Europa/Conference or outside?

I agree with everyone about playing the youth etc but when has this ever actually happened?

Only the most dominant, well run and well used squads, with managers who can get a tune out of fringe players actually do this. Otherwise, they'll be throwing the tournament away, which wouldn't be a bad thing but unless ETH is doing well in the league, it'll just heaped more pressure on him.
 
Probably Conference, it's a lot easier to win. These players are not good enough to win the Europa League.
 
The Europa please. It is a realistic trophy to win, offers more games for ETH to try out players and tactics and is a direct qualification for CL.

I will happily take a mid table finish with an EL win than a barren 4th place finish.
 
Conference is an utter waste of time... any minute now, UEFA will create a competition for every team in the PL but Europa is worth it because it offers that back door into the following season's CL and that may be our best route in ETH's first season.

Of course, if we are out of Europe altogether, I can drop my BT Sport subscription, which would be no bad thing! (will go tot he pub on the few occasions our PL games are shown)!!
 
Conference League groups would be hilarious.

The knockouts aint so bad. Those teams could be CL groups teams. Leicester, Roma, Feyenoord and Marseille.

ETH could use the extra games. Training is for pre season.
 
I want us to finish the season strongly, EL would be great but if we end up in the conference, that's fine too.

We're still going to have a fairly big squad and it'd be a good chance to give fringe / younger players game time and let them stake their claims.

I'm not getting onboard with this proud, we're too good / important to play in these competitions, it's just not true, this is exactly our level right now.
 
Wouldn't mind the conference if we were just able to blood young players and play squad players. The Europa is a bit of a drag tbh, great if we win it but otherwise meh.
 
We have no chance to catch spurs. Europa league is gone from us to, so no point in going down that road. It’s us and West Ham for conference league, unless they actually win europa. So the likelihood hood is that we’re gonna be playing conference league and that’s the embarrassment we deserve.
 
OleTheGreat said:
Would you rather we finish within the Europa or Conference League position or give ETH a clean start with t the focus on only the league and the domestic competitions since there is going to be a huge overhaul and he needs time with the squad. Also what should be his first move once he gets here, to get things rolling in the right way?
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I'm torn between the options tbh.

EL group stage and most of the ECL run would give us a shot at giving the kids proper games against committed opposition. Plus, winning the latter would mean we've completed the set of European trophies which no other club can lay claim to (even if it's largely worthless) while the former is a legitimately good tournament which has improved in its overall level since they started giving the winners a CL spot.

On the other hand, giving ten Hag a one game per week season and plenty of time on the training pitch might make it easier for him to acclimate and could set us on our way for the season after and beyond.

I'd probably take the ECL if offered tbh. A trophy which we should get easily enough, and a European one at that.
 
I would love to play the youth between now and the end of the season, and after every training session and match, get the senior players to clean the academy players boots
 
I think you need game time to implement playing ideas so the more games the better. We are also likely to use a few young players so giving them opportunities will be very important. So any European competition is a plus. Also, actually wining something will be important.
 
It’ll be the FA Vase next.

Seriously though, West Ham and Wolves are doing us no favours by continuing to lose games, if we want to avoid the EL and particularly this conference malarky.
When 4th was totally out of reach, I was hoping for 8th to avoid the 2nd and 3rd rate competitions entirely, for the reasons given by others earlier.
Also, as already mentioned, the World Cup is going to have a disruptive impact on next season, with it being held this November and December, with a month long league fixture break splitting the 22/23 season into two sections.

On the other hand, no UCL means losing a large amount of income for Utd, including from our largest sponsors.
At least the EL recovers some of that.
If we’re not back in the Champions League for the following season (2023/24) the club is going to have some serious financial issues to address.
 
Looking fairly likely we’ll be in the europa league next season. Failing that it’ll be, God forgive us, the conference league.
 
I cant watch us play the Conference league. It is embarrassing that a club in the name, the size and prestige of Man Utd play in this lame competition.
 
Rather have neither give Ten Haag’s team time to settle in and get mid week rest
 
Looking at Wolves fixtures, they'll only get another 3 points out of their remaining games, so we won't be sinking down to 8th.
 
If we go into the conference, we should play youth and reserves. They are going to need to be evaluated in low-risk situations. This nothing competition would be perfect.
 
I can see it now, West Ham beating City to condemn us to the Conference league while handing the the title to Liverpool.
 
Does not matter really where we end up.
If we finish 8th, we can just concentrate on the league. But transfer funds may get limited.
If it is in the Europa/Conference leagues, ten Hag can use a mixture of fringe/reserve and youth players in the early stages and bring in more first team players in the knock out stages.
 
EL would be a good way for ETH to get his teeth into the squad and have a feel for who he wants to keep long term and who to ship out. Quite frankly, the more games in his first season, the better. Even the pointless ones in the arse end of Europe.
 
1) Europa
2) Outside
3) Conference

We’d sail through the group stages of the Europa with a second string team anyway and I think arsenals lack of Europe has been exaggerated in terms of the affect it’s had. They’re in the position that they’re in because us and spurs have been shit.

The conference league would just be a bit of an embarrassment I think
 
We're finishing 6th, so Europe League it's. Our favorite European competition post SAF. :drool:
 
No mid-week football will make for a very long season. Are everyone saying we should avoid it happy to only have one game a week?

We'll also miss out on valuable playing time against mostly weaker opposition where we can blood youngsters, bed in EtH's style and experiment with formations etc.
 
Withnail said:
No mid-week football will make for a very long season. Are everyone saying we should avoid it happy to only have one game a week?

We'll also miss out on valuable playing time against mostly weaker opposition where we can blood youngsters, bed in EtH's style and experiment with formations etc.
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Good point
 
OleTheGreat said:
Would you rather we finish within the Europa or Conference League position or give ETH a clean start with t the focus on only the league and the domestic competitions since there is going to be a huge overhaul and he needs time with the squad. Also what should be his first move once he gets here, to get things rolling in the right way?
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Europa yes, but I'd rather we finished 8th than play in the Europa Conference League. Every single game would be a painful reminder of failure, and there's no upside - anything other than winning it would be downright embarrassing, and even winning it would primarily remind us we finished 7th. Maybe that's a tad too negative, but that's how it feels. Also, not being in Europe would enable us to get by with less squad depth, and that would free up resources for improving the first XI.
 
If the squad has a big rebuild next season then a top 4 finish might still be a big ask. Europa League might be a good way to get back into the champions league like we did in 2016-2017
 
Does it matter, if we wanna be outside, we can be in any euro comp.
 
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