Top 4 or win one or more of the Europa League, FA Cup or League Cup?

Surely target this season is a trophy and top 4? Not one or the other. Trophy cos it's been a long time for a club like ours. Champions league is essential for the next phase of our rebuild. No reason we can't do both.
 
dalriada said:
It's about how we use the squad and spread our resources rather than taking a dive. I think we have to protect the Champions League qualification, so that may mean using squad players for some of the Cup matches, otherwise we wear out our best players. If it works, all well and good, but we can see the attrition on some players already. Even SAF used to put youth players out for the League Cup.
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He did in early rounds and the media and fans of the clubs they played went nuts about it, SAF being SAF didn't give a shit about that but the later rounds were not full of youth team players
 
Perhaps it’s just me but I would take winning both the league cup and FA cup over top four, that’s how much i miss winning trophies. But players like Varane, Bruno and Casemiro absolutely deserve to play in the top club competition which is the champions league
 
Yeah if it's a question of one or the other, then I want to wash my mouth out, but Top 4. The impact unfortunately on not making top 4 is much greater than not winning the League or FA Cup.

Of Course, we could just win the Europa, and so kill two birds with one stone.
 
Arsenal going for it this window spending 50m on Trossard and some CB from Spezia in Italy
 
Wanting the Carabao cup over a top four finish is bizarre to me. Maybe it's because I'm not British or something
 
Speako said:
Yeah if it's a question of one or the other, then I want to wash my mouth out, but Top 4. The impact unfortunately on not making top 4 is much greater than not winning the League or FA Cup.

Of Course, we could just win the Europa, and so kill two birds with one stone.
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Ye I agree. Top 4 must be a priority as the EL draw gave us a tough game. Think we can comfortably finish top 4 though looking at everyone els around us. Who’s gonna take? Spurs ain’t and Liverpool and Chelsea are miles of it. Think we’ll get top 4 and win the league cup. That’s a decent season in ETH first one.
 
AndersB said:
Wanting the Carabao cup over a top four finish is bizarre to me. Maybe it's because I'm not British or something
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If it was one or the other then ye I’d agree but I think we’ll get both and should be going for both. They’re both the most realistic targets for this season.
 
DJ_21 said:
If it was one or the other then ye I’d agree but I think we’ll get both and should be going for both. They’re both the most realistic targets for this season.
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Yeah want both and of course it would be great to win Europa,however wouldn't want us gassing out in top 4 race due to so many games
 
croadyman said:
Yeah want both and of course it would be great to win Europa,however wouldn't want us gassing out in top 4 race due to so many games
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If only the draw was a bit easier we could have rotated but think ETH will obviously go full strength against Barca. If we did manage to knock them out then we’ll have a lot more games.
 
DJ_21 said:
If only the draw was a bit easier we could have rotated but think ETH will obviously go full strength against Barca. If we did manage to knock them out then we’ll have a lot more games.
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Well in hindsight should have been more ruthless in those Sheriff/Omonia games
 
If we can only have one it has to be Europa League.Beating Barca over two legs,a trophy and Champions League next season.Priceless.
 
Win the Europa League and you get a throphy and play the Champions League.
 
Most reds would want the Europa league and the FA Cup over top 4 and the FA Cup

Unless you’re weird
 
From the financial threads it sounds like we kinda need to get Champions League

But this team could really do with a trophy
 
Top 4 is more important for the team's development but I think we'll do both, finish 3rd or 4th and win League Cup.
 
el3mel said:
Top 4 is more important for the team's development but I think we'll do both, finish 3rd or 4th and win League Cup.
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In what way is top 4 more important for a teams development?

At elite level confidence is a big deal and nothing gives uou more confidence than winning a medal
 
Red in STL said:
In what way is top 4 more important for a teams development?

At elite level confidence is a big deal and nothing gives uou more confidence than winning a medal
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Winning a League Cup isn't going to make these group of players a bunch of winners.

It's more important for the team at this point to establish itself as a consistent top 4 team and a continuous presence up top and close to the title competitors. The trophies will follow.

As I said we'll probably manage to do both this season considering our current situation but if I have to choose which is more important for the team now it's a no brainer, winning a League Cup while finishing 6th isn't a step forward in any possible way.
 
How standards at this club have dropped.

It used to be seen as a major failure if this club didn't win the league every season.

To answer your question - both. We're looking good for top 4, and the Carabao has opened up massively for us. I'd be disappointed if we couldn't bag both of them from here on out, such is the good work ETH has done.

