2021/22 UEFA Europa Conference League Qualifiers

[Bluewolf]

Is this where we are putting the Conference games?? 

Spurs just went 1-0 down in what I can only describe as a non league game... 

[Bluewolf]

1 minute ago, Stan said:

Spurs losing.

Move my other post over please mate, I put it in the wrong place

[Stan]

3 minutes ago, Bluewolf said:

Is this where we are putting the Conference games?? 

Spurs just went 1-0 down in what I can only describe as a non league game... 

Yes 

[RandoEFC+]

Why are Spurs playing a joke lineup tonight?

[Bluewolf]

15 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

Why are Spurs playing a joke lineup tonight?

I am guessing they are saving players for the weekend game?? Mostly fringe players and Youth out tonight, I should imagine they will play a stronger team in the return leg.. Spurs didn't threaten at all for the whole 90 minutes

[RandoEFC+]

I dunno man. They only went to Portugal. Surely you play the team that beat Man City on Sunday and build the momentum, they should be fresh enough this early in the season. Or by all means give the likes of Winks, Davies and Doherty a run out but don't think you need to make what looks like eleven changes.

[Bluewolf]

9 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

I dunno man. They only went to Portugal. Surely you play the team that beat Man City on Sunday and build the momentum, they should be fresh enough this early in the season. Or by all means give the likes of Winks, Davies and Doherty a run out but don't think you need to make what looks like eleven changes.

Depends on what they see as a priority.. The other thing is they could have taken it for granted a bit and thought they could have got away with fielding a much weaker side and still got the win, Depends if they care about this in the grand scheme of things

[Dr. Gonzo]

They might not give a shit about the tournament and want to get knocked out to focus on shit that is more important?

[Honey Honey]

Second string sides sometimes click sometimes don't. That's just the chance you go with.

It's not like the players are necessarily worse than the opponents. 

[6666]

I don't think Tottenham give a shit about this tournament and fair enough. I know I was relieved that we missed out. The Europa League at least has enough decent teams in it to keep it interesting.

[RandoEFC+]

6 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

They might not give a shit about the tournament and want to get knocked out to focus on shit that is more important?

Like fighting for 7th so they can qualify for it again next season?

Might be a shite trophy in the grand scheme of things but I don't get why English teams who have little hope of winning any of the "proper" trophies turn their nose up at stuff like this or the League Cup as if they're embarrassed to win it.

I just don't get it at all. It's a competitive tournament. I hope they play a stronger side in the second leg.

[Dr. Gonzo]

13 minutes ago, RandoEFC said:

Like fighting for 7th so they can qualify for it again next season?

Might be a shite trophy in the grand scheme of things but I don't get why English teams who have little hope of winning any of the "proper" trophies turn their nose up at stuff like this or the League Cup as if they're embarrassed to win it.

I just don't get it at all. It's a competitive tournament. I hope they play a stronger side in the second leg.

They’ve been poor for a few seasons, but it’s not that long ago they were in a CL final And had hopes of challenging for the league. They’ll be wanting top 4 ASAP.

At the end of the day for Spurs, they make more money qualifying for the CL than they’ll make winning this tournament.

[RandoEFC+]

3 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

They’ve been poor for a few seasons, but it’s not that long ago they were in a CL final And had hopes of challenging for the league. They’ll be wanting top 4 ASAP.

At the end of the day for Spurs, they make more money qualifying for the CL than they’ll make winning this tournament.

No chance of top 4 for them this season though. Looks locked in to me unless one of Liverpool, Chelsea or the Mancs have a nightmare. 

[Stan]

10 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

They might not give a shit about the tournament and want to get knocked out to focus on shit that is more important?

 

4 hours ago, 6666 said:

I don't think Tottenham give a shit about this tournament and fair enough. I know I was relieved that we missed out. The Europa League at least has enough decent teams in it to keep it interesting.

I reckon they're not that bothered too. 

