Should we make 4th.....

[JJetset]

We will be fine and with Lennon down the right and Bale down the left there are not many teams that will be able to handle us in the CL and i include the current top 3 in the PL in that list!

Also don't forget that the PL is the strongest league in Europe due to the depth and the games are mostly slower tempo in the CL which suits Mr Hudd and others!

 

[Yiddo1982]

We can't even beat the Premier League's elite at home - not to mention such titans of the footballing universe as Stoke or Wolves - let alone Europe's. Can you imagine what Barcelona would do to us? It'd be a cricket score.

CL qualification is a cash cow for us for the foreseeable future IMO, and yes, you've got to start somewhere, but I don't hold out any hopes other than to be whipping boys in the group stages for a few years (assuming any kind of European campaign wouldn't put the knackers on us achieving 4th or better in the league). But there's nothing wrong with that - the first season in the CL is a starting point, that's all, as Helluva rightly pointed out. My glass is more than half full, but I'm not going to delude myself into thinking that we can compete with the best in Europe.

Not many team beat us at the Lane, obviously we've hadf a couple of hiccups this season, but generally teams don't want to come here. Plus there's the surprise package element. If we had a group of Madrid, Hamburg and Stockholm (or along those lines) we'd have a chance to qualify. :shrug:

 

[Shanks]

I'd rather get there first, then discuss that, as I'm not sure we will yet.

 

[hellava_tough]

Just a thought. I wonder if we will hold out buying players in the summer until we know we are in the group stages?

Harry might get a bigger budget and be able to attract some better players if we qualify for the group stages.

I think that the CL qualifying matches are played in early September, after the transfer window closes

So this (above) wouldn't be an option

Come to think of it, finishing fourth wouldn't necessarily improve our chances of signing top players, as they'd want clarification that we'd definitely be in the CL group stages

 

[Kendall]

We can't even beat the Premier League's elite at home - not to mention such titans of the footballing universe as Stoke or Wolves - let alone Europe's. Can you imagine what Barcelona would do to us? It'd be a cricket score.

CL qualification is a cash cow for us for the foreseeable future IMO, and yes, you've got to start somewhere, but I don't hold out any hopes other than to be whipping boys in the group stages for a few years (assuming any kind of European campaign wouldn't put the knackers on us achieving 4th or better in the league). But there's nothing wrong with that - the first season in the CL is a starting point, that's all, as Helluva rightly pointed out. My glass is more than half full, but I'm not going to delude myself into thinking that we can compete with the best in Europe.

I think that's a bit much.

The Premier League elite are pretty much europe's elite bar Barcelona, who will outclass everyone.

We could certainly compete with the likes of Milan, Lyon, CSKA, Sevilla, Bayern, Porto etc.

Nobody is saying we can win the CL if we qualify, but imo would could certainly compete.

 

[Coyboy]

We can't even beat the Premier League's elite at home - not to mention such titans of the footballing universe as Stoke or Wolves - let alone Europe's. Can you imagine what Barcelona would do to us? It'd be a cricket score.

CL qualification is a cash cow for us for the foreseeable future IMO, and yes, you've got to start somewhere, but I don't hold out any hopes other than to be whipping boys in the group stages for a few years (assuming any kind of European campaign wouldn't put the knackers on us achieving 4th or better in the league). But there's nothing wrong with that - the first season in the CL is a starting point, that's all, as Helluva rightly pointed out. My glass is more than half full, but I'm not going to delude myself into thinking that we can compete with the best in Europe.

What are you talking about? We haven't played Arsenal and Chelsea yet and beat the latter last year and were a Modric missed one on one from beating the scum. As Kendall, said Arsenal, United and Chelsea pretty much are the European elite minus Barca so no one is saying we will definitely get through the knockout stages for sure let alone compete with any of them over two legs.

Barcelona would beat us well but they don't beat every single good to average Spanish side 20-0 so why shoud they us?

We didn't beat Stoke or Wolves rather than cannot beat them. We beat Wigan, Everton, Blackburn, Fulham, Liverpool and Man City at home, we lost to those two. That's the unpredictability of football, especially this season.

 

[Adam456]

Well anything can happen in a one-off game or a two-legged tie and we have no idea who we'd draw...

...but if we do make it to the group stage I'd be quietly confident of progressing. Yes we'd be unseeded and so we could get a horrible draw but we'd be the 4th best team in one of the two best leagues in Europe. We'd lack CL experience but not European and over 6 games I'd fancy us to do something

 

[Lilbaz]

F**k you lot, I still believe that we can win the PL this season and then piss all over the CL next.

Okay maybe not, but we should be aiming to win every competition we enter and be gutted when we don't. That is the only way we will get a winning mentality.

 

[Shanks]

The players and staff should have the winning mentality. The fans believing that they will is always laughed at by other fans.

We were close a few seasons ago, one game, against West Ham, at their place, all we needed was one win.

We didn't get it.

