How will you feel if we miss out on Europa League?

[RutlanderFox]

It’s disappointing. Playing in the Europa League shouldn’t be sniffed at. Besides it is probably our best chance of returning to the champions league and who would want to miss out on that sort of opportunity?

[st albans fox]

Patience - aim for sixth place next season and avoid the qualifiers 

[urban.spaceman]

Relieved actually. Qualifying via 7th means more games and less preparation time - first game would be end of July. I'd rather we knuckled down, had a proper pre-season and got our transfer business done early. Let Riyad have his Big MoveTM as soon as possible and buy replacements quickly, and let Puel build his squad. 

 

That would have me far more excited, and be much better for us IMO

[Donut]

It would be a shame, but certainly not on the scale of losing a cup final or missing 4th place. Id be inconsolable. Missing the europa league is a minor inconvenience.

 

It would be disappointing, if more so for the fact of being involved in the competition and the novelty, rather than the actual thoughts of being a serious contender within it. I dont think it was a genuine target of too many fans at the beginning of the season so it would be disingenuous to say that we "failed" if we didnt make the europa league.

 

It also has such a detrimental effect on teams unless they field totally different teams between the europa league and the league. it feels like a slog for not a lot of reward, and it costs the same amount of money to fly out to these locations, except youre in Spain to see Deportivo and not Real Madrid, youre in Germany to see Mainz and not Bayern, Italy to see Atalanta and not Juve etc etc.

 

Also, it brings the prospect of many flat early sunday kick offs. those wouldnt be popular for fans (although wed get some tv time), and they also mean every week youre playing catchup to everyone else.

 

As much as we would like it as fans, i sense the players wouldnt be particularly keen on the games either.

 

 

[DatfoxesKid23]

Im dissapointed because we gave 7th to burnley we barley put the pressure on im pretty sure we were only 7th for a week with the talent weve got we should have wrapped the 7th spot up since our game against watford at home. Anyway if we did qualify then we would have had have 21 extra games and we would finish 15th. Although we probably could of had a decent run.

How long do you reckon we would last in the europa league?

Edited 11 April 2018 by DatfoxesKid23

[Gazza M]

Let Burnley go and burn out. They deserve 7th. They have been there all season and higher at some stages. We are in transition and need major surgery this summer to the playing squad. Claude needs time to get a group he can shape to suit his style. Europa league in July will give less time and we would be experimenting in serious competition.

[Footballwipe]

Disappointing, but as others have said I'm not overly devastated because qualifying would have meant a slog of a season. Direct group stage qualification is the ideal scenario, but when you're starting in July during a summer where Puel will probably want to bed in his new signings and cement his style of football, I'd argue we need that pre-season undisturbed.

 

We'll get there eventually, and it's a competition we could genuinely push for if we put our minds to it, so I'm hoping for an appearance in there soon (just, you know, direct group stage qualification please.)

 

 

[winteriscoming]

I'd be happy would be too many games and our squad isn't strong enough to cope with league and europe. Take finishing 8th and build on for next season. 

[Koke]

Disappointing but there's always next year.

 

To get to the Europa League final in 2019 us or Burnley would have to play 19 or 21 games (I forgot). That's over half a league season. Our squad would be stretched, Burnley's would be anally fed.

[lgfualol]

Kinda disappointed but like others, didn't expect it anyway. Hiring Shakespeare pretty much lowered my expectations from the start.

[kingcarr21]

I don't think we have a good enough squad to cope. Relegation would be a serious possibility. Burnley will be wrecked next season.

 

So although I would like another European campaign I wont be crying if we don't make it

[AlloverthefloorYesNdidi]

Really wanted to get into Europa of course.  I know a lot of people think its a poisoned chalice and we would struggle to cope, but i dont really buy that

 

We have been struggling to give people game time this season!  More competitive games means the manager is able to try more things and get a more comprehensive reading of his squad, give more players time to improve.  Plus, its Europe, exciting.

 

Buut, after recent form resulting in last week's poor show my erection has completely disappeared (sorry, will try to stay on topic)

 

I dont feel like we deserve it anymore, well, obviously we dont deserve it if we dont achieve it, but we just havent been putting it on the pitch and I dont care anymore this season...

 

Unless we beat Burnley on Saturday and somehow end the season on a good run and pip 7th.  Then i'll be delighted again and massively up for it.   Saturday is huge.  Cup final.  And if we win that then so is every other game this season.  If we lose I may even miss a few, if the weather is good enough to go biking on a Saturday

 

Long boring post.  @RumbleFox I hate myself too.  Hate my tiny penis and distorted ego.

