Disagree. We haven’t won a trophy for 5 years so we can hardly turn down the chance to be in another competition given one of City or Liverpool will likely take the domestic pots next year. Also don’t think it’ll be great for our players to get into the habit of playing once a week as it might be a bit of a shock to the system,once we’re back in Europe and the injuries may start piling up.
Let’s not make Europe next season
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Yeah in theory it sounds sensible thing to do but in reality, it never happens does it? I was expecting a heavy rotation in Jose's first season for example but it never happened.
Ne european football will give Glazers more reason to spend less. But after seeing Arsenal this season, maybe that is the way to go.
Yeah so we can work on improving this team during the week not travelling to far flung places
If West Ham win the Europa, 7th goes into EL, and 8th to Conference League
You say this as if we're going to have a choice in the matter.
I haven’t double checked but I feel confident in that case there would only be one Europa league spot rather than 2
This idea that people on here would prefer their team to play a lot less matches in any given season is absolutely baffling to me. Surely the minimum requirement to be interested enough in the club to post on here is that you actually want to watch Manchester United play football? So the more games the better. The fact this would coincide with an objectively better season is just a bonus. Having to wait 6 or 7 days between matches most weeks would be an absolute ball ache. Feck that.
If the wait meant we steadily improved throughout next season then that's good enough for me
It’s not an either/or though, is it? We can steadily improve and play in the Europa league. Plus could make a good case for the extra games actually being useful for ETH to embed his tactics and get a better look at fringe/youth players.
I think we can finish 8. Let's hope we are above Newcastle.
It will also encourage them to sell. A football club can catastrophically fall in share value if the sporting side goes wrong or the fans turn off. They would certainly see the logic of selling before that happened. The share price might be at its peak.
The Athletic did a breakdown a while back: Explained: The Premier League’s European places if West Ham and Leicester win Europa League and Conference League - The Athletic
I was wrong in saying 8th would qualify for the conference league.
Paywall, so here's the relevant portion
I agree.
If we're serious about being patient with the rebuild and giving EtH time to find the right formula, it would be best if we could concentrate on a single game per week.
Also, when you have matches in Europe, whether you like it not, there's an inherent pressure to get a result. It'll help if we can avoid that pressure when managing our smaller squad next season. And I don't want us to fall into the trap of putting all of our effort into the wrong competition just because there's some shitty trinket at the end of it.
The aim should solely be about development and progress of the team. Cups can be nice indicators along the way, but they can also be distractions if you're not careful.
After 10 years of false starts, I just want a manager who can have a singular focus for once.
4th place plus no cups is better than 5th place plus the Europa Conference League.
If we're serious about being patient with the rebuild and giving EtH time to find the right formula, it would be best if we could concentrate on a single game per week.
Also, when you have matches in Europe, whether you like it not, there's an inherent pressure to get a result. It'll help if we can avoid that pressure when managing our smaller squad next season. And I don't want us to fall into the trap of putting all of our effort into the wrong competition just because there's some shitty trinket at the end of it.
The aim should solely be about development and progress of the team. Cups can be nice indicators along the way, but they can also be distractions if you're not careful.
After 10 years of false starts, I just want a manager who can have a singular focus for once.
4th place plus no cups is better than 5th place plus the Europa Conference League.
I hope we have a season out of Europe to give TH maximum time on the training field. This idea the glazers will only give 20 or 50 mill according to which paper you read is bollocks. TH wouldnt have agreed to come unless they were backing him heavily. I hope the 100 mill players dont want to come if were not in Europe. We need to get scouting and get young hungry players in. We should have learned our lesson with Di Maria, Pogba and Maguire.
I actually want us to win the conference league, just because it's a trophy that is available. Since a club of this stature really shouldn't be anywhere near it, I hope/expect this is our once chance to do it. We all looked down on Europa, but the team and fans were bouncing that night after we beat Ajax (I was there).
Alright, Poch, pipe down. You weren’t given the job.
Imo it would be a good thing. Even if we get europa/leyland daf cup throw the under 23s at it.
i genuinely think the squad should be culled down to about 15 senior players and the rest academy lads. Eg our centre backs should be maguire, lindelof, varane backed up by mengi and bernard. And then feel free to replace lindelof and maguir asap. Just build a solid first 11 and focus the money and wages on that. No more eric bailly style players collecting mental money for being 9th choice centre back and even then being no better than a youth academy product on 5k a week.
sort it out eth
i genuinely think the squad should be culled down to about 15 senior players and the rest academy lads. Eg our centre backs should be maguire, lindelof, varane backed up by mengi and bernard. And then feel free to replace lindelof and maguir asap. Just build a solid first 11 and focus the money and wages on that. No more eric bailly style players collecting mental money for being 9th choice centre back and even then being no better than a youth academy product on 5k a week.
sort it out eth
Excellent chance for "easy" trophy. We are 6 years without trophy. We need to win something. It will be great boost for club and new manager.
I think we'd all appreciate the break.
I doubt very much we can finish in 6th spot. West Ham and Wolves currently in better form than us. This is the most insipid Utd team I've ever seen. A goal difference of 2 after 34 games....unbelievable! Compared to City and Liverpool with 59 and 61 respectively. That's how far we've regressed. We are exactly halfway in points between Burnley (in 18th) and City (in 1st).
