Europa League 2013/14

[sunnydelight786]

Our players should be made to watch that game last night to show them what it means to win a trophy for the fans. That could and should have been us last night but like usual our players bottled it, like they always do when it matters. Absolutely gutted watching that last night knowing we were good enough to win it. We have a few too many players who are happy with second best and have been integral part of our failures over the 7 years. Need to move these players on and bring in players who share our managers vision and attitude.

Absolute horse shit that you cannot win cups and do well in the league at the same time. This is what big clubs do season in season out but our fans are happy to keep this small time mentality of you cannot do both. I'm just SO glad Villas-Boas is our manager and that he doesn't share the same small time mentality a lot of our fans do.

 

[LeSoupeKitchen]

I would prefer we sent out our youth team and fringe players and if we get far in the competition then strengthen our team. I know its nice to allow the same players to play the entire competition, but it really started pissing me off that our entire team was getting fatigued and we weren't playing Lloris in goal.

Be up front with the squad early and tell them the plan and if some of the youth really step up and perform then it gives them a chance to earn their place and even break into the premier league team.

 

[DEFchenkOE]

Our players should be made to watch that game last night to show them what it means to win a trophy for the fans. That could and should have been us last night but like usual our players bottled it, like they always do when it matters. Absolutely gutted watching that last night knowing we were good enough to win it. We have a few too many players who are happy with second best and have been integral part of our failures over the 7 years. Need to move these players on and bring in players who share our managers vision and attitude.

Absolute horse shit that you cannot win cups and do well in the league at the same time. This is what big clubs do season in season out but our fans are happy to keep this small time mentality of you cannot do both. I'm just SO glad Villas-Boas is our manager and that he doesn't share the same small time mentality a lot of our fans do.

We had only 2 wingers in our squad this season, and one of them has been playing through the middle for most of it. We lost both of those guys directly from a EL matches and then struggled in a few league games without them which could end up costing us our place in the CL.

The reality is that this season we didn't have the squad to cope with trying to win the EL and finish 4th. It's all well and good saying we were good enough to win it but we went out in the quarters. Chelsea then beat Basle home and away whereas we couldn't beat them at all. So I think we were some way off reaching the final in all honesty.

Previously I believed that AVB was doing the right thing playing our strongest 10 available for the EL. The more I've thought about it though and the more I think it's just not worth it. I think it will be more beneficial to us to heavily rotate in the group stages and then gradually make the team stronger should we progress. None of the first team players seem to want to play in the EL anyway so better off giving the fringe/u21 guys a chance as they should be more hungry and keen to do well. Will be a good test for them. As long as they're not set up in some weird formations which HR used to do.

 

[SteveH]

Our players should be made to watch that game last night to show them what it means to win a trophy for the fans. That could and should have been us last night but like usual our players bottled it, like they always do when it matters. Absolutely gutted watching that last night knowing we were good enough to win it. We have a few too many players who are happy with second best and have been integral part of our failures over the 7 years. Need to move these players on and bring in players who share our managers vision and attitude.

Absolute horse shit that you cannot win cups and do well in the league at the same time. This is what big clubs do season in season out but our fans are happy to keep this small time mentality of you cannot do both. I'm just SO glad Villas-Boas is our manager and that he doesn't share the same small time mentality a lot of our fans do.

You hit the nail on the head.

But you will not like what it means. When did we last win a cup?

 

[vegassd]

Absolute horse shit that you cannot win cups and do well in the league at the same time. This is what big clubs do season in season out but our fans are happy to keep this small time mentality of you cannot do both.

It's not a black and white issue - it's about degrees of success and where you choose to chase them the hardest.

We should take the Europa league seriously, like we should take every game seriously, but we can still take it less seriously than the league. If the league is a priority then we get to take a run at a far superior tournament in the CL. If we split resources between the league and Europa then there's a chance that we don't improve in the league at all.

Put it this way, there are many fans who think that we should take a punt on expensive players because if we don't gamble then we will never step up to the "next level". But rather than increase our player resources why don't we simply focus them and try to achieve the same results. The same fans who think a £30m player is a gamble worth taking should surely believe that playing solely in league games is also worth doing.

I think that in the big picture a CL qualifying slot could be worth far more in the long run in terms of the playing squad than a single cup run would. And I would much rather be winning things for a long time rather than simply a shot in the dark every 20 years.

 

[parklane1]

We are much closer to achieving CL qualification than we are to winning the Europa league, particularly when you consider the luck element involved in a knock-out tournament, so why focus lots of extra effort on the Europa when we could focus a smaller amount of effort on CL qualification for greater gains?

Well for one thing its a trophy and we do not have many of them to show in recent times.

 

[parklane1]

Absolute horse shit that you cannot win cups and do well in the league at the same time. This is what big clubs do season in season out but our fans are happy to keep this small time mentality of you cannot do both. I'm just SO glad Villas-Boas is our manager and that he doesn't share the same small time mentality a lot of our fans do.

Without a doubt.

 

[SugarRay]

This season we made a bit of a mess of the group stage in this competition. It means we had to play strong sides more or less all the way through the group. We should really be wrapping up qualification from the group with two games to spare, that's when we give the pack a major shuffle.

