Europa League

[Koke]

Whoever finishes 7th will have to play 6 games just to get into the group stages. The Europa League is brutal. 

[Alex_LCFC]

Do we all think we could make it?

[Guest Markyblue]

3 minutes ago, Alex_LCFC said:

Do we all think we could make it?

We can and should embrace it if we do, its European football. 

[MC Prussian]

7 minutes ago, Koke said:

Whoever finishes 7th will have to play 6 games just to get into the group stages. The Europa League is brutal. 

Depends on the preparation, both mentally and technically.

 

I think Burnley ultimately failed because they underestimated the competition and weren't fully in it.

Whereas we do have previous recent European football experience, which can help.

[volpeazzurro]

Would entering from 7th place mean all those tiresome preliminary rounds? If so,  it's just not worth it imo for a team that is trying to consolidate and grow, just for one year.

 

Aren't some of our u21's in action in June?  We saw with the World Cup that some of our better players in the Premiership were jaded and not of their best this year through too much football. Whilst we will undoubtedly be trying to strengthen this close season,  we'll still be a way off having the sort of quality of squad to fight on several fronts. The Premiership, followed by a domestic cup surely has to be the focus at this stage rather than an ill funded, non prestigious European competion who's only reasonable goal is a possible Champions League spot for the outright winner (though I could stomach a knockout version rather than the laboured meaningless boring current format). Because of the holy grail of that distant Champions League spot, can you imagine the usual fall out on here should Brendan field a weakened lineup?  He's not a miracle man and will be trying to manage a bunch of largely very young players, their fitness, fatigue and quite frankly too much football.

 

Would I like a trip to Europe to watch Leicester?  Absolutely,  but not for next season as I fear that the cost would be too great at this stage of our development and all the whining on here should we not equal, or better, after investment, this season's Premiership finishing position. Personally, I'd far sooner our team finish the season in the highest possible position for momentum and confidence reasons. I'd then like our players to have a good rest whilst behind the scenes, some of our existing squad are purged and 2 or possibly 3 meaningful players bought in (our owners realistically aren't going to invest any more money on the grounds they may have entry into an ill funded barely profitable in real terms European competition plus ground and training facility issues). A good meaningful pre-season under Brendan would leave us in a great position of achieving a good Premiership finish, a good run in a domestic cup and possibly even an entry into that same competion outright with another transfer window to strengthen. Yes, Europe can sound exciting but, the reality is at this stage it has huge potential to be very damaging. I can manage one more season without a trip to a remote Eastern block football ground midweek. 

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Will probably come down to the final day of the season. Let's go for it, why the fvck not?

[volpeazzurro]

26 minutes ago, MC Prussian said:

Depends on the preparation, both mentally and technically.

 

I think Burnley ultimately failed because they underestimated the competition and weren't fully in it.

Whereas we do have previous recent European football experience, which can help.

They weren't fully in it possibly because they couldn't afford to be i.e. there are only so many games in a group of players before injury and fatigue set in. Their squad was too small. Our squad at this point would be too small (quality wise). If  Brendan picked a weakened team then people as you say will point the finger of 'not being fully in it' at him. Those same people will also moan if he picks a weakened side for the Premiership or FA cup! Those people have to be realistic about what can be achieved at any on time. If we can't qualify outright without draining preliminaries then it's a poisoned chalice imo and just isn't worth the almost inevitable fallout. It makes no sense financially or practically for so many reasons. 

[TheUltimateWinner]

Crazy that this is now obtainable. We should certainly be pushing for it and I actually think we could bloody do it.

[Wymsey]

3 hours ago, Finnegan said:

We're all going on a European tour! 

[Harry - LCFC]

Unlikely still, but this is certainly back on again.

 

I had viewed the remainder of this campaign as just one extended pre-season. Not now!

[Ted Maul]

On 31/03/2019 at 11:18, MC Prussian said:

Depends on the preparation, both mentally and technically.

 

I think Burnley ultimately failed because they underestimated the competition and weren't fully in it.

Whereas we do have previous recent European football experience, which can help.

We've got a decent amount of coefficient points from the other year, so I assume we would avoid the likes of Olympiakos in qualifying.

[CosbehFox]

2 minutes ago, Ted Maul said:

We've got a decent amount of coefficient points from the other year, so I assume we would avoid the likes of Olympiakos in qualifying.

Yep. For more a realistic comparison, take a look at the teams West Ham faced in the qualifiers - for some baffling reason though in their final qualifier they'd decided to literally play the kids. 

[Guest Cujek]

11 minutes ago, Ted Maul said:

We've got a decent amount of coefficient points from the other year, so I assume we would avoid the likes of Olympiakos in qualifying.

who we should be beating ,in reality i know things are different, but come on...

[Ted Maul]

2 minutes ago, Cujek said:

who we should be beating ,in reality i know things are different, but come on...

