Why would you waste it by playing the youth team?
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Chrismac
Player Valuation: £10m
Can see Don Carlo giving Dunc the Thursday night team, a chance for the younger/fringe players to prove their worth against teams with different styles, while given us fans European football and at that a chance to actually win.
The turkish sweep will have double figures before santa's down the chimney, what's not to like!
The turkish sweep will have double figures before santa's down the chimney, what's not to like!
I wouldn't call it a waste of time really. The PL is too important and high pressure to give starts to unproven players, but equally every player needs a chance at some point too.
If we got through a group stage then I would start playing strong teams, but I would make lots of changes in early stages/group stage of a tournament like the European conference. We could easily go out, but I wouldn't regret making the changes. I don't think you can play your strongest team every game in such a long midweek tournament, and not expect it to negatively impact your league form. We don't have the squad right now to be able to rotate heavily in league games and win PL matches, and I only expect 3 or 4 signings this summer.
I would be very happy to play in the competition, but I would be making 7 or 8 changes minimum every game. It would only become a priority in the latter stages, if we got there. It would be far harder to win than even a league cup. It's not that I think the tournament will be completely terrible, I just think it's far too long.
I don't get that. You work in the PL to qualify for Europe, then treat Europe like a joke when you get there. As a club we need to a) gain experience in Europe, b) get used to winning things, and c) build up our co-efficient points. I bet you there isn't a fan alive that wouldn't bite your hand off if you offered them what Sevilla have achieved in the past 15 years, for instance, yet they haven't been higher than 4th in La Liga in a decade. Let's start winning things rather than chasing the 6th place trophy and pretending we're too big for actual trophies.
diggerdestroyer
Player Valuation: £40m
Finish 7th and go in it to win it or finish 8th or 9th. Can see the point otherwise.
We would need to play maybe 15 games to win this competition, it would be extremely hard. It would be my 4th priority behind the league and both cups.
Of course we need to target trophies, but the best teams only prioritise these competitions if they get to the latter stages. We are definitely not too big for trophies and shouldn't be turning our noses up at anything, but we have to be pragmatic. Playing a full strength team every thursday for half the season is bound to hurt our league performance. I don't see how it wouldn't, especially with our injury record. Either that, or we need to sign 7 or 8 players because our current fringe players are not good enough to step in and even be competitive.
FTY
Player Valuation: £70m
Not every game mate but there’ll be some absolute bums in that league. 3rd place Kazhakstani teams n that
The Penalty Box Dancer
Player Valuation: £35m
Next 3 games I'd expect 7-9 points. That should put us in a good position for 6th/7th.
This team will inevitably attract potherbs.
If we win something like that it’ll prob do are UEFA coefficient some good so why not?
Mitch Ward's Minder
Player Valuation: £5m
Did a bit of research as to who could potentially be playing in this thing and being involved in the Playoff Round. So potentially Villareal (if they don't win the UEL), Monchengladbach, Roma, Marseille, Anderlecht, Feyenoord, Trabzonspor, Rubin Kazan to name a few. And then teams who fail in UEL PO round could be Lokomotiv Moscow, Standard Liege, Fenerbahce. So really the competition is much of being Europa League standard. Based on the countries likely to be visiting there probably won't be too much travelling tbf, unless unlucky and get drawn to Kazak, Israeli and Cypriot sides!
Only got as far as Israel to see who would qualify before my brain melted.
Only got as far as Israel to see who would qualify before my brain melted.
Deffo yes, a Mickey Mouse cup is a Mickey Mouse cup no matter what.
Mitch Ward's Minder
Player Valuation: £5m
I could see us playing a squad in the group stages like (based on current squad):
Olsen
Coleman, Holgate, Keane, Nkounkou
Gomes, Davies, Sigurdsson
Gordon, DCL, King
Those players above next season (apart from DCL), probably won't be starting our league games and I'd say on paper that's a team strong enough to beat most other European teams.
Everyone looking forward to ties in eastern european where the booze is 20 a pint but we will end up getting Dundee and be drinking buckfast on Thursdays. Sounds boss.
PaddyJames
Player Valuation: £25m
Absolutely want us in it. Still get some big teams in it and we are more than capable of beating any of the sides that made the quarters this year. Get in, win it, get out.
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