In context of the season would you prefer to....

[GaulPascoigne]

I always say that I want us to go out and try and win the EL, but every single time it seems to take it's toll on our season and our league form suffers - then we ultimately fall short. With that in mind, fuck the EL this season.

 

[1882]

In a way, we've done it the ideal way.

Get into the champions league, enjoy the prestige and money that brings. Then drop into the Europa and have a crack at a competition we actually have a chance at.

Throwing games like Dortmund last season forfeit an opportunity to gain experience and a winning mentality in Europe. It's a direct correlation between that disgusting attitude and the performances this season in the Champions League for me.

We'll probably do our level best to throw CSKA and I predict fail, with a draw. Enter an awkward game or two in the Europa League, then exit (we need to rest players X Y Z because we've got a MASSIVE game against Northern Shit on Sunday...)

We all know the drill, it's been going on for years now, ever since Redknapp sent the third team out to the Ukraine in the later stages of the Europa.

Hmmmm.... let's see what "full-strength" team we go into the Europa League first... THEN we'll know how seriously we're taking it... AND whether we are indeed IN with a shout of winning the thing!

 

[spursmalc]

If we lose to CSKA we will go into next season with a 7 match losing run at Wembley. That is horrific and I still feel that this season's start was affected by our losing run at the end of last season. Poch has stressed it is the Mentality of the players that is the problem which includes playing at Wembley. Lets sort the problem this season by winning against a Russian team we have already beaten, follow up by winning at Wembley against a team that finishes second in the Europa League group and take it from there.
Things turn around quickly as Chelsea have found after losing a few matches only to go on a winning run.

 

[DeeGee]

I we were to play our best team regardless of the league then go for it. We will also play at the lane.
However, if we are to rotate I still think we don't have what it takes in depth of quality and experience to win it.
We found out last year at the same stage.

 

[imitationleather]

I wonder what the ticket prices will be like. Without slashing prices we couldn't fill up WHL for a lot of Europa League games so imagine what it would be like at Wembley!

 

[Guido 🇺🇦]

He's not taken a single cup competition seriously since he arrived, he's not going to start now.

Apart from the one he took seriously by getting to the League Cup Final.

I get the point though Eskimo, he has thrown a couple. The Scum game (but could be argued they did too as they fielded a 2nd string team, but it felt bad because it was them). No doubt we binned Dortmund (but the when looking to challenge for a league title it's 50/50 on was it right or wrong, I can even have an argument with myself over that decision, I was very disappointed with the side though I wanted to see how good we were). We put out a strong team against Palace (only person rested was Toby & Lloris) in the FA Cup and dominated them, hit the post at least twice with their keeper MoTM.

So I think in reality he has thrown 2 the CL, well the away game against Monaco (we were just shit in all the other games, with the strongest available team actually fielded). And the EL, both Dortmund games.

 

[scott]

He's not taken a single cup competition seriously since he arrived, he's not going to start now.

True. He could change his ways but probably not. Even at southampton he put out weakened teams in the cup.

Not sure whether its his or levy's decision to prioritise top 4 over cups?

 

[Wilson]

Europa League at Wembley??

That'll be hugely embarrassing for the Club, even with £5 tickets we wouldn't fill it to 50%.

 

[scott]

Cups definitely mean less in other countries, so there could be an element of him not seeing why they are worth bothering with. Although the cups over here have become massively devalued over the past decade or so too. If you go on a run and get far then they become important but if you go out in the first couple of rounds it's disappointing but you get over it a lot quicker than in the past.

Us actually getting to the final of the League Cup recently kind of throws a spanner in the argument that he completely doesn't give a fuck about the cups though. Probably if we had more squad depth/Poch wasn't so committed to blooding young talent (which is a good thing really) we'd be trying harder and doing better in them consistently.

I think that was due more to the draw than poch prioritising the league cup.
First good team we faced & we lost.

 

[SchmoodSpur2013]

He's not taken a single cup competition seriously since he arrived, he's not going to start now.

We got to the League Cup final.

 

[JakeYIDDO]

Earlier this morning I was no to EL as I don't think Poch takes cups seriously. That said looking at the CL 3rd teams we could be seeded with a win v Moscow.

Now, the EL teams don't look daunting given Dortmund and Sevilla aren't in it.

A: Fenerbahce, Feyenoord, Man Utd.
B: APOEL, Olympiakos, BSC Young Boys
C: Anderlecht, St Etienne, Mainz
D: Zenit, Dundalk, Maccabi Tel Aviv
E: Roma, Vienna, FK Astra [lol spam]
F: Genk, Bilbao, Rapid Vienna, Sassuolo
G: Ajax, Celta Vigo, St Liege
H: Shakhtar, Braga, KAA Gent
I: Schalke, Krasnodar
J: Fiorentina, Qarabag
K: Sparta, Soton, Hapoel
L: Osmanlispor, Villarreal, Zurich

Clubs unlikely to qualify aren't listed. Not much to be frightened of there. So if Poch has stated he'd take it seriously then based on that list why not?

Our biggest threat would be CL dropouts of which none look out of our reach either.