City 80 points
Utd 54
Burnley 28
City 80 points
Utd 54
Burnley 28
You use the word team and forget its a squad. We need a big squad. Having those European games missing means less chance of the second string players to get game time and be match fit. It means that we become more vulnerable to injuries to key players impacting team performance. Having players in Big squads who mostly only get to train is a really dumb move in terms of sharpness, match fitness, motivation, squad morale etc. We need a big squad to compete so have to take part in competitions that allow a big squad to keep everyone fresh. Using only training in a big squad is just dumb for the reasons I just mentioned.
Europa Conference League all the way for me.
As long as it's not Conference League is fine. At least the Europa League gives you Champions League spot.
The Europa would surely mean more games to experiment, bed in a system and blood youngsters against mostly inferior opposition. I don't think going out of Europe altogether would be a good thing for us at all.
Oh that too. No mid-week games would suck.
We need to finish 8th.
I said this in another thread. We absolutely need Europe, but perhaps not CL which we are not ready.
We need Europa, because of the new co-efficient scheme that UEFA will propose, allow 2 wildcard places for the best clubs that miss out on CL qualification. Should the scheme starts next season (which won't be effective until 2024 earliest, so just an illustration), we are currently 9th place, hence would qualify for CL even if we end up as 5th.
Should we end up in wilderness next season, we will have a blank year out of 5-year moving total, hence will end up as probably 15th below Arsenal etc. This wilderness will haunt us for the next 5 seasons.
I agree. I see this Summer as involving loads of outgoings, with a lot of space in the squad next year for youngsters - the Conference League (as I reckon we will finish 7th) would be good for that.
I'm sorry but I understood basically nothing in this post.
What exactly are you talking about? In particular the bold, it's confusing.
Europa would actually be a great competition to drill ETH's football. It's a pretty good competition for transitional phases with all the games, less at stake and a variety of good but not elite opponents.
This ridiculous thing of being embarrassed for qualifying to European lesser cups probably only happens in big team fans and it's beyond absurd.
You qualify to the cup you deserve and the one you can compete.
I'd rather win the conference than being thrashed again in CL group stage or R16.
You qualify to the cup you deserve and the one you can compete.
I'd rather win the conference than being thrashed again in CL group stage or R16.
I think it would be very useful if we qualify for the Europa or even the Europa Conference League for a few reasons:
- Ten Hag is a systems coach and he's going to need all the games he can get in order to implement his system.
- It'll give Ten Hag an opportunity to try out loads of young players and see what they've got.
- It's a good opportunity for a trophy.
- The Europa would give us two different routes into the Champions League
- Ten Hag is a systems coach and he's going to need all the games he can get in order to implement his system.
- It'll give Ten Hag an opportunity to try out loads of young players and see what they've got.
- It's a good opportunity for a trophy.
- The Europa would give us two different routes into the Champions League
Would be ideal that we miss it at this stage. Trying to compete on all fronts with a diminished squad will be difficult. ETH apparent;y doesn't rotate much so that compounds the issue.
If we do end up qualifying for one, hopefully we use a hybrid youth/mains team early doors. If we go out because of that decision, no worries.
We need a reset, and to give opportunities to the youth. I can forsee us buying a couple of players in Jan given how much business we need to do, so we need to know who can step up.
If we do end up qualifying for one, hopefully we use a hybrid youth/mains team early doors. If we go out because of that decision, no worries.
We need a reset, and to give opportunities to the youth. I can forsee us buying a couple of players in Jan given how much business we need to do, so we need to know who can step up.
Short term loss for long term gain... Hopefully.
Not interested in Europa League.
Every poster with a different opinion, who would have thought.
I'm not a fan of the Conference League, but come on, one game per week isn't enough for a new coach to introduce his ideas and game plan. The players are used to playing every three or four days, that wouldn't be a problem for them. But it could get complicated if we lose a few games and we have to wait a whole week... you know the players always say it's the best way to forget about loses when you can immediately focus on another game.
It's still better to play in any European competition than not to play at all (and there are going to be good teams in it anyway, so...).
I'm not a fan of the Conference League, but come on, one game per week isn't enough for a new coach to introduce his ideas and game plan. The players are used to playing every three or four days, that wouldn't be a problem for them. But it could get complicated if we lose a few games and we have to wait a whole week... you know the players always say it's the best way to forget about loses when you can immediately focus on another game.
It's still better to play in any European competition than not to play at all (and there are going to be good teams in it anyway, so...).
What’s the incentive to win the Europa conference?
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I wouldn't mind the Europa League. Its got some prestige, the cl reward, and we usually have one spicy tie when we're in it. (Be it Liverpool, Arsenal or Milan/Ajax in recent years).
The conference league would just feel humiliating. The third rate european competiton.... No thanks, I would rather we didn't qualify at all and have more focus on methods and tactics in training.
The conference league would just feel humiliating. The third rate european competiton.... No thanks, I would rather we didn't qualify at all and have more focus on methods and tactics in training.
Haha!
Can't disagree with you.
I think if ETH were given the choice, he'd probably want more games rather than more training
Yep, would be a real bore of a season with no Europe at all, and ETH could use these games to his advantage anyway.
I'm not that bothered about us doing an Arsenal from this season, in that we strain every muscle all season to just maybe scrape 4 th position as all we have to focus on is the PL, and then see it as some sort of victory. I'd rather just watch us play as many games as possible, and hope to see better football.