Europa League?

[toffeejack]

Glad to see so many sensible supporters here.

Given our size of squad, we simply cannot afford to compete in this Mickey Mouse cup.

Champions League or nothing for me.

how is the europa league mickey mouse? if we'd qualified for the champions league 5 times in a row and then qualified for this after a bad season i'd understand giving the youngsters a go, even though i'd think it to be daft because we could be genuine contenders insuch a situation. we all crave silverwear and atm we only enter 3 trophies. i don't think we're in a position to turn down a 4th

 

[Brennan]

Yeah but the odds of us winning it are slim to none anyway, and even if we did win it it'd be on a par with getting out of the group stages of the Champions League in terms of respectability.

It's like winning the League Cup - nobody is really arsed and you look like a right t*t if you celebrate it!

I look at it as "Risk & Reward" - is the risk of losing domestic progress in the league worth the slim chance of winning a sub-standard trophy.

Never understood this personally, i'd celebrate it and i wouldn't laugh at anybody celebrating winning it.

 

[Tubey]

Never understood this personally, i'd celebrate it and i wouldn't laugh at anybody celebrating winning it.

It's like winning a boxing match when the other fella faints as soon as the bell rings, and then celebrating it like crazy.

I dunno, it's just... not a real competition to me I guess. The "proper" teams don't play "proper" sides and when a team wins it you know it's largely because everyone else didn't really give a crap.

 

[Brennan]

The Europa is NOT a mickey mouse trophy at all.

You have to win about 30 games against European teams who've usually finished between 6th and 4th in their respective leagues. To win it this year Liverpool would have to beat the likes of:

-Anzhi
-Athletico Madrid
-Marseille
-Fenerbache
-Newcastle
-Brugge
-PSV
-Napoli
-Inter
-Udinese
-Lyon
-Atheltic Bilbao

Plus the teams knocked out of the CL stages. It's only a 'mickey mouse' tournament if that's your mindset. Winning the Europa would be a great achievement for this club and i can't understand why anybody would knock a trophy that most seasons we're not deemed good enough to even compete for.

Comparing it to the League Cup which is full of lower league teams is silly too.

And it's more of a competition than the 7th placed f***ing trophy !

 

[Neiler]

Interesting if its a Mockey Mouse compitition - what do people make of us winning the cup winners cup? Should we not have celebrated that?

Its by far the sexiest trophy out there id love it in L4:

Im sure i wouldnt be arsed if anyone laughed at me for celebrating us winning that.

 

[tbone1970]

I'd rather play in the Champions League as.....Champions!!!

Time for bed I think!!

 

[Brennan]

Interesting if its a Mockey Mouse compitition - what do people make of us winning the cup winners cup? Should we not have celebrated that?

Its by far the sexiest trophy out there id love it in L4:

Im sure i wouldnt be arsed if anyone laughed at me for celebrating us winning that.

I can understand people looking down on it if you're a team that regularly competes for your league title and has a string of recent trophies in your cabinet but ours is as empty as a village hall fundraiser for the BNP.

Teams who've won the tournament in the last ten years include the likes of CSKA, Atheltico Madrid, Valencia, and Porto. What i'd give for Everton to appear alongside names like that.

 

[Tubey]

The Europa is NOT a mickey mouse trophy at all.

You have to win about 30 games against European teams who've usually finished between 6th and 4th in their respective leagues. To win it this year Liverpool would have to beat the likes of:

-Anzhi
-Athletico Madrid
-Marseille
-Fenerbache
-Newcastle
-Brugge
-PSV
-Napoli
-Inter
-Udinese
-Lyon
-Atheltic Bilbao

Plus the teams knocked out of the CL stages. It's only a 'mickey mouse' tournament if that's your mindset. Winning the Europa would be a great achievement for this club and i can't understand why anybody would knock a trophy that most seasons we're not deemed good enough to even compete for.

Comparing it to the League Cup which is full of non-league teams is silly too.

The problem is that all of those sides listed don't want to be in the tournament - they want to be in the Champions League, and that mindset over the years has devalued the competition into complete irrelevance.