Still some very good teams in there. Zenit, Roma, Bilbao, Ajax, Shaktar, Schalke, add the champions league dropouts and the Europa is looking very very competitive.

 

[Art Vandelay]

Still some very good teams in there. Zenit, Roma, Bilbao, Ajax, Shaktar, Schalke, add the champions league dropouts and the Europa is looking very very competitive.

Competitive, yes. No one in there though from what I can see that is clearly above our station. Dortmund last season were.

We should be looking to qualify and looking to take it seriously with strong line ups. IIRC CL dropouts have a high Semi Final rate in the Europa league

 

[SchmoodSpur2013]

I don't wanna sound like a petulant kid, but seriously what's the point of playing football if you don't want to be in certain competitions... WHO ARE WE to decide what we want to compete in, and what ones we don't?

Surely we should want to be in every competition we enter for, and have a go at them all... whether we win them or not is another matter.
But I know one thing, you definitely can't win a competition you aren't even in!

Having not won a Trophy of any kind for 8 years, and (if the 'Tin Pot Cup' brigade are to be believed) we haven't won anything of note since 1991, I'd say on that record alone, beggars can't be fucking choosers!

We're certainly not winning the CL any time soon... we'll have a good go at the PL i'm sure... but so will every other club who will want to make damn sure last season is never repeated (and because of that, last season was most definitely an opportunity missed for us) ...so that leaves the FA Cup or Europa League should we be arsed enough to qualify for it!)

I'd take either of those right now ta!

Agreed. If Lionel Messi can play 60 games in a season there is no reason our players can't. In general, unless we get a Gillingham, I'm happy to play our best side from here on.

Poch says he'll take Europe seriously, if we get there, and I believe him.

 

[Eskimo]

Proof in the pudding that nothing is ever enough.

Can't even enjoy the fact we got to a final. Just another reason to piss on everyone's chips.

Juande Ramos won us a cup in less than a year in charge. Against the team Poch lost to.

How's your chips now!

 

[SchmoodSpur2013]

Juande Ramos won us a cup in less than a year in charge. Against the team Poch lost to.

How's your chips now!

I rest my case.

 

[Guido 🇺🇦]

Let's look at this logically, and ask ourselves a few questions.
1) Can we win the EL if the manager decides to take it seriously, and we get decent draws along the way. I believe the answer is YES
2) If we were still in the CL could we win it. I think the obvious answer is NO

The game is about glory, and finishing 4th in a twenty horse race hardly constitutes glory. However, winning a trophy, any trophy, is glory, and what's more gives thousands of fans a great day out. Last year Poch sacrificed every cup in the hope we may win the league, and as a result the club ended up with egg on it's face, especially when we lost 5-1 against a ten man Newcastle who had already been relegated. The fact is we are not good enough to pick and chose what competition we want to win, we have to try and win everything. No player will be asked to play more than two games of football a week, and let's face it, that can hardly be considered hard graft, can it?

To be honest, until we are good enough to actually win the CL I don't give a toss whether we qualify for it or not. Mr levy would argue about the financial benefits, but as he never spends any of the revenue on improving the squad, why should I care if the shareholders get a bigger payout. Lets get our heads out of the clouds, and come to terms with who we are. We are in the second tier of the premiership, and that isn't to say we are not a massive club or a club without potential, but we should be concentrating on winning trophies we can win rather than chasing pipe dreams !!

So, your idea of glory is to bin off the Premier League and focus on EL?

 

[Guido 🇺🇦]

Surely the idea should be to fuck off the idiotic preconception that we are in a position to prioritise, we've won two poxy league cups in the past 25 years.

So you think we have the squad to compete and win every competition, League, CL/EL, League Cup & FA Cup?

 

[SchmoodSpur2013]

The one that will grate me is the FA cup last season. Losing to lowly Palace and to a goal from a Liverpool reject defender no less. That was a trophy for the taking. Shame it wasn't to be.

Surely given his record with weakened teams in cup competitions a more prudent approach would be so wait and see if he does it. I don't have high confidence he will on exposed evidence.

He said he'll take it seriously. I'll go by that. He doesn't strike me as a liar.

 

[Guido 🇺🇦]

No which is why i say we give every game our best shot and see what happens.

Who knows we could get lucky.

Or we could get focused and not have to rely on luck. We certainly didn't have any luck when we played the League Cup Final just 72hrs after playing in Europe, against a team that won the league at a canter and had over a week to prepare, not even a level playing field.

The debate is an old one and no doubt will continue to rage, not just us but by every single club bar the club(s) that win something.

 

[Mr S Pippo]

Being positive , its a yes but Ive soon came to realise it will just be a farce.

I do not agree with CL teams falling into the EL-so no just for this reason alone.

I also feel its a no because, if we are not prepared to take it serious, whats is the point of being in a competition and not playing your best 11. Its ok being sentimental about Europe and wanting to be in it but thats not enough. We need a settle team, a regular 11 and push for the PL.

Total respect for EL but not this season. Lets have a clear run from Dec in the PL and have a real genuine challenge . I believe we are capable of winning the PL, if thats all we have to chase. The FA Cup I agree with but not Europe.