Anyone happy for 5th place/Europa League???

[Gazza M]

If we get in the champs league we arent getting the "Carlsberg" group we got in 2016 as we wont be seeded. May well end up in Europa in the end anyway. But what an adventure to try and win the Europa would be....

[UpTheLeagueFox]

Fifth place and Europa League wouldn't be the worst thing in the world.

It would feel like it for a while given how the season was going at one point but we shouldn't be slashing wrists at one of the best season finishes in our history.

I think we'd feel worse if we hadn't tasted CL before but, fortunately, we did.

[Sunbury Fox]

Before today I was seriously worried that we could miss out on even the Europa League so now we're pretty much guaranteed 5th as a minimum I'm feeling very relaxed. Desperate for us to get CL but if we just miss out we've still punched well above our weight, even though it is annoying that we've lost a 14 point lead over Man U. Even more annoying is that had we got 2 wins v Norwich instead of 1 point we'd have almost been there already. God knows what we were doing in those 2 games.

[Arriba Los Zorros]

13 minutes ago, Sunbury Fox said:

Before today I was seriously worried that we could miss out on even the Europa League so now we're pretty much guaranteed 5th as a minimum I'm feeling very relaxed. Desperate for us to get CL but if we just miss out we've still punched well above our weight, even though it is annoying that we've lost a 14 point lead over Man U. Even more annoying is that had we got 2 wins v Norwich instead of 1 point we'd have almost been there already. God knows what we were doing in those 2 games.

Me too, now we have secured Europa it feels like we can go all out to get CL with nothing to lose.

 

It's odd even though we all feel we struggle against defensive bus Parker teams in reality look at our results since we won the league and the bottom half sides who have good records against us are the more expansive teams. Who you would think we would just outclass with a similar style and better players. Bournemouth, Norwich, Brighton, Southampton, Arsenal 😁.

 

Palaceaside, we have quite a good record against the Burnleys and Newcastles of the league.

[dooflip]

I’m still unhappy that we didn’t challenge Liverpool for the title when we could and should have done. Unhappy that we’ve had relegation form since before Christmas. The squad showed they are capable in the first half of the season and then downed tools  for the second. All will be forgiven if we win our last 2, but I’ll still be a bit disappointed.

[Koke]

33 minutes ago, Gazza M said:

If we get in the champs league we arent getting the "Carlsberg" group we got in 2016 as we wont be seeded. May well end up in Europa in the end anyway. But what an adventure to try and win the Europa would be....

 

Would rather enter Europa League via finishing 3rd in a CL group than finishing 5th now. 

 

I would be happy with Europa League if we hadn't blown a 187 point lead. That ticks me off a lot.

[UpTheLeagueFox]

3 minutes ago, dooflip said:

I’m still unhappy that we didn’t challenge Liverpool for the title when we could and should have done. 

What are you smoking ?!?!?!

We're a million miles from them.

 

Yes it's a shame we didn't win the PL this year but realistically we're not in their galaxy, or Man City for that matter, over a season right now.

[dooflip]

1 minute ago, UpTheLeagueFox said:

What are you smoking ?!?!?!

We're a million miles from them.

 

Yes it's a shame we didn't win the PL this year but realistically we're not in their galaxy, or Man City for that matter, over a season right now.

You have a short memory. There was a lot of talk of being their closest rival and potentially matching them.

[Guest Mickyblueeyes]

I’ve seen three European tours in my time as a city fan. Two of them were very short. I can’t wait for the fourth! Imagine getting to the later stages of the Europa League and drawing the big clubs from Spain, Italy and Germany. Imagine having a chance to watch our club in a European cup final. Then remember it was not that long ago that our big game of the season was MK Dons or Peterborough away. Il take this now. 

[HighPeakFox]

1 minute ago, dooflip said:

You have a short memory. There was a lot of talk of being their closest rival and potentially matching them.

And talk is all it was.

[UpTheLeagueFox]

3 minutes ago, dooflip said:

You have a short memory. There was a lot of talk of being their closest rival and potentially matching them.

We were already eight points behind Liverpool when we beat VIlla 4-1 to make it eight successive wins in early December.

I don't know who those people were doing 'a lot of talk' but it was always a huge long shot to be close to them this season, even at our peak in Dec.

[The whole world smiles]

1 minute ago, dooflip said:

You have a short memory. There was a lot of talk of being their closest rival and potentially matching them.

We would have needed 97 points to even compete with them this season you doughnut. 

 

For some perspective the arsenal invincibles got 90 and that famous man United treble winning side got 78.

[dooflip]

Just now, UpTheLeagueFox said:

We were already eight points behind Liverpool when we beat VIlla 4-1 to make it eight successive wins in early December.

I don't know who those people were doing 'a lot of talk' but it was always a huge long shot to be close to them this season, even at our peak in Dec.

But based on our form until then makes scrapping for 4th place absolutely unacceptable. That isn’t point. You can’t try your best for the first half of the season and think “ah ive done really well now. I can stop trying”. It’s been a miserable six months.