Regardless of people not rating the EFL, winning any silverware (particularly the first domestic trophy of the season open to all) helps breed a mentality that can springboard onto further success. You only have to look how important Jose and Pep think it is. It creates a winning culture, far more than a top 4 finish does.
 
bosnian_red said:
I would say top 4 is pretty comfortable where we can focus on other competitions normally and we'd still finish top 4 with a health gap to 5th.
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That’s how I see it. We are blessed with how shite our usual top four rivals have been this season and obviously having a great season ourselves. We are in a fairly luxurious position of being able to focus on the cups.
 
el3mel said:
Winning a League Cup isn't going to make these group of players a bunch of winners.

It's more important for the team at this point to establish itself as a consistent top 4 team and a continuous presence up top and close to the title competitors. The trophies will follow.

As I said we'll probably manage to do both this season considering our current situation but if I have to choose which is more important for the team now it's a no brainer, winning a League Cup while finishing 6th isn't a step forward in any possible way.
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The most advantageous trophy to win is the Europa, that's CL entrt as a top seeded team, that beats any PL placing bar top (and maybe 2nd)
 
lex talionis said:
Top four is imperative. Anything else is icing on the cake. Not even a debate.
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Rubbish.

Top 4 is only a thing because they get you CL places. If top 3 were the CL places and 4th got you nothing, no one would care about finishing 4th. Win the Europa League and you get champions league and a trophy.
 
Red in STL said:
The most advantageous trophy to win is the Europa, that's CL entrt as a top seeded team, that beats any PL placing bar top (and maybe 2nd)
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Winning Europe League is nice and all but the team will be at a better place going into next season by getting CL via being close to the other title competitors with a firm top 3 or 4 finish and a small point gap rather than finishing 6th miles away from the top 4 and rest of the elite clubs and getting CL via winning a 2nd tier European competition. The first scenario will have the team at a better place to compete for bigger trophies next season which is the ultimate target, not winning a Europe League or League Cup.
 
Surely the best possible one of these for Man Utd is winning the Europa League. That gets a trophy AND it gets CL qualification (and even puts you in Pot 1 in the groups). That’s the best of all worlds. But the problem is just that winning Europa League is harder/requires more luck than being top 4, the benefits are all-or-nothing, and going far in the tournament and not winning could significantly harm the chances of getting the others. So I think it’s reasonable to want to not prioritize the Europa League, even though winning it would be the best of all these options.
 
Silverware. It’s what football is all about. Couldn’t give a damn about qualifying for the CL unless you are otherwise winning things.
 
Surely target is top 4 and a trophy but if gun put to my head probably win europa league as it kills two birds with one stone. Back in European Cup and a trophy
 
I love winning any trophy but really we need to back in CL. For this year alone I'd go top 4. To finish 5th or below from here would be very disappointing and no cup would soften it.

You could argue europa league is best of both as you win and get CL
 
horsechoker said:
From the financial threads it sounds like we kinda need to get Champions League

But this team could really do with a trophy
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We absolutely do need CL football. The finances are dire. Even if there is a take over in the next few weeks we still owe clubs roughly £300m in past transfer fees.

If we don't make CL from this position I will be extremely disappointed.
 
Nou_Camp99 said:
We absolutely do need CL football. The finances are dire. Even if there is a take over in the next few weeks we still owe clubs roughly £300m in past transfer fees.

If we don't make CL from this position I will be extremely disappointed.
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It will be disappointing if we can't pick up a trophy and be in the champions league
 
LawCharltonBest said:
Most reds would want the Europa league and the FA Cup over top 4 and the FA Cup

Unless you’re weird
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Maybe… but finishing somewhere in the top 4, possibly top 3 shows massive improvement in the league from previous seasons. If we finish outside of the top 4 then it shows that we’re no closer to competing for the premier league and that the likes of Newcastle have overtook us. It’s all about progress and finishing 3rd or 2nd shows massive progress. Plus I think we’ll win the league cup.
 
SalfordRed18 said:
Rubbish.

Top 4 is only a thing because they get you CL places. If top 3 were the CL places and 4th got you nothing, no one would care about finishing 4th. Win the Europa League and you get champions league and a trophy.
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Well obviously no one would care about finishing 4th if it meant nothing. That’s like saying no one would care about winning the Europa league if it didn’t put you automatically in the CL. If Cl places was top 3 only and the Europa league didn’t get you CL football then I bet you most fans would pick a top 3 finish over winning the Europa league.
 
Top 4 if I had to pick, at this point. I’m concerned with the general development of the team. If we were sat 5th, I would pick the Europa League over top 4, as moving up one place in the table isn’t much of an indicator of our progress - the only benefit of it would be playing in the CL. That said, with how comfortable we are in the top 4 presently - missing out on the top 4 would be indicative of too much if a collapse for it to not be a terrible thing, whereas cup competitions are decided by one off games and nobody can say with confidence that we will win them anyway. Losing a Cup match doesn’t mean anything in terms of your progress, but losing another 5 league games would do.
 
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