Koeman rules out UCL / Tells fans to be realistic, SFC "need" to make Europa League

Unless our first team stays fit for a whole season or only have a few minor injuries which aren't all at one time we will always be at a disadvantage. That is why we had to get as many points as we could early when everyone was fit. Although our squad is better than last year it's still nowhere near the depth of the usual top four. Good players won't be happy sitting on the bench for us without even a massive wage to keep them warm. We have a very small chance of top four but we are going to have to get our first team fit asap to do that and hope other teams remain inconsistent. We have to take the cups seriously as that is our best chance of Europe and therefore attracting better players.

 

In response to the thread title.

 

I think there has been a bit of a power shift in th PL where by there isn't the traditional Top 4, that for a decade or so were streets ahead of everyone else. Newcastle were close a few years back, Spurs got in as did Liverpool this season. To me the league has bunched up and sides like ourselves and West Ham have a better chance of getting there this season than other clubs have in the last ten years.

Personally I think we will be looking at Top 6 but I don't think a winner like Koeman would be. He has said that only City have been better than us this season, include Chelsea then in his opinion, we are the 3rd best team in the league. I would think that his target is still top 4 and that he thinks it is realistic.

 

Hopefully we'll have booked a Europa place on Sunday 1st March, so we can then push for a UCL spot.

Question: if a club qualifies by three separate routes for the Europa League, i.e. winning League and FA Cups, plus position in the league, shouldn't they be awarded a UCL spot?

 

You need to look beyond Saints for once. Have a look who the big spenders are, year on year, and where they finish, year on year. That was my point.

True. Everton have been the one club to have bucked the trend and knocked on the trapdoorthat separates the Super Clubs from the rest. But it's no coincidence that Man City, Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal consistently dwarf the wage bills of other clubs, and consistently finish top four.

 

Screw that - if we did that Southampton FC should become a member of FIFA and then we could enter the World Cup!

 

I'd also be very surprised if Everton's wage bill isn't significantly higher than ours aswell, probably close to double.

 

No, it's not hugely higher than Saints. There was a good article earlier in the season about wage bills and Everton's was only slightly higher than ours. What was slightly surprising was how high ours was..! Then again, all our lovely players don't have endless smiles just because we've transferred in all the nicest ones in the world. Even if we'd like to think so.

 

It's all just mindgames to motivate the players in some way.

I seriously doubt that Koeman sits the players down and goes like "Well lads, it's Man U. We can lose this one, we're just going for Euro." or "It's Hull today, this is a must-win for Champion's Leauge so if we lose forget about the season." You try to win every game, knowing you probably won't and you try to keep players motivated. No matter whether your goal is avoiding relegation or the PL title. And you say whatever lies/truths you need to say to accomplish that.

 

Contrary to what van Gaal thinks, it's not only ManU that have to pay high. Although we are still relatively low payers, we had to pay decent money** to get players to come here...we know we are wonderful, but others need convincing,

**decent money in football = beyond the dreams of avarice in other walks of life

 

And that doesn't necessarily translate to them being a better team than us currently. That's what I'm saying.

 

Personally, I'd be very surprised indeed if Koeman ruled anything hugely positive out for the season. What he would rule out is not achieving a progression over last season. I would say that Europa is base line for ambition. 7th, for example, simply won't do. UCL would be very nice indeed, if possibly a little premature for Saints. Then again, going on the last 5 years years progress, Saints don't hang around making progress, so if UCL is possible, then they won't deny themselves the opportunity, I'm sure. Europa is realistic, but I'm sure Saints are looking to over-achieve as far as possible.

 

We could come 6th this year, 8th next year (Europa effect) and 4th the year after. Then Koeman can sign a new contract with us in the Champions League or get the Netherlands job!

 

Yeah I understand that, but the key word is 'team'. In a one off game anything can happen. But over a slog of a 38 game season, generally the teams who have spent the most on the highest quality and depth will finish in the highest positions, and the evidence over the years will support that.

Edit: the other key word is 'currently'. The cream will rise to the top. I'm pretty sure we were 4th on or around xmas day in 03/04. We finished 13th I believe.

 

The turning point there was Strachan announcing his departure.

We were out-classed by City(who i've never seen respect us as much before in terms of work rate)
Unfortunate to not draw at Arsenal (although we never looked like winning)
Then we beat ourselves against United

I'm pleased with the progress, but our three main attacking players(Pelle, Tadic & Mane) are all new to the premier league and I think they're going to show the signs of inconsistency across the length of the season.
I think the squad will need a January boost and I hope that's enough to get us to Europe

 

I'm not sure that 7th, "simply won't do" is correct.

 

I agree, 7th would be disappointing only in the sense of how well we've done so far. Koeman would certainly not have anything to answer for. The board would probably see it as reasonable, but would want to see why we fell away and rectify it.