Unirea build up

[Scratch]

If we win the uefa cup we get into europe, if we come forth we get in to europe. So it surely doesnt matter if we come 5th and win?

It would be funny if we finished 5th and won europe, i'm sure eufa said that they would sacrifice fourth place to the winners?

Don't think winning the Europa cup counts...winning the CL guarantees automatic qualification, regardless of league position.

[PTP]

If we win the uefa cup we get into europe, if we come forth we get in to europe. So it surely doesnt matter if we come 5th and win?

It would be funny if we finished 5th and won europe, i'm sure eufa said that they would sacrifice fourth place to the winners?

i'm confused, are you saying that winning the Europa cup gets us into the Champions League next season??

[Carras_Shin_Pads]

i'm confused, are you saying that winning the Europa cup gets us into the Champions League next season??

Rookie mistake! I thought you get automatic qualification to the Champs League if you won Europa, what a fool! Fourth place is a must then, 110%

Sorry

[The Birdman]

So what about the effect on moral etc.. by fielding a weakish side, not getting the result then go into the City game on the back of a defeat and a draw/lose/scraped win.
Our confidence has only just started returning, you play the better players get the result keep the confidence high, keep players in the goals, keep another clean sheet and kick on, City haven't been doing that well lately.

Oh and ask any footballer if he would rather win the Europa League or finish 4th and play in next years CL and he'll take the medal, you can't look back on 1 or 2 CL campaigns when your career is over, you look back on the finals, the medals, the achievments.
Don't get sucked in by Sky Sports, winning anything (especially if you haven't already won lots of trophies) is always more important to a player than a league position.
Different story for the banks, owners, directors but not players, not in a million years.

[PTP]

Rookie mistake! I thought you get automatic qualification to the Champs League if you won Europa, what a fool! Fourth place is a must then, 110%

Sorry

no worries that said though, it's a good idea - it could well invigorate the competition, you want success to breed success and I personally would see nothing wrong if the winner of the europa league, getting a shot at the next seasons champions league if they had not qualified through their domestic campaign - it would give the competition a bit more to fight for and i personally wouldn't care if say, smoking joe rovers from luxemburg went all the way and won the europa league and as result got put into the mix for the champions league. - You would also find some of the bigger clubs around europe who slip into the europa league a bit more interested too

[cream]

Just thought it was worth mentioning that if we win this cup, we will hold the record for most wins. Not sure what people think of that, buy yes, Champs league is far more important.

[BillobShaisley]

Cavalieri
Deggen - Skittle - Agger - Aurelio
..............Lucas - Aquilani
Babel ............................. Riera
..............Ngog - Pacheco

[Carras_Shin_Pads]

no worries that said though, it's a good idea - it could well invigorate the competition, you want success to breed success and I personally would see nothing wrong if the winner of the europa league, getting a shot at the next seasons champions league if they had not qualified through their domestic campaign - it would give the competition a bit more to fight for and i personally wouldn't care if say, smoking joe rovers from luxemburg went all the way and won the europa league and as result got put into the mix for the champions league. - You would also find some of the bigger clubs around europe who slip into the europa league a bit more interested too

Yeah valid points, i'm real gutted that if we win we don't qualify. It would definitely make some clubs take it a bit more serious and not be such of a pain if you don't qualify for the CL. That being said, hopefully we won't be in this position again because it really is the booby prize, we want to be competing with the best.

[PTP]

So what about the effect on moral etc.. by fielding a weakish side, not getting the result then go into the City game on the back of a defeat and a draw/lose/scraped win.
Our confidence has only just started returning, you play the better players get the result keep the confidence high, keep players in the goals, keep another clean sheet and kick on, City haven't been doing that well lately.

Oh and ask any footballer if he would rather win the Europa League or finish 4th and play in next years CL and he'll take the medal, you can't look back on 1 or 2 CL campaigns when your career is over, you look back on the finals, the medals, the achievments.
Don't get sucked in by Sky Sports, winning anything (especially if you haven't already won lots of trophies) is always more important to a player than a league position.
Different story for the banks, owners, directors but not players, not in a million years.

Well firstly - that means you are suggesting that without our four or five main players the rest of our squad are useless and not capable of competiting against unirea urzceni hardly great for their moral if they cannot compete/provide cover when needed for the key players.


What happens if we play our strongest side, beat uriah rennie 10-0, but reina, gerrard, mascherano, carragher all get injured, - the moral of the rest of the players is now rock bottom cause they now think they are not good enough to warrant a place in the europa league or even compete in a game without reina gerrard carragher or mascherano - they have to go to city in a massive game knwoing that they are ****ed, get turned over 4-0 - which pretty much ****s up 4th place - gerrard mascher carragher and reina return to the squad, ****ing fuming because the 'lesser' players have ****ed up the league in their absence - creates a bad atmosphere amongst the squad - the press pick up on it and start the mother of all campaigns on rafa cause he has lost the dressing room - we finish outside the top 4 - but despite how obviously weak the rest of squad is, carragher, masherano, gerrard and reina win the europa cup on their own. - As we havent qualified for champions league, rafa is sacked, we lose some of our squad players cause they are unhappy as they are not considered good enough to play without the 4 main players in a home european tie against uriah rennie, as a result of no champions league football we lose torres and mascherano, the new manager comes in - he has an even weaker squad, with no money, and not much chance of persuading and quality players to sign for us because they want champions league football!!! but gerrard carrgaher and reina aren't bothered at all cause they got their europa league medals


WHAT HAPPENS THEN!?

