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Europa League 2012-13 - QF: Basel (SUI)

Very good draw for us individually. Not the best draw otherwise with the best teams more or less scattered across the 4 games. Would have preferred Benfica and Chelsea to meet for example.

Think it will be two good games and hopefully Basel will be well up for it, bit of a let down seeing what seemed like an almost empty San Siro. I imagine the Basel stadium will be packed and that it will be a massive game for them.
 
We are going to beat Chelsea in the final.

This will avenge the FA Cup mauling, and CL spot theft of last season. And allow us to add an addenda whenever they blast about winning the CL.

The only game left to avoid is Fenerbache away, and even then not because we cannot win it.

COYS.
 
I can totally understand those who, if there had to be a choice, would rather win the EL than finish top 4. And I would love to feel the same way.

But the truth is that I know, with absolute certainty, that I would feel infinitely worse if we failed yet again to qualify for the CL than if we failed to win the EL. After what happened last season - the acute pain of it - and having been, for so long, in a similarly promising position this season, I cannot bear the thought of missing out again. It would be heartbreaking. Chelsea's CL win sent me into a fug of depression. It took me weeks to get over it. I don't want to experience that again.

Failing to win the EL would be disappointing. But winning it isn't a target that has consumed me for the past eight months. So being eliminated - so long as it isn't in humiliating fashion - would be bearable.

If we have to make a choice, therefore, my vote goes to securing a top 4 spot.
 
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Winning a trophy for me, the game is about glory and that means winning something not finishing among the runners up.
 
I'd rather a trophy too and we will have done it properly knocking out Lyon, Inter, Swiss champions and most likely Benfica or Chelsea in one of the other rounds.
 
jimmyb said:
I can totally understand those who, if there had to be a choice, would rather win the EL than finish top 4. And I would love to feel the same way.

But the truth is that I know, with absolute certainty, that I would feel infinitely worse if we failed yet again to qualify for the CL than if we failed to win the EL. After what happened last season - the acute pain of it - and having been, for so long, in a similarly promising position this season, I cannot bear the thought of missing out again. It would be heartbreaking. Chelsea's CL win sent me into a fug of depression. It took me weeks to get over it. I don't want to experience that again.

Failing to win the EL would be disappointing. But winning it isn't a target that has consumed me for the past eight months. So being eliminated - so long as it isn't in humiliating fashion - would be bearable.

If we have to make a choice, therefore, my vote goes to securing a top 4 spot.
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Whilst winning a trophy would be fantastic, I have to agree with you Jimmy. I can't live with Arsenal pipping us on the last day AGAIN, probably with a little help from an inept goalkeeping performance.
 
I think best case scenario for us is for Chelsea to beat Man Utd in the FA Cup QF replay meaning that they would then play Emirates Marketing Project on Sun 14th which would move our game back to probably Weds 17 April.
Therefore we would have the weekend off after Basle away whilst Chelsea would play in Russia on the Thursday, at Wembley on the sunday (and hopefully get beaten) and then us on the Wednesday whilst we would have 6 days to recouperate.
 
GPRD81 said:
I think best case scenario for us is for Chelsea to beat Man Utd in the FA Cup QF replay meaning that they would then play Emirates Marketing Project on Sun 14th which would move our game back to probably Weds 17 April.
Therefore we would have the weekend off after Basle away whilst Chelsea would play in Russia on the Thursday, at Wembley on the sunday (and hopefully get beaten) and then us on the Wednesday whilst we would have 6 days to recouperate.
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And as this is Spurs, that means it wont happen. I know where you are coming from though, and agree Chelsea beating United, although going against the grain, would be of benefit to us
 
CL is so much more important to our long-term future. No CL, and the players won't come no matter how much money we offer. No CL, and there's no great sponsorship deal.

