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Cann we?

Jurgen the German said:
I think if we had really gone for it, we could and should have gone further in the EL, we had enough cracks at it. Villa have got to the semis of the ECL and currently sit in 4th. They should have course not win the ECL and finish 5th. The furthest we have gone in the Europa is the quarter final in 2007.
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Yeh but each run isn't comparable because it it is unique to the year and team, Villa have had a fair run but that's not the same for all. We could say Dortmund being in the SF makes the CL more viable because in any other given year the majority of the cream are better than them. We always seem to judge potential of competitions on others experience than what the reality likely looks for us

I'm actually relaxed on it now, my expectations on Spurs is now wait and see rather than expected, so I can take or leave either in truth as long as we improve.

Where I kinda laugh at the whole thing is the idea that those most demanding selling the idea they take a lesser comp, just to win something, mainly laughable because they are the same that cry about finance and would also cry about league performance that pushes us into those comps. Weird contrary mindset there
 
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Nah the conference league is a
Grays_1890 said:
Yeh but each run isn't comparable because it it is unique to the year and team, Villa have had a fair run but that's not the same for all, had they met Bayer i would expect them out, in fact they wont beat them should they face them IMO. We could say Dortmund being in the SF makes the CL more viable because in any other given year the majority of the cream are better than them.

I'm actually relaxed on it now, my expectations on Spurs is now wait and see rather than expected, so I can take or leave either in truth as long as we improve.

Where I kinda laugh at the whole thing is the idea that those most demanding selling the idea they take a lesser comp, just to win something, mainly laughable because they are the same that cry about finance and would also cry about league performance that pushes us into those comps. Weird contrary mindset there
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Villa & Bayer are in different competitions
 
Baleforce said:
It’s harder to qualify for the CL than win a domestic cup IMO.

The reason for the honours board thing is simple, the perception hasn’t caught up with the reality as to where the value is in the respective competitions.
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It's not harder. Look at who normally wins the domestic titles. For the last 10 years they've been won every year bar one or two by City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Utd and Chelsea. Easier to come 4th in league behind 3 of those as usually 1 or 2 will have an off year.
 
DubSpur said:
It's not harder. Look at who normally wins the domestic titles. For the last 10 years they've been won every year bar one or two by City, Liverpool, Arsenal, Utd and Chelsea. Easier to come 4th in league behind 3 of those as usually 1 or 2 will have an off year.
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How often has an outsider qualified for the CL in the last 20 odd years though?

Saudi Sportswashing Machine, Leicester, did Everton do it once?

For domestic cups, Leicester, Swansea, Birmingham, Wigan, Portsmouth, Blackburn.
 
Quick point on us "not prioritising the cups", both Manchester clubs phoned it in this weekend yet still ended up in the final.
 
Baleforce said:
Quick point on us "not prioritising the cups", both Manchester clubs phoned it in this weekend yet still ended up in the final.
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But you also have to deliver when the pressure is on in cup games, it’s win or go home. In the last 10 years or so (mainly in the Poch era) we thrived when the pressure wasn’t on us. As soon as there was any kind of crunch knockout game or league game to put us top of the league we froze. People often point to our superior GD to Chelsea when they pipped us to the title in 2016/17. We won the last two league games 6-1 and 7-1 when the title was already gone and the pressure was off. The only outlier was the CL campaign in 2019 when somehow we beat Emirates Marketing Project and came from behind to beat Ajax. We often looked like the best team in the league when we were chasing Leicester and Chelsea but lost our nerve whenever we got really close to them.
 
Jurgen the German said:
But you also have to deliver when the pressure is on in cup games, it’s win or go home. In the last 10 years or so (mainly in the Poch era) we thrived when the pressure wasn’t on us. As soon as there was any kind of crunch knockout game or league game to put us top of the league we froze. People often point to our superior GD to Chelsea when they pipped us to the title in 2016/17. We won the last two league games 6-1 and 7-1 when the title was already gone and the pressure was off. The only outlier was the CL campaign in 2019 when somehow we beat Emirates Marketing Project and came from behind to beat Ajax. We often looked like the best team in the league when we were chasing Leicester and Chelsea but lost our nerve whenever we got really close to them.
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We did absolutely fudge all in the CL final too.

My point today was that the "big clubs" don't always bother with the FA Cup either, neither Manchester side were that interested in getting to the final based on their level of performance.
 
Baleforce said:
We did absolutely fudge all in the CL final too.

My point today was that the "big clubs" don't always bother with the FA Cup either, neither Manchester side were that interested in getting to the final based on their level of performance.
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Neither team played well in that final. The 3 week break between the last PL game and the final did neither team any favours.

I didn’t see either game this weekend but I would have imagined Emirates Marketing Project wanted to get back to winning ways as they are out of the CL and the league isn’t a done deal. Put out a full strength team from what I could see, Dias aside. Looks like United went full strength also. Will be hard for them to sack ETH if they beat Emirates Marketing Project in the final.
 
Jurgen the German said:
Neither team played well in that final. The 3 week break between the last PL game and the final did neither team any favours.

I didn’t see either game this weekend but I would have imagined Emirates Marketing Project wanted to get back to winning ways as they are out of the CL and the league isn’t a done deal. Put out a full strength team from what I could see, Dias aside. Looks like United went full strength also. Will be hard for them to sack ETH if they beat Emirates Marketing Project in the final.
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That final was awful because of three things
The timing, as you say
The heat… was 32 degrees in the stands so GHod knows what on the pitch
And the referee not understanding the handball rule
Nothing changes really
 
Jurgen the German said:
But you also have to deliver when the pressure is on in cup games, it’s win or go home. In the last 10 years or so (mainly in the Poch era) we thrived when the pressure wasn’t on us. As soon as there was any kind of crunch knockout game or league game to put us top of the league we froze. People often point to our superior GD to Chelsea when they pipped us to the title in 2016/17. We won the last two league games 6-1 and 7-1 when the title was already gone and the pressure was off. The only outlier was the CL campaign in 2019 when somehow we beat Emirates Marketing Project and came from behind to beat Ajax. We often looked like the best team in the league when we were chasing Leicester and Chelsea but lost our nerve whenever we got really close to them.
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My thoughts as well. I said on here several times during the Pooch era that the team lacked a winning mentality in a lot of the big games and i took a lot of stick for saying it at the time.
 
Jurgen the German said:
But you also have to deliver when the pressure is on in cup games, it’s win or go home. In the last 10 years or so (mainly in the Poch era) we thrived when the pressure wasn’t on us. As soon as there was any kind of crunch knockout game or league game to put us top of the league we froze. People often point to our superior GD to Chelsea when they pipped us to the title in 2016/17. We won the last two league games 6-1 and 7-1 when the title was already gone and the pressure was off. The only outlier was the CL campaign in 2019 when somehow we beat Emirates Marketing Project and came from behind to beat Ajax. We often looked like the best team in the league when we were chasing Leicester and Chelsea but lost our nerve whenever we got really close to them.
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It goes further back than the Poch era, I think we're looking at at least the early 2000s.
 
Baleforce said:
I think it runs through our entire history.
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With some of the players we've had our trophy haul from the mid 80s is pathetic.
We seem to attract a certain type of player, technically good but lacking that something that can make the difference.
Hugo,
Jan,
Erikson,
Ginola,
Keane,
Berbatov,
All icons, but you wouldn't bet on them would you.

Those special ones we do uncover soon get snapped up, the Carrick, modric and bales.

Somewhere between the European ban and the sky takeover we lost something, confidence, belief, desire or an identity that was worth the fight.
There's been glimmers of it under BMJ, Poch and ange, let's hope we can find it soon.
 
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