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The reason we will play Europa League football next season....

Gutter Boy said:
We need to get used to it so we are equipped to play CL + compete in the league, like we didn't do very well the season we were in the CL (remember all those 'hangover' games).

(Among many things) I used to hate how Redknapp disrespected the UEFA cup. I never want to see us effectively throw games like that again. What's the point of existing if we're not going to try to compete.

Remember the heartache the couple of times (e.g. under Jol) we just missed out on UEFA qualification on the final day, or were praying for a random fair play place to be thrown our way.

I love the UEFA cup anyway and am already looking forward to trying to win it next season.

I hate teams like Arsenal whose aims are calculated (i.e. 4th is all), rather than about the pursuit of glory.
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the trophy is the Uefa cup, but the competition is not
 
I absolutely hate this whole 'lets concentrate on the league' mentallity. Firstly, we are Tottenham fudging Hotspur. One of the biggest clubs in england with one of the most illustrious histories to date. We live by; 'To Dare is to Do', 'the game is about Glory', 'we set our sights so high that even failure will have in it an echo of glory'. We're not fudging Derby County.

Secondly, this is football. No matter whether you are having a kick about on a Sunday with your mates or are playing in front of 100,000 people at the Nou Camp, you set out to win. Thats what it's all about, winning. Every single game.

It's a discgrace that the FA, FIFA and everyone else have allowed sky and the big money boys to destroy football in this way. Part of the reason I love Spurs is that we have a philosophy 'To Dare is to Do'. What a fantastic club motto. It's not one where we play it safe for the sake of the league, it's one where we go out to win every single game no matter the opposition. And that is why I fudging love Tottenham Hotspur.

Lets not change that. Lets go against the grain. Let's make a difference.


(and before anyone accuses me of being an old fart who's living in the past. I'm only 27, I pretty much couldn't have picked a worse 20 odd years to support Spurs)
 
SUIYHA said:
..
Now before somebody says "But it'll be the same if we get CL football, we have to play the same players". There's a key difference. The big clubs in the CL have bigger budgets from CL football, and therefore bigger squads of top players.
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The Thurs-Sun playing also makes a difference.

The Champions League sides virtually never get to play on less than 72 hours between games. If they play Tuesday, they play on the previous saturday and they get 72 hours plus about an extra 4 hours because of the afternoon scheduling. If they play Wedesday they rarely have to play the following Saturday. With the EL its always three days, but less than 72 hours (by 4-6 hours) because of the evening-to-afternoon scheduling. You can say its only a few hours difference, but the 68 v 76 hour difference is significant given that three days is the minimum recovery time*. Add the extra time played in an important match (Inter) and its not surprising the players were physically and mentally flat for the Fulham game. And that was the game that turned the season.

The CL sides also get favourable treatment with their schedule. A few years ago we had to play Chelsea in the early slot on Saturday after a Thursday night Europa game. The reason they couldn't move the game was because Chelsea had a CL game the following week. Another time, after a late (10pm) kickoff in Portugal we ended up playing Chelsea in the FA Cup on short rest (I think the game we ended up drawing 3-3 after leading). Yet when a criminal trial of one of their players interferes with the season they get the trial moved, leading to Capello (is he Di canio's father?) resigning, speculation in the press ... but I digress.


* I don't think players can fully recover in three days in the modern game where there is far more high intensity running than even a decade ago. In the early 80s, one of the winning Liverpool teams played only 16 starters for the season, with several playing over 60 games. It was possible, if lucky with injuries, to play twice a week through the season. 3-4 days recovery was enough. Now you virtually never see outfield players manage that schedule. They tend to become obviously run down unless rotated properly, often ending up with niggling injuries. That 3-4 day recovery time is no longer sufficient.
 
So the Europa league hampered our league campaign even though we ended up with a record points total? And since when did we become far too grand to play in the Europa/Uefa cup? Most teams would love to be in a position to play in Europe. Luckily I still remember the joy of 1984.
 
cannot wait for all the glamour ties in Eastern Europe and Russia. Bet the players will love the trips too
 
Lily White said:
So the Europa league hampered our league campaign even though we ended up with a record points total? And since when did we become far too grand to play in the Europa/Uefa cup? Most teams would love to be in a position to play in Europe. Luckily I still remember the joy of 1984.
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This.

If we can't handle playing twice a week than we won't be able to compete in the Champions League anyway. Making qualifying relatively obsolete anyway.


You state three games we failed to win after Europa League games, However we could have failed to win those games anyway. We beat QPR, Southampton, Villa and West Ham twice after playing Europa league games.
 
Swansea will play in the europa cup next season and laudrup has said numerous times down here on how he's going to play it and if you remember we played getafe in jol's last game for us back in 2007 and they beat us and guess who was manager then for getafe .....laudrup.

He's stated they way to play the competition is by having a squad of 23/24 where everyone plays a part ,its not having a team of 11 for a premier league then another team of 11 for the europa comp its having a squad that competes in both competition ,it won't be a stop start all the time. If you look at chelsea thats how they did it,benetez didn't 'rest' many players he just used his squad .

i think its a british mentality that we keep banging on that playing thursday/sunday affects our performances,it shouldn't and by stressing that everyone will play a part it should be no problem.
 
Part of the reason I love Spurs is that we have a philosophy 'To Dare is to Do'. What a fantastic club motto. It's not one where we play it safe for the sake of the league, it's one where we go out to win every single game no matter the opposition. And that is why I fudging love Tottenham Hotspur.

