Let's all laugh at Tottenham.: Page 70 - The Arsenal discussion forum and community: One More in the Tolly

Let's all laugh at Tottenham.

Tony Montana

General Mirth wrote:
Burnwinter wrote:
Winning the Europa League would just be fucking awesome full stop. It's not like we're rolling in European trophies.

Would it? It's no real indication of quality.

It kind of is. Not the highest quality but quality of some sort.

Any Spanish team in it would be hard for us to beat.

Bold Tone

Europa talk is boring.
Let's get back to topic

Biggus

Burnwinter wrote:
Sort of wish we were in the Europa League. Winning that comp would be about our level (there or thereabouts - I don't say it'd be a given).

I completely agree Burnsy- That is our level. I wish people would stop living in denial and realise the standard we are at now.
It would be great to watch our team in a competition and think "we have a real chance of winning this" instead of of the usual bollocks- We're in the same league as Milan- How come we win fuck all?

y va marquer

Hmm. You applied the same reasoning to the Capitol One Cup Biggus.
We'd not put the required effort into winning the Europa League either because by the time it reaches it's closing stages Wenger would be desperate to get back into CL places and would pick his teams accordingly.

Burnwinter

It's not that we're not in the Europa League because Wenger's shit, Biggs—it's because he's consistently been good enough to get us into the CL and out of the group stage. It's just not a competition we end up playing in.

Just a bit of a shame to watch colossi of Europe like Spurs and Basel compete for a semi-final berth that we could definitely have a crack at. It may be a second string competition but I'd much rather win it than the League Cup.

And for what it's worth I'd expect Wenger to put out full strength squads at this stage of the comp, were we in it.

Ray

We are stuck in the middle between trying to convince ourselves we can compete with the big boys and accepting we should drop down a level to get a better chance of on the field success. Maybe we should milk the CL money by qualifying to the group stage, then finish third in the group and get into europa league and win it.

Or Wenger grows a pair and buys some 25m players this summer.

Burnwinter

It'd be repugnant to our dignity to get into the CL and then tank our group deliberately, and I can't see it happening anyway.

Klaus

I find this idea that it's better to win Europa League than to advance in Champions League silly and amusing. It's like saying "We won't win Premier League anyway so we might as well get relegated every other year and win the Championship instead".

Klaus

Typical attitude of people who confuse trophies with what they represent.

Burnwinter

Klaus wrote:
I find this idea that it's better to win Europa League than to advance in Champions League silly and amusing. It's like saying "We won't win Premier League anyway so we might as well get relegated every other year and win the Championship instead".

To be clear, that's not what I'm saying. Now that we're out of the Champions League, I'm merely experiencing a certain wistful disappointment that other eliminated CL qualifiers and also-rans still have something to play for in Europe.

I don't advocate not qualifying for the CL, or not advancing from the group.

But also, it's not really like your second sentence either, clearly the gulf in prestige between the Premier League and the Championship is far greater.

Klaus

I wasn't referring to you, Burnsy.

Burnwinter

I know—just counting down the last forty-five til kickoff Monsieur d'Aimler.

Ray

There is a huge difference in worth between winning the europa league and winning the championship, ridiculous to even compare the two.

Burnwinter

It's not an apples-to-apples-comparison to apples-to-apples-comparison comparison, yeah.

Klaus

It's a useless, prestigeless cup for teams who aren't good enough to qualify for a higher level. It's telling that the winners don't even gain entry to Champions League.

And to be clear: this idea that the deadbeats in Champions League should get another chance in Europa League every year is the worst thing Uefa have ever come up with. I have no idea why they would even want a second chance in that competition to begin with, but if the idea behind Europa League is to offer a way for teams who are not quite Champions League level to bridge the gap then it's safe to say that it has failed miserably. It should act as a ladder to a higher ground. Instead they've turned it into the only competition in the world to my knowledge where you qualify by getting knocked out of a real cup.

Burnwinter

If we're going to have 70 or 80 clubs playing in Europe, I'd actually like to see a European competition with two tiers and some sort of system of relegation between the two.

It'd be interesting because teams getting eliminated early from the upper tier would face 'the drop' (in Europe) and teams winning the lower tier would get something meaningful—promotion.

I realise there are umpteen negative side effects, quirks and issues with this suggestion.

Klaus

It would be a good deal better than the current system, that's for sure. But that's not how European football works. Europa League is a failed experiment, just like the Uefa cup was. It doesn't encourage growth at all. Nor does it favour good teams. It's a cup that rewards failure for big clubs while pushing the smaller ones back into the mud they came from.

Ray

😆

It isn't as good as the champions league, but it isn't as bad as the championship because ultimately the teams are of a better quality.

Klaus

I didn't say it's as bad as the Championship. Carry on now.

Mirth

It's an utterly pointless competition, the winners of the Europa league (and the UEFA super cup) don't even qualify for the Champions league after all the effort they put in.

The teams that have won the Europa league in recent years are usually the sort of teams that we face in the group stages without much trouble.

« Previous Page Next Page »