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

Tell me of this person afan, was he a man of great foresight and wisdom? If so, let me indeed be the new afan!

I want Spurs to progress, to become a team that qualifies regularly for the CL. That allows you to improve your squad over time, that, in turn, makes winning competitions like the FA Cup far more likely - who generally wins the FA Cup these days? Answer: CL teams. And I want Spurs to become a team that challenges for the league title. Or were you so institutionalized to mediocrity by the Sugar-Francis era that you believe we can never do that, never be more than a team that pops up now and again and wins a cup?

You really do have a high opinion of yourself, sounds to me that you are trolling.
 
You really do have a high opinion of yourself, sounds to me that you are trolling.

Honestly, apologies if I sound like that, I can get a little carried away sometimes. I'm sincere in all I say - just sometimes have a way of saying things that I could see could come across like that. I'm no troll. I'll try and be a bit more straight laced.
 
Straw man argument.

Every Spurs fan wants Spurs to be consistently challenging for top honours. Silly to suggest otherwise.

People are disagreeing with you only because you insist that we cannot achieve those aims if we take the Europa League seriously this season.

Of course we can achieve CL qualification AND take the EL seriously, but playing our strongest side in Europe WILL have an effect on our performances in the League. Given a choice some would prefer to rest players in cup competitions, especially in the early rounds, rather than risk having tired players for league matches. At this stage I believe we should put out strong sides, maybe not our strongest, but enough to feel confident about winning the game.

I believe we got too caught up in the glamour of the CL first time in it and it cost us in the league. Just being in it brings increased exposure and income and it also deprives one of our rivals of the same. Consistently qualifying for it will help the club grow far more than one off trophies. Winning something will give us a boost, but by the time the transfer window opens it will be forgotten by most. There are no guarantees that CL qualification will be more beneficial to us, but it gives us a better chance to do something.

As long as we aren't good enough to comfortably get into the top 4 we can't afford to sacrifice any of our league matches, but we can afford to put out weaker sides in the EL and play for the draw from time to time. I won't be happy if we lose to Basel, I want to win trophies as much as the next guy, but we cannot afford to lose to Everton. If we do, either they or Arsenal will climb above us in the next few weeks. Every point is gold at this stage to keep the momentum going and the players believing.
 
I'd imagine that having to re-schedule the Chelsea away match means Basel will get to see our best line-up both games. Hope so. Two wins puts us in great shape for a CL group draw. If we stumble in the semis of EL, and have the remainder of the season to focus on league play, then the great effort to come this far will have provided a tangible benefit.

Interesting to look around at the clubs left in the tourney and see that we're not alone in having to juggle domestic and continental concerns. We know about Chelsea's fixture congestion and internal turmoil. Saudi Sportswashing Machine are worringly close to the relegation dogfight.

Both Basel and Benfica(unbeaten!) lead their leagues but are being closely pursued. Though tey'll both comfortably qualify for CL next season, they can't let up in domestic play to focus solely on this event. Basel's facing a run of tougher domestic fixtures just ahead.

The other clubs are all embroiled in battles to hold onto or get into a CL placing. Lazio and Rubin are just off the pace but far from out of it, though their recent domestic form has been inconsistent and even poor. Fenerbahce are in second but closely pursued by Besiktas.

Europa League. Conundrum Central.
 
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The following figures exclude gate receipts and other matchday income.

Last year’s short Europa League campaign earned Tottenham €2.95m from UEFA’s financial distribution. So far this season Spurs have earned approximately €6.3m from their 10 EL matches – consisting of €2.85m in fixed participation and performance payments and €3.45m from the market pool. Participation in the quarter-finals will add around €1m to this.

If we progress to the semi-final we would receive another fixed payment of €1m plus a further share of the market pool. The best financial scenario is that Spurs reach the semi-finals along with Rubin Kazan, Benfica and Lazio, which would maximise our semi-final distribution from the market pool at about €1.8m.

Of course, this is all small change compared to the Champions League.
 
The following figures exclude gate receipts and other matchday income.

Last year’s short Europa League campaign earned Tottenham €2.95m from UEFA’s financial distribution. So far this season Spurs have earned approximately €6.3m from their 10 EL matches – consisting of €2.85m in fixed participation and performance payments and €3.45m from the market pool. Participation in the quarter-finals will add around €1m to this.

If we progress to the semi-final we would receive another fixed payment of €1m plus a further share of the market pool. The best financial scenario is that Spurs reach the semi-finals along with Rubin Kazan, Benfica and Lazio, which would maximise our semi-final distribution from the market pool at about €1.8m.

Of course, this is all small change compared to the Champions League.

Small change indeed, by comparison to the CL, but still better than a kick in the gonads!

With gate receipts and TV deals thrown in, I'd estimate that winning the competition could be worth a total of £20 million to us. That's actually a pretty huge figure and could be the crucial amount that helps us to buy that striker or two that we so desperately need this summer.

The EL really isn't the worthless competition that so many seem to think that it is.
 
It's far from worthless, but UEFA are doing their best to make it the case. Just looking at the coefficient points and the CL teams get an extra bonus point for every game compared to the EL. That's why Juventus have earned 23 points this season, but we've only got 13. Knock out Basel and we'll overtake them in the rankings though.
 
It's far from worthless, but UEFA are doing their best to make it the case. Just looking at the coefficient points and the CL teams get an extra bonus point for every game compared to the EL. That's why Juventus have earned 23 points this season, but we've only got 13. Knock out Basel and we'll overtake them in the rankings though.

I can't wait for next season. We are on our way.
 
Benfica, Chelsea and Fenerbache all with 2 goal home wins. Fancy them all to go through. We are still in with a good chance, but we need to win away. No weekend game, so we can go all out.
 
well we shouldn't be taking them lightly in the away game after their performance tonight that's for sure.

i wonder if we'll be going for a first choice back five - harsh as it is on Friedel the back four seem to play better with Lloris nowadays - surely that's the last of Gallas now?

if we can contain them then i fancy us to be able to grab some goals in the away game - they didn't look particularly strong defensively
 
i wonder if we'll be going for a first choice back five - harsh as it is on Friedel the back four seem to play better with Lloris nowadays - surely that's the last of Gallas now?

Its a good point. I think he will. 4 days break after the Everton game and then a long break before the City game.

Aim to keep a clean sheet next Thurs as then nicking one goal puts us through
 
i'm not sure we need the first choice back 5, the fast choice back 5 would be my preference

they carved us open repeatedly but were then wasteful, if we can stop them getting behind us we might nick it
 
Basel are currently top of their league on goal difference (having played one game less than Grasshopper) and are away to 3rd placed St Gallen today. At least they won't be able to rest any players.
 
Chelsea will win this and become the first club in history to win all 3 European cups. It's a tragedy really, football has no soul any more.
 
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