The Manchester United Thread XIX

Just seen the PL table. Liverpool should be on the same amount of points as us after their game in hand (assuming they win it). League season starting to feel like its run its course, if we lose against City then its all but done. If that's the case, I hope Liverpool leapfrog us and take the Europa spot. If Mourinho comes in for next season, then we won't have the Europa league to deal with and can concentrate on the league.

I know most United fans would love Europe, even if its Europa but I just don't feel like its worth being in Europe if it ain't the CL. Europa has some cracking ties this season but for me, it still pales in comparison to the CL.

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That defeatist attitude though.

Love the spin you put on the EL. Not worth it if you aren't in it, kinda like the League Cup eh?

Not defeatist. Its a realistic view.

Not really. I've never rated the Europa League. If United are going to be in Europe, I'd rather it be the CL or not even be in Europe altogether if it isn't the CL. We're never going to win Europa League this season, we'd need major luck to win it. 4th is pretty much gone if City beat us in the league, West Ham are on fire so it wouldn't be surprising if they knock us out the FA cup. I just hope we knock Liverpool out the Europa League. 4 wins out of 4 against Liverpool would make this season less ****.

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I think the main issue is playing on Thursday nights. Most teams playing in it tend to do worse in the league. Spurs are bucking that trend, though.

Depends on squad size and general player fitness to be honest.

Everton crumbled in the league when they were doing well in EL, but they aren't a "top" club anymore anyway.
Teams like Liverpool and United have big squads so they can rotate and cope with both.

If you play in the CL on Tuesday/Wednesday, you'll normally play in the league on Saturday.
If you play in the EL on Thursday, you normally won't play in the league until Sunday/Monday.
The rest days are pretty much the same - people only complain about the EL because it isn't as prestigious.

Let's not forget, you're only in it because you went out in the group stage of the CL. As of now, you'd get absolutely nowhere near winning the CL. Might as well give EL a go since you could actually win it.

A lot of fans (from different clubs) have this view but personally I don't understand it..

- EL still gets you a decent chunk of co-efficient points
- it's extra revenue for the club
- get to watch more games as a fan
- some European football is better than no European football to attract some players
- gives a good opportunity for youngsters/fringe players to get some experience in early rounds
- helps build the right mentality for playing in Europe in the future (see Atletico Madrid/Dortmund)
- another trophy you can possibly win
- gets you CL qualification if you don't achieve it in the league

Love all European football personally, be it EL or CL. Granted, that may be because I just love knockout football.

It's a shame that we're facing each other so early on in the tournament, because I know a lot of Liverpool and United fans would have wanted a decent European away.

This is the important thing, I guess. My main issue with it has always been the fixture pileup and Thursday nights. I'm not sure if the longer flights to Eastern Europe matter much. The squad players should be able to handle the group stage, but I just don't know with this team any more.

I think the club should be putting everything into this competition, because the loss to WBA has massively hurt our top 4 fight. If we lose to City, we're definitely not making it through the league. EL is likely out best shot at getting into the CL next season.

Extra revenue is irrelevant for clubs the size of United and Liverpool. Plus the extra revenue is barely anything anyway especially when comparing it to the CL.

To attract the very best footballers, you need the CL. I highly doubt being in Europa would tempt them. I mean the very best players such as Bale, would he be tempted by a team playing in Europa even if it is European football? Plus, even the very good footballers in top clubs, say Isco I doubt he'd want to leave RM for a team in Europa.

Do Liverpool or United need the right mentality to play in Europe though? We've won the CL competition a combined 8 times.

You can achieve CL qualification through concentrating on the league though. Having the Europa league, FA Cup and League cup coupled with having to play league games is so many competitions to juggle plus more risk of injuries. Imagine Coutinho gets injured in a Europa league game ahead of a huge game against a PL rival. I know its an assumption but its a possible scenario. Plus, the Europa League knockouts you could easily lose both legs by having 2 off days whereas with the league, its more of a marathon.