[HighPeakFox]

Does anyone in their right mind actually think the players stopped trying?

[UpTheLeagueFox]

2 minutes ago, dooflip said:

But based on our form until then makes scrapping for 4th place absolutely unacceptable. That isn’t point. You can’t try your best for the first half of the season and think “ah ive done really well now. I can stop trying”. It’s been a miserable six months.

Whether finishing outside the top 4 is unacceptable is totally irrelevant to the point you said about us genuinely competing for the title this season.

 

[Webbo]

1 minute ago, dooflip said:

But based on our form until then makes scrapping for 4th place absolutely unacceptable. That isn’t point. You can’t try your best for the first half of the season and think “ah ive done really well now. I can stop trying”. It’s been a miserable six months.

It'll be the second highest finish in most of our lifetimes, I find that quite acceptable. 

[UpTheLeagueFox]

3 minutes ago, HighPeakFox said:

Does anyone in their right mind actually think the players stopped trying?

I don't think anyone with a 'right mind' thinks the players actually stopped trying.

Dooflip, however, .......

[dooflip]

For clarity I’m not saying i expected us to win the league, far from it. What I’m saying is we should have finished second, comfortable 3rd behind city at the very least,  when the team we’re playing by to their potential with all their effort being put in. Not scrapping for 4th place.

abd if you think scrapping for 4th place given that the lads showed us what they are capable of before Christmas, you have low standards.

[dooflip]

2 minutes ago, UpTheLeagueFox said:

I don't think anyone with a 'right mind' thinks the players actually stopped trying.

Dooflip, however, .......

Then why were they unable to perform? We saw what they were capable of, it was clear for the world to see. And they didn’t seem bothered. The play was laboured and half arsed. Players were missing for long periods. Strong first 15 minutes and then just puel ball crap etc. I’m a season ticket holder so I watched all the games.

[HighPeakFox]

Just now, dooflip said:

Then why were they unable to perform? We saw what they were capable of, it was clear for the world to see. And they didn’t seem bothered. The play was laboured and half arsed. Players were missing for long periods. Strong first 15 minutes and then just puel ball crap etc. I’m a season ticket holder so I watched all the games.

Because loss of confidence, because form dipped, because injuries, because loss of rhythm, because pressure. 

 

Because human.

[ourla]

I can live with Europa League as I think being in Europe again would be great, it would be great experience for a lot of our players and for the teams development.

 

That said given where we've been most of the season it would feel a little bit of a let down to not make the CL. Also it would mean one of Chelsea or Man U being there in our place. And I just want to see teams challenge that big 4/6 monopoly. If we had got overtaken by Wolves for example it would soften the blow.

 

Would also like to make CL because I just feel it would help us to build. With the new training facilities and a ground expansion maybe just maybe we can establish ourselves at the higher echelons.

[Guest Bilo]

I'm in two minds tbh.

 

The Champions League is the pinnacle in every way. The biggest clubs, the iconic stadia, the greatest players and all that history.

 

Qualify for it, and we have a chance to have a proper transfer window instead of buying absolute pony like in 2016. It's no exaggeration to say that it could be an opportunity to cement ourselves as a top six club for years.

 

The problem is that it could be a fan experience to leave us cold. As has been mentioned, we won't get the Carlsberg group we got in 2016. We had three teams inferior to us then; we'll do well to get one this time, as we'll be third or even fourth seed.

 

Sure, we could draw one of the weaker Pot 2 sides, but we're almost certain to draw a Real, Bayern or Juventus as the seed and could end up having to throw everything at third place after a 5-0 pasting at the Bernabeu. Then we're in the Europa League knockout anyway and could even miss out on that if we get an absolute bastard of a group. 

 

Europa League would probably be more fun. More obscure teams means we could jig the team about a bit for the home game against Spartak Doganduckski and have a genuine chance of winning not only the group, but the competition. The away days wouldn't have the same glamour as the Champions League admittedly, but so what? Bruges didn't exactly disappoint as an away day despite not being an iconic ground or club, and I see no reason why a fixture like Slavia Prague would either.

[Free Falling Foxes]

For me it would depend on why we finished fifth.

If it was because Man U took points off us in the last match due to a dodgy VAR decision going their way (distinct possibility?) I would be apoplectic with rage.

[nnickn]

59 minutes ago, UpTheLeagueFox said:

We were already eight points behind Liverpool when we beat VIlla 4-1 to make it eight successive wins in early December.

I don't know who those people were doing 'a lot of talk' but it was always a huge long shot to be close to them this season, even at our peak in Dec.

depends what you mean by longshot, City were down to less than 16/1 at one stage to win the title

Nearly half the odds at which Norwich were to win a single match this season(Man City)

[nnickn]

17 minutes ago, Free Falling Foxes said:

For me it would depend on why we finished fifth.

If it was because Man U took points off us in the last match due to a dodgy VAR decision going their way (distinct possibility?) I would be apoplectic with rage.

get ready