Liverpool played half a reserve side against Young Boys as they don't care, and they don't even have a snowballs chance of 4th place. And I don't blame them as their squad is badly thin. But despite that excuse it still devalues the competition.

Remember Stoke?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17071378

They left nine first team players at home for a marquee (and winnable) game against Valencia in the Europa League. That clearly devalues the competition.

I understand the romanticism about European football, but the modern game is what it is - without the financial incentive of the Champions League (which is 8 to 10 times more lucrative) it's not relevant.

You get as much prize money for finishing three places higher up the league table than you do for winning the Europa League. Case closed ^^

 

[marsh]

We best get into The Europa League now. Be class to win it, i'd celebrate it like i would any other trophy. Just to win a trophy would be nice.

 

[Neiler]

I think if they had a CL place up for grabs, i think it would be taken a bit more seriously by the CL snob clubs.

I was gutted missing out on the league cup last week never mind not taking the Uefa seriously. Im not aresd about the prize money, we should play in it for 50p - id still be made up if we won.

 

[Everton 1878 NSNO]

we could do with practice of playing good european teams in knockout situations with some pressure on the game, we have no trophy for awhile so we have buckled under pressure in important matches or not known how to win, the more we play the better we will be. It wont help us this year but getting 4th{hopefully higher} in the premier league wont mean as much if we get knocked out before proper champions league matches and the wealth it brings, unlucky to come up against villa real the last time but for the future the experience any european matches bring will help if we have the chance of competing again to reach champions league. European nights are awesome and we get to watch more everton matches so I think there are more benefits to being in EL

 

[Brennan]

The problem is that all of those sides listed don't want to be in the tournament - they want to be in the Champions League, and that mindset over the years has devalued the competition into complete irrelevance.

Liverpool played half a reserve side against Young Boys as they don't care, and they don't even have a snowballs chance of 4th place. And I don't blame them as their squad is badly thin. But despite that excuse it still devalues the competition.

Remember Stoke?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/17071378

They left nine first team players at home for a marquee (and winnable) game against Valencia in the Europa League. That clearly devalues the competition.

I understand the romanticism about European football, but the modern game is what it is - without the financial incentive of the Champions League (which is 8 to 10 times more lucrative) it's not relevant.

You get as much prize money for finishing three places higher up the league table than you do for winning the Europa League. Case closed ^^

But who cares what teams like Stoke do ? They have a tiny and crap squad and they could easily get themselves relegated if they overstretched in the Europa, i'd hardly say we need to worry about that.

Other teams don't care about it ? Better ask the Atheltic Bilbao players how they felt about losing it, or ask what the Athletico players thought about winning the tournament this season. I doubt the answer you'll get from them or the fans of those clubs is 'not bothered'.

The Europa is pretty much the best tournament that we as a club could actually have a chance of winning. If you think that's a mickey mouse cup then we might as well stop playing football altogether. What's the point if you don't think there's anything for us worth winning ?

And if we were to get to the Europa final, i'll have your ticket ! Mickey Mouse competition after all....

 

[Brennan]

If only.

 

[LABlue2]

Meh. I'm not someone who puts "money over football", but I can't get excited about this competition whatsoever.

We have a thin squad and it takes 15+ games to win the Europa. Our league position will suffer as we go through the tournament, then we'll eventually get knocked out by some team who has dropped down from the champions league - what a ridiculous rule that is, by the way.

As far as I am concerned, the competition is a farce to keep clubs from making that final step up into the Champions League. Anyone who gets close to the CL spots now has to play midweek nearly every other week in some crap competition that no one cares about. I'd rather win the League Cup to complete our domestic honors.

 

[Royal Blue Jersey]

Fiorentina was hands-down the best game I've ever been to at Goodison, probably ever. I would love to play it that competition again, there are many good teams, many great grounds, and the potential for special nights. True fans would not disagree. The champions league argument is risible. We'd be absolutely laughed out of it. What's the point of that?