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

[jaysea67]

After all the chatter from the win at Swansea piped down, the pub chat turned to upcoming fixtures, fates and fortunes.

Win both matches against Basel, and we earn five UEFA points - two for each win, one for advancing to semis. That would put us a full point up on Emirates Marketing Project in the UEFA co-efficient tables and in with a strong likelihood of being placed in the second seeds' pot for a CL group stage draw, a strategic advantage that AVB has no doubt already digested.

A win and a draw would leave us dead level and no one had a clue what the tie-breaker would be.

So it makes it worthwhile to give this round a good go. Wins will definitely be harder to achieve in the semi-finals.

UEFA's site does indeed have us 4 points behind Emirates Marketing Project but Bert Kassies' site, which I find more reliable, has us only 3 points behind. The tie-breaker is the team with the most coefficient points in the most recent season - that would be Spurs. Assuming there is only a 3 point gap, beating Basel over the two legs, whatever the individual results, would guarantee that Tottenham have a higher coefficient than Emirates Marketing Project in the UEFA rankings for next season. If Spurs don't reach the semi-finals then they will be ranked behind Emirates Marketing Project.

So, just to nerd out a little further, we're 26th ranked on the UEFA list. If we can earn max points in the two legs with Basel, it lifts us into 20th place. There's a chance PSG could nudge ahead of us, but they'd have to earn a win or a draw vs. Barcelona. Juventus currently are 19th and are still active in CL and likely to earn more points.

If we sit 20th, there's at least four higher-ranked clubs that won't be in CL next season - Liverpool, Sporting, Inter and Zenit. If we're in, then one of Chelsea or Arsenal is out, so effectively we'd be no worse than the 15th-ranked club and within the second seed range. There's also a further cushion available if one or more of four clubs fails to succeed from close battles currently going on in their domestic leagues - Valencia(5th, 2 pts. out), Schalke(4th, up by 3 pts. and in a battle), Lyon(2nd, up by 3 on St. Etienne), Marseille(3rd, up by 1 on St. Etienne, more close by.)

To win the cup we need to play five more matches, granting a possible maximum of 12 points(assuming all a club gets is two points for winning the final). Earn that and we'd be tied with Liverpool, a club soon destined to plummet in the rankings as their two best recent seasons will begin to come off UEFA's five year co-efficient equation. They'll be lucky to stay in the top 50 after next season.

Sorry to be picky but if we're 20th then I think we'd be above Sporting and Zenit. There could be a lot of highly ranked teams in the CL play-offs next season. If we hadn't moved above Ajax and PSV we might have found ourselves in the play-offs but unseeded. Below are the UEFA rankings and league positions as they currently stand.

 

[tommysvr]

People really want us to win matches to boost our ranking? I want to beat Basel to make the semi finals!

 

[billyiddo]

People really want us to win matches to boost our ranking? I want to beat Basel to make the semi finals!

exactly what i have been thinking when reading these comments

 

[Bonsaiboy]

People really want us to win matches to boost our ranking? I want to beat Basel to make the semi finals!

You can say the Europa League is great and it would be wonderful to win, the reality of the competition is far different.

There were 10 men and a dog at the San Siro for our game against Inter and a TV audience that consisted of probably 90% Spurs fans. A Far cry from our game against AC Milan in the CL.

The games against Basel will take place and the rest of football world will be oblivious to them, the only interested parties will be Arsenal fans, wanting us to win - to play more games - and hoping we pick up injuries.

Every Spurs fan would like us to win the whole thing - the difference in opinion is whether it's worth potentially sacrificing a CL place for it. We'd all like to have both, but we clearly lack the squad depth for that.

 

[billyiddo]

in 10 years time Bonsai would you look back with greater fondness on us winning the Europa League or competing in the CL?

 

[Spursalot]

You can say the Europa League is great and it would be wonderful to win, the reality of the competition is far different.

There were 10 men and a dog at the San Siro for our game against Inter and a TV audience that consisted of probably 90% Spurs fans. A Far cry from our game against AC Milan in the CL.

The games against Basel will take place and the rest of football world will be oblivious to them, the only interested parties will be Arsenal fans, wanting us to win - to play more games - and hoping we pick up injuries.

