Focus should be on the Europa Conference League

[KrefelderFox666]

2 minutes ago, tom27111 said:

 

I'd rather consolidate our league position before thinking about trying to win anything else.

 

There's no way we rest players in the league and go all out in the Conference League.

 

That's just absurd. 

What is there to consolidate though? 10th place? That shows no ambition from the club. We should be fighting to get into the Top 6 every season and if we can't, then get some cup runs going.

 

I agree that we should prioritise (whatever that means) the cup competitions. We have two tricky but very manageable ties in Forest and Randers. If going far in this competition means we play 3 games a week in May then so be it. Finish 11th or 12th for all I care if it means cup finals and potential silverware (plus European football next season).

 

I think when people on here say prioritise (or at least me), it means playing your strongest side in the cup competitions and similar or as close to in the league. We are not suggesting playing U23s (unless we do end up with 3 games a week, then it is inevitable).

[tom27111]

4 minutes ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

Why?

 

You think we're going down? Or you think we're finishing 7th?

 

Neither are happening, so the league is pretty irrelevant.

February is a tough looking month, we could quite easily not pick up any points and get dragged right down the table.

 

[Leicester_Loyal]

2 minutes ago, tom27111 said:

February is a tough looking month, we could quite easily not pick up any points and get dragged right down the table.

 

No chance IMO, 2 more wins, maybe a draw or two and we're safe, we'll manage that in 18 games. Feb is tough but we've still got Norwich, Everton x2, Burnley, Palace, Newcastle, Brentford, Watford and Southampton to play. Add in the fact that on a random day we can actually beat or at least draw the bigger teams (as everyone does), and the league is as safe as houses.

[RowlattsFox]

We can't just focus on the Conference League, good form in the League will hopefully improve our chances in the Conference League. OK we get to the latter stages in April/May then yes League will probably be finished then so can save players if needed for the big European ties.

 

It's far too early to be giving up on finishing as high as possible in the league. We need to ensure at the very least we finish top half. If we are finishing around 14th/15th then we've lost a lot of momentum and it will be a struggle to get going again next season IMO. 

[sacreblueits442]

1 hour ago, Stadt said:

Rodgers' European record is poor, I wouldn't back us not to shit ourselves at Feyenoord, Marseille or Roma if we drew one of those.

 

However, I agree we should be prioritising this. We've had 6 European campaigns in our history, we can't turn our noses up at this - being the inaugural winners would be cool.

...I get the feeling that with Rodgers record of only managing to reach the last 32, with the chances he has been given, we could actually go on to win it, being the first time he has gone beyond the last 32!!!

Looking forward to a better campaign in Europe. Personally thing Rodgers is surpassed by all European coaches, not a good tactician.

[Strokes]

I don’t really understand a scenario whereby we have to prioritise one over the other. Unless maybe we end up with replays in the FAcup I think we can cope on a game by game basis.

[Jaspa]

19 minutes ago, KrefelderFox666 said:

Do you have any ambition in life?

This season is ****ed lads, horrific injuries all over the shop. We're too inconsistent for Top 6. Europe Conference is a crock'o'shit. Just end it

Rebuild in the summer, get our injured players fit, sort out any internal issues. Save the ambition for next season.

 

19 minutes ago, Leicester_Loyal said:

Go out of the ECL, go out of the FA, to finish 10th in the league? Then what, try to get Europe again by finishing 7th, even though we've just got it and respectfully bowed out of it?

 

What's the ****ing point?!

 

Conference League is tinpot, there I said it. However I didn't say go out of the FA Cup. Finishing 10th in the Premier League is better than average for this football club historically, especially considering our horrific, incessant injury list - which is only going to be made worse if we play as many games as possible.

 

I don't trust Rodgers in Europe now anyway, it's two years of the same results and performances. A year where we can look at things and focus on the team and just play good football am entire season with a fit squad, instead of pissing injuries would be great.

[Lako42]

Has anyone been in tough with the manager to let him know what the competition is? 

[KrefelderFox666]

2 minutes ago, Jaspa said:

This season is ****ed lads, horrific injuries all over the shop. We're too inconsistent for Top 6. Europe Conference is a crock'o'shit. Just end it

Rebuild in the summer, get our injured players fit, sort out any internal issues. Save the ambition for next season.

 

 

Conference League is tinpot, there I said it. However I didn't say go out of the FA Cup. Finishing 10th in the Premier League is better than average for this football club historically, especially considering our horrific, incessant injury list - which is only going to be made worse if we play as many games as possible.

