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Collymore

Europa League - Blessing in disguise?

By Collymore, in Leicester City Forum

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Wasyls Pec Deck

Wasyls Pec Deck

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I wonder if there is an age dimension to this? Do older supporters value the Europa League more, while for younger fans brought up on the top 4 trophy it is the only thing to aspire to? Not sure. Genuine question.

 

I for one support the posts that say we can realistically go deep and win the Europa League. Plus, having been some right dumps around the country in the league one season and in the 90s, the fact we are bickering about the merits of tier 2 and tier 1 European football almost beggars belief. And we’ve won the FA Cup this season too! It’s been a great season regardless of if we finish 3rd, 4th or 5th. 
 

Frankly at the start of the season I would have taken an FA Cup win and 5th over nothing and finishing 4th. The top 4 is not something you can put in the trophy cabinet.
 

Also consider the budget we operate on. It’s around 7th, so anything higher than that constitutes an achievement.

 

 

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fox in the sox

fox in the sox

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The ‘Champions League dream’ is mentioned like we have never been in it before. It would be a real disappointment if it was something new. 

The extra money does not necessarily mean better players as we could buy somebody for big money who may not fit into the team - many of our best transfers have not been that expensive. 

The only problem with missing CL would be if players start leaving but I don’t envisage a mass exodus.

So for me finishing fifth and EL football which we have a good chance in is fine.

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StriderHiryu

StriderHiryu

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I said this last season, and the same applies this. We couldn't win the Champions League, but we could win the Europa League. We beat Man Utd twice this season, and they are in the final. We were soundly beaten by Slavia Prague, but our squad was running on empty around the time those games were played. With a stronger squad and fewer injuries, we should be more competitive in both Premier League and Europe.

 

Of course, let's not kid ourselves, we all want to play in the Champions League, especially after coming so close in the last two seasons. Personally even if I saw Bayern Munich batter us 5-0 at home, I'd pay to see it, because I want to see Leicester playing against the best clubs and players in the world. That's what Football is all about! 

 

But a 5th place finish and winning the FA Cup is a superb season, in fact our second best ever season. We are making progress as a club, and if we are in the Europa, we should aim to win it, or at the very least go one stage further than we did this time round.  

 

 

Edited by StriderHiryu
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Fox1norfolk

Fox1norfolk

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29 minutes ago, Wasyls Pec Deck said:

I wonder if there is an age dimension to this? Do older supporters value the Europa League more, while for younger fans brought up on the top 4 trophy it is the only thing to aspire to? Not sure. Genuine question.

 

I for one support the posts that say we can realistically go deep and win the Europa League. Plus, having been some right dumps around the country in the league one season and in the 90s, the fact we are bickering about the merits of tier 2 and tier 1 European football almost beggars belief. And we’ve won the FA Cup this season too! It’s been a great season regardless of if we finish 3rd, 4th or 5th. 
 

Frankly at the start of the season I would have taken an FA Cup win and 5th over nothing and finishing 4th. The top 4 is not something you can put in the trophy cabinet.
 

Also consider the budget we operate on. It’s around 7th, so anything higher than that constitutes an achievement.

 

 

I agree it will still be a great season to win the FA Cup plus finish 5th. I also feel that this could be a blessing in disguise as we have to be realistic with our squad, we simply cannot complete with the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Inter Milan etc etc. At least we gained the experience of playing midweek plus at the weekend in the Europa League so this will certainly help. If we do by any chance finish in the top 4, then we have to be realistic, just how far would we get, yet with a few shrewd buys we could win the Europa. We have some very good, some excellent players, but we do have the Perez's who are really not up to the standard. We can't complete with the big boys, but could still create with a few quality additions a better squad than we have right now. Even with the amount of injuries we've had this season we've still done very well. Our squad average age is very young and I wouldn't mind to see a few experienced players brought in and hopefully this would prevent the disasters when we played like headless chickens after losing Evans 'the conductor' in the Newcastle game and the Southampton. 

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Guest Bert Fill

Guest Bert Fill

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59 minutes ago, SydenhamFox said:

There’s no dressing this up. EL is a poor second compared to the CL, BUT with a cool head I can now see that we have overachieved this season considering the injuries we’ve had to manage. We’re also still in it. Villa might do us a favour. 

It depends! Storming your EL group and then getting to the semis or further in the EL isn’t a poor second to finding yourselves in a nightmare CL group of death with PSG, Dortmund and Barcelona and not getting a single point...!

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foxes_rule1978

foxes_rule1978

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1 minute ago, Bert Fill said:

It depends! Storming your EL group and then getting to the semis or further in the EL isn’t a poor second to finding yourselves in a nightmare CL group of death with PSG, Dortmund and Barcelona and not getting a single point...!

We wouldn’t end up with zero points, we have beaten all the big six this season, however it would be very tough... and no chance to really rest players like we can in the EL group stage, so could effect our league form getting in the CL too soon. 

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Strokes

Strokes

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2 hours ago, StriderHiryu said:

I said this last season, and the same applies this. We couldn't win the Champions League, but we could win the Europa League. We beat Man Utd twice this season, and they are in the final. We were soundly beaten by Slavia Prague, but our squad was running on empty around the time those games were played. With a stronger squad and fewer injuries, we should be more competitive in both Premier League and Europe.

