Race for Champions League - 2023/2024

[picicata]

3 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

United and Newcastle now only have League to focus on and it's unlikely now the 5th spot goes to PL too. Typical

You're overthinking this. The reason Man Utd went out was because they are not CL standard and also not good enough to finish 5th or above it has nothing to do with extra games. Newcastle will be more of a worry but in the end we knew at the start of the season that 4th and above guarantees CL so that will be what we're aiming for. Don't sweat it.

[Kiwivillan]

8 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

United and Newcastle now only have League to focus on and it's unlikely now the 5th spot goes to PL too. Typical

I really don't get this effort to make doom and gloom scenarios for us based on other teams failures. Are we not flying atm?

[CVByrne]

1 minute ago, picicata said:

You're overthinking this. The reason Man Utd went out was because they are not CL standard and also not good enough to finish 5th or above it has nothing to do with extra games. Newcastle will be more of a worry but in the end we knew at the start of the season that 4th and above guarantees CL so that will be what we're aiming for. Don't sweat it.

I think we can get a gap to 6th, building a gap to 5th is much much harder. Spurs when they get their players back. All these teams having no Europe. 

We need City, Liverpool and ourselves to win the three European cups. 

[CVByrne]

We need a good showing tonight. Need Brighton to win and top group, West Ham Liverpool and ourselves

1. Germany, 13.36
2. Italy, 13.14
3. England, 12.13
4. Spain, 12.06
5. France, 10.42
6. Belgium, 10.20
7. Czechia, 9.25
8. Turkey, 9.00
9. Denmark, 8.50
10. Netherlands, 8.20

[Jareth]

1 minute ago, CVByrne said:

We need a good showing tonight. Need Brighton to win and top group, West Ham Liverpool and ourselves

1. Germany, 13.36
2. Italy, 13.14
3. England, 12.13
4. Spain, 12.06
5. France, 10.42
6. Belgium, 10.20
7. Czechia, 9.25
8. Turkey, 9.00
9. Denmark, 8.50
10. Netherlands, 8.20

Yeah if we supported Man U. We’ll be working to the top 4 parameters. 

[CVByrne]

Our issue is all the points we earn are worth less as it's an average of 8 teams. So it's going to be very tough to get the extra place.

[BleedClaretAndBlue]

This weekends key fixtures:

Spurs away at Forest

Newcastle at home to an in-form Fulham

Arsenal have Brighton

United away to Liverpool

City v Palace

Hopefully a few go our way. Expect Arse, City and Plop all to win really, important we do too.

[turvontour]

12 minutes ago, CVByrne said:

We need a good showing tonight. Need Brighton to win and top group, West Ham Liverpool and ourselves

1. Germany, 13.36
2. Italy, 13.14
3. England, 12.13
4. Spain, 12.06
5. France, 10.42
6. Belgium, 10.20
7. Czechia, 9.25
8. Turkey, 9.00
9. Denmark, 8.50
10. Netherlands, 8.20

Is it weighted towards champions league performance being more important, or is it how English teams perform across all 3 competitions equally?

[Pinebro]

Well I would rather be in Europe and have the chance to win silverware than just fighting for top 4.

But Newcastle and United definitely have an advantage over us now in the league with no Europe

Edited December 14, 2023 by Pinebro

[villaglint]

24 minutes ago, turvontour said:

Is it weighted towards champions league performance being more important, or is it how English teams perform across all 3 competitions equally?

Weighted to a certain extent - you get more points for CL but a good run in Conference League for us would help no end. 

Edited December 14, 2023 by villaglint

[Mic09]

20 minutes ago, Pinebro said:

But Newcastle and United definitely have an advantage over us now in the league with no Europe

I've heard this pointed out a lot and while it's a factor, it's one of a number of variables.

We arguably have;

1. The easier run of the next 10 games

2. A more solid squad

3. A better manager

4. A stronger 'feel good' factor

5. More points on the table

6. Players that want to play for the club

7. A far better goalkeeper 

etc etc

So yes, it does help to play less games mid week. But, considering all factors, I think we still have the advantage over Newcastle or Man U. 

[mikeyjavfc]

United are shite and no amount of free time is going to help them. Newcastle on the other hand will probably enjoy the extra recovery time and improve a bit. No matter, we have to just keep doing what we’re doing and top 4 can be ours. If we *only* got EL then I wouldn’t mind to be honest. Look at Newcastle in this year in CL - too much too soon. I’m confident Emery will delivery CL football at some point in the future even if it’s not this season.

[thunderball]

Both Newcastle and Man Utd may have new managers in the New Year, that could be good or bad.

[CVByrne]

37 minutes ago, turvontour said:

Is it weighted towards champions league performance being more important, or is it how English teams perform across all 3 competitions equally?

Yeah you get more bonus points for CL and then EL and then ECL

All wins are same points though 

[RichW]

Tad frustrating Newcastle went completely out of Europe last night. Not really concerned with Man Utd if I’m being honest, they are a really inconsistent side who can’t beat anybody half decent but Newcastle not having mid week games next year means they get rest between games which they need for the style of football they play. 
 

Our form under Emery has been top 3 form, sure fans of Newcastle/Spurs will be thinking it be difficult to over take us so it will be an exciting race for the Champions League for sure! 

[RichW]

1 hour ago, CVByrne said:

We need a good showing tonight. Need Brighton to win and top group, West Ham Liverpool and ourselves

1. Germany, 13.36
2. Italy, 13.14
3. England, 12.13
4. Spain, 12.06
5. France, 10.42
6. Belgium, 10.20
7. Czechia, 9.25
8. Turkey, 9.00
9. Denmark, 8.50
10. Netherlands, 8.20

I’m gonna probably be in a minority here but I’m not really fussed about whether 5th gets Champions League or not. Obviously if you narrowly miss out on 4th by goal difference or a point then it’s a bonus I guess but all I can see next season is the media/social media/fans saying that the team who finished 5th are only there because they’ve given out extra spaces and don’t deserve to be there. I’m pretty sure the idea of giving out the extra space was to make it easier for the likes of Liverpool/Arsenal/Man Utd to get in if they had a off season like Liverpool did last year rather than rewarding Villa,Newcastle or Brighton for having a really good season.

Fingers crossed the form shown under Emery so far continues and we qualify finishing in the top 4! 

 

 

 

[rubberman]

2 hours ago, BleedClaretAndBlue said:

This weekends key fixtures:

Spurs away at Forest

Newcastle at home to an in-form Fulham

Arsenal have Brighton

United away to Liverpool

City v Palace

Hopefully a few go our way. Expect Arse, City and Plop all to win really, important we do too.

I find myself conflicted over the United v Liverpool game. I guess in this thread a Liverpool win would be good, but with my Title thread head on a draw would be better.

Do our job and see what happens. There's bound to be one upset over the weekend, just make sure it's not us. We'll need to be super focussed not to undo the work of last week.

[fightoffyour]

A draw. Always a draw. It's simply fewer points being distributed.

[jayEm]

I'm not so worried about United and Newcastle. It's finishing above one of Arsenal, Liverpool, City and Spurs that feels a big ask.

[CVByrne]

The more I analyse it the more screwed we are with the extra place.

Sliver of hope is that Italian teams all came 2nd in their group so hopefully draw City, Arsenal, Bayern and Madrid and go out.

We need a big performance tonight for the PL 4 wins and top of the groups