Gerard Deulofeu

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JamDav1982

Senior Member
Zangash said:
I don't know a single fan of a Europa league team who has considered it second rate in comparison to the league. They value the Europa league as highly as we'd value the CL, especially with the reward for winning it being a free spot in the CL.
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No they dont.

Loads of fans in England, in fact I would say the majority, dont even want their team in the competition and when they get there they play weakened sides.

To suggets the Europa League is held as high as CL or league by clubs and fans is way off.
 
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Adversus

New member
JamDav1982 said:
No they dont.

Loads of fans in England, in fact I would say the majority, dont even want their team in the competition and when they get there they play weakened sides.

To suggets the Europa League is held as high as CL or league by clubs and fans is way off.
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You are both partially right and partially wrong. The view that it was a 2nd rate competition was definitely the prevailing view until the winner got a CL place but now no I wouldn't agree with that.

Even in the past while they might have played weakened teams in the groups, unlike the UCL some of the teams in the Europa League are weak enough that you can do that and suffer no consequences. Once teams got to the knockout stages they tend to take it seriously.

As for caring whether they get into it. The stats show that a team's league position is drastically effected by being in the Europa League and frankly the prize money is pitiful. If there was little money for the UCL I would wonder if English clubs would take it that seriously either.
 
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JamDav1982

Senior Member
Adversus said:
You are both partially right and partially wrong. The view that it was a 2nd rate competition was definitely the prevailing view until the winner got a CL place but now no I wouldn't agree with that.

Even in the past while they might have played weakened teams in the groups, unlike the UCL some of the teams in the Europa League are weak enough that you can do that and suffer no consequences. Once teams got to the knockout stages they tend to take it seriously.

As for caring whether they get into it. The stats show that a team's league position is drastically effected by being in the Europa League and frankly the prize money is pitiful. If there was little money for the UCL I would wonder if English clubs would take it that seriously either.
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This season a lot of the Spurs fans wanted Arsenal to win FA Cup so that they avoided the Europa League.

Even last season when there was a CL place available the competition was seen as a distraction that no one was really bothered about getting knocked out of.

The attitude to the competition even with the CL place is it takes second place until they get through to late stages where they may start to put more importance on it.

The Europa League is probably held in less regard than the FA Cup which is a long way behind the league.
 
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Behrox

Vice President of FC Barcelona
JamDav1982 said:
This season a lot of the Spurs fans wanted Arsenal to win FA Cup so that they avoided the Europa League.

Even last season when there was a CL place available the competition was seen as a distraction that no one was really bothered about getting knocked out of.

The attitude to the competition even with the CL place is it takes second place until they get through to late stages where they may start to put more importance on it.

The Europa League is probably held in less regard than the FA Cup which is a long way behind the league.
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maybe it's because they don't think that they have a serious shot at wining the Europa league so they try to get a CL or euro place in the league instead
 
BBZ8800

BBZ8800

Senior Member
Behrox said:
maybe it's because they don't think that they have a serious shot at wining the Europa league so they try to get a CL or euro place in the league instead
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I don't think that is the reason.

In different countries, different competitions are ranked in different order of importance.

In majority of countries, more or less no one rates cup anymore (except FA cup in England) and most of the teams play with weakened sides/or without too much motivation/save themselves for league matches or CL knockout matches.
The same is with Europa League for some teams.

Also, during 90s, Juventus and Milan used to say that they consider as more important to win Seria A than Champions league.
It sounded strange, but since CL wasn't as rich as today, back then some teams though that the combo of prestige+competition+money is higher in their domestic leagues than in a CL.

The same could be applied to EPL teams with Europa league today.
 
Jenks

Jenks

Senior Member
It's not that teams don't want to win the Europa League, it's that they know that a serious Europa League campaign is likely to hinder their league form, which is more important unless they win it.
 
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Adversus

New member
JamDav1982 said:
This season a lot of the Spurs fans wanted Arsenal to win FA Cup so that they avoided the Europa League.

Even last season when there was a CL place available the competition was seen as a distraction that no one was really bothered about getting knocked out of.

The attitude to the competition even with the CL place is it takes second place until they get through to late stages where they may start to put more importance on it.

The Europa League is probably held in less regard than the FA Cup which is a long way behind the league.
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Not true. It's held in far higher regard. It's just that the games are on a Thursday so unlike the FA Cup there's a huge cost of being in it and it's also incredibly hard to win given the amount of games to play and ultimately the need to beat UCL quality teams. But if an English team wins it - it would mean far more than the FA Cup.
 
Aryagorn

Aryagorn

Improvin' Perfection!!
Adversus said:
Not true. It's held in far higher regard. It's just that the games are on a Thursday so unlike the FA Cup there's a huge cost of being in it and it's also incredibly hard to win given the amount of games to play and ultimately the need to beat UCL quality teams. But if an English team wins it - it would mean far more than the FA Cup.
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:lol:

Roy Hodson's stakes rose in England only after he guided Fulham to Europa League finals, I am sure Europa League is some thing people don't give a damn for :rolleyes:
 
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Barcilliant

Senior Member
Epl people making excuses as usual. Maybe your useless fucking teams can try winning something in Europe for a change even if it is ONLY The Europa league.
 
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JamDav1982

Senior Member
Barcilliant said:
Epl people making excuses as usual. Maybe your useless fucking teams can try winning something in Europe for a change even if it is ONLY The Europa league.
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It isnt excuses. Quite clearly from the way fans, players and managers behave they dont put all that much importance on Europa League.

Thats not to say they would win it if they do but they are not putting a lot of emphasis on the Europa or seeing it as a failure to get eliminated. That would only really change if they go to the latter stages.
 
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JamDav1982

Senior Member
Adversus said:
Same with Benitez when he guided Chelsea to victory a few seasons ago.
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Benitez was almost mocked for the Europa League victory. It made no Chelsea supporter change their mind on him and didnt keep him in a job.

It did NOTHING to improve Benitez reputation in the EPL.
 
DonAK

DonAK

President of FC Barcelona
JamDav1982 said:
Benitez was almost mocked for the Europa League victory. It made no Chelsea supporter change their mind on him and didnt keep him in a job.

It did NOTHING to improve Benitez reputation in the EPL.
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Bentiez could have led them to a CL win and their fans would have still shat on him. The reason they disliked him had more to do with other things.
 
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JamDav1982

Senior Member
DonAK said:
Bentiez could have led them to a CL win and their fans would have still shat on him. The reason they disliked him had more to do with other things.
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Probably but the Europa League win did nothing to increase his stock with the fans or English football in general. If anything he was mocked for trying to act like anything great had been achieved.

Not sure why people have an issue with EPL teams treating Europa as a secondary competition. It is clear they do..mangers priortise the league game every week, players openly say they dont like it and fans moan about it all the time.

Where I draw the line is EPL fans etc that claim they would win it if they took it more seriously. Cant claim that until they try. What they also miss is that Spansih teams treat it in same way. They player rotated teams until latter stages and largely prioritise league. Yet EPL fans act as if Spanish teams play their teams every Thursday and are desperate to win.
 
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Adversus

New member
Barcilliant said:
Epl people making excuses as usual. Maybe your useless fucking teams can try winning something in Europe for a change even if it is ONLY The Europa league.
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I'm not making excuses. We focused on the Europa League but it destroyed our league standing. Every game in the premiership is hard which isn't the same for other European leagues which is simply why some clubs, generally those with UCL ambitions don't focus on it especially early on.
 
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