Being horribly cynical - can anyone imagine Daniel Levy being that fucked off with being out of the league cup? The manner of the defeat, of course, but I wouldn't be shocked (in fact, I probably think this is the case) if Levy and Pochettino have discussed this previously and have an 'understanding' as to what we're prioritising here.The strategy of the club is clearly to raise the profile of the club with high league finishes and regular CL football. It’s what gets you noticed, it helps player recruitment, it brings in money to help compete with richer clubs, sponsors want to be associated with you, it’s fun winning games every week, it’s great to be playing Real Madrid in front of 85,000 fans - I could go on, but none of that would happen if the club prioritised the cups.
Football has moved on. Remember playing in front of 20,000 people at the Lane? I do, and this is better.
Is it 'glorious'? No. But we're not playing on a FIFA save, expecting to win the quadruple.