Lets not change that. Lets go against the grain. Let's make a difference.


(and before anyone accuses me of being an old fart who's living in the past. I'm only 27, I pretty much couldn't have picked a worse 20 odd years to support Spurs)

What he said! Post of the year! :):lol:=D>=D>=D>
 
SUIYHA said:
...is because we played it this season.

I have been very vocal in my criticism of our involvement in this competition, and I'm sad to say that it appears to have cost us once again.

Going for the Europa League is the ultimate risk taking strategy. You don't get any "cred" for reaching the quarter-finals. Do you respect Saudi Sportswashing Machine any more for reaching the quarter-finals? No, they had a terrible season. Nobody remembers anything about the campaign from outside the club unless you reach the final, and reaching the final is tricky. Anything can happen along the way. You can concede a sloppy away goal. A player can get sent off at a crucial point of the match. A player can choke in a penalty shoot-out. Even if you are one of the better sides in the competition, the odds are stacked against you, especially when the CL drop-outs come. We all know the stats. You get less prize money for winning the Europa League than you do for simply reaching the CL group stages. Top players would rather join a club that offers them CL football, rather than a chance to walk past the Europa League in a trophy cabinet on their way into the stadium. And we had a great chance of being able to offer them just that. Except...we tried to focus on the Europa League.

So our first team played 12 extra games. Two of them going to extra time. One of them we had to play all of extra time with 10 men. You think that didn't wear the team down? If we'd managed just two more points we'd have CL football this season. If we'd used the EL group stage games to give first team experiences to the likes of Townsend, Carroll, Naughton, Coulibally etc, then not only would they have developed their own games more, but our first teamers would have been fresher. I have no doubt that those 12 extra games could have been 2 more league points if only we'd rested them.

Want some proof? We were 7 points clear of Arsenal at the start of March. They then went out of Europe. We all know what happened, they focused on the league and won 8 and drew 2 of their next 10 games. Whereas we stayed in Europe, and here's what happened:

Spurs 3-0 Inter
Liverpool 3-2 Spurs - a game we threw away in the second half

Inter 4-1 Spurs - After extra-time
Spurs 0-1 Fulham - After a tired, weary performance

Spurs 2-2 Basel - with Bale getting injured
Spurs 2-2 Everton

If we'd won any of those three games, we'd be in the CL now. But we arrogantly tried to compete on two fronts when we don't have the squad for it.




Now before somebody says "But it'll be the same if we get CL football, we have to play the same players". There's a key difference. The big clubs in the CL have bigger budgets from CL football, and therefore bigger squads of top players. What is Man Utd's best XI? It's hard to say. Kagawa, Nani, Valencia, Wellbeck and Hernandez all played regularly throughout the season, as did Young when he was fit. City didn't rotate properly and they had a brick season. Benitez rotated Chelsea and had Europa League "specialists" such as Moses, Torres and Lampard. Arsenal didn't have the squad to compete on two fronts, they dropped points three times after CL group stage games (one at home to Fulham and one against Villa when they were playing terribly), if they'd stayed in Europe they probably would have struggled domestically.

It's not like this stuff is ground breaking. Lots of managers slag off the Europa League. I just hope that AVB now realises that we do not have the resources to finish top 4 AND win the EL right now. A disappointment in AVB's first season has been that he has not developed any youth players into first team regulars, and the EL should be the opportunity to do that, not to tire out the first teamers.
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Excellent post and one I wholly agree with. Expect a backlash form the so called 'true' fans tho.....
 
i was more gutted seeing Chelsea lift that trophy on Wednesday than i was walking away from White Hart Lane on Sunday.
 
SUIYHA said:
...is because we played it this season.
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Partly because...

There are many factors at play, looking to find the one deciding factor is futile imo.

Most likely putting a real effort into the EL will have a negative impact on PL performance. And thus it probably lessens the chances of qualifying for the Champions League by some unknown percentage, I will agree to that.

SUIYHA said:
It's not like this stuff is ground breaking. Lots of managers slag off the Europa League. I just hope that AVB now realises that we do not have the resources to finish top 4 AND win the EL right now. A disappointment in AVB's first season has been that he has not developed any youth players into first team regulars, and the EL should be the opportunity to do that, not to tire out the first teamers.
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We can't know at this point in time if we have the resources to finish in the top 4 and fight for the EL trophy next season. I don't like this defeatist "we can't do it" attitude. To dare is to do, aim high, audere est facere...
 
Just call it the Uefa cup again and straight knockout over two legs with no CL fallout clubs. If not walk away
 
Millsy_Yiddo said:
I absolutely hate this whole 'lets concentrate on the league' mentallity. Firstly, we are Tottenham fudging Hotspur. One of the biggest clubs in england with one of the most illustrious histories to date. We live by; 'To Dare is to Do', 'the game is about Glory', 'we set our sights so high that even failure will have in it an echo of glory'. We're not fudging Derby County.

)
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Is this the same Derby County who were formed two years after Spurs (no history then) and who have won 2 Divison 1 titles since our last win 52 years ago?.......:-"
 
Think the only game it affected was Fulham(h) and that was because we played extra time. I think maybe the league games after 2nd leg knock out rounds should be moved to Monday night rather than Sunday afternoon.
 
The whole CL dropout thing makes a mockery of the competition. Can you really blame teams for not taking it seriously when UEFA don't?

Personally, I'd rather win it or get knocked out in the group stage rather than getting to the semis and draining the players energy.
 
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