The Immense Struggle to avoid the European Conference League

[Bedfordspurs]

I think we'll be able to shift GLC - Unai Emery has been linked with him now that he's at Villa, and we might also swap him for Danjuma. Alternatively there will be a taker in Spain I'd imagine, assuming terms are sensible so there's a few options. I also thikn we'll find a buyer for Winks and Rodon in the PL and Championship respectively

Ndombele is a different matter. I'm (literally) not sure whether we could give him away. We'll have to pay part of his wages for someone else to take him; whether we can get a fee in that sort of deal...who knows but would be limited

I agree
I think the loans will have at least shown clubs that these guys can still play
Winks has been good in Italy in a cluster fudge of a club
Rodon could be anything bad I can see a top championship side or lower prem side taking a punt on him
Lo celso ro villa could bring in decent money for once (still a loss)
Reggie is not gonna be brought by anyone after this season
Got to hope that Napoli do some deal to buy tanguy as I can’t see anyone else wanting him. We won’t want to use him imo
Gil is an interesting one. I’m not sure he will ever work here but we did see some sparks
Soence and Udogie will be integrated into the squad
Then we need to shift Sanchez and I assume Tanganga.
Perisic will go on a free

the good thing is we have players to sell who we don’t need or want
The bad thing is we have so many players to get rid of

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

Sarr is not ready yet. He still has lots of faults in his game that need ironing out at a lower level. I’ve not really seen anything of Gill that suggests he could be anything better than a mid table PL player (and still needs to do a lot of developing to get to that level).

I don’t think Regulion has anything that Sessegnon and Davies don’t have and the fact that he is an overseas player, unlike the other two counts against him.

Ndombele might be worth a look as competition/cover at AM but it is a big risk considering his application when here previously (though a manager implementing a front foot, possession based system might get a better tune out of him than the 3 defensive managers we’ve had in a row).

I wasn't really looking for a discussion on individuals.....more a branch of hope that a new manager has the ability or skills to elevate players or repurpose players that surpass the current impression we are all working off.

Much like Ten Haag has done with Wan Bissaka Dalot Fred Rashford etc.

Or Legohead with Xhaka Party Saliba and White (as a RB)

...and Howe with ...gawd knows how many players.

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

I agree


the good thing is we have players to sell who we don’t need or want
The bad thing is we have so many players to get rid of

Yes. We've been stockpiling unintentionally.

 

[billyiddo]

I wasn't really looking for a discussion on individuals.....more a branch of hope that a new manager has the ability or skills to elevate players or repurpose players that surpass the current impression we are all working off.

Much like Ten Haag has done with Wan Bissaka Dalot Fred Rashford etc.

Or Legohead with Xhaka Party Saliba and White (as a RB)

...and Howe with ...gawd knows how many players.

Emery with the whole Villa team

 

[alekaras]

Aaand we're 6th.

Aaand we're 7th.

 

[AdamB]

Aaand we're 7th.

Villa and Brighton's run in's are tough, so if we can pick ourselves up and put in half decent performaances (particularly if we can avoid defeat at Villa), we should finish top 6 and therefore qualify for the EL rather than ECL

 

[superspurs]

Villa and Brighton's run in's are tough, so if we can pick ourselves up and put in half decent performaances (particularly if we can avoid defeat at Villa), we should finish top 6 and therefore qualify for the EL rather than ECL

Wonder if the new manager will give a toss about the EL if we qualify for it? Was Ramos our last manager who actually cared about it?

 

[AdamB]

Wonder if the new manager will give a toss about the EL if we qualify for it? Was Ramos our last manager who actually cared about it?

THink lots of European managers do, and perhaps concentrating on it for a year and trying to get the trophy monkey off our back might also make sense.

The arguments about the merits of the EL have been done to death dozens of times on here though....

 

[Lemonade Money]

THink lots of European managers do, and perhaps concentrating on it for a year and trying to get the trophy monkey off our back might also make sense.

The arguments about the merits of the EL have been done to death dozens of times on here though....

The new managers first season will be all about getting to know and building a squad, and you think we're going to win a EL along the way, while we slum it out of the CL?

 

[AdamB]

The new managers first season will be all about getting to know and building a squad, and you think we're going to win a EL along the way, while we slum it out of the CL?

We could do and getting to the later stages or winning it would be a great way of building some team spirit and belief in the future

For all the doom and gloom, we have the core of a competitive team. Add a decent keeper, commanding CB (ideally a creator too) and install a system and we'd be one of the favourites for the EL

 

[superspurs]

THink lots of European managers do, and perhaps concentrating on it for a year and trying to get the trophy monkey off our back might also make sense.