You would have thought so, but it's effectively pre-season so they might catch us cold.

 

What an away day that would be though... people laugh at Burnley for going out before the groups but they still went to Athens and Istanbul. Aberdeen isn't quite the same but would still be a class trip.

[Guest Cujek]

1 minute ago, Ted Maul said:

You would have thought so, but it's effectively pre-season so they might catch us cold.

 

What an away day that would be though... people laugh at Burnley for going out before the groups but they still went to Athens and Istanbul. Aberdeen isn't quite the same but would still be a class trip.

i went to see Cambiasso play for them when i was on holiday in Rhodes, was amazing. cost a lot though for the return airfare to Athens and the points i had to make up with the girlfriend, who was like wtf are you doing in the middle of our holiday!

[Babylon]

On 31/03/2019 at 11:10, Koke said:

Whoever finishes 7th will have to play 6 games just to get into the group stages. The Europa League is brutal. 

I think we have to be realistic and say that even if we get it, it's unlikely we'll take it 100% seriously. It will need to be used as a pre-season getting everyone fit and giving all the players minutes. If we manage to get through that, if we want to compete in the league at the top end again, we're going to need to rest players fairly often.

[CosbehFox]

Apart

1 minute ago, Ted Maul said:

You would have thought so, but it's effectively pre-season so they might catch us cold.

 

What an away day that would be though... people laugh at Burnley for going out before the groups but they still went to Athens and Istanbul. Aberdeen isn't quite the same but would still be a class trip.

22 arrests and 5 stabbed/injured says Athens wasn't much fun. 

[Ted Maul]

12 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Apart

22 arrests and 5 stabbed/injured says Athens wasn't much fun. 

I don't know enough about what went on to comment, but that's not great.

 

I'd imagine the 22 arrested/5 injured figure is pretty similar to ours in Madrid though.

[Guest Cujek]

19 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Apart

22 arrests and 5 stabbed/injured says Athens wasn't much fun. 

Didnt really see any trouble really, i imagine it would be a different story as a European away day though.

[KrefelderFox666]

On 31/03/2019 at 11:26, Sol thewall Bamba said:

Will probably come down to the final day of the season. Let's go for it, why the fvck not?

Strictly speaking, it could come down to after the season. If we finish 7th, and Man City are in the final of the FA Cup, then the season is over but we would still require Man City to win the FA Cup for us to participate in Europe.

 

On the other hand, our season could be over after this weekend.

[volpeazzurro]

2 hours ago, Babylon said:

I think we have to be realistic and say that even if we get it, it's unlikely we'll take it 100% seriously. It will need to be used as a pre-season getting everyone fit and giving all the players minutes. If we manage to get through that, if we want to compete in the league at the top end again, we're going to need to rest players fairly often.

Agreed and I think that would be the right approach. 

[Babylon]

5 minutes ago, volpeazzurro said:

Agreed and I think that would be the right approach. 

I've repeated it so often I'm bored of saying it, but 19 games for Marseille to reach the final is a joke. Anyone thinking we'll attacking full on and put in 100% will be disappointed. It's a competition for teams with strong squads or teams in weak leagues where they can swipe most of their league aside on a weekend and still play a Thursday with a strong team.

[Dan]

On 31/03/2019 at 09:44, sdb said:

What's the financial side of Europa look like? I'd love to watch us in Europe again but the squad would need strengthening to cope with the frankly awful Thursday, Sunday schedule.

Sadly, not all that, and that's why a lot of teams, particularly English don't take it seriously - it falls somewhere between being quite significant for other countries but not so much for English, hence our sides often going out to sides they simply shouldn't.

 

Sadly I don't think we'd take it seriously and we'd be prime candidates for going out to someone we dwarf for resources.

[Lambert09]

I think we will need to win the next 3 if there's going to be any chance of this. I actually think the Europa league would be great for us, our reserves are already good enough to get us somewhere... without the summer (or including under 23's)  If we can play with the below squad for early stage games... whats the downside. Its exactly what Kel / Ghezzal need, confidence boosting opportunities! 

 

                      Ward

Simpson/Armartey Wes/Benkovic Soyuncu Fuchs/Elder

              Mendy        Hamza

Ghezzal       Shinji       Albrighton/ Barnes/ Grey

                   Iheanacho 

 

 

 

[Guest SO1]

What do you want? This isn't Celtic. We won't be facing St Johnstone every Sunday after a trip to Kazakhstan. Forget the cups. Hell forget the league. There's no way we have the squad to cope with this even if the owner splashed the cash. Players need time to bed in. See Fulham. See what happens to the team when you play 66 games next year.  That's why Rodgers came here, to build the team that you all want.  It takes time as in years.

Europa league is fine if we want to use it as a proving ground but don't expect anything else. Otherwise if you want to go to Spain just take a vacation. I don't want this to die before we've even started.