I think we can compete in all four competitions next season providing we carry out some smart business this summer.

Obviously the domestic cups are draw dependent.

I want to see us lift silverware.

 

[SugarRay]

If we do get CL anytime soon, how do we approach that competition?

Do we take it seriously and jeopardise our chances of qualifying for it again via the league?

The difference between Wednesday night and Saturday afternoon is the same as Thursday night and Sunday afternoon. We should always take any European competition as serious as we possibly can.

 

[only1waddle]

If the squad is balanced, gaps filled and we bring in players with the right mentality and skill level then we should give all 4 competitions a run.. whilst top 4 is important, this club needs a new shiny trophy for the cabinet..

 

[camaj]

I want the same as I've always wanted. I want us to treat the Europa (and cups) like Wenger treats the league cup. AVB simply couldn't do that this season thanks to the crazy number of injuries and the results in the early games. If we'd beaten Lazio in the first game and won our second game we could have rested players. As it is we didn't play our best XI in those games anyway because we've never had our best XI fit at any one time.

 

[Davious]

There's a small chance that Spurs could meet my home city (Derry) in the EL if they get through to the Play-off round! It would be great to experience but I'd obviously prefer to see us get into the Champions League!

UEFA seriously need to revamp this competition though! I believe that the winners of the Europa League should qualify for Champions League and losing teams of the CL play-off round should not enter at an advanced stage of the EL. These simple changes would surely make the competition a lot more worthy of fighting for.

 

[vegassd]

Well for one thing its a trophy and we do not have many of them to show in recent times.

But why Europa though mate? It requires more wins, pitches us against tougher opponents, sees us playing mid-week games and has us potentially jetting off to the arse end of nowhere to play a game.

Obviously the eventual goal is to be having a genuine pop at all 4 competitions, but we have to be honest about our squad and say that it isn't really capable of that at the moment.

 

[edgey]

he problem is there's too much money in the CL and it's become almost as big as a trophy just qualifying for the competition. As was said above, big clubs win trophies on a regular basis, and for a team that was once dubbed as a "cup team" we haven't really had a sniff at silverware for a long time. Considering this is our biggest bit of banter with the goons it's about time we took all competitions seriously (ok we took the EL more seriously this year but not the domestic cups).

Look at Wigan. They have won a cup that we haven't won in 22yrs! Yes they got relegated but their fans will remember that day for years to come, as will the history books.

I personally think the Europa League should have a Champions League spot as the prize for the winners. It should work both ways seeing as teams from the CL can be relegated to the EL if they dont qualify. The competition would be taken far more seriously then

 

[parklane1]

But why Europa though mate? It requires more wins, pitches us against tougher opponents, sees us playing mid-week games and has us potentially jetting off to the arse end of nowhere to play a game.

Obviously the eventual goal is to be having a genuine pop at all 4 competitions, but we have to be honest about our squad and say that it isn't really capable of that at the moment.

There is no difference between playing on a Thursday/Sunday then on a Wednesday/ Sunday, if you look at how many extra games we would have to play in the Europa compered to the CL its about two only. And i have enjoyed my trips to the back of nowhere (Rome, Milan, Lyon,).

 

[Syn_13]

There is no difference between playing on a Thursday/Sunday the on a Wednesday/ Sunday, if you look at how many extra games we would have to play in the Europa compered to the CL its about two only. And i have enjoyed my trips to the back of nowhere (Rome, Milan, Lyon,).

I agree with your entire post, although was amused by the last bit. Italy and France aren't exactly the back of nowhere, lol.

 

[parklane1]

I agree with your entire post, although was amused by the last bit. Italy and France aren't exactly the back of nowhere, lol.

I was referring to what vegassd said in his post, i consider both Italyl and France great places to jet off to see Spurs play.
( jetting off to the arse end of nowhere to play a game.)

 

[Syn_13]

I was referring to what vegassd said in his post, i consider both Italyl and France great places to jet off to see Spurs play.
( jetting off to the arse end of nowhere to play a game.)

So basically, I had a bit of a sarcasm fail then?

 

[parklane1]

So basically, I had a bit of a sarcasm fail then?

No probs

 

[vegassd]

There is no difference between playing on a Thursday/Sunday then on a Wednesday/ Sunday, if you look at how many extra games we would have to play in the Europa compered to the CL its about two only. And i have enjoyed my trips to the back of nowhere (Rome, Milan, Lyon,).

I'm not comparing CL to Europa in terms of the mid-week games. I'm saying that the overall Europa challenge is much bigger than the league or FA cup and has lesser rewards than the CL itself.

A genuine push to win the Europa will take more out of our squad than a run at the domestic cups, and with the way our squad is setup right now I don't think we have enough to do that.

Put another way, I would absolutely have traded our games against Basel for an additional 3 league points for this season. I probably would have thrown the Inter games in there as well. The point being that we need to push much harder to win the Europa than we do to get CL, and I would rather succeed in one and flop in the other than come close to both but still fail in both.

And I did say "potentially" jetting off. Trips to Rome and Paris are lovely but wait until you are on a bus heading to Boomshakalak or whatever it's called out in Russia!