Team vs Rennes (ECL)

[whitechina]

I don't see it as throwing this game just prioritising Sunday's game. We'll try to win it but we ought not throw everything at it to win.

Fair play- we just see it a little differently tiz all

 

[spids]

I really do not see the point in this competition. If we win it we get to compete in next year's Europa League. Well, if we play our B team (and hopefully get knocked out) we can focus on the league where we have a real possibility of qualifying for the Champions League. Winning the ECL would be akin to West Ham winning the Intertoto cup in 1999 (yeah, me neither - had to google it).

 

[Westmorlandspur]

This competition is akin to the Europa lge when it first started many years ago. Everyone was quite happy to see youngsters used, as Redknapp did. It’s not worth the bother. We take the Europa seriously now because winning it puts you in CL as a top seed.
All we hear these days is that it’s a trophy to win. I’d rather not bother as it will knacker our season.
Conte needs a few free weeks on the training ground.

 

[kaz Hirai]

I really do not see the point in this competition. If we win it we get to compete in next year's Europa League. Well, if we play our B team (and hopefully get knocked out) we can focus on the league where we have a real possibility of qualifying for the Champions League. Winning the ECL would be akin to West Ham winning the Intertoto cup in 1999 (yeah, me neither - had to google it).

Think the point is to put something in our dustry empty trophy cabinet assuming the door mechanism hasn't completely seized up from never being used

 

[PCozzie]

Lloris
Emerson (?) - Tanganga - Dier - Davies - Stevie (Had Sess initially, but edited as he's suspended)
PEH - Skipp
GLC (?)
Moura - Kane

Not sure of a couple in terms of fitness/illness, if not GLC then it'll have to be Winks or Ndombele. Silly of us to even need to play most of the first team, we should have had this group wrapped up by now.

I know there is the temptation to bin this off, but I thinks it's important to press on.

 

[coy-spurs1882]

Lloris
Emerson (?) - Tanganga - Dier - Davies - Sess
PEH - Skipp
GLC (?)
Moura - Kane

Not sure of a couple in terms of fitness/illness, if not GLC then it'll have to be Winks or Ndombele. Silly of us to even need to play most of the first team, we should have had this group wrapped up by now.

I know there is the temptation to bin this off, but I thinks it's important to press on.

sessegnon is suspended

 

[PCozzie]

sessegnon is suspended

Ah yep. Good shout, forgot that.

 

[spids]

Think the point is to put something in our dustry empty trophy cabinet assuming the door mechanism hasn't completely seized up from never being used

Why don't we enter a team in the Hertfordshire U16's darts tournament then? That's about as relevant a trophy as the ECL is. If West Ham won the ECL I'd laugh at them. Let's focus on getting back in the CL and challenging for proper trophies.

 

[InOffMeLeftShin]

Interesting one this. I'd go:

Lloris

Tanganga---Rodon----Davies

Doherty----Winks----Hojbjerg-----Bergwijn

Lucas---Kane---Son
​

Would love to give a few more players rest but I'm assuming Reguilon and Lo Celso won't be ready, Emerson and Gil are still sick and Sess is suspended. There aren't really too many options but would rest Sanchez, Dier and Skipp as they've all been playing a lot and we have players that can step in here. Interested to see what we do about the left wing-back, i think it'd be interesting to see how Stevie does there as we don't have many other options and i don't see him being a forward in our side long term. Can't really rotate the forwards much unless we play Alli/Ndombele/Scarlet but then we are stuck with the same issues we've had before mixing it all around and not being cohesive. Can bring those guys off the bench if we are up by enough.

 

[Fitchspur]

From a selfish point of view as someone who has to travel a little to get to games, I wouldn’t mind if we went out so there would be fewer weekends of me getting home late on a Sunday

 

[EQP]

With news of the Covid outbreak, I'm hoping to see more of the academy players for this game.

Gollini

Tanganga--Dier-Rodon

Doherty----Winks----Tanguy-----Davies

Markanday---Scarlett---Gil​

 

[13VanDerBale13]

This game is pretty much a right off now with this Covid news, hopefully we see some encouraging signs, of players who can stake a claim for starting at Brighton …

 

[samspurs92]

Sack this off and isolate all the healthy players for the weekend.

Perfect excuse to just get knocked out, we will be much better off for it.

 

[journeyman]

Perfect excuse to bin this off now with the Covid outbreak.

 

[Ghost Hardware]

Perfect excuse to bin this off now with the Covid outbreak.

Next to no chance we win this with likes of Son and Moura out with Covid. A from three of Bergwijn, Kane and Ndombele (?) or Markanday, if he’s lucky, aren’t going to be doing much imo.

