This is where we have to be realistic and weigh up our season, every season. 4th and above is the holy grail in terms of money. But we're never gonna win the CL or the Premiership, so doesn't everyone want us to be in a cup competition fighting for some silverware, whilst we try to qualify for the holy grail? We can't have this mentality of exiting all competitions as early as possible to give us CL qualification. Then what? Let's say we qualify...Then the following season we're in a european competition we won't win, we won't win our domestic title, and we're desperate to get out of the domestic cups so we're not overrun with games. so we win.... nothing. The EL might be a second rate european competition, but it'd be my priority over the FA and CO Cup's. We've got to be realistic about something we can actually win or otherwise there'll never be any silverware. I'm sick of us not winning anything. Chelsea seem to juggle the CL and the FA cup every year. Yes, they have a v good squad, but I don't see why we can't deal with the EL and the Prem. Like I said in my post yesterday, it's only 2 extra games than the CL, should one make it to the final.
Chelsea also have a lot of money to buy a good squad,like Man ci£y they have players on the Bench that would make a top P/L team,until we have a stadium that hold's 60,000 plus,so we can generate money for top player's,we won't be able to do what Chelsea, etc do
As much as I'd love to win the Europa, I think we'll need to rest some players for the return leg as it's affecting us in the League. You could argue that Thursday night cost us points against Everton as both Bale and Lennon were injured from it and players like that are game changers and match winners. Dembele and Vertonghen (and even Gylfi due to recent form) need to be rested for the return leg in my opinion, even if there is a 10 day gap between Basel and City. They along with Bale and Lennon have been our best players and quite frankly we need our top players as fit as possible for the games coming up and to avoid any more injuries, we simply can't afford any more out. Team I'd go for: Friedel, Naughton/ Walker, Dawson, Caulker, Ekotto Livermore, Huddlestone, Holtby, Carroll, Dempsey Adebayor If I'm honest I wouldn't be overly confident of a win, even though the players the are capable of doing so, it'll depend how up for it they are and whether Basel can repeat their form of the first leg.
Man U went 2-0 up against Chelsea in the FA Cup and Chelsea drew back to 2-2 and went on to win the replay. Yes it was at home but we have been quite effective away except for the Milan match. So we went 2-0 down and came back so it's still possible to win the replay as Chelsea did. I'm not saying that the two are connected because they aren't but it's a similar scenario so I'm hopeful.
With Bale and/or Lennon i would be with you. But without i can't see us scoring more than 1 and i can't see us keeping a clean sheet, especially if gallas plays.
This is the one Europa game that I don't think we need to rest players for, we've got 9 days after that game until our next one, whilst our opponents will play twice in the week leading up to it. I wouldn't mind seeing AVB experiment a little though. Lloris; Naughton, Dawson, Vertonghen, Ekotto; Parker, Huddlestone; Walker, Holtby, Carroll; Ade. Probably a few steps too far really but you never know it might just work and anyway, who cares, if we lose we'll still learn something where as if we lose with the same old team, all we'll know is that the other side was better than the ones we have available. I think we'll see pretty much the same team from the first leg though, with Dempsey added in for Bale.
I'm just more worried on the injury front YV, we can't afford another 1 or 2 injuries if we're to try and cement a top 4 finish. Fitness wise it'll be fine, they've got a longer than usual break but I'd be devastated if say we played Mousa/ Jan etc and they ended up walking off injured. Tough choice though for the manager as I'm probably as interested and desperate as he is to win the Europa, I just want the small matter of Champions League football next season too
Apart from Ade and Parker, I don't think any injury would be that much of a blow. The point of the experimentation is to find out what cover we have in positions incase we do get injuries, for example, can Carroll and Walker fill in further forward, can Huddlestone continue the good form he showed coming off the bench into a 90 minute performance. We already know that Gallas can't be trusted to be used in the run in, Caulker struggles against the more technical players, Livermore aint no Parker and Naughton's adequate at best. Were we to learn that just one of Walker, Huddlestone and Carroll could work then all of a sudden we've got an option against City that doesn't involve Dempsey, should Bale and Lennon not recover. I'm not that fussed about the Europa League anymore, as I'm sure you've picked up on but players can get injured at any point, throwing away a competition by fielding a 'B' team just to make sure certain players get past one of the last seven games without getting injured is a bit OTT. Throwing away a competition to experiment with personnel or when our fixture list is congested however is totally fine
I'd go with Lloris; Walker, Dawson, Caulker, Vertonghen; Huddlestone, Parker; Dembele, Holtby, Sigurdsson; Adebayor. Villas-Boas will definitely pick Friedel, though. Fair enough, really. I think we need to get on the ball and keep possession a lot better than we did in the first leg, so we need a playmaker in the middle. Start Huddlestone and keep Carroll in reserve.
