Europa/Conference or outside?

[OleTheGreat]

Would you rather we finish within the Europa or Conference League position or give ETH a clean start with t the focus on only the league and the domestic competitions since there is going to be a huge overhaul and he needs time with the squad. Also what should be his first move once he gets here, to get things rolling in the right way?

 

[Cee90]

Europa I could handle, conference league I couldn’t.

 

[Fortitude]

https://www.redcafe.net/threads/let’s-not-make-europe-next-season.470090/

Pretty much in discussion there.

 

[Offside]

I’d probably rather be in the Europa as if you win it you can get CL. Not that there should be any excuses if ETH misses out on the top 4 but it is good to have that alternative route and also to win a European trophy.

The Conference League would be embarrassing but maybe a good chance to blood the young players.

 

[UnofficialDevil]

Shouldn't be in either. Manchester United belongs in the Champions League or nowhere.

 

[El Zoido]

Neither. Both of them are garbage competitions.

 

[Gorse Hill Red]

Just to play the kids and fringe players. Would be a could experience for them.

 

[DJ_21]

Rather europa if any. Won’t help us though with the fixture pile up and a Thursday/Sunday game every other week. I just think without any then ten Hag could get a reduced transfer budget, also we will struggle to attract players, we will anyway without being on the CL… gives us a disadvantage when we’re bidding for players who have teams who are in the cl interested aswell. On the plus side though it’s a decent trophy to win and gives us a platform to build on. You do get decent teams in that competition as this season as shown with the likes of Barca and Dortmund getting knocked down into it.

 

[Hughie77]

I'm a bit on the fence now, I did say no European football, the new guy will need games to get the system going along with it on the training ground.
So maybe yes but I wouldn't be that disappointed either way. The players coming in is going to vast so they will need time to gell.

 

[davidmichael]

I’d rather we had no European football than either to be honest so we can focus on the league and two domestic cup competitions and also focus on getting to grips with Ten Hag’s tactics and style of play, Europa wouldn’t be the worst thing but I think focusing domestically is the best thing to do in Ten Hag’s first season.

 

[Roboc7]

Worst case scenario is we end up in the Conference League so pretty much guarantee that’s what will happen. No European football probably best for ETH as gives more time with players which he’s going to need.

 

[Livewire1974]

Neither. We will have very thin squad next season after throwing out all the dross.

 

[LawCharltonBest]

We don’t deserve any European football

But Europa league would still be good because it’s a brilliant trophy to win and CL qualification

Rather no European football than play in the conference league though

 

[Ayoba]

Worst case scenario is we end up in the Conference League so pretty much guarantee that’s what will happen. No European football probably best for ETH as gives more time with players which he’s going to need.

This!

 

[Stobzilla]

Conference or Europa, as long as it was used as a vehicle to get some young players some minutes then I wouldn't mind either way.

At the end of the day, by going for nothing it is just precious professional minutes for them that you are flushing away for no good reason.

 

[Trophy Room]

The fact that we are discussing this shows how far we have fallen.

 

[MonkeysMagic]

Given the redevelopment of the whole squad, disruption of a world Cup and a new manager we should not be bothering with the Europa conference. Utd can survive a season w/o European football and just get the squad gelling and playing in a cohesive manner first.

 

[Kush]

Money is important at the end of day, Conference would really suck but I think we can manage a Europa League place.

Play a mixture of youth and squad players in that competition. No idea why people are turning their noses up. European experience can always help a squad especially with loads of new players coming in.

 

[jimmyb2000]

If no Champions League then we must be in Europe League.
Our European record is bad enough without willing us to miss out on a chance to win a trophy.

Could you imagine Real Madrid or Barca fans wishing they had a season out of Europe -?

 

[DomesticTadpole]

Could just about deal with the EL as some good teams in it. The Conference League, no thanks.

