Europa League Place and FA Cup win

[FoxinNotts]

Would you take a Europa League spot and winning the FA Cup?

 

i would

[Corky]

Not really, because winning the FA Cup gets that on it's own.

 

Failure to finish 4th this season would be massively disappointing.

[Fox92]

If we end up in Europa League places I hope nobody on here ever calls another team “bottlers”.

[goody2028]

If you told me that at the start of the season I would of bitten your hand off. 

 

However now would be extremely frustrating not to finish in the CL

[bovril]

Hard to say at the moment because the current situation takes the shine off both. I would be disappointed if we don't get top 4 but I couldn't have any complaints the way we've played most of 2020. 

[urban fox]

What we would or would not "take" is irrelevant. FA cup is automatic EL qualification in its own right. I have made my opinion on the cup clear in any number of threads (i could go to my final resting place a happy man if won it) but would be disappointed if we don't get CL now.

It should not be an either or. the next game is always the most important one. We go out to win every game and sacrifice none. If we put out a weak side and get battered what will that do for morale? Plus it will only put more pressure on the next game

[HybridFox]

If we do not qualify for the Champions League, the season will be a disappointment. Nothing would be able to mask that feeling.

 

Regardless of what we would have taken at the start, the position we got ourselves into has to count for something. 

 

P.S. would be such a Leicester thing to win the FA Cup this year when none of us will be able to go to Wembley to witness it 

[Chrysalis]

It would be a disaster league wise to not make the CL, but if I had a choice between europa plus FA cup win, and just CL qualification, I would take the former, as a cup win is a trophy.

[kingcarr21]

FA cup win and 3rd place. Nothing less

[Scotch]

At the start of the season, yes. Now? It would be a bit of a failure.

 

To be honest, I think we ALL know what's coming. We are going to finish 5th and be Bawz deep in the Man City ban and appeal drama. 

 

That's the Leicester way! 

[davieG]

10 hours ago, urban fox said:

If we put out a weak side and get battered what will that do for morale?

The way we are playing we could put out a strong team and get battered and morale is looking pretty messed up any way.

[TWUKO]

I would take an FA cup win and no European qualification, I know that's not possible, but to win the FA cup for the first time in our 136 year history would be special, even with no fans present!

 

All our local rivals have won the FA cup, albeit not within the last 30 years, but their clubs are still on the base of the trophy.

 

Despite the lack of appreciation the FA cup is given in the modern era, it is still dominated by the big clubs and for clubs like ours it is still the holy grail.

 

As someone once said there isn't a trophy for finishing in the top 4 and no one will remember you for it really!

[ozleicester]

FA Cup win thanks very much

[Finnegan]

11 hours ago, Fox92 said:

If we end up in Europa League places I hope nobody on here ever calls another team “bottlers”.

 

I up voted this because I partially agreed and it made me chuckle but I don't actually think it's fair. 

 

Anything less than fourth will be a massive disappointment and a huge loss of an immeasurable opportunity. That said, as much as I don't want to say it, fifth would still be a remarkable achievement with what we have. 

 

The well known adage in football is that the table doesn't lie but it's something of a half truth. The table doesn't lie once every fixture has been completed, until then it's skewered and only open to interpretation. We're yet to play two of our main rivals for the top four and thus can't really look at our current spot as definitive. 

 

This is a really good time to take stock of what we've got, what we've achieved so far and why it's started to go "wrong." What we have here is a very talented, very promising, very well coached first choice eleven. Beyond that, we've got a squad full of muck that's either abjectly poor or, in cases like Albrighton, just simply don't fit. 

 

Whenever we've had to rotate, we've been dreadful. The bubble burst in December as soon as we started fiddling with the system, changing shape and personnel out of necessity to try and cobble teams together out of one of the league's thinnest squads. There really probably isn't a club in the country that has such a wild imbalance between the quality of their first team and the quality of their reserves, no more is that evident than now we're replacing one of the world's best right backs with a kid who was a championship breakthrough last year. 

 

We've barely managed to field our strongest side in back to back games since we beat Villa away in the league, it's not clutching at straws for excuses to point out that that's clearly damaging to anyone's form. 

 

Clubs like Tottenham and Arsenal got their reputation because despite a wealth in technical quality, star international footballers and vast resources, they never really focused on pulling together they things that make a squad a winning one. There's no fight in those sides, no winning mentality, no real commitment. 

 

If we finish fifth, I actually hope people don't remember this team as bottlers. I hope they're able to put their disappointment aside and say - you know what - given what we've got at our disposal we gave this a really good shot. If we fall short it won't be a lack of character, it'll just be a lack of the necessary quality to complete a full 38 game domestic season, whilst going deep in two full cup runs AND having to manage a fitness sapping pandemic break. 

 

Because when it comes to the end, the table won't lie. 