Every Spurs fan would like us to win the whole thing - the difference in opinion is whether it's worth potentially sacrificing a CL place for it. We'd all like to have both, but we clearly lack the squad depth for that.

And if you asked any Inter Milan fans they would be kicking themselves that they did not go. It was an epic match.

I think the 3-0 deficit was far more relevant than the fact it was the Europa League.

It's a bigger competition than the FA cup or the League cup, i suppose you think we should just throw those every season too?

'Clearly lack the squad depth'.. Yeah i see that, it's not like we're in the Quarters and still in the Champions League spots with the 'lack of squad depth' we currently possess.

 

[billyiddo]

also Inter don't get the best crowds anyway, San Siro wasn't even half full when we played there in the CL so using the game against them as a measure of the cups popularity isn't the best yardstick. also considering that they are an established CL club, which we are far from being at this moment and it becomes an even poorer example.

(not to mention the fact they were 3-0 down and that most games out there are pay on the day)

 

[Armchair Expert]

You can say the Europa League is great and it would be wonderful to win, the reality of the competition is far different.

There were 10 men and a dog at the San Siro for our game against Inter and a TV audience that consisted of probably 90% Spurs fans. A Far cry from our game against AC Milan in the CL.

The games against Basel will take place and the rest of football world will be oblivious to them, the only interested parties will be Arsenal fans, wanting us to win - to play more games - and hoping we pick up injuries.

Every Spurs fan would like us to win the whole thing - the difference in opinion is whether it's worth potentially sacrificing a CL place for it. We'd all like to have both, but we clearly lack the squad depth for that.

That is the biggest most uninformed post ive eeeever read. Its completely based on assumption and us quite frankly, absolute fudging flimflam.

Ive registered on a Basel forum and live in Germany, and for the first time a swiss team is being shown on national broadcasters in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. I have options of about 6 channels I can watch the game on.

The build up has started already and its seen as a watershed moment for swiss football. Basel are a good side and haven't even conceded a goal at home since October, and for us people want to watch Bale, Vertonghen, Lloris and Dembele.

Its really big news over here, really big.

Typical crap fudging myopic british footballing mentality. Football does exist outside of the illiterate Paul Merson sky old boy top four premier league tossfest.

With the champions league being so fudging sexual, I question why other competitions / teams not in the competition are allowed to exist.

fudging unbelievable.

 

[Bonsaiboy]

in 10 years time Bonsai would you look back with greater fondness on us winning the Europa League or competing in the CL?

If we won the Europa League this season and didn't qualify for the CL for the next ten years, I'd look back more fondly at the memories of the 2010/11 CL campaign. Destroying the reigning European Champions at the Lane. Beating AC Milan in the San Siro. Seeing the likes of Real Madrid grace the turf of White Hart Lane. I felt this was where we belonged. This was the club we had been under Bill Nic, the club we can be again.

 

[Spursalot]

If we won the Europa League this season and didn't qualify for the CL for the next ten years, I'd look back more fondly at the memories of the 2010/11 CL campaign. Destroying the reigning European Champions at the Lane. Beating AC Milan in the San Siro. Seeing the likes of Real Madrid grace the turf of White Hart Lane. I felt this was where we belonged. This was the club we had been under Bill Nic, the club we can be again.

As opposed to seeing the winners of the Champions league play against us in the Super cup?


There is no glory in being perennial Champions League participants. Just go and ask any Arsenal fan, they would trade it in for a trophy or two.

 

[Bonsaiboy]

That is the biggest most uninformed post ive eeeever read. Its completely based on assumption and us quite frankly, absolute fudging flimflam.

Ive registered on a Basel forum and live in Germany, and for the first time a swiss team is being shown on national broadcasters in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. I have options of about 6 channels I can watch the game on.

The build up has started already and its seen as a watershed moment for swiss football. Basel are a good side and haven't even conceded a goal at home since October, and for us people want to watch Bale, Vertonghen, Lloris and Dembele.

Its really big news over here, really big.

Typical crap fudging myopic british footballing mentality. Football does exist outside of the illiterate Paul Merson sky old boy top four premier league tossfest.

