I apologise for be bored and just wondering what if Another question I have is if we did qualify for Europa or CL... Would season tickets cover the European games as well? If yes then they would become more expensive?
No need to apologize. We're all aware of the immediate obstacles but its still fun to speculate. As for the question it really does come down to the group draw. If we maintain this level and add strength during the windows then i think we would have an at least realistic chance of escaping an average/weak group. If we're drawn with the likes Bayern/Real/Dortmund/Athletico/Juventus/Milan or some ludicrous group of fixtures with teams from the depth of eastern europe we'd be in for quite a kicking.
A likely possibility, as we'd go in as a fourth seed, I do believe. With the new rule allotting the spots in the first pot to the league winners, you could conceivably get a weakish group with the winner of the Ukrainian (or Russian, if they flip-flop in the UEFA coefficient) league, or perhaps the Portuguese champs, but most groups would be fairly murderous. The weakest I could come up with for this past year would have been Benfica, Basel and maybe Galatasaray, and even in a supremely lucky grouping like that, it'd be an uphill battle.
An uphill battle for sure but certainly not impossible. Don't get me wrong I'm not deluded into thinking there aren't clubs many clubs in Europe who couldn't destroy us even on our best day but a lot of clubs in the UCL have a fearsome reputation based purely on past glories or dominance of the national league. Of those you mentioned (an admittedly easy group) their record from the group stages onwards in the CL over past years is: Basel: 10/11 - Group Stage (3rd) 11/12 - R16 12/13 - DNQ 13/14 - Group Stage (3rd) Galatasaray: 10/11 - DNQ 11/12 - DNQ 12/13 - QF 13/14 - R16 Benefica: 10/11 - Group Stage (3rd) 11/12 - QF 12/13 - Group Stage (3rd) 13/14 - Group Stage (3rd) So my point is that clubs like this seem to be imposing due to their long term UCL status but if you look in detail at their recent performances they don't perform overly well in Europe and most of their successes can be attributed to weak opposition.
When we went back up to the Championship I thought we would win that division and we should have to be fair. At that time I made a comment that this was the best Saints side ever; a team that was as good as our 1983 side. Take out all the foreign players from the English game and most Championship players would be Premier league. Anyway, the point is that the bulk of our Division One side managed the next step up quite easily. Then most of that Championship side proved to be quite capable in the Premier League. Now we have a team that is currently one of the best in the Premier League so why shouldn't they be able to compete at the next level just as their predecessors have? I truly believe that Saints are the best team in the league. Other clubs may have better individual players but as a team we are best. If we haven't got the best players it can only be teamwork that brings our success. When you watch Chelsea or Man City etc, you notice individual players a lot more than you do watching Saints. As happened at Liverpool, if you take those high profile players out of the mix, they don't have the team play to fall back on. I rambling a bit, but my point is that with the proper organisation that we have why should we fear anyone? I will revisit these comments in a month's time when they could, of course, prove to be utter bull
Chelsea are the best team in the league. By quite a distance IMO. Mourinho identified what players he needed last season and went and got them.
I had a dream last night that Saints made it into the CL (so before you say it, yes it was literally "in my dreams") We were playing Chelsea at home, and I was Fraser Forster... We lost, 4-1... But Fraser scored! And I hadn't been drinking Blue Laddie either...
I agree in general. There are clubs that would whip us (not in a good way, fran) but i honestly believe that a lot of the clubs that regularly participate in the CL and earn their reputation purely off dominating their local league and managing to make it to the group stages of the UCL (term; fodder.) It's nigh impossible to even get to the semi-finals without massive spending but to suggest that we couldnt even compete at the group stage in our current form isn't true either.
Getting through the qualifiers would be tough enough (if we were to finish 4th) This season we would've had to beat one of: Porto, Zenit, Bayer Leverkusen, Napoli or Bilbao over two legs. Even then we'd be 3rd/4th seeds in the group. We would need a big investment to get out the group if this dream could actually happen. Something that I've been starting to pay some attention to recently is hoping for Liverpool/ Arsenal to under-perform in Europe as to avoid the nightmare situation of us actually coming 4th only to be denied by one of them two finishing out of the Top 4 but winning it. On the same subject, if we don't win the league cup I don't want someone like Newcastle winning it therefore taking up a European spot. If we can't win it, let's hope Chelsea do giving an extra qualifying position to the league.
What seems to serve teams well in the PL doesn't seem to work so well in the UCL. Man City seem to be doing a great job of notr being able to adapt from one to the other and they have a number of players that have played at the absoulute highest level. That said the best European teams do generally start from a sound defensive base and are hard to score against, which is very much like us. Chelsea do the same and they are currently the best PL side in Europe. On that basis we would have a chance but I think we really do need to judge ourselves after playing against the best strikers in the PL. If we can keep them out or down to 1 away from home, we would have the right ingredient for Europe. That said I couldn't see us getting out of any of the English Clubs groups this season and that is even if we were a Pot 1 club like Chelsea.
It's a long way to go and I will not slit my wrists if we end up 6th or 7th this year, but it's good to dream. I noticed in a recent national poll 67% of fans thought Saints would qualify for Champions League. That's changed dramatically over the past few weeks and a good December will make the dream a bit real won't it? For me, just to get to the mini league would be fantastic. Hope we don't finish 4th and then get knocked out in the qualifying round. That would be too close without being real in my book
I don't doubt that Cheklsea have the best players and will win the league. What I am trying to say is that, given that the 'bigger' clubs have better players, it is our teamwork that brings us our results. Our 'whole' is better than the sum of our parts.
Ah missed that part, apologies (I blame you for the length of your post ). I agree that our teamwork is a big reason for our season so far. But we do have some Champions League standard players, that shouldn't be forgotten.
I have always said that we are better than the sum of our parts, which may explain why some players don't transfer well. We make them look world beaters when in fact they are only good players who fit well in a good team. Lovren, for example, isn't getting the cover from Fonte and our midfield....it makes him look worse than he actually is.