I know that we need to get used to midweek games anyways. But we have a thin squad, a small squad, and we can't strengthen that squad in a genuinely meaningful way without CL football. Make it, and we can strengthen this summer. Don't make it, and we can say bye-bye to the likes of Bale.
 
parklane1 said:
Winning a trophy for me, the game is about glory and that means winning something not finishing among the runners up.
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i'm thinking that CL will buy us better players that will give us a better chance to win trophies.

denying arsenal of CL is also like denying them a trophy (in their eyes) so that's fun too.

and finally don't want to keep losing our best players to CL teams.
 
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metalgear said:
i'm thinking that CL will buy us better players that will give us a better chance to win trophies.

denying arsenal of CL is also like denying them a trophy (in their eyes) so that's fun too.

and finally don't want to keep losing our best players to CL teams.
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It has not helped the Arse do that over the last few years.
 
Modric THFC said:
But Wednesday night games have no effect with the league performances on the Sunday?
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It's not that, it just means by playing Sunday you're playing catch up with the teams who played Saturday, it puts pressure on you if your rivals won on the previous day. You will probably come back and say its an advantage if the other team loses, but teams in the top 5 tend to win more than they lose.

I would love to win the EL, but finishing below Arsenal again on the last day after being better than them for most of the season will be excruciating!
 
Jurgen the German said:
Girouds. You will probably come back and say its an advantage if the other team loses, but teams in the top 5 tend to win more than they lose.

I would love to win the EL, but finishing below Arsenal again on the last day after being better than them for most of the season will be excruciating!
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It does not make the slightest difference at all, we would still play some games on the Sunday because of TV anyway.
 
skyfarer said:
CL is so much more important to our long-term future. No CL, and the players won't come no matter how much money we offer. No CL, and there's no great sponsorship deal.

I know that we need to get used to midweek games anyways. But we have a thin squad, a small squad, and we can't strengthen that squad in a genuinely meaningful way without CL football. Make it, and we can strengthen this summer. Don't make it, and we can say bye-bye to the likes of Bale.
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Well qualifying for the CL in 2010 didn't lead to us signing a load of world class players, all we ended up with was a deadline day deal for VdV. However we've managed to lure players like Berbatov, Modric and Vertonghen away from teams which had qualified for the CL even when we hadn't.

Bale appears to get along well with AVB so I doubt that he is going to decide where he is playing next season purely on the basis of whether we qualify for the CL. If he continues to develop as a player then he is going to want to play for one of Europe' biggest clubs at some point in his career so that he can win a few league winner's medals plus maybe a CL, in which case our participation in the CL is not going to make much difference other than to give him the opportunity to show off his skills on the highest stage. Just as how annual membership of the CL hasn't stopped ARSEnal' best players ditching them every summer in order to move to clubs that win trophies.

So whilst I'd love for us to finish above ARSEnal for the first time since 1995, winning another European trophy to put in the cabinet would be even more glorious an achievement imo.
 
awesome dawson said:
This was always going to happen, Thursday night games seriously fcuk with the league performances on the Sunday.
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Have to agree. 5 of our 8 loses in the league have come after our midweek matches in CC or EL : Wigan, ManCity, Everton, Liverpool and Fulham. We have won 5 and lost 4 league matches after playing in EL.

Our lack of squad depth is the main reason for this. We cannot afford to rest too many players as it will affect our team balance. Thus we have to rely on players like Bale, Vertonghen and Dembele to play too many matches. Remember when we used to have a big squad and played 2 different teams in league and Cup matches ? We used to complain that our squad was too big then. Wish we have that depth now.
 
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Spurs7891 said:
Have to agree. 5 of our 8 loses in the league have come after our midweek matches in CC or EL : Wigan, ManCity, Everton, Liverpool and Fulham. We have won 5 and lost 4 league matches after playing in EL.

Our lack of squad depth is the main reason for this. We cannot afford to rest too many players as it will affect our team balance. Thus we have to rely on players like Bale, Vertonghen and Dembele to play too many matches. Remember when we used to have a big squad and played 2 different teams in league and Cup matches ? We used to complain that our squad was too big then. Wish we have that depth now.
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Im sorry that wasnt depth in squad that was redknapp fudging all the cups off and playing kids bit of a difference
 
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