Europa League 2012-13

[OTF 6310]

Having now sewn up our qualification directly into the playoff round of the Europa League, thought I would have a look at some of the clubs that we'll be competing with in this competition.

 

Despite having a bit of a reputation as a bit of a Mickey Mouse competetion there's quite a number of formidable sides who have qualified for next season, and as a result it should be a fiercly contested trophy.

 

In addition to those noted below 15 losers from Chapions League 3rd Round of qualification will enter the playoff stage of the competition, 10 Champions League cast-offs will join directly into the Group Stages and another 8 will join in the subsequent Round of 32.

 

Those already qualified include:

 

Inter Milan,

Lyon,

Marseille,

Athletico Madrid,

Athletic Bilbao,

Bayern Leverkusen,

PSV Eindhoven,

AZ Alkmaar,

Liverpool,

Chelsea/Tottenham,

FC Twente,

Sporting Club Portugal.

 

Some here have already suggested that our qualification in this competition will adversely affect our League position for next season, but for me we have to treat this competition based on what it means for the club - and for me our qualification in this competition is an amazing achievement and should be treated thusly.

 

The draw for our playoff round opponent takes place on the 10th of August, with the matches scheduled for the 23rd and 30th of August roughly 1 and 2 weeks after the start of the Premier League season. If we progress through that phase to the Group Stages that will be 6 mid-week matches spaced every 2-3 weeks from 20th of September through to the 6th of December. In the scheme of things I don't think that's a particularly huge 'burden' to bear. Each additional stage is a straight out knock-out across home and away legs, excluding the final which is a one off encounter on neutral ground.

 

Given the quality of the sides in the comptetion the teams drawn in each stage will have a huge bearing on the chances of qualification to the subsequent round, how mucch importance and focus would you give this competition? and what do you think a good result for us would be?

[JonTheMag 4]

Up until the group stage games id play an inferior lineup consisting of the likes of Best, Obertan, Shola, Vuckic, and once the group stage hits I'd play the A squad until we're guaranteed to go through. I'd consider making it to the round of 16 a success, and something to build on in subsequent yearS

[OTF 6310]

Up until the group stage games id play an inferior lineup consisting of the likes of Best, Obertan, Shola, Vuckic, and once the group stage hits I'd play the A squad until we're guaranteed to go through. I'd consider making it to the round of 16 a success, and something to build on in subsequent yearS

 

We only have one home and away leg before the group stages. With that in mind I feel we should play a strong side for that and take each week of the group stages as it comes pending who our opponents are. It is definitely a good chance to get some of our promising up and coming players on the pitch in some meaningful competitive matches.

 

For me it's all about playing football, and so this competition gives us a great chance to pit our side against some of the stronger teams in the rest of Europe. It seems to mainly be an English attitude to discount the importance of this competition.

[toonotl 2476]

I think there is only one playoff round for us before the group stages. That's the impression I got from OTF's synopsis anyway.

 

I wouldn't play a weakened side in the playoff round considering a loss sends us out. I'd go with full strength for the playoff then change the side up depending on the opposition and whether or not its home or away.

 

Hopefully we can make the knockout stages. That'd be a good start at least.

 

Edit: Would help if I refreshed the thread before posting I guess.

Edited May 15, 2012 by toonotl

[PaddockLad 14827]

Cabaye,Ben Arfa and perhaps Krul are unlikely to figure in at least the play off due to them playing in the Euros, as well as the first 2-3 league games.

[BigWalrus 0]

Assuming we have a full, fit squad at the start of the season, and we sign a couple of new players and ditch Guthrie and Simpson, we have plenty of players to call on.

 

At the back, we have Coloccini, S Taylor, Williamson, "NEW CB", Santon, Perch, "NEW FB", Ferguson, R Taylor, Tavernier

 

In midfield we have Tiote, Cabaye, Ben Arfa, Gutierrez, Abeid, Obertan, Gosling, Sammy, Marveaux, Vuckic

 

Up front we've got Cisse, Ba, Shola, Best (unless he goes)

 

 

We could probably do with another striker, especially if Best leaves, but we're not too far off having a squad that can cope.

 

The test will come later in the season, if we're still involved, as we'll undoubtedly have injuries, suspensions and fatigue problems.

[loonyTOON 10]

No Athletico Madrid, they won it this year so they go into CL right?

[Dr Gloom 20044]

No Athletico Madrid, they won it this year so they go into CL right?

 

eh?

[Kid Dynamite 6062]

No Athletico Madrid, they won it this year so they go into CL right?

 

wrong

[The Fish 9125]

No Athletico Madrid, they won it this year so they go into CL right?

Yup that's right and the winners of the Championship get a bye to the second hole at Augusta

[Dr Gloom 20044]

i'd like us to take this competition seriously. but then i'd like us to put out stronger teams than we ususally put out for the cup competitions. when you haven't won a trophy as long as us, i don't think you can afford not to select your strongest side. league position is important and there has to be some squad rotation but arguably we should be making the cups, our most realistic chance of winnign something, a priority.

