Why we should take the Europa League seriously...

[commodoreLUNGE]

Beyond the obvious of the Winner securing Champions League football, the Premier League are getting very close to losing their 4th Champions spot due to the poor performance of clubs performances in European Competitions.

To put it in context, if PL teams perform as poorly in the CL and EL as they did last year, and Serie A teams perform as well as they did (1 finalist CL, 2 semi-finalist EL) then for season 17/18 the PL will only get 3 Champions League spots.

And if that happens, it would be really Spursy for Spurs to finish 4th next season....

In my opinion we need to take the EL seriously, even if just for the sake of ensuring that it's a battle for Top 4, rather than Top 3, which would be even harder to crack, with or without European football.

A good article on Sky Sports today summarises.... http://www.skysports.com/football/n...premier-league-may-lose-champions-league-spot

 

[danielneeds]

Beyond the obvious of the Winner securing Champions League football, the Premier League are getting very close to losing their 4th Champions spot due to the poor performance of clubs performances in European Competitions.

To put it in context, if PL teams perform as poorly in the CL and EL as they did last year, and Serie A teams perform as well as they did (1 finalist CL, 2 semi-finalist EL) then for season 17/18 the PL will only get 3 Champions League spots.

And if that happens, it would be really Spursy for Spurs to finish 4th next season....

In my opinion we need to take the EL seriously, even if just for the sake of ensuring that it's a battle for Top 4, rather than Top 3, which would be even harder to crack, with or without European football.

A good article on Sky Sports today summarises.... http://www.skysports.com/football/n...premier-league-may-lose-champions-league-spot

Nothing wrong with your point on Europa, but the use of "Spursy" is starting to really become a bugbear of mine. You do realise that by using it you're doing the job of those in the media and at our rivals who brought it into use seeking to belittle and mock the club? It may seem trivial, but language is an important weapon in the battle for ideas.

We don't fail, or lose from winning positions more than other clubs. Infact last year we had more late winners than anyone. We perform well within the resources we have available, and have a proud history, one worth shouting about.

Please stop using this word, and at least give it a chance to die a horrible death.

 

[Nigel Spinal]

It's the 2nd most prestigious club competition in world football

We need to treat it as an end in itself. It's a privilege to be in. It's just a shame that some idiots have been brainwashed by the 'sky 4 narrative'

I would actually love it if the EPL lost its 4th CL space - it would break the cartel.

 

[commodoreLUNGE]

Nothing wrong with your point on Europa, but the use of "Spursy" is starting to really become a bugbear of mine. You do realise that by using it you're doing the job of those in the media and at our rivals who brought it into use seeking to belittle and mock the club? It may seem trivial, but language is an important weapon in the battle for ideas.

We don't fail, or lose from winning positions more than other clubs. Infact last year we had more late winners than anyone. We perform well within the resources we have available, and have a proud history, one worth shouting about.

Please stop using this word, and at least give it a chance to die a horrible death.

I take your point, but

a) There is nothing wrong with a bit of light-hearted self-deprecation in my opinion.
b) Rival fans used the term "Yids" to belittle and insult our fan base, and that hasn't worked out well, because our fan base use it as a badge of honour now. I don't see any reason why we can't playfully insinuate things about the club using the word "Spursy".

I don't feel the need to be defensive about people attacking our club as I know the proud history we have, and I certainly don't feel the need to be so defensive about the use and a particular word that suggests that we have a tendency to blow things.
Equally, the term "Spud" doesn't irritate me, I find it quite amusing actually, especially to be compared to one of the most versatile, and tasty vegetables that you can buy. I am a huge huge fan of potato.
They are just words, and the connotations are slightly amusing.

 

[Hazelton]

There's also the fact that unlike the League Cup, it actually matters in world football. If we take the Europa League seriously and manage to win it, we'll not only qualify for the Champions League and lift the trophy, we'll also get the chance to play against the Champions League winners in the Super Cup and increase our brand. That matters to the club, especially as we look for potential investors for the stadium.

 

[pook]

I've no quarrels with the original post; it's unarguably reasonable. But to my mind, we should take it seriously because we're in it. All other considerations are - even if perfectly valid - superfluous.