 

[DCSPUR64]

Next to no chance we win this with likes of Son and Moura out with Covid. A from three of Bergwijn, Kane and Ndombele (?) or Markanday, if he’s lucky, aren’t going to be doing much imo.

If Rennes put out their second string, who knows?
Probably Vitesse will thrash Mura though!

 

[C0YS]

This competition is akin to the Europa lge when it first started many years ago. Everyone was quite happy to see youngsters used, as Redknapp did. It’s not worth the bother. We take the Europa seriously now because winning it puts you in CL as a top seed.
All we hear these days is that it’s a trophy to win. I’d rather not bother as it will knacker our season.
Conte needs a few free weeks on the training ground.

We took the UEFA cup, as it was called then very seriously when we qualified it even after the CL/european cup expansion watered it down, under Jol and Ramos. The tournament changed its name but it isnt new or separate from the UEFA cup.

Redknapp never took it that seriously until the knockouts, which is pretty standard for most big teams. But that's just because it's a competition where a rotated team is able to get out the groups. Even in a watered down state without CL completion the Europa league was always worth winning. It's just not worth recking CL qualification over it.

I actually, unexpectedly, like the ECL. In part because it strengthens the EL by removing a few games and making the CL drop out system a bit fairer. Partly because it actually is nice that there are teams from countries that struggle to qualify for the EL and creates a very european wide tournament often with only one representative from the big leagues. Thirdly I like that it shows just how strong football is outside the major leagues, something I've always known but the crazy results weve seen in a few games really point that out. If you are a bodo glimt fan or a Mura fan this tournament has given you one of the greatest moments in your life as a fan and I love football for those moments.

Now, should we prioritize it? Absolutely not. It's not really a competition for us, or for the big leagues. Should we not try and win the tournament? No. We should try and win and a heavily rotated team should be able to be competitive in such a tournament.

Now in this particular game, the odds are we are out of the tournament already. Rennes are not a bad team, not a bad team at all they are second in Ligue 1 right now. But Vitesse should beat Mura.

So, considering if we win we are unlikely to get through the group anyway, this kinda has to be quite low priority with the xmas period coming up too. I'd use the game to experiment and rotate and honestly, couldn't care less if we win it. In fact if we rotate I suspect we wont win it.

 

[C0YS]

We took the UEFA cup, as it was called then very seriously when we qualified it even after the CL/european cup expansion watered it down, under Jol and Ramos. The tournament changed its name but it isnt new or separate from the UEFA cup.

Redknapp never took it that seriously until the knockouts, which is pretty standard for most big teams. But that's just because it's a competition where a rotated team is able to get out the groups. Even in a watered down state without CL completion the Europa league was always worth winning. It's just not worth recking CL qualification over it.

I actually, unexpectedly, like the ECL. In part because it strengthens the EL by removing a few games and making the CL drop out system a bit fairer. Partly because it actually is nice that there are teams from countries that struggle to qualify for the EL and creates a very european wide tournament often with only one representative from the big leagues. Thirdly I like that it shows just how strong football is outside the major leagues, something I've always known but the crazy results weve seen in a few games really point that out. If you are a bodo glimt fan or a Mura fan this tournament has given you one of the greatest moments in your life as a fan and I love football for those moments.

Now, should we prioritize it? Absolutely not. It's not really a competition for us, or for the big leagues. Should we not try and win the tournament? No. We should try and win and a heavily rotated team should be able to be competitive in such a tournament.

Now in this particular game, the odds are we are out of the tournament already. Rennes are not a bad team, not a bad team at all they are second in Ligue 1 right now. But Vitesse should beat Mura.

So, considering if we win we are unlikely to get through the group anyway, this kinda has to be quite low priority with the xmas period coming up too. I'd use the game to experiment and rotate and honestly, couldn't care less if we win it. In fact if we rotate I suspect we wont win it.

Ok scrap what I said. I assumed we were basically out because our head to head is worse on away goals. However away goals got scraped just this season so, actually, we are very much still in the tournament and a win will probably see us through.

This changes a lot. So, yes, we should rotate but still play a strong side. My pick

Gollini
Royal Sanchez Rodon Tanganga Doherty
Winks Skipp
Bergwijn Kane Dele

something like that. Dele maybe further forward. I would probably start Lo Celso but suspect he wont be fit enough. Gil maybe instead of Dele. Possibly at wing back if Royal is still unwell.

 

[fortworthspur]

dont really care about this tourney but it'd be kind of embarrassing to go out this early.

 

[Deleted member 29446]

With the covid outbreak we will probably have zero idea as to who is playing..