 

Of course, let's not kid ourselves, we all want to play in the Champions League, especially after coming so close in the last two seasons. Personally even if I saw Bayern Munich batter us 5-0 at home, I'd pay to see it, because I want to see Leicester playing against the best clubs and players in the world. That's what Football is all about! 

 

But a 5th place finish and winning the FA Cup is a superb season, in fact our second best ever season. We are making progress as a club, and if we are in the Europa, we should aim to win it, or at the very least go one stage further than we did this time round.  

 

 

I genuinely think we could win the champions league.

Obviously it would be miraculous but why not? Manchester City and Chelsea play in the final and we have beat both these teams at least once this season.

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Lako42

Lako42

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59 minutes ago, Wasyls Pec Deck said:

If we do get Europa we need to keep Tielemans at all costs. The signs are good as he’s about to sign a new contract I believe?

 

 

Clear to me he's waiting to see if we get CL.

 

A player like him not playing at the highest level is a waste. 

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Lako42

Lako42

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6 minutes ago, Strokes said:

I genuinely think we could win the champions league.

Obviously it would be miraculous but why not? Manchester City and Chelsea play in the final and we have beat both these teams at least once this season.

We can't even get in the competition never mind win it.

 

It's entirely different beating a team in domestic football to travelling all over europe and mixing it with the top teams. If you aren't experienced in this environment it's even harder. 

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foxes_rule1978

foxes_rule1978

Posted
Posted (edited)
3 minutes ago, Lako42 said:

We can't even get in the competition never mind win it.

 

It's entirely different beating a team in domestic football to travelling all over europe and mixing it with the top teams. If you aren't experienced in this environment it's even harder. 

Took Man City a while to adjust, it is one of those where you need to be competing every year to have a chance at winning it. The EL is our level now, so let’s just ensure we can continue to be in Europe for years to come and build 

Edited by foxes_rule1978
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ALC Fox

ALC Fox

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13 hours ago, Collymore said:

Premier League

FA Cup

Europa League?

 

The Europa League has to be the next big trophy we can realistically have a chance of winning so that's be optimistic and be blessed we're in it. 

 

Yes, I know we can still qualify for the EL by getting knocked out of the CL early but you can easily end up in no man's land and we've done that before already.

 

How about going 'all gun blazing' for the EL next season especially if it's obvious we're not having a top 4 challenge. 

 

imagine in 2014 if a time traveller told you by 2022 you'd have done the Premier League, FA Cup, Europa League and reached the champions League Quarter Final by 2022! 

 


 

 

 

 

Hopefully a less congested season means fewer injuries. If we strengthen and keep the players we want to keep there's no reason we can't challenge for the EL next season if that's where we end up.

Edited by ALC Fox
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ALC Fox

ALC Fox

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5 minutes ago, Lako42 said:

We can't even get in the competition never mind win it.

 

It's entirely different beating a team in domestic football to travelling all over europe and mixing it with the top teams. If you aren't experienced in this environment it's even harder. 

 

3 minutes ago, foxes_rule1978 said:

Took Man City a while to adjust, it is one of those where you need to be competing every year to have a chance at winning it 

Exactly. The quality of the Bayern-PSG games was ridiculous, for example.

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The boy Linacre

The boy Linacre

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2 hours ago, Fox92 said:

Win it. Get that European trophy.

Have to say, if Saturday taught us anything as fans, its winning that matters, the emotion, the euphoria, the glory, the memories.

With a lot of luck the EL is winnable, SP caught us when we were in the middle of one of our injury downturns, it looks a better format next year IF you can win the group.  When you get to the last 8 or 4 (which we can) you want to win it.  The baby faced assassin is desperate to win it, his job may depend on winning something.

 

Obviously CL is preferred, if that option is taken out of our hands, then an EL win would be amazing.  Imagine it for a second Leicester, League Champions, FA Cup winners and EL winners in 6 years and then qualification for the following CL.

Safe to say Chelski were happy to win it twice in the last 10 years and even Ipswich have won it!!!

And the final's in Seville, c'mon.

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Duncan_K

Duncan_K

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2 minutes ago, OrielCaziado said:

I don’t mind the competition itself but wish it didn’t have to be Thursday nights every week. I wish they used Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays for the games.  The Thursday then Sunday  routine got me down a bit this season. 

I take this point, there's something annoying about a spare Saturday and always playing Sunday. 

 

But there are advantages to knowing when the games will be and i like that. 

 

Also from a travelling point of view, if the flights work out there's a chance of taking 2 days off work and getting a trip somewhere that goes Wednesday night to Sunday, and in the Europa the opposition are less bothered about limiting the number of away fans so there's a chance of getting a huge allocation somewhere along the line. 

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Duncan_K

Duncan_K

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Just now, Duncan_K said:

That link has us in, we've qualified but still mathematically (at the moment) can get Champions League. Does that go for others in the list, or are Juve and PSG definitely in the Europa next year? 

Just seen the notes bit, they can still qualify for Champions League. 

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Strokes

Strokes

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30 minutes ago, Lako42 said:

We can't even get in the competition never mind win it.

 

It's entirely different beating a team in domestic football to travelling all over europe and mixing it with the top teams. If you aren't experienced in this environment it's even harder. 

How do you know we can’t get in it? Do you have a crystal ball? Is it Monday morning already? What were the lottery numbers on Saturday please?

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