We have been having a debate today amongst the OurKop.com team as to whether it could actually be a good thing if Liverpool does not qualify for the Europa League next season so that all efforts can be put on mounting a serious challenge in the league. This debate also comes of the back of the possibility of Liverpool qualifying for the Europa league by finishing 6th.
Kava got the ball rolling by saying: I actually dont care if we make Europa League next season or not. I just want us to win all our games and see where that gets us. It’s not like players will not want to come to Liverpool because we are not in Europa. Look at the big names that came to Europeless Manchester City. I mean who takes that cup seriously anyway?
Financially I dont think being in Europa makes a huge difference for the club as the prize money is peanuts compared to the Champions League. I also think being in a competition that the players don’t care about is a distraction. Plus I hate Thursday night football. I prefer it on Tuesday, Wednesday or not at all.
Losing to Tottenham is NOT an option. Not for Liverpool FC. Shanks would climb out of his grave and kick some ass if he ever found out we threw a game that didn’t impact on us getting a trophy. (This come from the point that : If Liverpool want European football it could be in their interests to LOSE to Tottenham to help Harry Redknapp’s side finish in the top four, thus pushing Man City into fifth. If Liverpool take points off Spurs it could cost the Reds a place in Europe.)
Sam agreed with Kava by saying: I concur, maybe to get the league ‘gorilla’ off our backs we need a season where all the efforts are channelled towards a league title.
Manny then said: If you read the whole article it actually points out that Manchester City also play Stoke AFTER the FA Cup, so if Citeh win the FA Cup it would be better for Stoke to LOSE to Citeh and help them qualify for UCL so that Stoke go to Europa as runners up.
We know we aren’t coming fourth, and revenue from Europa League is better than no revenue at all so financially it does make sense to push for Europa league qualification.
The point is by the time we play Tottenham there will only be one game left after that in the EPL and we could well know that we can only finish 6th and the only way to get to Europa would be if we lost to Spurs.
Don’t forget that last season when we played Chelsea at Anfield we as fans didn’t know what to do as if we won we would be helping ManUre win the title and a loss was in effect helping to spite ManUre!
What are your thoughts with regards to this debate? We would love to hear your comments.
I put it to you that being in the Europa League actually puts players off signing for the club – I think a lot of players actually would actually prefer to focus on a domestic campaign than suffer the ignomy of playing in a shambles of a European tournament. I know it’s a cynical viewpoint but we live in a cynical world!
The Europa has lost all the shine that the UEFA cup used to have – the Champions League behemoth has made sure of that…
I don’t think it matters either way. If Liverpool make the Europa league they can blood a few youngsters, but if they don’t they can soley focus on the league.
Its very difficult finding a supporter who likes the Europa League format. In its current state, its makes for weekend fixture disruption in that Europa teams are always playing catch-up in the league by never playing on Saturday. Plus, another seasons means re-entry into both domestic cups so there should be plenty of opportunity to nurture the younger players coming through at the club, providing there are no early round problems.
I doubt Liverpool are really interested in qualifying for the Europa League and I expect them to drop some points in these five games remaining. I guess they will be looking to perform as well as possible in these last games of the season.
I agree we would be better off skipping Europe for a season, to concentrate totally on the Prem. It would allow Kenny to blend in the kids and new signings in the summer, Liverpool won’t admit it but i think they know it is a possible blessing!!!