first team debut for Alex McCarthy and six others? Or did this not count towards first team appearances? It did for Charlton after all. Can it count for one side and not the other?
But then one has the first team manager in the dugout, the other side the youth team boss.
Looking at it from a Saints point of view, the first game did tick a lot of boxes.
Martin Hunter spoke beforehand of the benefits for Saints and, though the wish to play in front of a decent crowd wasn’t really met, playing against more experienced players in a first team type setting was.
This was valuable for Saints, and it was quite right they took the chance handed to them, irrespective of the arguments. They were presented with a good opportunity to help progress their young players, and accepted it.
They started the game on the front foot, interestingly playing the 4-2-3-1 formation the first team are not these days.
Saints looked composed and controlled, good on the ball and the better team.
They should have taken the lead on 22 minutes as Harrison Reed dragged his penalty wide after Jake Hesketh had been rudely hacked down by a scything challenge.
Though chances were in short supply, Saints tested Dillon Phillips with free kicks from Sam McQueen and Jack Stephens, before Olufela Olomola really extended the Charlton stopper five minutes before the break.
His low shot from 20 years was heading for the bottom corner but Phillips did superbly to get down to his left to turn it wide while Charlton didn’t have an opportunity worthy of the name.
Charlton seemed to warm to the task a little more in the second period and were at least exerting a little pressure on the Saints backline.
Karlan Ahearne-Grant put a shot into the side netting while McCarthy ended up making a routine save when Joshua Umerah opted to shoot rather than squaring to Brandon Hanlan who would have had the simplest of finishes.
The closing stages saw Phillips make a great save from McQueen and another more routine one from Josh Sims while an almighty scramble in the Saints area saw some heroic defending as Charlton tried to hammer the ball over the line before McCarthy smothered it to end the danger.
At the end of 90 minutes, and with Crawley having defeated Colchester in the other game affecting Saints’ group, the match at The Valley was still goalless with both teams therefore bagging a point and a penalty shootout required to secure a bonus point for one side, bizarre though that is.
After the regulation five penalties it was all square at 4-4 with Jack Stephens seeing his effort saved while Kevin Foley hit the bar for Charlton.
Once it went to sudden death and Ezri Konsa had netted the responsibility fell to Saints keeper McCarthy.
The new signing certainly put his foot through the ball but saw it smash the crossbar and come back out.
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Under 23’s playing tomorrow night at St Mary’s against Crawley, anyone know any ticket info? Couldn’t find anything on the official site.
…Jeez that skates won!
If Im totally honest I didn’t look very hard, cheers mate 
I think they need to revert this back to the old format and make it for the lower league sides. It seems that supporters are turning their backs on this compitition and I’m not suprised it is a complete joke!
although there are some potential earnings to be made betting against the Under 23 sides so all might not be lost.
Didn’t our U23s go through last night without kicking a ball??
Not sure Bob, couldn’t find anything on the official site…