Europa League

Of course we need to play in Europe! You can't grow as a club if you're only known in Hampshire!

COME ON CHELSEA!!!! Don't embarrass yourselves any further!

 

Not Europa League, but did I see that Clattenberg has been given the CL final?

 

Noooo

 

Stoke vs West Ham: We need West Ham to draw or lose.

Man Utd vs Bournemouth: We need Utd to lose.

Oh and us to win.

 

Even if we don't make Europe, it will still have been a cracking season. Beat Palace and we will finish ahead of Liverpool. Look at how close we are to the Mancs. We are still building- something really special.

 

I obviously would like us to have another crack at the Europa, preferably without having the palaver of the qualifying rounds, but I will be content if we break our PL points record again. 6th place would also cement our perpetual year-on-year improvement under the Liebherr family's ownership, although I am told Onionman Junior deserves some of the credit for that as well.

 

Now that it has played out that Liverpool won't be able to overtake us if we win our last game, how charitable are we feeling regarding their game against Sevilla.?
Personally, I've found that I have a growing liking for the Spanish club that has sprung out of nowhere. For the life of me, I can't think of a reason why.

 

All this talk about Europa league has been a waste of time. It's all about Spammers and the Scousers. We do get a brief mention!

http://m.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/36283099

 

I genuinely do have a liking for Seville, & an extremely tenuous connection to that part of Andalucia. But nah, I'll be cheering on Liverpool. Begrudgingly. I like Klopp though.

 

How annoying if Saints put a spanner in the works by winning

 

I note that the Europa League and Champions' League Final are being put out on Freeview and on-line free of charge by BT. I suspect they have been put under pressure by EUFA because of their poor viewing figures.

 

When that happens, the headline will read:

"Liverpool and West Ham miss out on European qualification"

 

Nope, it was part of the original contract signed by the broadcaster.

Similar to the Olympics, Wimbledon, World Cup Final etc. the European finals are protected and must be shown on free-to-air TV as part of any licensing deal.

 

I think it's because there is no way we can end up joint sixth/seventh with either West Ham or Liverpool so we don't come into any play-off scenario.

They can only tie on 62 points and we can only end up with 60 or 61 (in which case we'll be 8th) or 63 (which would put us either 5th or 6th). We could be level on 63 with West Ham but would then be above them on GD and we could be level on 60 with Liverpool but they'd be above us on either GD or goals scored.

 

Yeah, I realised that Jack, but sort of didn't sound as good a story with that.... not that I'd purposefully throw out the siege mentality approach

 

If we beat Palace then hopefully that'll create a story somewhere as somebody will be missing out. Ideally it'll be us 5th, West Ham 6th, United 7th and Liverpool 8th. They then both lose their cup finals and end up with nothing...

 

Wouldn't it be good to not have to cheer them on for our benefit?

 

Is there a scenario that makes that possible? I don't think so as if we end up 5th/6th then Utd winning the cup becomes irrelevant. If we end up 7th then we'd need Utd to win the cup so would (reluctantly) hope they do. Liverpool's cup final has no relevance so I'm fine with them getting hammered...

 

I can't believe that the media haven't considered the possibility of Liverpool drawing 0-0 today, and us losing 9-7.

 

I'm sure some pundit will mention it. Just as surely as a commentator will mention the 1976 FA Cup Final somewhere along the line if we break out record points, and/or qualify for Europe. Usually they mention it if the other team are ManU, but a couple of weeks ago some pundit mentioned it and it was Man City. I've come to the conclusion that we have to win another trophy. It's not that I mind them mentioning it, but they have to keep adding that it's our only national trophy.