 

[fletch82]

Because it's a really big shiny trophy so big it looks like 2 or 3 in your cabinet ?

 

[Gbspurs]

Also got our own coefficient to think about. If we do eventually qualify for the CL we could do with a reasonable seeding so the better we do in the comps the better.

 

[BaFa94]

I don't see us not dropping to three CL places for at least a short period of time regardless of how we perform in the EL.

 

[Japhet]

The EL is the biggest competition we are in that we have any chance of winning. The rewards for winning it are massive, both psychological and financial. Should be right at the top of our priorities list IMO.

 

[YiddoInPoland]

I think its a great competition. They just need to stop this champions league teams dropping in it bollocks

 

[Lilbaz]

Please.

 

[JayB]

The FA needs to do more to accommodate EL clubs so that they'll take the competition more seriously. As things stand, EL clubs are virtually guaranteed to be playing their league matches on two days' rest during weeks with European fixtures. CL clubs, on the other hand, play half of their European matches on Tuesday and will often play league matches on Sunday following their Wednesday fixtures. Last season Chelsea played only two league matches on two days' rest, compared to our ten. Combined with the increased travel, the EL is significantly more burdensome and it's little surprise clubs play weakened squads.

If the FA would schedule all league fixtures following EL dates for Mondays I'm sure you'd see clubs taking the competition more seriously. It almost certainly won't happen due to considerations surrounding TV money, but it'd help the coefficient.

 

[Mullers]

We should have taken it seriously from the get go, we spent so many years out of Europe we should have savoured the experience. We've dropped down 3 places in UEFA team rankings also.

 

[voxy28]

Yes, we need to win Europa League as our no.1 priority. We can skip the FA cup...

 

[BringBack_leGin]

We should take it seriously, but we also need to make sure we use our very large squad as we have several good players who we just can't afford to let go rusty or disenchanted.

Chadli, Njie, Trippier, Wimmer, Rose, Townsend, and if fit the likes of Mason, Dembele and Bentaleb are all currently out of the first team but are all players used to playing regularly. If they are all fit, they should all play as they are all players who we will have to rely on at some point this season. If all of the above are fit then the only players I'd start on Thursday from the City win are Lloris and Alderweireld, and that's mainly because I don't trust Fazio and Vorm.

 

[worcestersauce]

It's a trade off, it is detrimental to your league position, of that there is no argument, we made 4th twice once when we weren't in Europe and once when Harry ignored it played the kids and we went out at the group stage.
Why then should we prioritise it? any outcome but winning it guarantees we will fail to make the Champions League and the financial return is insufficient to balance any of that.
In which case I don't know why I want to take it seriously but I do however that does not mean playing our first team every game, it means developing our squad by mixing it up in games like qarabag and Arsenal in the league cup so that we are up to it come the end of the season.

 

[philip]

UEFA need to allow Europa games to be played on Tuesdays or Wednesdays if the clubs prefer.

Despite it being the same amount of days from Thursday-Sunday as Wednesday-Saturday, years of games have proven that it does effect the way that teams perform. Maybe it's the training schedule, maybe it's just physiological, facts are it is harming the PL Europa teams.

 

[TottenhamMattSpur]

Yeah cheers Arse and Chavs. Wankers.

 

[spurs9]

I don't see us not dropping to three CL places for at least a short period of time regardless of how we perform in the EL.

If you take the points as of right now, then remove the points each team loses at the end of the season (when season 11/12 points no longer count), we are only ahead of the Italian league by 1.61 points. Now take the fact that, as we had 8 teams in Europe to start with and Italy had 6, our points are divided by 8 and Italy's by 6.

That means for every win by an English team, we end up with .25 coef points and every draw 0.125 (2 points for a win, 1 for a draw divided by 8). In comparison, Italy get 0.33 for a win and 0.166 fro a draw.

It also means that every English team that makes it out of the CL group gets 0.625 points compared to Italy's 0.833.

I worked out that English teams have a total possible combined coef points available as 21, whereas Italy have 24.167.

Just to add even more bad news, at the end of next season, when we lose 12/13 seasons points, Italy will gain an extra 2.02 points, so for the next two seasons combined, we need to better Italy, by a minimum 1.852 points.