Europa Cup = Domestic Burn Out?

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GrandOldTeam

GrandOldTeam

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Just read this on ToffeeWeb and it raises a point I made a while back;


Europa Cup = Domestic Burn Out? I've just been looking at the new Europa Cup format for the coming season and I have to admit its got me a little worried.
A succesful run which ends in a place in the Final would mean playing 15 games in total in this one competition! It starts with a group stage - 4 teams each playing each other home and away. Out of 12 groups the top 2 qualify from each group and then join the eight 3rd place champions league teams to start a 32 team knockout stage. Its then home and away knock outs right up to the final. Couple this with the usual 38 game domestic league season, a decent FA cup run, Carling cup matches, the possibility of replays and extra time along with international matches and you have one long season!
Now obviously Everton could be knocked out early in some or all of these competitions which would make all of this irrelevant but, if we do want to have a go and try and produce a decent season, then we are going to need a much bigger squad to challenge. Moyes is already a miracle worker but, without the addition of at least 4 or 5 players of a decent standing, then surely this time around the impossible just cannot be possible again!
So I ask the question: New Europa Cup Format � Is it an exciting revamp of a stale old competition? Or is it Domestic suicide for clubs like ours?
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I know this will go down like a lead balloon but if you think about it, given the lack of financial reward - I would play a second string consisting of the likes of Agard and Coleman. Too big of a risk for too little reward.

It really is pathetic. We have a play off to even qualify - despite finishing 5th. After that we enter the group stage, if we qualify we would go into a round of 32.

If they want to give it credibility, they should stop rejects from the Champions League entering it, meaning after the group stages it would be the last 16 - as it is with the Champions League and there should be greater financial incentive, perhaps with the winner automatically qualifying for the Champions League.

Opinions?
 

the uefa cup was a long hard slog (citeh played about 18 games) so although there is the prestige of lifting a euro trophy it remains to be seen if the new europa league offers a better financial reward.

totally agree that c.l. failures should stay out though as there are 2 batches with the 2nd lot having gone quite far in the comp. hopefully if we go far in the europa then we will pick up a decent bit from the pot, making it worthwhile.
 

Cant see me being able to afford any Away games next Season. I mean IF we make it past the playoff, how many Home games will we have in the first phase?? They are gonna cripple my cashflow. Still paying for my 2 trips to Wembley here and havent even started paying off my ST yet.

Spent nearly £1000 on Everton the last few months and wheres my fricking players????????????????????
 
I really dont understand all this fatigue...they are professional footballers who train everyday, 10 months of the year, how can they get tired?!
 
Isnt it only something like 2 or 3 extra games more than teams playing in the Champions League?

I agree, I think the revamp is in name only. The Champs League drop out going into the Europa league is a joke.

The way I'd play it is win all your home games comfortably and play the 2nd string for the away games.

The Carling Cup is either a comfy cup to win or a burden. We fought hard to get 5th and Europe again so IMO league and Europa cup are the main cups to play in for us this season.

We've done the FA Cup thing...we're not good enough to win the big boys...move on to something we aint done for years and progress in Europe. The past 2 winners of the cup are teams we've beaten so there's something about it that means we've got a good shot at it.

Villa tried the old "lets rest players" and ended up exactly where they were last season.
 

Dom1878 said:
I really dont understand all this fatigue...they are professional footballers who train everyday, 10 months of the year, how can they get tired?!
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I think its the pace of the modern game these days. Coupled with the fact that the majority of our players give 110% every game. Its gotta take its toll.

You could see how tired some of our players were near the end of the season, they had given everything, tie that into the fact that some players, like say Cahill, they have played nearly 12 months non stop for ages, I know he was injured for a bit, but its non stop for some of them, even in the Summer.
 
MikelsGoat said:
I think its the pace of the modern game these days. Coupled with the fact that the majority of our players give 110% every game. Its gotta take its toll.

You could see how tired some of our players were near the end of the season, they had given everything, tie that into the fact that some players, like say Cahill, they have played nearly 12 months non stop for ages, I know he was injured for a bit, but its non stop for some of them, even in the Summer.
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Fatigue never really hit us last year IMO. There was never a game I watched where it was like the aftermath of the Florentina match the season before when everyone looked burnt out. Our only problem was set-pieces seemed to pesh poor IMO.

Cahill, Baines, Lescott, Pienaar, Neville, Fellaini all pretty much played almost 95% of the games last season - which included an extra time semi final, an FA Cup replay, and a FA Cup final, including back to back games with 3 of the top 4 sides in Europe sandwiched inbetween - and still gave all they could when they could.

Moyes will want all the players to play in every competition to the max. I think he should prioritise to just 2 competitions and hammer them - one is the league the other is....whatever cup.
 
As far as I can tell, the following payments apply:

Group sector participation: €1m
Every win: €40,000
Every draw: €20,000
Last 32: €200,000
Round following: €300,000
Quarterfinal: €400,000
Semifinal: €700,000
Losing finalist: €2m
Winner: €3m

That's cumulative, I believe, and doesn't include gate receipts.

Of course it's way below the CL and clubs from that competition shouldn't be allowed to parachute into it but, on the other hand, it's more money, more exposure and, for some fans at least, more enjoyment and excitement.
 
Fatigue will be a factor if we go far in all cups, but what have me worried is that when you're tired you're more likely to get those small injuries that can develope into serious ones if you're not allowed to rest for a few days.

I think we should try and do like Arsenal does. Air our youngsters and reserves for the Carling Cup matches, perhaps even let a few of them start if we get a team from the lower leagues in the early FA-Cup or even in a game in the groupstage of the Europe League if we already had qualified for the next round.
 
Dom1878 said:
I really dont understand all this fatigue...they are professional footballers who train everyday, 10 months of the year, how can they get tired?!
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Because people do? There's a reason why long distance runners run less races than sprinters, why decathletes only do a few meetings a year. You put in the miles, your body gets tired.

It's not that they can't run at all - certainly a professional athlete after a race is still fitter than you or me - but they can't meet the same standards.

Some people (not you, but I've read it often elsewhere) say things like "they get paid millions, they shouldn't get tired", as if getting tired is a choice made by footballers. It's balls.
 

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