Overall I think most of your points apply to most Premier League sides who don't consistently play or have played or have ever played in the CL and the Europa League is what most of them could hope for. To clubs the size of United and Liverpool, most of those points don't really apply. In terms of playing young players, it is more games but you could easily give them the league cup games and early round FA cup games. You could even give them a game here and there in the PL. Maybe there's more exposure to a higher level in Europa than say the league cup but most times the group stages are usually filled with piss poor teams (no disrespect to them).



Yeah I enjoy watching European football especially big ties which the Europa League has thrown up. I just don't want United to be in it, I'd much rather they be in the CL or not be in Europe at all if not the CL.

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I can see pros/cons but I'd rather Liverpool achieved EL qualification at the very least.

Yea probably is irrelevant for Man Utd. I don't think Liverpool can sniff at an extra £10-15mil or however much it is.

Agree for the top talent but Liverpool haven't shopped there for a while. If you're trying to attract the next big thing, those kinds of players want a platform where they can show off their skill to make a reputation for themselves for a big move. For example putting in big performances in the QF and later will get you noticed.

I think it's easier to say it's a one off below par season but we still have Europe etc. Once you start missing out a lot, I think potential signings get more nervous.

Don't know about Utd (would say you've lost a lot of experienced players over the years) but with Liverpool you can see it where the new batch of players (and Rodgers) didn't have the experience or quite know how to approach the European games. It's different to the PL.

I can see pros/cons but I'd rather Liverpool achieved EL qualification at the very least.

Liverpool are one of the richest clubs in the world and I'm sure 10-15 mill won't affect you. You splashed out 32 mill on Benteke!

Well let's put it this way. Would you rather a season without Europa League football and challenge for the title (like you did 3 seasons ago) or Europa League football and finish in the table like 5/6th? As a poster above said, Spurs seem to be bucking this trend but usually with Europa League football, teams usually underperform in the league. Again this is an assumption since even without Europa League football, it doesn't necessarily mean you'll challenge for the title. But I'd much rather have a season without Europa League football to concentrate solely on the league and FA cup.

3/4 of our squad have regularly played in the champions league. However those who have won the competition have mostly left/retired. We now only have Bastian, Rooney and Carrick who have experienced winning the CL.

Fair enough. But I'd much rather write the season off and start again next season. Lose against City and I think our squad would lose the focus and desire to play in the league since our objective of CL football would be over. I could definitely see us slide down the table. If that happens, I hope we fully concentrate on the FA cup but we have a really difficult tie against West Ham. Its a bit depressing that our season could be over in 2 weeks time.

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Our title challenge was a one-off due to Suarez. In reality, most of the time it's a case of good squads achieve in all competitions.

Fixed that for you.

Really bothers me how much people think it was just Suarez.

Not only did Sturridge score 21 in 29 games, a lot of those were the match winning goals.

Straight off the bat at the start of the season we won the first 3 games of the season 1-0 with Sturridge scoring the goal in each game.

That's 9 points without even going through the rest of the season.

Really bothers me how much people think it was just Suarez.

Not only did Sturridge score 21 in 29 games, a lot of those were the match winning goals.

Straight off the bat at the start of the season we won the first 3 games of the season 1-0 with Sturridge scoring the goal in each game.

That's 9 points without even going through the rest of the season.

Really bothers me how much people think it was just Suarez.

Not only did Sturridge score 21 in 29 games, a lot of those were the match winning goals.

Straight off the bat at the start of the season we won the first 3 games of the season 1-0 with Sturridge scoring the goal in each game.

That's 9 points without even going through the rest of the season.

Sturridge did play well throughout that season for sure, but it was clearly Suarez who propelled him (and the rest of the team) to any kind of success. Players like Suarez can negate the failures of a team and improve the sum just by being on the pitch.

I do agree with you, but that's 6 points, not 9...


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