Tell UEFA what we think of their silly rules and save ourselves the trips to Eastern European hellholes on a Thursday night. Or we could take it seriously and actually try our best instead of playing kids. It is far from the Champions league but still a major trophy.
I think we have to blood the youngsters again. Unless we build a squad strong enough to handle a league push and a European cup competition, I see this as a bad diversion that could end up costing us in the league if we play too many of our first team players. This season proved that Harry doesn't know the meaning of squad rotation.... just who's in his favourites and who isn't.
With the likes of caulker and huddlestone returning we are going to need the extra games to keep our fringe players fit. I would like us to take it a bit more seriously though especially if we make the knockouts
Pull out, a complete waste of time. Levy should be brave enough to make a protest. With our limited resources we have little chance of top 4 , as this seems the only prize worth anything , then we must not weaken our slim chances.
it depends what we do over the summer in terms of transfers. I think that's it for big names coming in. Game over. (when I say big names, I mean the ones that will really make the difference). We'll carry on getting the "decent" quality of players that we're used to getting, but they'll only be good enough to aid us in a similar way at the moment. (provided we don't lose our best players). Therefore, those players we do get will be needed as part of squad rotation in the Prem (as harry clearly isn't happy with some of the players he's got) and it'll mean that we'll have to play the kids in europe. To be honest with you, unless we spend big to challenge next season, we're always going to be in this position, fighting in the prem. (could even fall apart if we lose our best players) So I'm tempted to say **** the prem, let's try and win europa with our first team. Might only be europa, but it's a trophy. No one ever takes that trophy seriously in this country, but with their being more and more competition for places in the CL through the prem, it might be worth actually going for it.
With the fffp rules coming in we had a chance to replace one of arsenal or Chelsea as a big force. With us in he cl our spending power would be up and theirs would be down. We ****ed it up. We can't blame Chelsea being lucky. Arsenal will probably now keep RVP and be an attractive proposition to new players. Chelsea will invest massively. Qualifying for the cl next year is a pipe dream. The usual 4 will grab the spots again. Therefore we should go for it in the EL. A trophy is a trophy. We've missed our chance of becoming one of the big boys twice in 3 seasons now. First we didnt invest after getting in the CL and this year we blew what was effectively a 13pt cushion. Arsenal/Chelsea/utd/city will capitalise.
Sidney, lets have some dignity mate. We finished 4th and we know the rules. makng protests just makes us look bitter and stupid. Yes, we shouldn't have lost 3rd place, but there's nothing we can do about Chelsea winning the CL. it's just bad luck. I hope it'll make Levy realise that he's tried it on a shoestring budget in terms of transfers over the last 18 months, and it simply isn't enough. we've failed 2 out of three. The loss of our best players is potentially on the cards. yes we might get a lot of money, but we've got to replace them and gel them into the team. that is not done overnight and we could end up having a transition season or 2. gotta go all out this summer and get real quality. With out CL footy, I don't know ho we're going to get what we need, especially with the limited wage budget.
agree spurfect! I posted something similar in another thread. the lack of investment after the CL qualification is where it all began. so we can't expect to get into it, to be honest.
I think our budget is what we can afford! The issue is a mix of poor refereeing decisions, poor management and below average performances cost us third place (although arguably good management and above average performances were the only thing that got us into the good position in the first place)
I want us to win trophies....arsenal have been in the top 4 for years but since they stopped winning trophies they have lost Kolo Toure, Henry, Fabregas, Adebayor, and Nasri... in that time we lost Carrick, Keane and Berbatov ... this year we are likely to now lose Modric (Adebayor wasn't ours to lose) and possibly Bale and Arsenal are possibly going to lose RVP. Qualifying for CL doesn't mean everything is great...it guarantees more money. I want us to take EVERY trophy seriously.
Totally agree. apart from maybe the carling cup. - that just adds more midweek games to the season, resulting in more potential injuries. it's amazing when you put it like that though RCL, that players will leave if you don't win trophies. so where's the balance?
Fair enough Roo, but there is hard to see any light at the end of tunnel , as our financial ability is so weak to compete.
Jeez, don't be pathetic as lets not get on our high horse, we had one good run in the champions league and failed the past two years to get into the champions league so we're in the europa league and need to take it serious and prove we can get to the final as success breeds confidence. Talking down competitions, just because we feel we're too good for them, makes us look like deluded arrogant fans, when we have no reason to be arrogant.
Don't be so ****ing ridiculous. Winning the Europa League is still something to be proud of. If Arsenal do not make it through the group by finishing 3rd - thus entering into the EL next year - I would be desperate for them to win it.
There's two double standards that UEFA seem to think nobody has noticed: 1.) They cannot create an extra place in the Champions League for Spurs next season, but can very easily create one for Spurs in the Europa League. If a spot can be created for one team in one of UEFA's competitions, why can't it be done for both? 2.) Besiktas are playing in the Champions League next season despite not qualifying via the league - they got bumped up a competition because Fenerbahce got thrown out for match fixing. If UEFA wanted to have some form of continuity in their argument, they would not move Besiktas up into a competition they did not qualify for, which means there is a free space in next season's competition that could have been set aside should Chelsea have won the final, and if Bayern won any number of teams could have been inserted into that place.
1) That place was already there because of Chelsea - had they lost Chelsea would have had what is now our place. 2) UEFA double standards? My God what a shock - I can't believe this news! I look forward to the day when Barcelona/Real Madrid get screwed because of this rule - oh wait, they'll just adjust the ruling then won't they? As a response to the actual thread - no we shouldn't pull out of the Europa League. We should now go all out and win it - respect the competition and go for some silverware.
You have been in the CL once. You have only received... two (??) European honours, the last in 1984. To disregard it would be arrogance and pretension. If you want the big club mentality, you should want to win every game and every competition your team has entered into, simply because you shouldn't ever lose. Therefore I'm glad to see you want to take it seriously (I think that's what you've implied).
I think the second point is to do with the coefficient and places available to each nation's league to enter from. I imagine it's rather complicated.
