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Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Carling Cup exit pleases Warnock

Queens Park Rangers manager Neil Warnock Warnock's QPR were promoted from the Championship last season

QPR manager Neil Warnock says he is glad to be out of the Carling Cup following their 2-0 home defeat to League One Rochdale.

Rangers were one of four Premier League sides to lose to lower-league opposition on Tuesday.

"I don't think people care about the competition," said Warnock, noting the crowd of 4,775 at Loftus Road.

When asked if he was pleased to be out of the competition he replied: "Yes. They should revamp the Cup."

QPR joined fellow promoted clubs Swansea and Norwich in exiting the Carling Cup at the first opportunity.

Swansea lost 3-1 away to League Two side Shrewsbury, while Norwich were hammered 4-0 at home by League One outfit MK Dons.

In addition to the promoted trio, Sunderland lost 1-0 at Brighton to ensure that half of the eight Premier League sides in action on Tuesday were defeated.

The average attendance of Tuesday's 16 Carling Cup ties was 7,631, with only three games attracting gates of more than 10,000

"I'm not disappointed to be out. The competition is not a priority for us," added Warnock, who made eight changes to the side that beat Everton on Saturday.

"If I can't get motivated for the competition I can't blame the players if they can't."

But Rochdale manager Steve Eyre queried Warnock's opinions.

"Neil didn't say before the game that he doesn't take it seriously," he said.

"To field a front line that has Adel Taarabt and Jay Bothroyd tells me it was taken quite seriously.

"It's still a fantastic competition. Wembley [venue for the Carling Cup final] is an amazing place to play football."

Norwich boss Paul Lambert, who made 11 changes to the side that drew with Stoke on Sunday, did not criticise the Carling Cup but admitted that the battle for Premier League survival played a part in his team selection.

"The season is too hard to keep going with the same lads," Lambert told BBC Radio Norfolk.

"We're new to it [the Premier League] and we have to keep rotating in certain games. We need everybody and if we do that we've got a chance [of staying up]."

Five more Premier League teams open their Carling Cup campaigns in the second round on Wednesday and Thursday, with the seven top-flight clubs taking part in European competitions this season entering in round three.

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