With the champions league being so fudging sexual, I question why other competitions / teams not in the competition are allowed to exist.

fudging unbelievable.

Yeah, it's THEIR cup final. Not OURS! It's big news THERE! Not here. Not in China, Africa, Japan, the US - that's where we need to grow and expand our fan base and become a true global brand. In that respect, we've fallen massively behind you know who.

 

[Spursalot]

Yeah, it's THEIR cup final. Not OURS! It's big news THERE! Not here. Not in China, Africa, Japan, the US - that's where we need to grow and expand our fan base and become a true global brand. In that respect, we've fallen massively behind you know who.

Arsenal?


We're behind Arsenal due to the period where they won their trophies. That is when they gained the fans in those countries you speak of. The invincibles and the like were the cause, not the fact they have qualified for the CL for the past seven years.

 

[billyiddo]

If we won the Europa League this season and didn't qualify for the CL for the next ten years, I'd look back more fondly at the memories of the 2010/11 CL campaign. Destroying the reigning European Champions at the Lane. Beating AC Milan in the San Siro. Seeing the likes of Real Madrid grace the turf of White Hart Lane. I felt this was where we belonged. This was the club we had been under Bill Nic, the club we can be again.

i seriously can't get my head around that logic, but you're entitled to your opinion

personally id trade that 2010/11 season in the CL for a Europa League win any day of the week.


winning trophies >>>>> making up the numbers in the Champions League.

 

[Armchair Expert]

Yeah, it's THEIR cup final. Not OURS! It's big news THERE! Not here. Not in China, Africa, Japan, the US - that's where we need to grow and expand our fan base and become a true global brand. In that respect, we've fallen massively behind you know who.

100 million people live in German speaking countries. The Europa League is big news in continental Europe.
I couldn't give a brick what team some fudging random Chinaman supports. You said no-one gives a brick: for a start 100 million people in German speakers certainly do. But I guess they don't count. What the hell has football come to?

Success breeds success matey. And gonad*s to a plastic Korean fan base anyway.
Oh and I'm a Spurs fan, and its a cup final for me too.

 

[billyiddo]

100 million people live in German speaking countries. The Europa League is big news in continental Europe.
I couldn't give a brick what team some fudging random Chinaman supports. You said no-one gives a brick: for a start 100 million people in German speakers certainly do. But I guess they don't count. What the hell has football come to?

the Champions League and it's money has created a generation of football fans more interested in chasing the £££'s than actually winning anything

 

[Armchair Expert]

the Champions League and it's money has created a generation of football fans more interested in chasing the £££'s than actually winning anything

Why don't they just support Barcelona or Emirates Marketing Project? THey could go to the Etihad, easily get a ticket and sit next to their fellow south Korean die hard tourist fans?!

 

[billyiddo]

i wouldn't go that far but you can definitely see that for some qualifying for the CL and making money is almost an end unto itself.

they're obviously still Spurs fans and want us to be successful - i just think their idea of what success is, is a little warped.

 

[parklane1]

People really want us to win matches to boost our ranking? I want to beat Basel to make the semi finals!

Same here, i have seen our previous European finals and i want to see another one.

 

[Bonsaiboy]

the Champions League and it's money has created a generation of football fans more interested in chasing the £££'s than actually winning anything

No, I don't care personally about the money and I wish it was still £3.50 to stand on the shelf. But it's becoming a money business. You need money to be able to buy and pay the best players. I hate this fact but it's not gonna change radically any time soon. And we need to generate as much money as possible to do that. The CL is seen as the pinnacle, it's where the football glory is, and where the money is as well, which, in turn, helps you to achieve that football glory.

The monster the CL has become has in turn devalued the Uefa/Europa League as a result. It used to be a brilliant competition. Not far of par with the old European Cup. But that was when league runners up were playing in it, now it's 5th and 6th placed clubs trying to win it.

 

[Armchair Expert]

i wouldn't go that far but you can definitely see that for some qualifying for the CL and making money is almost an end unto itself.

they're obviously still Spurs fansand want us to be successful- i just think their idea of what success is, is a little warped

Maybe it was a bit too much, but using the number of spurs shirts in Cambodia as a barometer of success does seem somewhat strange.