Next Season's #1 Priority

[goodisoncliffHK]

Agreed they're not frightening teams, but like what's been said too, until we know the signings and our actual squad for next season, I really worry that our squad will be so stretched that eventually a decent EL run would/could cause our league results to fall.

 

[mythbuster]

Whilst I would love for us to win the EL, given the teams in the competition, I don't think it's realistic:

Sevilla, Fiorentina, Dynamo Kiev, Wolfsburg (defos in the Group Stages)

Still to qualify and thus be possible opponents:

Villareal, Spurs, Borussia Moenchengladbach, Inter Milan, FC Twente, Lyon, PSV, Torino, Real Sociedad, Dynamo Moscow ...

And of course, Hull.

And this is before the CL drop outs.

Don't think any of those teams are better than Chelski or Arsenal, for example. We played them 4 times last season, won 2, drew 1, and were within a minute or 2 of getting a point at Stamford Bridge. We have no reason to fear the teams you've mentioned, nor any CL dropouts (didn't see Chelsea or Arsenal in this seasons Europa, did we!!)

 

[ianefc]

Dortmund won the league with a squad that cost less than 45 million Euros. Atletico won the league on a wage budget smaller than Fulham's and a squad that cost less than QPR's.

Martinez doesn't think about things the way you do, and nor should you. Pound coins don't play football.

Take a look at who has won the league for the last 2 decades in this country and then look at the top spenders in this league in the last 2 decades and have a little laugh at liverpool, and then i will say apology accepted

 

[Swartzy]

Last season we beat Chelsea, United, Arsenal at home. All three of those sides are regular last 16 CL teams and one of them nearly reached the CL final this year. We're good enough to beat any team at home and going away and winning matches is massively dependent on team mentality, which Martinez has control of. None of the teams you mentioned should scare us, we should respect them but be fully confident in our ability to beat them.

Last season we had lukaku up front and barry sitting in midfield, now to entice these kind of players back and thats only 2 players, we will need at least 20m just for lukaku + the kind of wages we will b looking at is just gonna b going up + up, so half dortmunds budget on 1 player + wages on a nice big rise. I do love ur optimism on football is football but we play in england which is lot more expensive than the rest, 45mil to put dortmand together is amazing, but look at the value since then. Just lewandowski and goetze worth more then that!

 

[Brennan]

Take a look at who has won the league for the last 2 decades in this country and then look at the top spenders in this league in the last 2 decades and have a little laugh at liverpool, and then i will say apology accepted

What's your point ?

Atletico overcame two squads worth about ten times theirs who absolutely dwarf them in financial terms to win the league, and reached the Champions League final.

 

[Brennan]

Last season we had lukaku up front and barry sitting in midfield, now to entice these kind of players back and thats only 2 players, we will need at least 20m just for lukaku + the kind of wages we will b looking at is just gonna b going up + up, so half dortmunds budget on 1 player + wages on a nice big rise. I do love ur optimism on football is football but we play in england which is lot more expensive than the rest, 45mil to put dortmand together is amazing, but look at the value since then. Just lewandowski and goetze worth more then that!

It's not about how much the player costs, it's their ability and ensuring they understand their ability. Look at John Stones, £3m. If there was a youth player performing like that for a top side at his age and we wanted to buy him you'd be looking at £20m, all it took for that valuation to increase was game time and good management.

 

[Groucho]

But winning the Europa gets us In the CL. I cannot see a better option, as other than Spurs none of the sides across Europe should have our spending power, and we have a manager who I feel will excel in europe, unlike Moyes who really should have won it in 08.

A Europa league win would kill both 'birds' with one stone, mate.

So it would, I forgot about that.

 

[mythbuster]

It's not about how much the player costs, it's their ability and ensuring they understand their ability. Look at John Stones, £3m. If there was a youth player performing like that for a top side at his age and we wanted to buy him you'd be looking at £20m, all it took for that valuation to increase was game time and good management.

Yep, or to put it another way, Barkley, Coleman and McCarthy cost us £13.06 million, but their combined value is now probably circa £55 million.

 

[Eggs]

Agreed. I hope they get out of their CL group and then get annihilated in the last 16.

...mmmm, not sure. Think I'd prefer them brought back down to earth and not believing they're one of the elite.

 

[Debaser]

Top priority for me is winning every thing we enter. Therefore we should make every effort to win the league, FA Cup, League Cup and Europa League.

 

[alpha1]

ANY cup win will be enough for me. 1995 is a long long time ago!

 

[bainesontoast]

Europa League: A trophy and guarantees CL qualification, none of that play-off malarky.

I wouldn't mind exiting the League Cup asap.

 

[Ralphie Boy]

Winning the prem!!!!!!!!

 

[Swartzy]

It's not about how much the player costs, it's their ability and ensuring they understand their ability. Look at John Stones, £3m. If there was a youth player performing like that for a top side at his age and we wanted to buy him you'd be looking at £20m, all it took for that valuation to increase was game time and good management.[/QUOTE] like i said, i love ur optimism but its not just bout having a good season in europe, we want to make it a regular thing which means becoming a regular top 4 team in england which is gonna cost. The buying and keeping hold of players.

 

[Tubey]

If we won the Europa I'd be doing cartwheels down the street. But due to the stupid format where CL teams drop in it's a hard one to do.

Think top four is always the first aim for me. I want us out of the League Cup as early as possible, unless we play a full youth/reserve team in it, then I'd wish them well.