[Exiled_red]

Just thought it was worth mentioning that if we win this cup, we will hold the record for most wins. Not sure what people think of that, buy yes, Champs league is far more important.

We already do

... all be it jointly with Inter and Juventus

[RedReet]

Back to the squad – Not underestimating unirea at all – but I would have confidence, maybe blinded by bias , that a starting XI that looked something like - cavalieri, degen, agger, kyriakos, aurelio, babel, lucas, aquilani, riera, Pacheco and kuyt – would be capable of beating most teams in Europe at home apart from the obvious choices such as real Madrid, barca, inter, the top say 6 in england etc etc

Don't think we'll ever see Degen at RB again. He'll have to give Darby or Kelly (are they both fit?) a chance to see his otions for future games.

[Exiled_red]

no worries that said though, it's a good idea - it could well invigorate the competition, you want success to breed success and I personally would see nothing wrong if the winner of the europa league, getting a shot at the next seasons champions league if they had not qualified through their domestic campaign - it would give the competition a bit more to fight for and i personally wouldn't care if say, smoking joe rovers from luxemburg went all the way and won the europa league and as result got put into the mix for the champions league. - You would also find some of the bigger clubs around europe who slip into the europa league a bit more interested too

Yeah valid points, i'm real gutted that if we win we don't qualify. It would definitely make some clubs take it a bit more serious and not be such of a pain if you don't qualify for the CL. That being said, hopefully we won't be in this position again because it really is the booby prize, we want to be competing with the best.

It is an interesting point, I'd imagine some of the clubs who were in it from the start would take it alot more seriously, as it could be their best chance to get champions league football.

However I can't see UEFA going for it, as it would probably result in them giving an extra place in the CL to one of the major league (England, Spain, Italy) meaning they could have 5 teams in the CL.

[Craig_H]

I don't understand some of the posts in here, they missed out on CL qualification by 1 point yet most are advocating picking a side that stands a good chance of getting beat.
We've played about 1 game a week recently so they aren't tired and we would never choose to pick a team for a CL game that mattered with Spearing, Darby and Pacheco in it.

I honestly think we should keep a track of early opinions because if we progress towards the final a few on here will change their tune and become glory hunters.

No-one would have agreed with a weakened CL side this week before the City game so this game is no different, injuries happen so you can't try to second guess them.

Pick the strongest available team for every meaningful game, this is a winnable competition and I can't quite understand fans on any football club not wanting to win a league or a cup

Nothing to do with tiredness, it's risk of injury that we should avoid.

I honestly think we should keep a track of early opinions because if we progress towards the final a few on here will change their tune and become glory hunters.

No-one would have agreed with a weakened CL side this week before the City game so this game is no different, injuries happen so you can't try to second guess them.

"glory hunters" wind your neck in.

No-one would have agreed with a weakened CL side this week before the City game because the CL is the biggest club competition on the planet, which brings with it massive glory and massive financial rewards which ENABLE THE CLUB TO BE STRONGER OVERALL AND PUTS IT IN WITH A BETTER CHANCE OF BEING ABLE TO CHALLENGE FOR LEAGUE TITLES IN THE IMMEDIATE FUTURE. That's kinda the point.

The UEFA Cup doesnt do any of the above and i'm sure you know how different they are. This Unirea game is indeed 'different'.

Pick the strongest available team for every meaningful game, this is a winnable competition and I can't quite understand fans on any football club not wanting to win a league or a cup

Nobody doesnt 'want' to win it, but i imagine most wouldnt like to see key players picking up an injury and reducing our chances of finishing in the top 4, which is the most crucial thing for LFC at the moment.

You mention about wanting to win leagues - that's precisely why i dont want to see important players risked, because ultimately, in order to challenge for the title in coming seasons, we have to be in the CL.

[Craig_H]

If we win the uefa cup we get into europe, if we come forth we get in to europe. So it surely doesnt matter if we come 5th and win?

It would be funny if we finished 5th and won europe, i'm sure eufa said that they would sacrifice fourth place to the winners?

Please tell me you're not being serious.

Winning the Europa League DOES NOT earn qualification into the following season's Champions League. You can only get into the CL for next season with a 5th placed finish, IF you've won that current season's CL.

EDIT:
Just seen your follow up post Which i agree with.

[PTP]

Don't think we'll ever see Degen at RB again. He'll have to give Darby or Kelly (are they both fit?) a chance to see his otions for future games.

is that some insider info - is he frigged with injuries?