[Nick]

13 hours ago, Fox92 said:

If we end up in Europa League places I hope nobody on here ever calls another team “bottlers”.

Not even Spurs when I've had a drink?

 

Sounds unfair.

[RonnieTodger]

Before the virus I might have preferred the FA Cup, but because we wouldn't be there to see it, I'd much rather finish in the top 4.

[Webbo]

Not only would I like to win the cup but I reckon we'd be in with a shout in the Europa League. 

[Ted Maul]

I'd take an FA Cup win if it meant losing every other league game for the rest of the season to be honest.

[Duncan_K]

I would love to win the FA Cup, but looking at Man City's performances since coming back from the delay i think it looks a long way away. Who is going to beat them? Obviously i want us to get through and go as far as we can, but winning the FA Cup from where we are looks hard and would be a significant achievement. 

[Sly]

We won’t win the FA Cup. I think we’ll lose against Chelsea. 
 

We somehow need to sort ourselves out of the rut we are in and start putting points on the board.

[Vestan Pance]

Mushy peas or Curry Sauce?

Believe it or not you can have both.

[Sol thewall Bamba]

Would snap your hand off at this rate. 

[Nicolo Barella]

4 hours ago, Finnegan said:

 

I up voted this because I partially agreed and it made me chuckle but I don't actually think it's fair. 

 

Anything less than fourth will be a massive disappointment and a huge loss of an immeasurable opportunity. That said, as much as I don't want to say it, fifth would still be a remarkable achievement with what we have. 

 

The well known adage in football is that the table doesn't lie but it's something of a half truth. The table doesn't lie once every fixture has been completed, until then it's skewered and only open to interpretation. We're yet to play two of our main rivals for the top four and thus can't really look at our current spot as definitive. 

 

This is a really good time to take stock of what we've got, what we've achieved so far and why it's started to go "wrong." What we have here is a very talented, very promising, very well coached first choice eleven. Beyond that, we've got a squad full of muck that's either abjectly poor or, in cases like Albrighton, just simply don't fit. 

 

Whenever we've had to rotate, we've been dreadful. The bubble burst in December as soon as we started fiddling with the system, changing shape and personnel out of necessity to try and cobble teams together out of one of the league's thinnest squads. There really probably isn't a club in the country that has such a wild imbalance between the quality of their first team and the quality of their reserves, no more is that evident than now we're replacing one of the world's best right backs with a kid who was a championship breakthrough last year. 

 

We've barely managed to field our strongest side in back to back games since we beat Villa away in the league, it's not clutching at straws for excuses to point out that that's clearly damaging to anyone's form. 

 

Clubs like Tottenham and Arsenal got their reputation because despite a wealth in technical quality, star international footballers and vast resources, they never really focused on pulling together they things that make a squad a winning one. There's no fight in those sides, no winning mentality, no real commitment. 

 

If we finish fifth, I actually hope people don't remember this team as bottlers. I hope they're able to put their disappointment aside and say - you know what - given what we've got at our disposal we gave this a really good shot. If we fall short it won't be a lack of character, it'll just be a lack of the necessary quality to complete a full 38 game domestic season, whilst going deep in two full cup runs AND having to manage a fitness sapping pandemic break. 

 

Because when it comes to the end, the table won't lie. 

It's true that finishing 5th would still be an achievement this season, but it was an achievement for Spurs to finish 3rd that season (remember that they were never favourites before the season, their team was an unknown quantity, they had no depth). The fact is, with the quality we showed this season, with the gap that we held over 3rd at one point, it would be a bottlejob to finish 5th (whilst still being an "achievement"). If Spurs bottled it, then in a hypothetical situation where we don't get CL, we will have bottled it.

 

Also bit harsh to say Spurs never tried to build a winning squad. Five years ago or so they were in the position we want to be now, they never particularly had vast resources either until recently.

[AjcW]

I'm not quite sure people grasp how important the Champions League qualification is to us.

You can harp on all you like about how we won't sell players. But Champions League this season buys us another year of Ricky P, Wilf and Soyuncu and to some extent Chilwell.

 

Granted they might not all leave, but not getting into the Champions League would mean one of two out of them definitely would.

 

We're not talking about losing them to Prem teams here either, or having to persuade them we've got more to offer than another Prem team, I've honestly never seen two defender more suited to Barcelona than Ricky and Soyuncu.... and they both play in positions that Barca need to strengthen.

 

Champions League next year also means we can sign their replacements THIS summer. Rather than losing them and having to replace and bed in brand new players. With Champions League we can attract the quality required to replace two players like that. Although I really don't think we'll see a right back is good as Ricky at the KP again for a long long time.  

 

 

[coolhandfox]

I'm still confident we will pick up enough points to finish 3, can actually see us and Man U playing out a draw on the last day to finish 3rd and 4th.