Any kind of European football!!!!!!

[Abraders]

I love Everton.

I want us to win every game.

If winning more games means we have even more games to watch Everton in, then brilliant.

If those extra games means I don't just have to watch us beat Stoke and Norwich, and can watch us beat, or try to beat, Athletic Bilbao or AC Milan then even better.

(please qualify, and give us a spanish team. I want to hop on a train and go see us in Europe for the first time)

I agree.

Europe is good. Martinez will build us a healthy squad and we'll be excited and get to watch more boss everton games.

Also this is Martinez first season don't forget, next year things will be better

 

[Joey66]

TBH - RM needs more time before euro football as our squad is threadbare- One will question the great summer signings - the January window looks to be a disaster!

 

[toffeejack]

Actually just looked it up and it turns out uefa are scrapping that rule. From next season it will be possible for england to have as many as 6 teams in the cl if two teams outside of the top 4 win the el and cl.

Learn something new every day.

Beaten finalists in the El will still get nothing, though. So I was right about that at least.

that is barbaric. 6 teams competing in a "champions" league. they can't all be fecking champions

 

[chicoazul]

this can't believe some people think it's going to derail our league season, if we don't get top 4 this year we never will. no point even trying next year would rather focus on the cups.

Speak to me Marco man.

 

[billycopper]

CL has gone. Do we really want Europa League? European football would be an important part of our evolution but we might have to bring in quite a few players to cope with the extra demands and it could hamper our league form. I'm more interested in finishing ahead of Spurs and United than qualifying for the Europa.

 

[mawders]

Saying you don't want to be in Europe is like saying you don't want to drink because you might get a hangover

 

[toffeejack]

CL has gone. Do we really want Europa League? European football would be an important part of our evolution but we might have to bring in quite a few players to cope with the extra demands and it could hamper our league form. I'm more interested in finishing ahead of Spurs and United than qualifying for the Europa.

as opposed to the 9 we've brought in this season with no europe? kind of coped with it fine this season if we qualify for europe and are on track for a record points haul.

 

[meagher94]

After the Arsenal debacle do the 'any kind of European football is good' brigade think we will do ourselves any favors with all the added games of the euro. Icky mouse cup when we look over stretched coping with our domestic competitions?

This is obviously why we'll add in the summer, Martinez addressed this in the media the other day that we'll need quite a few numbers in if we get Europe.

Also, finishing 7th this season would be awful given the crap season UTD have had. I'd be massively, massively disappointed.

 

[toffeejack]

This is obviously why we'll add in the summer, Martinez addressed this in the media the other day that we'll need quite a few numbers in if we get Europe.

Also, finishing 7th this season would be awful given the crap season UTD have had. I'd be massively, massively disappointed.

mate. regardless of how crap their season has been, it would still be very good for a team like ours to have finished above them given the fact we have to rely on loans. over a whole season this, not a one off.

they still have players the calibre of rooney, van persie, mata etc. and took our best player. They've been winning 4 and 5 zip in the champions league - they're not an utterly terrible team.

 

[meagher94]

mate. regardless of how crap their season has been, it would still be very good for a team like ours to have finished above them given the fact we have to rely on loans. over a whole season this, not a one off.

they still have players the calibre of rooney, van persie, mata etc. and took our best player. They've been winning 4 and 5 zip in the champions league - they're not an utterly terrible team.

Do you not think they've had a rubbish PL campaign though?

Can't just be me who'd be completely disheartened to finish below them (don't think we will, mind).

 

[billycopper]

as opposed to the 9 we've brought in this season with no europe? kind of coped with it fine this season if we qualify for europe and are on track for a record points haul.

Have we really brought in 9? Joel, Alcaraz, Deulofeu, Barry, McCarthy, McGeady, Kone, Traore and Lukaku (9). Only four of those have really troubled the first-team though. How many have we lost? Mucha, Heitinga, Jelavic, Neville, Anichebe, Hitzlsperger and Fellaini (7).

I think that Barry will sign and we'll have a good go at getting Lukaku. If Deulofeu and Traore come back on loan (and we maybe get another couple of loanees), Oviedo, Gibson, Alcaraz and Kone stay fit and Duffy and McAleny push towards the first team we might actually have enough.

Howard, Joel,
Hibbert, Coleman, Stones, Alcaraz, Jagielka, Distin, Duffy, Baines, Oviedo,
Mirallas, Barkley, Osman, Barry, McCarthy, Gibson, Pienaar, McGeady, Deulofeu, McAleny,
Lukaku, Traore, Kone, Naismith

That's 25 without another couple of loanees or any bosmans. It seems like Browning will be stepping up before too long as well.

My fear is that Hibbert and Distin might retire, Alcaraz and Gibson might struggle for fitness long-term and our better loanees might not come back again. In which case we could have a lot of rebuilding to do and we might be over-stretching ourselves trying to compete on too many fronts.

 

[toffeejack]

Do you not think they've had a rubbish PL campaign though?

Can't just be me who'd be completely disheartened to finish below them (don't think we will, mind).

yeah of course they have. but still, they have the players to turn it around and finish 5th. still rubbish by their standards, but they've spent a heck of a lot of money on that squad of players, their 10th highest fee is probably the same as our record fee, with regards to current players. we shouldn't even be in touching distance with them tbh.

 

[toffeejack]

Have we really brought in 9? Joel, Alcaraz, Deulofeu, Barry, McCarthy, McGeady, Kone, Traore and Lukaku (9). Only four of those have really troubled the first-team though. How many have we lost? Mucha, Heitinga, Jelavic, Neville, Anichebe, Hitzlsperger and Fellaini (7).

I think that Barry will sign and we'll have a good go at getting Lukaku. If Deulofeu and Traore come back on loan (and we maybe get another couple of loanees), Oviedo, Gibson, Alcaraz and Kone stay fit and Duffy and McAleny push towards the first team we might actually have enough.

Howard, Joel,
Hibbert, Coleman, Stones, Alcaraz, Jagielka, Distin, Duffy, Baines, Oviedo,
Mirallas, Barkley, Osman, Barry, McCarthy, Gibson, Pienaar, McGeady, Deulofeu, McAleny,
Lukaku, Traore, Kone, Naismith

That's 25 without another couple of loanees or any bosmans. It seems like Browning will be stepping up before too long as well.

My fear is that Hibbert and Distin might retire, Alcaraz and Gibson might struggle for fitness long-term and our better loanees might not come back again. In which case we could have a lot of rebuilding to do and we might be over-stretching ourselves trying to compete on too many fronts.

yes, as you have listed we really have brought in 9. suppose a few don't count as they haven't really played, but the others are all playing their part and have shown that we can cope reasonably well with a mass of change, especially when you consider we've changed our whole ethos of play with arguably our best player sold.

we've relied on loans for a good few years, so i suppose i can't get too bothered by that, just hope we actually buy a few perms though. at least we're seeing the signs of a good spine being built for many years to come with robles, stones, mccarthy and barkley.

 

[Groucho]

We're not going to become a top 4 team. Be realistic.

We've not been in the Europa for yonks so sniffing at a tournament we haven't even been deemed good enough for is just stupid. I'd love to be back in the Europa league as it's another trophy that we could realistically compete for, and it gives you some great nights that vary from the domestic norm.

I agree. With CL being the natural progression.

 

[SunKing]

Apologies if it's been mentioned but I think we have much better chance of bringing a better calibre of footballer to the club if were in Europe. We seriously devalue the tournament over here but players accross Europe see it as a good competition and a place to further advertise themselves to other top clubs. Despite it taking about 800 games to get the final it's another trophy to go for. I'm all for it