The arguments about the merits of the EL have been done to death dozens of times on here though....

Indeedy, but trophy, please, GHod please.

 

[spursozy]

Villa and Brighton's run in's are tough, so if we can pick ourselves up and put in half decent performaances (particularly if we can avoid defeat at Villa), we should finish top 6 and therefore qualify for the EL rather than ECL

From our last 6 fixtures I cant confidently say we can beat any of them.

Manure, liverpool, villa, brentford and leeds all look like losses to me.

So whos left, palace? Lets say we may just beat brentford at home. Cant see us going to elland road on the last day (they will probably need to beat us to stay up) and getting anything with our hapless lot.

Lets hope I’m wrong but this team stopped caring and playing any sort of League 2 level football since the sheffield loss. No bounce back no reaction. Nothing. Most of them want the season over, others want to leave. We have no direction, no leadership.

 

[Mcfee]

THink lots of European managers do, and perhaps concentrating on it for a year and trying to get the trophy monkey off our back might also make sense.

The arguments about the merits of the EL have been done to death dozens of times on here though....

It’s only relatively recently that the Europa League winners automatically qualified for the following year’s Champions League. That was a game-changer I think. Plus I’m not sure it needs to be either/or in terms of focusing on either the league or Europe. I don’t think Arse* suffered from being in the Europa league this year. In fact it looks like they’ve lost something since they were eliminated from it.
Anyway I’d like to see us take the EL seriously if that’s where we end up but sensible rotation needs to be part of it.

 

[alekaras]

The new managers first season will be all about getting to know and building a squad, and you think we're going to win a EL along the way, while we slum it out of the CL?

If we get out of the group stages, the knockout rounds won't be until almost 2/3 into the season. By that time we may be hitting our stride.

 

[AdamB]

It’s only relatively recently that the Europa League winners automatically qualified for the following year’s Champions League. That was a game-changer I think. Plus I’m not sure it needs to be either/or in terms of focusing on either the league or Europe. I don’t think Arse* suffered from being in the Europa league this year. In fact it looks like they’ve lost something since they were eliminated from it.
Anyway I’d like to see us take the EL seriously if that’s where we end up but sensible rotation needs to be part of it.

I think you could take both the EL and PL seriously and possibly not have to make prioritisation decisions til March say

Also need to remember that from the 24/25 season the new CL qualification rules come in which could give us a 5th place

 

[Lemonade Money]

If we get out of the group stages, the knockout rounds won't be until almost 2/3 into the season. By that time we may be hitting our stride.

I'm not saying don't go for it, it's the arrogant assumption we can win it, based on, er,....
And then the backlash when we go out of it, and everyone starts calling for a new manager, because of the expectation we should be winning it.

 

[FatBloke]

I'm not saying don't go for it, it's the arrogant assumption we can win it, based on, er,....
And then the backlash when we go out of it, and everyone starts calling for a new manager, because of the expectation we should be winning it.

Quite. I always wonder how other English sides manage to use fringe/youth players in the Europa (/Conference) League and play with freedom. Maybe it's because of the trophy monkey on our backs. Too much pressure, even in Conf League group matches, and the team just freezes up. And of course smaller clubs will up their game against the mighty Spurs.

Either way, we're clearly not in a position to regard any knockout competition as beneath us. If a new manager manages to get us playing with freedom and panache against the so-called lesser teams, esp. in Europe, I'll be a very happy man.

 

[ricky2tricky4city]

Wonder if the new manager will give a toss about the EL if we qualify for it? Was Ramos our last manager who actually cared about it?

I think was a carry over from being the Seville manager....forgot his remit was different here

 

[Gazza]

From our last 6 fixtures I cant confidently say we can beat any of them.

Manure, liverpool, villa, brentford and leeds all look like losses to me.

So whos left, palace? Lets say we may just beat brentford at home. Cant see us going to elland road on the last day (they will probably need to beat us to stay up) and getting anything with our hapless lot.

Lets hope I’m wrong but this team stopped caring and playing any sort of League 2 level football since the sheffield loss. No bounce back no reaction. Nothing. Most of them want the season over, others want to leave. We have no direction, no leadership.

And the ones that want to stay are the ones we need to get rid

 

[Bishop]

The new managers first season will be all about getting to know and building a squad, and you think we're going to win a EL along the way, while we slum it out of the CL?

That manager is going to be under enormous pressure to get a top 4 Finish. I wouldn't be shocked to see them go easy on any European games we might end up with. I kind of think actually getting no Europe might be beneficial to us. I doubt it makes that much of a difference in who we can attract at this point tbh.