 

[Edy2]

Better to not be in Europe in this club's position. Need to sort out the team, figure out who's on board and who's not and then get fitness up to scratch and work on the technical side which has been abysmal this season. This will only come with training. More training sessions needed which Europe would get in the way of.

 

[Ralph1386]

Europa or outside.

 

[izec]

Outside. Managers take it seriously and play good teams. Think we should focus on getting the philosophy across and having some free time to rest, as the new style will be energy consuming and our snowflakes will complain.

If we would play the bench/reserves/youth, yes. But that wont happen, so no

 

[Sandikan]

Arsenal showed the benefit of missing out on Europe all together.
But you probably want to be in the Europa for some sort of esteem. The other one is a just a farce for prem teams.

 

[fergiewherearethou]

I believe the idea would be to play as much as possible to gel the team and earn some chemistry, so I would say a shot at a trophy and more games would be beneficial.
Also I would like to see us play as much as possible next season.

 

[djembatheking]

I normally never want to turn down European games as the more games the better usually but with the amount of players leaving it would benefit the manager more to have less games with a smaller squad and more time on the training ground. A lot of people say play the kids but in reality it doesn`t work out like that and at the business end of the season if we are still in it then it would no doubt have a detrimental effect on our league games as we won`t have the squad to cope with it.

 

[Irwin99]

The Europa League is one route into the champions league and it might be a way for ten Hag to assess some of the younger players I guess.

 

[-Supreme-]

I believe the idea would be to play as much as possible to gel the team and earn some chemistry, so I would say a shot at a trophy and more games would be beneficial.
Also I would like to see us play as much as possible next season.

Agreed. It provides a good platform for ETH to rotate and assess the squad.

 

[Statue of Limitations]

I would be okay with Conference if we committed to playing youth and fringe players.

My preference is no European footy for the season if it is not CL and fully focus on the league, like Arsenal were able to do this year.

 

[TMDaines]

Do people not remember how shit and empty seasons feel without European football, especially when you inevitably aren’t going to be good enough to be in a title race?

 

[FootyGirl88]

Where do we need to finish to get EL? I feel like they’ve changed the rules, I thought it was 5th/6th place.

 

[Volksie316]

We need to finish the season as strongly as possible.

This club needs European Football, even if it’s the Europa, but the Conference League, must be avoided at all costs.

If we can’t get Europa, then I hope we miss out all together.

 

[croadyman]

We don’t deserve any European football

But Europa league would still be good because it’s a brilliant trophy to win and CL qualification

Rather no European football than play in the conference league though

Yes CL qualification but not brilliant trophy

 

[OleTheGreat]

The fact that we are discussing this shows how far we have fallen.

True that!

 

[17Larsson]

CL or nothing. One game a week to totally focus on. Allows us to get rid of a few more players without needing to replace them immediately

 

[Sparky Rhiwabon]

Just to play the kids and fringe players. Would be a could experience for them.

The Conference would be a good opportunity for this if we commit to actually doing this, but you know that, in reality, this wouldn’t happen, we’d just rotate some players and it would become a distraction from the league (see Leicester this season)

 

[LawCharltonBest]

Yes CL qualification but not brilliant trophy

I like it. Wish we’d won it a year ago. And was very happy when we won it with Mourinho. It’s a decent competition once you get to the last 8

 

[Chicharo]

Just to play the kids and fringe players. Would be a could experience for them.

This. Especially if we are really gonna make huge changes in the squad as we all expect. Apart from that it would be painful to watch it, esp. ECL

 

[1988]

The more games the better I'd guess. ten Hag will need games to get cohesion and synergy. And it wouldn't hurt to have games where the squad depth can be used.

I wouldn't find any pride in United winning Conference League but for the sake of ten Hag getting more games I'd be OK with whatever.

 

[Annihilate Now!]

Worst case scenario is we end up in the Conference League so pretty much guarantee that’s what will happen. No European football probably best for ETH as gives more time with players which he’s going to need.

Conversley, any European competition gives the team an opportunity to get use to ETH style of play in actual competitive games.