[TheUltimateWinner]

Disappointed this wasn't a poll  

[Mark 'expert' Lawrenson]

I don’t like the Europa League, it’s a huge drain on resources and a very difficult competition to win, if our recruitment had been better and our squad stronger I’d maybe of said it would of been good for the club but as things are with the squad quite weak and seemingly in a period of transition I’m happy for us to concentrate on the Premier League next season.

[ZeGuy]

7 hours ago, RutlanderFox said:

It’s disappointing. Playing in the Europa League shouldn’t be sniffed at. Besides it is probably our best chance of returning to the champions league and who would want to miss out on that sort of opportunity?

I giggled. You know that you have to win the EL to qualify to the CL, right?

[MC Prussian]

I'd feel rather disappointed.

 

In a season with so many "bigger" teams performing below their usual standard (read=the teams below us) and us so close to 7th spot right now, it'd be a bit of a kick in the stomach if we'd miss out on Europe.

 

Personally, I think we have the better players than Burnley, but as a team lack the cohesion to perform solidly on a regular basis. To know that we've squandered so many first halves with our sloppy approach to matches and that we could've gotten away with six to nine points more on the board against poorer opposition if it hadn't been for the lack of intent and willingness, does get me.

 

At times, I ask myself whether we're lacklustre on purpose.

[RutlanderFox]

15 minutes ago, ZeGuy said:

I giggled. You know that you have to win the EL to qualify to the CL, right?

Yeah I think we have a better chance of doing that than breaking into the top 4 again 

[ZeGuy]

1 minute ago, RutlanderFox said:

Yeah I think we have a better chance of doing that than breaking into the top 4 again 

Not next season.

[lancyclaret]

A club with a wage bill of only £37 million should NOT even be in contention for a Europa Cup place.

 

I'm in the minority and hope we don't finish 7th. I think 8th or 9th would be great for a club with the second lowest PL wage bill (Huddersfield have taken our 20th place).

[daddylonglegs]

If you'd have told me after Southampton away we wouldn't be in 7th place and get Europe I'd have been fuming and bitter towards Burnley.

Simple truth is we don't deserve 7th. We're the 8th best team in the league (emphasized by two 1/4 final appearences in the cups) which is a good building block for next year, and for me Burnley deserve 7th. Good luck to them. 

[Ted Maul]

'If'... 

 

I would have loved us to do it, but I suppose I've used up a lot of my annual leave already so I would have struggled to get to more than 1.

 

As it is, I'll probably have a jaunt into Europe to take in a game at some point later in the year, and I'll console myself with the whole 'it would have seriously affected our league form' argument and wait 30 years for our next opportunity.

[Foxes1]

8 hours ago, Wookie said:

I would have loved to qualify but from a practical point of view it's probably for the best we didn't. We'll have several players going to Russia so playing fixtures possibly in late July wouldn't be doing us any favours at all. I think we'd have to play 3 third round qualifiers and two play off games so the uncertainty in where and who we would playing wouldn't be helping us out.

 May even have to play the kids (Which may not be a bad thing).

[Ted Maul]

2 minutes ago, lancyclaret said:

A club with a wage bill of only £37 million should NOT even be in contention for a Europa Cup place.

 

I'm in the minority and hope we don't finish 7th. I think 8th or 9th would be great for a club with the second lowest PL wage bill (Huddersfield have taken our 20th place).

Embrace it mate... I think you'll have more than enough fight in you to stay up after Christmas if it affects your early season form.

 

European trips don't come around very often for teams outside the top 6, and they will be some of your greatest memories following football.

[RonnieTodger]

Annoyed, because it's given a mediocre end to the season some meaning but we don't deserve it at all. Burnley went about 10 games without a win and we still couldn't cement a place. Now they've won 4 on the bounce whilst we've not won any home games in a run of Swansea, Stoke, Bournemouth and Newcastle. I just think there's a large group of average teams way off the top 6 and we're one of them. I don't actually consider us to be any better or worse than a few teams around us. 

 

Knowing us, we'll win at Burnley and drag out this tiny hope that this season can turn into something special. We've lost just as many games as we've won and we're not out of the European race yet. Says all you need to know about the Premier League this season.

[Guest MattP]

9 hours ago, Nigel Graham Pearson said:

You say that like the cups were on a plate for us, and ours to fvck up... which they really were not. 

They weren't on a plate, but my word we couldn't ask for a better chance could we?

 

A Man City side with a load of kids in and a Chelsea side that has barely won a match this year, both at home, followed by Bristol City and Southampton in the Semi-Finals.

 

It rarely gets much easier than that.

 

44 minutes ago, ZeGuy said:

I giggled. You know that you have to win the EL to qualify to the CL, right?

Look at the run Man U had last year to win it, Celta Vigo and Ajax in the SF and Final - we beat better teams than both of them in Sevilla. 

 

It's not outrageous to suggest we could win the Europa.