About the team I'd pick. I wondered about starting Huddlestone, and realized the alternative is starting Dempsey. Was anyone ever able to work out what positions Holtby, Gylfi and Dempsey were supposed to be playing in against Everton? I kind of thought Gylfi was supposed to be sort of in the middle, Holtby leftish and Dempsey towards the right, but I really wasn't sure. Anyways, the fullbacks providing the wide threat worked out well, but the three forward midfielders seemed to clump together like overcooked pasta. This is a tough game for the fans. We're more concerned with the race for the CL spots, have a squad minus our two best threats, and face an away game where we almost certainly need a win. Finally, we know that another round or more of the Europa lessens our chance of getting a CL spot significantly. However: hope for a win and hope for the best... Ade, Gylfi and Jan have been getting on the scoresheet lately. A bigger problem than scoring may be keeping Basel at bay, especially when Jan and Walker have got to get forward.
I thought that Sigurdsson was provisionally on the left, Dempsey was in the middle and Holtby was supposed to be cutting in from the right, but it was very hard to tell.
Rather take part in an 'Olympic 100 metre final' and finish respectable then to win an 'egg and spoon race' on a damp Thursday night, on the Rec . On the other hand., Spurs have gone too far within this Europa cup competition to turn back now and it would be disappointing not to win it outright now.
Or a more determined , generous, business fat cat owner who would invest in the team, say net spend of 8 million each year instead of the 1 million net spend ( not much by today's standards ). We have no chance with these frugal economics., the funny thing is if they were more ambitious they would have doubled there money with CL money . We are stuck with them till they can sell for a giant profit, so don't count your chickens with a change of policy with a new stadium. They will be paying off for a decade. They have fed us a diet of winning nothing, and many have been manipulated into excepting this stance.
So our owners are after a 'giant profit' but unaccountably are deliberately doing things that make the club worth less. I suspect we will get the £8m investment per year under AVB. Giving that to Redknapp would have been equivalent to flushing it down the toilet
Maybe new age pacifism is getting better of many of us. The vibe of Forest "age of Aquarius " Row may have an influence. It nearly happened to me when I had too many pulses from Seasons. Regards from Hartfield.
Exactly how I feel. We've been "educated" to believe that the CL is now the be-all end-all and the PL is nothing more than a qualifying competition for it. And what happens? You go out in the group stages! I even heard someone a couple of weeks back calling TalkShite about Arsenal saying that it was OK to lose in the CL because that enabled them to concentrate on qualifying for the top 4... in other words for CL qualification!!! I don't mention this simply to laugh at the Gooners but because for all it's ludicrous non-logic you can almost get why he said it - because we've been convinced that there is nothing more important.
Unfortunately, the CL has become as much, if not more, about the money it brings than the prestige of winning.
I have no qualms about CL qualification and how important it is. But at the same time, football needs to be about winning trophies. This is why I used chelsea as the example. Yes their CL win was lucky IMO, but regardless, they always back up any CL campaign and EPL campaign with an attempt at the FA cup. - which has gone well for them. No, we don't have the resources like chelsea do for 3 competitions, but the Europa + a prem campaign is a combination we're capable of dealing with. We stand a realistic chance of doing very well/winning something like the Europa, so why not go for it?
Reading all this has pressed some of my buttons. Firstly why participate in a cup if you don't want to win it! This nonsense about resting players - they are professionals that is all they do. An extra game a week most of them should be more than capable of doing this, they don't have a day job in an office then go and play. I too am fed up with not winning anything for years and have to endure the taunts of Utd and Chav supporters, so I say put out the best team you can try and win the trophy and if along the way we play well enough in the league to qualify for a European competition great.
