Would we too have tanked Europa League GS matches?

[The binman chronicles]

If Wolves can tank it we can tank it just as well, if not better.

 

[Deleted member 48881]

For the word in the title it is:

tank

Verb

2.1

''North American; informal with object (in sport):
deliberately lose or fail to finish (a match)

I am not American nor am watching American sports, but I do follow tennis closely and it is used pretty often there, hence the word selection. Sorry for the confusion if there ever was. Maybe not a football vocabulary indeed

 

[Carlito]

to be fair, we had lyon and atalanta in our group, 2 very very good teams, and at the time we was in a terrible terrible run

It was a tough group, but the results were beyond pathetic.

I suppose my point is that plenty of good sides manage Europa League and domestic commitments, and while there are times where I think that Everton aren't too far away from becoming a good side themselves, things like this make me question it.

 

[chrismpw]

The league is the most important competition in my eyes. Then the FA cup. Then the now defunct European CHAMPIONS Cup, then the cup winners cup then league cup, then UEFA (as was).

The runners-up league and the runners-up to the runners- up-league-and-safety-net-to-the-runners-up-who-get-eliminated-early-but-uefa-have
-to-protect-their-brands can both get ino the bin. They're simply vehicles for tv companies to claw in cash - not sport.

 

[Del-boy]

Was a bit of a joke competition with the amount of games you had to play. I’d say it’s slightly improved with the winner’s being given Champions League qualification for next season.

I see it as just another money spinner for UEFA to generate as much cash as possible from sponsors.

 

[GrandOldTeam]

of course it has an impact, but what's the end game if it isn't playing in Europe?

big teams can juggle Europe and the prem, we NEED to be able to do both if we want to be one of the big boys

There's an element of running before you can walk though.

The Champions League is less demanding on fixtures and those big teams have the squads and the experience to compete. They rotate - Man Utd rotated big time in the Europa League.

Koeman/Everton recognised that, was vocal on the issue and it played a significant role in our transfer strategy at the time - as he said, we went for volume on signings. That proved a disaster not just short term, but long term.

 

[Mitch Ward's Minder]

It's a good comp to build up your european co-efficient points, so that when you get into CL you're seeded higher. However, the only problem with this is that you need the finances and the playing staff to cope with the additional games that it doesn't affect your league form too drastically. Unfortunately only the current top 6 can do this, the rest would be stuck in the cycle of being "punished" for finishing well in the league one year, to falling away in the next.

 

[BlueStevie35]

The Europa schedule is ridiculous, Wolves have had to play 6 games just to get to the group stage, we had 4 to play to qualify under RonKoe, all because of extra games and way too many teams. The Europa and UCL should be kept separate, if you get knocked out of the CL, you’re out of Europe period, no second chances in the Europa. Might screw up certain countries coefficients but it might make more teams and leagues in lower countries much more competitive

 

[john jako]

It’s boss for going abroad with the lads and loads of blues getting on it in different obscure places. Love it.

 

[dead_soft]

New cities and new football teams with your community of fans. Don’t get what people want out of football if watching games in ace places isn’t part of it

 

[Lanolin]

I love it in terms of getting to go away and have a great time, but it's an absolutely crazy competition. I think the year we got knocked out by Fiorentina we won something like 9 games, lost once and got knocked out. And that was only the last 16. Rangers got knocked out of the CL, won 2 of their 8 games and ended up in the final. Unbelievable.

 

[SerenityNigh]

Yesterday I was watching Wolves in completely tank mode, manager rested the key players, they came on only after they were losing but still they didn't care much after conceding the goal and it didn't really matter for the team or the crowd, which couldn't fill the stadium by any means.

We are always talking about Europa and how great it is to be there etc. yet Wolves managed to arrive GS after eliminating 3 teams, so it is not like they were rusty or anything. You can see posts like ''League matters more '' by their own fans in reply to Wolves' tweets about losing the match. So what is the point really? It is a never-ending circle

So if we somehow come 7th or 6th this year, will we have the same attitude, resting key players and getting beat by similarly weak teams like Braga as Wolves did yesterday, if so, what is the motivation of trying to get 6th, 7th? Personally I would have loved to make it to QFs, SFs at Europa League, even if it costs us finishing the league at 9th or 10th said season, but some may think differently. Why?

Discuss.

Did you watch Koeman's Europa sides? I would love to have a team play well enough in EL play to afford the opportunity to not try hard "on purpose." What a luxury that must be.

 

[Osamabindiesel]

Europa is a depth test. The problem is all of these managers that don’t routinely make it to Europe try to play their full squad and expect to be able to balance the league and European campaign.

You just don’t play your Saturday/Sunday starting eleven in Europa group stages.

 

[Saint Domingo]

Most Europa groups we should be able to get out of. Our problem is we get in it when we’re rubbish and then meet the next up and coming European powerhouse more often than not.

 

[tommytowne]

I love it in terms of getting to go away and have a great time, but it's an absolutely crazy competition. I think the year we got knocked out by Fiorentina we won something like 9 games, lost once and got knocked out. And that was only the last 16. Rangers got knocked out of the CL, won 2 of their 8 games and ended up in the final. Unbelievable.

Oh that Arteta strike!