 

I don't trust Rodgers in Europe now anyway, it's two years of the same results and performances. A year where we can look at things and focus on the team and just play good football am entire season with a fit squad, instead of pissing injuries would be great.

If we had something to play for in the league like we did in the last two seasons, then I would probably agree. However, we can save this season by doing well in at least one of the cups. We can still rebuild in the summer and attack next year. Those two things are not mutually exclusive. There is nothing better for fans than silverware.

[CosbehFox]

Call it tinpot and shit all you like but I’m 100% certain that if I get a ticket off to Randers, it will be the most enjoyable trip of the season. Legia away despite the result was probably in the top three occasions this year. 
 

Chelsea and Arsenal fans of yesteryear don’t take the piss out of their Cup Winners Cup victories. 
 

Last May should have told most Leicester fans winning trophies is infinitely better than going ‘ooo it’s nice finishing 7th and making sure the club get a few more million’. 

Edited 25 January 2022 by Cardiff_Fox

[Strokes]

9 minutes ago, Jaspa said:

This season is ****ed lads, horrific injuries all over the shop. We're too inconsistent for Top 6. Europe Conference is a crock'o'shit. Just end it

Rebuild in the summer, get our injured players fit, sort out any internal issues. Save the ambition for next season.

 

 

Conference League is tinpot, there I said it. However I didn't say go out of the FA Cup. Finishing 10th in the Premier League is better than average for this football club historically, especially considering our horrific, incessant injury list - which is only going to be made worse if we play as many games as possible.

 

I don't trust Rodgers in Europe now anyway, it's two years of the same results and performances. A year where we can look at things and focus on the team and just play good football am entire season with a fit squad, instead of pissing injuries would be great.

How is it tinpot exactly? It’s not the intertoto cup or the football league trophy. You really need to get over yourself.

[Stadt]

4 minutes ago, Cardiff_Fox said:

Call it tinpot and shit all you like but I’m 100% certain that if I get a ticket off to Randers, it will be the most enjoyable trip of the season. Legia away despite the result was probably in the top three occasions this year. 
 

Chelsea and Arsenal fans of yesteryear don’t take the piss out of their Cup Winners Cup victories. 
 

Last May should have told most Leicester fans winning trophies is infinitely better than going ‘ooo it’s nice finishing 7th and making sure the club get a few more million’. 

We have fans desperate to be as nonchalant as Arsenal and Spurs (never good) about the Europa League/Conference, when we've been in fewer European campaigns in our history than they have over the last decade.

 

Assumably, fans not arsed about the Conference League don't go to games, especially away games.

[grobyfox1990]

53 minutes ago, FoxesAreBlue said:

Was just about to post exactly this.

 

They’re playing football, not trying to crack the Enigma machine - they can only play one game at a time and we have teams of people analysing the upcoming teams that we have to play.

 

Why can’t we to use an often used trope “concentrate on the next game” and attempt to win them all. What are they going to do? Have an early finish in Premier League games?

In a perfect world yes, but this is far from perfect and footballers are all human. Do you have the same ambition and motivation on a Wednesday afternoon after 5 hours of zoom calls that you do on a Monday morning etc? If you do that is very impressive and i would love to get coaching from you, because i do not, and my colleagues absolutely do not! My motivation/effort fluctuates throughtout the week on what is important on my to-do-list. Footballers are always going to 'prioritise' one tournament over another, the question in this thread being which one, IMO it should be the cups because i want loads of good days out.

[Jaspa]

For fans yeah it's another European tour, little piss up in Denmark, but for football I just can't trust us to perform in Europe currently and we need to focus on getting & keeping players fit first and foremost. 

 

Half a season left and I'm saying end it 🤪

 

Europa League is a great competition, I'd loved for us to have at least looked competitive in it these last two seasons. Conference League isn't a great competition. While we have 4 fixtures to catch up in the League, injuries all over the place and poor form.

[Ricey]

Winning it would bring a hundred times more joy to the fans than finishing 7th or 8th and will be much more financial lucrative as well.

 

It also qualifies us for the Europa League next season and I'm guessing we would be top seeds, but I can't find any proof of this. Europa League holders are top seeds in the Champions League so I'm guessing something similar will happen here. That would really help us next season.

 

However we don't need to prioritise anything at the minute. I think it will be once we get into March and April when we might see us resting players in the league ready for European matches.

[grobyfox1990]

50 minutes ago, tom27111 said:

February is a tough looking month, we could quite easily not pick up any points and get dragged right down the table.