[RandoEFC+]

If they were Champions League games, they would play a full strength team. That simple fact takes away any arguments about fixture congestion. I could understand if it was a matter of overwhelming the squad but they could easily have put out a strong side, got a comfortable lead and then rested players. Putting out a team like they did last night comes across as if they're almost deliberately trying to lose. It's the first week of the season.

It's not just Spurs. You have fans of Arsenal saying the same thing. No offence but, who do these clubs think they are? Spurs haven't won a trophy of any description in I don't know how long. Let's say 20 years. And Arsenal look about 20 years away from competing for the competitions they say they're arsed about like the title and the Champions League too. I'd say the same of Leicester, Everton, West Ham, any other side that took this approach to a European competition. I'd be fuming if Everton had put a team out like that in a competitive competition in the first week of the season because they "weren't arsed about it".

The folly of the English approach to these tournaments is easily exposed by the simple question "what did they gain?" Playing a weakened side in these qualifiers only impacts on the league. It won't impact their domestic cup campaigns, so if Spurs get knocked out of this competition because they couldn't be bothered they better scrape into the top four by a small enough margin that playing the youth team in this competition saved the first team just enough energy to scrape those few extra points together. Seems a bit of a weird calculation to make to sacrifice your best chance at silverware in years. Are they going to be happy with themselves when they end up 7th and trophiless when they could have been probably still 7th, maybe 8th with some silverware, even if it's some shite silverware?

I get that football clubs are businesses now but fans don't have to drink the cool aid. This English snobbery towards "inferior" European competitions so fans can act as if their 8th placed teams can afford to pick and choose what they're arsed about as if they support Real Madrid is pretty depressing. You're all being far too understanding. The irony is when teams like Man Utd, Chelsea and Liverpool have fallen on hard times and ended up in the Europa League in recent years, they've gone balls to the wall to still try and win the 'inferior' competition and they aren't embarrassed about it. I don't understand why it's accepted that the fringe top 4 hopefuls are forgiven for not taking the same approach.

Like I said, hopefully Spurs prove that they do actually want to try and win this competition by playing a strong side in the second leg because the idea that clubs in that category can afford to just shrug and say 'can't be arsed with this one' when I can't remember the last time they won a trophy is laughable when you see how managers like Guardiola and Klopp and clubs like Man Utd and Chelsea approach the 'inferior' competitions. It's almost become a cliche to say it but that whole thing about winning being a habit and getting used to winning trophies instead of hedging your bets to achieve mediocrity on all fronts year after year rings true. It's football for fucks sake, try and win.

Rant over.

[Dr. Gonzo]

6 hours ago, RandoEFC said:

No chance of top 4 for them this season though. Looks locked in to me unless one of Liverpool, Chelsea or the Mancs have a nightmare. 

Yeah it looks locked in on paper, but you never know what might happen in football.

Just for the record, ultimately I agree with you - clubs should try to win tournaments they have a decent chance at winning. Nothing instills a winning mentality quite like winning things.

But the reality is clubs prioritise competitions over others, especially clubs that have quality but not much depth (which I think fits both us and Spurs).

[ScoRoss]

A frustrating night for Aberdeen and St Johnstone, who both went out to better teams with far more experience in European football. A horrible pitch in the away leg, although costing half of Andrew Considine's season, hindered Qarabag more in the first leg than it did Aberdeen. And they showed their true quality at Pittodrie. Just another deja-vu moment, with a couple of rounds of qualifying gotten through before ending before the group stages. I've seen this for most of the last decade now.

A lack of a midfield able to retain the ball for Aberdeen enable Qarabag to be comfortable last night and rarely threaten going forward. With transfer activity still going on, the squad was never in place to compete in Europe currently and focus must be on finishing high enough in the Premiership to secure group stage European football for next season. The money and prestige from even making the Europa Conference League group stages would enable a step up for whichever Scottish club can get it and would give them a distinct advantage over the others.