It's not that people don't believe, and it's not that people are being defeatest, people are just being realistic, we have been here before, and I for one am fed up of always saying . ... next year..

 

[Shanks]

But, today I am way more positive and reckon we will do it :-D

 

[TheSnake29]

Of course we'd get it in. No question.

 

[EastLondonYid]

We can't even beat the Premier League's elite at home - not to mention such titans of the footballing universe as Stoke or Wolves - let alone Europe's. Can you imagine what Barcelona would do to us? It'd be a cricket score.

CL qualification is a cash cow for us for the foreseeable future IMO, and yes, you've got to start somewhere, but I don't hold out any hopes other than to be whipping boys in the group stages for a few years (assuming any kind of European campaign wouldn't put the knackers on us achieving 4th or better in the league). But there's nothing wrong with that - the first season in the CL is a starting point, that's all, as Helluva rightly pointed out. My glass is more than half full, but I'm not going to delude myself into thinking that we can compete with the best in Europe.

concern you may mate.

but whipping boys?

this season , and last in the champs league.
the champions of cyprus..anorthosis (who we beat 7-1) and apoel.
managed to get to the group stages,
they both play in a piss poor leagues compared to our prem.

were they whipped???
no mate.
i think they lost 3 or 4 between them over 12 games,and no cricket score in sight.they lost by the odd goal or 2
anorthosis drew with inter at home, and lost 1-0 away.
apoel drew at stamford bridge 2-2

add to that the way rubin kazan beat barca at the nou camp
and the romanian side managed by petrescu suprised everyone..
shall i go on.........

the point is..these teams are nowhere near our level,and wernt whipped.

so i wouldnt assume we would either.
dont rite us off,we would do better than you think:wink:

 

[cwy21]

Yes we'd be unseeded and so we could get a horrible draw but we'd be the 4th best team in one of the two best leagues in Europe.

Not necessarily. Spurs could very easily be seeded in the qualifying round draw because of their UEFA Cup runs.

Right now Spurs are 30th in the club coefficients. Theres a pretty good chance Spurs would be in the top 5 in the playoff draw and therefore seeded.

 

[Stavrogin]

The difference is, they were not financially equipped to make the most of thier chance and being honest the team they had then is not a patch on ours.

This is the key thing for me... AND a reason why, of all the contenders, it must be us who get 4th.

With respect to Villa, they'd essentially do an everton through lack of quality and depth - for Liverpool it would be business as usual - as for Man City, it's entirely possible that they would spend big and manage to make themselves actual contenders.

Thing is, if that happened then nothing would actually change. Liverpool will still be as strong as they are now. Man city would still be buying their way to the title (maybe things would go a bit faster). Villa would be stuck at their current level for a number of reasons.

We, on the other hand, have the potential to use the champions league to genuinely improve ourselves and maybe begin to aspire to an actual title challenge. It's surely better for football that we get 4th.

http://www.aj-scruffles.co.uk/

 

[spursandbarca]

no. stop being so skeptical. and wed strenghen the squad big time as well

 

[spurs_viola]

CL place is very hypothetical atm of course, but if we do make it, then much would depend on whom we draw in the Qualifiers. Everton were very unlucky to draw Villareal who had Riquelme, Senna, Forlan, Sebastian Viera (GK) et al in very good form and who finished a missed last minute penalty away from reaching CL Final that season.

 

[camaj]

They weren't unlucky, they just went from no european footie to CL and the lack of experience and a poor co-efficient killed them.

 

[SpurSince57]

Did we have any more European experience the following season? Everton certainly drew the short straw getting Villareal in the qualifier, but getting dumped out of the UEFA by Dinamo Bucharest—a side we took apart the next year—was another matter entirely.

I've always said, if we could actually get into the CL we'd acquit ourselves quite well.

 

[900triumph]

Providing we don't get a really poor draw for the quals, I see us as being well capable of getting to the group stage. In the groups I'd see us as average standard with an outside chance of finishing second in a group, probably dependent on the draw. We already have depth in our squad (if all our injuries get sorted) although centre back would need to be reviewed, with regard to Woodgate and King.

Obviously the squad can always be improved but we can only sign willing recruits and Champs Lge qualifying may give us a bit more oomph in the market.

Certainly we shouldn't shy away from the challenge but I can only hope that as a group us fans remember that the club will be in uncharted territory - lets not be too critical if things don't go as planned, the team would then need our full support to go for a top four finish again.

EDIT: Of course, all hypothetical - my chicken tally remains incomplete!

 

[maltahotspur]

Don't forget that if we do get CL (which I really believe we have as much chance to do it as Man C) It will be our Golden Aniversary (50 years) since our Double winning side of 1960/61. Year of the Cockreel as well :wink:

Daniel Levy knows that as much as we do, so he will make sure that we will be up and ready for it and equipped well enough to battle it out with the big European teams. Don't worry, we've always fared well in European Competitions, our record is one that we are proud of.

So, the priority now has to be getting 4th spot. The next will be.......................God knows what :shrug:

COYS