 

If we end up being in the bottom 3 of this league then there is no excuse whatsoever. Burnley, Norwich, Watford, Newcastle, Everton and Leeds are all terrible and stuck in a rut. The conference league has potental away days against Feyenoord, Roma, Alkmaar, Tel Aviv, Partizan Belgrade, Qarabag and Vitesse Arnhem and a final in Tirana!! This is the pinnacle of being a football fan!! Actually i've convinced myself, would rather go down and experience all these days out!!

 

EDIT - fenerbahce, PSV and Celtic too!

Edited 25 January 2022 by grobyfox1990

[Fox1980]

1 hour ago, st albans fox said:

the club's accountant just called - he says you have it back to front !

 

That may apply to this season but over this season and next it might bring more money in with a Europa league campaign compared to none

[KingsX]

Bookies have us 14/1 or 16/1 to win the FA Cup.  Given that five of the Greedy Six are still in, and all but Spurs have easy draws (plus West Ham have Kidderminster), 16/1 seems too low.  We are long shots.

 

They have us second favorites (behind Roma) for the ECL at 6/1.  Fivethirtyeight (more realistically IMO) give us a 10% shot.  Next up, Randers are a lesser opponent.  While cynicism about Rodgers’ European record is well founded, I don’t see that as a reason not to make the ECL first priority.  First ever winners of a European Trophy sounds good to me.

 

 

 

And ffs, it’s not about “not trying” to win every match.  It’s about where you prioritize when fixtures inevitably come into conflict.  We’re going into the next three months with long-term injuries and will be playing 2x/week.

[CosbehFox]

11 minutes ago, Jaspa said:

For fans yeah it's another European tour, little piss up in Denmark, but for football I just can't trust us to perform in Europe currently and we need to focus on getting & keeping players fit first and foremost. 

 

Half a season left and I'm saying end it 🤪

 

Europa League is a great competition, I'd loved for us to have at least looked competitive in it these last two seasons. Conference League isn't a great competition. While we have 4 fixtures to catch up in the League, injuries all over the place and poor form.

Well let's have a look at another way, the most straight forward route to getting into the Europa League at the moment is the Conference League. 

[CosbehFox]

8 minutes ago, KingsX said:

Bookies have us 14/1 or 16/1 to win the FA Cup.  Given that five of the Greedy Six are still in, and all but Spurs have easy draws (plus West Ham have Kidderminster), 16/1 seems too low.  We are long shots.

 

They have us second favorites (behind Roma) for the ECL at 6/1.  Fivethirtyeight (more realistically IMO) give us a 10% shot.  Next up, Randers are a lesser opponent.  While cynicism about Rodgers’ European record is well founded, I don’t see that as a reason not to make the ECL first priority.  First ever winners of a European Trophy sounds good to me.

 

 

 

And ffs, it’s not about “not trying” to win every match.  It’s about where you prioritize when fixtures inevitably come into conflict.  We’re going into the next three months with long-term injuries and will be playing 2x/week.

We'll need some luck with the draw no doubt - if we qualify past Randers, it could be Roma or it could be LASK. Equally @Stadt already mentioned a trip to Feyenoord, Marseille, Turkey or back to Slavia would see our bunch wilt. Thankfully the away goals rule changes tactics slightly though. 

Edited 25 January 2022 by Cardiff_Fox

[Pliskin]

Agree, plus we could be the first team ever to win it. Which is still a nice feat. 

[ALC Fox]

1 hour ago, Hammo said:

Absolutely. A place in history is at stake.

 

How nice would this look?

 

Inaugural winners of major European club competitions:

European Cup - Real Madrid

Cup Winners Cup - Fiorentina

Fairs Cup - Barcelona

Super Cup - Ajax

UEFA Cup - Tottenham

Champions League - Marseille

Europa League - Atletico Madrid

Europa Conference League - Leicester City 

 

 

[ALC Fox]

I'd absolutely love it if we won this, by the way.

[cruzFOX]

If we get nothing else this season I’ll be happy to add this cup to our trophy cabinet (better than nothing)!

[AKCJ]

2 hours ago, Sol thewall Bamba said:

League campaign is over, if you're pushing for us to prioritise it, just admit you see the club as a balance sheet not a football club. 

 

We can win the Conference League with a bit of luck. 

I'll preface this by saying that I want us to put our focus in the FA Cup and Europa Conference League but at the same time the club needs money to pay for things like the Stadium redevelopment and the Training Ground.

 

All well and good saying that we should prioritise cup competitions but at the same time we're currently unable to afford a centre back this january which is leading to us continuing to play Vestergaard and Soyuncu who have been nothing but shambolic this season.