Carabao Cup Aftermath: Grealish Dropped, United's Struggles, and Afcon's Return

The Carabao Cup has cleared out of the midweek schedule, but it has left a mess behind it.

On Merseyside, at Old Trafford, in the corridors of Fifa and Caf, and even in South Korea, football’s powerbrokers and headline acts are under pressure. The weekend arrives not as a clean slate, but as the next chapter in a series of rolling dramas.

Grealish dropped, Everton advance – and a Monday sub‑plot

Everton are into the Carabao Cup quarter-finals after beating a desperately flat Newcastle side, yet the result came with a twist that will linger into the league programme.

Jack Grealish was nowhere near it.

The England international was dropped for what the club described as a “breach of club discipline”. No elaboration, no softening of the blow. David Moyes backed the decision afterwards, publicly siding with the club line while refusing to disclose any further detail.

The football itself was straightforward enough: Everton handled a poor Newcastle, got the job done and moved on. The real intrigue lies in what happens next. The fixture list has a sense of humour – Everton travel to Newcastle on Monday night. Whether Grealish boards that coach will be one of the weekend’s running stories. Team-sheet time at St James’ Park could feel like a disciplinary hearing.

Carrick talks, United crumble, Chelsea await

If Merseyside had off-field tension, Old Trafford had a full-blown psychological study.

Last Friday, Michael Carrick delivered a six-minute monologue that felt part defence, part manifesto. It was long, thoughtful, and earnest. It was also followed by his Manchester United side collapsing at home to Bournemouth.

The contrast was brutal. United’s rhetoric, once backed by trophies and fear, now hangs over a team that looks fragile the moment the ball is rolled. Remarkably, Carrick remains in post. In another era, a home capitulation to Bournemouth would have triggered emergency meetings. Now, the club drifts on, still talking about projects, still losing games they once won in second gear.

This weekend brings a trip to Chelsea. Once, this was a fixture that shaped title races and defined top-four battles. Now it is a meeting of two clubs wrestling with their own reflection, clinging to the idea that they still belong at the top table. The nostalgia is real; the stakes are lower; the sadness is harder to ignore.

Son under scrutiny in a fractured South Korea

Far from the Premier League, South Korea are living through an autumn of discontent after a dismal World Cup showing, and the fallout has been savage.

Coach Hong Myung-bo has gone. KFA president Chung Mong-gyu has gone. Both men were hauled in front of parliamentarians, questioned, and then watched as police raided the Korean Football Association offices. This is not routine post-tournament review. It is open-heart surgery on a national institution.

At the centre of it all, awkwardly, stands Son Heung-min.

For years, the idea of dropping Son was unthinkable. He was the untouchable, the face of the team, the one player you built around and argued about only in terms of who best supported him. Now, his position is being openly debated. Not just his role. His place in the XI.

As John Duerden explores, the conversation is shifting from how to maximise Son to whether he should start at all. In a divided dressing room and a furious football culture, even the biggest star is no longer safe from scrutiny.

Fifa’s missed equality target

On the global stage, Fifa’s numbers do not match its words.

Tom Garry reports that world football’s governing body will fall short of its own ambition to deliver equal prize money for the 2027 Women’s World Cup, despite banking a record $15bn (£11.2bn) from this summer’s men’s tournament.

Gianni Infantino had set the tone in 2023, talking about “equality” for the prize pot and insisting Fifa was acting, not just speaking. That fuelled genuine optimism across the women’s game that 2027 would finally see parity with the men, at least on a per-team basis.

It will not happen. The numbers will move, but not enough. For players and federations who have used Infantino’s words as leverage in their own negotiations, the shortfall will sting.

Afcon’s U-turn and the club-country faultline

In Africa, another governing body has changed course.

The Confederation of African Football has confirmed that the Africa Cup of Nations will revert to a two-year cycle, reversing last year’s decision to move to a four-year format. Caf said it had “unanimously decided” to bring Afcon back to its traditional rhythm.

The reasons are blunt. The proposed Africa Nations League Pan-African competition – designed as Afcon’s replacement – will take years to become financially viable. Caf president Patrice Motsepe admitted they could not wait that long for the “substantial financial and football development contributions” required to keep African football competitive and self-sustaining.

He also framed the decision as one taken with African players employed abroad in mind. That line will raise eyebrows in Europe. Clubs will now lose key players every two years again, not every four, and the old club-versus-country tension will flare.

Next year’s Afcon will be co-hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. The following tournaments are pencilled in for 2028, 2031 and 2033, with a three-year gap between 2028 and 2031 to avoid clashing with the 2030 Fifa World Cup. The calendar is packed; the arguments are inevitable.

City’s women stumble, pressure rises

Closer to home, Manchester City’s women are learning how unforgiving the Champions League can be.

A late goal from Tara Elimbi Gilbert denied them victory last night and left the English champions with a third straight draw in the league phase. The maths is now stark: City will probably need to win all three of their remaining group games to avoid the so-called “punishment round” – the play-off stage in February.

Andrée Jeglertz did not hide his frustration. “Annoying is not the right word but it’s a little bit a feeling of ‘argh’,” he said afterwards. City dominated, created, but did not kill the game. Their opponents did what good European sides do – hung on, then took their chance.

The margins are thin, and City have left themselves no room for error.

Brighton seek revenge, Bournemouth hold back Kroupi

On the south coast, two very different Premier League stories are unfolding.

At Brighton, Fabian Hurzeler is preparing for a rapid rematch with Manchester City. His side went out of the Carabao Cup on penalties at the Etihad in midweek; now they head back there in the league, hunting a response.

The team news helps. Chema Andres and Ferdi Kadioglu, both sidelined with hip injuries at Liverpool last weekend, are expected to be available. Charalampos Kostoulas, rested for the cup tie, will also return. Hurzeler was buoyant about their prospects, even if summer signing Pascal Struijk remains out with an undisclosed knock.

There was another boost: Yankuba Minteh and Mats Wieffer made their comebacks in the cup, adding depth for a demanding trip.

At Bournemouth, patience is the watchword with Junior Kroupi. The highly rated French forward has only just returned from a foot injury that kept him out for the first three months of the campaign. He featured in the 3-0 win over Manchester United and got more minutes in Wednesday’s Carabao Cup victory over Aston Villa, coming on in the 80th minute.

Marco Rose, though, is refusing to rush. Ahead of Saturday’s visit of Leeds, he made it clear Kroupi’s game time will be carefully managed. The Cherries want his quality, but they want it over a season, not a fortnight. Alex Scott remains sidelined with a thigh problem, but could be back next week.

The weekend begins

So the stage is set.

Grealish waits on a recall. Carrick clings to his project. Son faces questions he has never heard before. Fifa counts its billions while equality remains out of reach. Afcon returns to its old heartbeat, dragging the club game with it. City’s women walk a tightrope. Brighton chase revenge. Bournemouth nurture a talent.

The Carabao Cup may be done for now, but the real tests arrive this weekend.