maqroll Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 (edited) What are your thoughts on the Europa League? Where would you rank it in terms of importance? Is it too much of a drain on clubs trying to compete in their domestic leagues? Does the effort justify the payoff? Some clubs field players they'd normally have on the bench in league matches...is the tournament irrelevant to all but the club that wins the trophy? Are the extra gate receipts such a boon to the club that it's a big priority? For Villa, I think qualifying for this tournament would mark a massive turning point, but do we trot out our best players on a Thursday night in Croatia at the expense of a weekend league game against a 4th place rival? MON took a lot of grief for laying down in Moscow, but I understand why he did it. It backfired spectacularly of course, but I can appreciate his approach, if not totally support it. It's a tricky one for me. What say you? Edited March 15, 2015 by maqroll Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Rev Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 I'd love to win it. I think it's organised in such a way to hinder clubs on the brink of Champions League qualification from actually making it. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimzk5 Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Its a joke unless you get to the final stages, the money it returns is nothing in comparison to the champions league. Its really not worth the grief of going to the arse end eastern europe to play games and then play again on Sunday in the league Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bunnski Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 I'd love us to be in it. It would mean atleast an extra 8 games to watch all of which would be night games and on the TV. It would also offer a better chance for us to get into the champions league. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Isa Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 I'd love to see us in Europe again but we would need to significantly strengthen the squad so that that our league form wouldn't be too badly jeopardised. This is the big issue though and it's why the format of the competition should be altered. Granting the winners Champions League qualification was a good step but more reforms must be added. I remember reading piece a couple of years ago with some suggestions like reducing the teams and returning to the UEFA Cup straight knockout format or if the current format is to remain, then finding ways to play the games on Tuesdays/Wednesdays such as playing them all at the earlier kickoff time so they don't clash with the UCL games. Not sure how viable that is I must say. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VillaChris Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Format is all wrong. Should be a straight knock out like in the late 90s. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Qwpzxjor1 Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Seems to be designed to maintain the status quo. New teams get close to their domestic champions league places, and their reward is a long and exhausting competition on Thursday nights, which seems to knock teams back to midtable obscurity pretty quickly. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ml1dch Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 (edited) Its a joke unless you get to the final stages, the money it returns is nothing in comparison to the champions league. Which is obviously the most important thing. Maybe we should just care about the Deloitte Top 20 instead on the Premier League as well. Edited March 15, 2015 by ml1dch Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dont_do_it_doug. Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 It's a farce. It goes on and on and on, game after game, round after round. The squad travelling to Russia on a Thursday night. Madness. People say that strengthening the squad would help, but that leaves you in a position where you are chopping and changing the first XI all the time, week after week of it. There's no consistency. Fitness, confidence and subsequently form suffers. Not for me thanks. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimzk5 Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Its a joke unless you get to the final stages, the money it returns is nothing in comparison to the champions league. Which is obviously the most important thing. Maybe we should just care about the Deloitte Top 20 instead on the Premier League as well. The money you get is pathetic compared to what you get for being in the CL (60k for winning compared to £300,000 in the CL), being in the europa is fine and dandy when you have a team of 20 players that you can rotate and still win but for us to get in there now would cripple us Yes that night against Ajax 7 years ago was great, but 2 weeks later we were playing the likes of litex lovech & zilina and we took reserves to play Hamburg & slavia Prague. The competition has too many teams and is twice as long as it needs to be. Go back to the old uefa cup and ill be interested. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
useless Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 A tournament for teams who finish sixth or seventh in their respective leagues is a pretty dumb idea to me. Winning it is like winning the prize of being 'the best of the losers'. They'd be better of scrapping it and bringing back the Cup Winner's Cup. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimzk5 Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 A tournament for teams who finish sixth or seventh in their respective leagues is a pretty dumb idea to me. Almost as dumb as having a league of champions and involving teams that finished 4th in their domestic league 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderator OutByEaster? Posted March 15, 2015 Moderator Share Posted March 15, 2015 I think it exists in part to encourage Spain and England to reduce to 18 teams which is where UEFA would like us - UEFA would like every league to have 18 teams and 1 domestic cup competition. We have 20 teams and 2 cups, so winning this one is nigh on impossible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dont_do_it_doug. Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 I think it exists in part to encourage Spain and England to reduce to 18 teams which is where UEFA would like us - UEFA would like every league to have 18 teams and 1 domestic cup competition. We have 20 teams and 2 cups, so winning this one is nigh on impossible. Why does that concern UEFA? I'm not totally against reducing the Premier League to 18 teams, which would never happen obviously, but keep your grubby mitts off The League Cup. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimzk5 Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 I also think its wrong how teams who finish 3rd in the CL groups get parachuted in to give the tournament some credibility in the latter stages. You should either be in it from the start or not at all. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimzk5 Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 I also think its wrong how teams who finish 3rd in the CL groups get parachuted in to give the tournament some credibility in the latter stages. You should either be in it from the start or not at all. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Pangloss Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 It's a useless bag of shit for a competition, not worth the time of day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zatman Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 its potentially a good tournament and now with Champions League spot on the line I think a lot of teams will take it more serious because lets be honest its probably easier for a team like Villa to win Europa League than get into top 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jarpie Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 They need to get rid of the group stage and go back to pure knockout competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulC Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Its a bit long-winded but you look at the quality of teams in the last 16. Its a great tournament to be in and now theres the champions league carrot , theres a huge incentive to win it. Exellent tournament in my view and would love Villa to have the chance of being in it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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