 

getting to the quarter, semi finals or the final of the uefa cup will definitely lift the profile of the club again. we just need to get past the tedium of the group stage - then it gets interesting.

[Ayatollah Hermione 12866]

I'm glad we're going to be playing some decent teams, rather than a bunch of postmen from Uzbekistan tbh. Gives us something to properly test ourselves with. As for the qualification, it's not going to be easy; there's a chance we can play Inter Milan, for example which could end our campaign there and then. We've got to hope the new players brought in can improve the squad enough where we can get through this qualifier no matter what, then it's just a case of juggling the workload. If the squad is big enough, you could very easily play the likes of Shola, Gosling, Ferguson, Marveaux, Perch, Taylor in midweek (or vice versa if we're playing a shite side in the PL) leaving others well rested for the PL game.

 

I can't wait.

[toonotl 2476]

I don't think there is much chance we would play Inter. I'm pretty sure the draw is seeded to avoid teams from the bigger leagues meeting each other so early in the competition.

[OTF 6310]

Up front we've got Cisse, Ba, Shola, Best (unless he goes)

 

We could probably do with another striker, especially if Best leaves, but we're not too far off having a squad that can cope.

 

We need to sign another striker even if Best was to stay (on that front I'm not too fussed either way).

 

For roughly a month we'll be without Ba and Cisse next season (Mid January-Mid Feb). Conveniently though the Africa Cup of Nations slots right into a gap between the Group stages and the knockout stages of the Europa league, so at worse if for example Senegal and Ivory Coast both made the final four and we made the round of 32 we'd probably miss our three African players for the first leg of that knockout round.

[Brock Manson 0]

Long as we avoid the Spanish teams for as long as possible then we could give this cup run a good go.

 

We need to play the strongest team we can because enhancing our European pedigree again is a must if we're to keep this group of players together and continue making great progress.

[Ayatollah Hermione 12866]

I don't think there is much chance we would play Inter. I'm pretty sure the draw is seeded to avoid teams from the bigger leagues meeting each other so early in the competition.

 

Fair enough. We've been out of Europe for a bit though, does that not knacker us a bit? Does it go off coefficient or how you entered?

[OTF 6310]

For the play-offs, the 35 third qualifying round winners joined the 15 losing sides from the UEFA Champions League third qualifying round and a further 26 teams who began their European campaigns here.

The 76 clubs were divided into seven groups for the draw. Within the groups, an equal number of sides were seeded and unseeded in accordance with the club rankings established at the beginning of the season. Teams from the same association could not be drawn against each other.

 

For each group, balls containing the seeded sides were placed in one bowl and balls containing unseeded teams in another. A ball was taken from each bowl and placed in a large empty bowl in the middle, where they were shuffled. The first club drawn plays the first leg at home.

 

From: http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/season=2012/draws/round=2000271/index.html

 

So the determination of the seeding will be important.

[PaddockLad 14827]

From: http://www.uefa.com/...0271/index.html

 

So the determination of the seeding will be important.

 

Our co efficient is crap now isnt it? 16 or something?....that will have a bearing. But I think the reverse is true as well....out of the unseeded pool, no fucker among the seeds will want to draw us.

[ewerk 26738]

We no longer have a club co-efficient iirc.

Edited May 15, 2012 by ewerk

[Toonpack 7022]

wrong

 

Yep he's wrong, but it should be done that way, would certainly increase the interest in the competition as a whole if the winner got into the "big one".

[McFaul 35]

Only Tottenham of those sides are head and shoulders better than we are.

[OTF 6310]

We no longer have a club co-efficient iirc.

 

Of our own merit that's right, but we do garner a co-efficient by virtue of the Premier League havign the top league co-efficient. I think ours would be 16.875 (20% of the Premier League coefficient).

 

A team from the Dutch league would have a starting co-efficient of 9.13 so would have to have picked up 8 point on their own to be ahead of us. It's 2 points for a win, 1 for a draw with additional points for making it further in competitions. We could still have a shot at being seeded for the play-off round.

[2bias 3]

I was going to start this post LOL!

 

I for one am looking forward to this competition, I feel we can do well in this. Looking at the teams in the play-offs we could get a tricky draw although saying that we should be seeded so we will miss out the PSV's and Sporting's of the round. Although people slate the competition if a team manages to get to the quarters they can still generate a few million euros in prize money which is better than nothing.

 

Need to be a Chelsea fan on Saturday! If they win we go straight into the group stage and miss out a potential blunder match.

[OTF 6310]

I was going to start this post LOL!

 

I for one am looking forward to this competition, I feel we can do well in this. Looking at the teams in the play-offs we could get a tricky draw although saying that we should be seeded so we will miss out the PSV's and Sporting's of the round. Although people slate the competition if a team manages to get to the quarters they can still generate a few million euros in prize money which is better than nothing.

 

Need to be a Chelsea fan on Saturday! If they win we go straight into the group stage and miss out a potential blunder match.

 

Is that right? I think it will stay the same. Tottenham will enter the competition at the same point that Chelsea were scheduled to - that is directly into the Group Stage.

[PaddockLad 14827]

Does a Chelsea win change the coefficent?...