First of all, I am very happy we qualified, really think we need to do our best in this competition. Having seen all the teams that have qualified, it looks like we might have a tough draw in a week or so. Interesting to see who we can get. Red for top of group and top qualifier. Blue for second and lower champions league ranking. Just so people know, we can play any Blue team, however I don't believe we can play an English team yet... Europa League: Liverpool Plzen Fenerbache Bordeaux Steaua Buch't Dnipro Genk Rubin Kazan Lyon Lazio Met'st Kharkiv Hannover 96 Anzhi At Madrid Borussia M'gladbach Newcastle Stuttgart Napoli FC Basel Inter Milan Sparta Prague Tottenham Leverkusen Levante Champions league: Dynamo Kiev Zenit St P'burg Benfica Chavs BATE Borisov Ajax Cluj Olympiakos Some seriously tough draws possible. Leverkuse doing great in Germany, hell, all the German teams are tough. Madrid or Lavante should be greatly avoided, as is the same with Inter Milan. Or would people prefer a tough draw and bigger game?
Time to start playing a strong team in every game now or we'll be out, some very good teams in this comp.
MEH! its called progression. the real dirt are out, there's still a lot of average teams in the comp so don't worry about names... its a great chance for our players to show their ability agaisnt another standard of football entirely. If our kids/young men can play well agaisnt inter for example then that will stand to us big time. the one and only issue here is does anyone truely think we'll win this thing? cos frnakly i think that is not going to happen so take every round as it comes. Two matchs starting feb, whomever it is we'll give it a go.
Have to play the decent teams at some point if you hope to progress. Personally I prefer it if we play a top team- more exciting, and we still stand as much chance of beating them as a so-called minnow.
This will soon get in the way of our League games which are fragile to say the least. We absolutely must strengthen in January or one will have to give.
We've a decent chance to make progress, and the genuine pressure of two-legged knockout is a far better 'maker of men' than any crappy league format competition. Time to stand up for the fans, the shirt and their team mates. There are only 4-5 genuine 'big teams' left in the competition, so as long as we don't draw the likes of At Madrid, Leverkusen, Inter, Napoli or Lyon, we should be able to progress...
Am I on my own in wanting us to draw on of the big sides then? I'd love us to get a Inter, Ajax or Napoli etc. Big games like these are what European competition is all about and it gets Anfield rocking!
Not too fussed who we get. A good january transfer window would give us a fighting chance against any team. In that regard, it's probably better that we get a tough draw.
look I tell you what, I really don't mind as this is going to give certain players who we will rely on next season some really good experience. Joe Allen, even Henderson, maybe shevley needs a lesson or two in consistency and effort. We're look at a scenario where a couple of transfer windows can kill or cure us now. I mean we've got i'd say 50% of a squad together. Reina Jones johnson wisdom Enrique robinson Skertl Kelly Agger Coates (all senior defenders are very experienced and all back up is young talent we are blooding and all have performed, only robsinson is a question given him missing a lot of time.) Lucas Henderson Allen Shelvey Gerrard Suso (again seniors are very decent for me, back up is young but all have potential, some more than others IMO... ie i back henderson to be the guy with the biggest career over shelvey due to work ethic) Its up fornt it falls apart Suarez Borini Sterling Assaidi After that we are just dredging up flops like downing, carroll and cole and this is what needs to change. we've got yesil for next year or the year after but even assaidi isn't right yet for the prem. If we saw two really good players arrive i think we can improve a lot over the next 6-12months as players gel together and i hope learn to keep the clean sheets, hold the high level of possession while adding actual penetrative attacking rather than playing in front of sides..... its not like we're talking chelsea or city money here. we are talking about our owners stepping up and delivering the cash for two purchases. The fact is there's 55million in cash on that flop list plus 5-6mil in wages for cole let alone the others. FSG did let comolli and dalglsih spend the cash, and thats why they sacked them. If you let them spend it to build a team to "win" then you have to suck it up and back your next appointment similarly. If you even add 17mil for carroll, say 8-10 for downing and (i hope) letting joe cole go for free (not paying up 2 year contract for him to pop up at west ham on big money) then all we're talking about is 20 mil more... 45mil-47mil.. thats two more luis suarez fees. Please do it FSG. complete the work. the squad will still be thinish but it'd be quality..... and for the record i'd like to see us buy foreign rather than the lies of sturridge but just imagine we got sturridge for 12mil then spent 30mil on a young to player like cavani or some such?
I really don't mind who we draw. In a way drawing a "weaker" team can sometimes make things more difficult. Draw a big team and managers field the strongest side they can. Draw a supposedly weaker team and it gives a manager decisions to make. Getting knocked out by one of the stronger clubs is no shame either but losing to a lower standard team dents the confidence. The second thing is that we're still in a position where the season could go either way. A few good buys could boost us in Jan just as a few **** buys could knacker us (or a lack of any buying at all). I think that come February getting good results against bigger clubs in the Europa could give the whole club a boost and has the added bonus of giving any new players more minutes on the pitch to get settled into the team, experience the Anfield European nights and show what they're capable of against tough European opposition. We might be thin on the ground as a squad but we've still topped a tricky(ish) group and it's given Henderson, Assaidi, Yesil, Flanagan, Robinson, Morgan, Coates, Coady and Sinclair a bit of game time they just weren't going to get otherwise. Even Downing and Cole have had some "shop window" time All in all it's hardly groundbreaking but it is definitely good to have gone through to the next stage. Great experience for a young squad and a young manager. Look forward to whoever we get next
Lots of TV potential. We want the second leg at Anfield, who ever we play. The Europa League is getting a good profile.
I believe we play away and then home anyway, due to being seeded (group winners). However, whoever we draw, we then draw our next opponents I understand, e.g (A vs b) vs (C vs D) and we can be home or away for that tie.
