Europa league priority

Devil81

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Even at this early stage it's clear enough to see top four is going to be a huge ask this season. That being said it can't be ignored we have another route into next season Champions league.

Given most of the bigger clubs in the competition usually see it as a distraction I think we should go down the Frankfurt route and throw all our eggs into winning the competition.
 

RaddyRed

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Are you confident this current group of players have the ability or desire to win it?

They think they are above having to run against the likes of Brentford so I'd imagine they believe they are above the EL.
 

Yakuza_devils

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If I'm not wrong, UEFA champions league rules have changed. From this year, finishing 5th in the league may also qualify us for CL due to some coefficient score or something.
 

Spaghetti

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If I'm not wrong, UEFA champions league rules have changed. From this year, finishing 5th in the league may also qualify us for CL due to some coefficient score or something.
I think that starts next season, might be wrong.

Even still, can’t see us getting fifth.
 

ratburger

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IIRC, 2024-25 is the first season that the Premier League would get a 5th CL spot, assuming the PL is one of the top two leagues in Europe, coefficient-wise, the previous year.
 

Bastian

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The question is - if you prioritise Europa over top 4 - what team do you select? I think we should bin most of the senior players and play a hungry enthusiastic side and live with the ups and downs because at the very least they won't be a team of cnuts and they'll develop with this manager.
 

Lay

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It needs to be a priority. Top 4 will be tough even if there's the whole season to go. I don't fancy our chances though.
 

Nou_Camp99

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Lose at home to Brighton and get spanked by Brentford 4-0.....this team won't win the Europa League mate. It's not got the minerals for it. As soon as we concede we fall apart.
 

sullydnl

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Yes. I don't think we have any real chance of a meaningful league position, so this has to become the priority.

If we managed to win the Europe League that would now be an excellent season for us in itself. Easier said than done though.
 

Yakuza_devils

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I think that starts next season, might be wrong.

Even still, can’t see us getting fifth.
I think 2022/23 season if we finished 5th then we will qualify for 2023/24 CL season. The 2023/24 will be the first season under this new rules to qualify for CL. In fact, I think we can even qualify without finishing 5th because Man Utd has higher coefficient score than many team in the league.
 

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We can prioritise whatever we like but we couldn't win a tombola in this state.
 

Woziak

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Yes. I don't think we have any real chance of a meaningful league position, so this has to become the priority.

If we managed to win the Europe League that would now be an excellent season for us in itself. Easier said than done though.
We need to concentrate on staying in the PL first, then Europa League is our priority.
 

Woziak

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I think 2022/23 season if we finished 5th then we will qualify for 2023/24 CL season. The 2023/24 will be the first season under this new rules to qualify for CL. In fact, I think we can even qualify without finishing 5th because Man Utd has higher coefficient score than many team in the league.
It’s the 2023/24 season, the European country with the highest co efficiency would gain a 5th place for season 2024/25 so let’s concentrate on staying in the PL first this year to maybe have a chance of coming 5th next season. It’s no longer based on individual clubs but countries.
 

rimaldo

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there’s a lot of guff being talked in here. some of the teams in the competition may come from cyprus and armenia. some of them will even be semi-pro and subsidising their living with a wage from platting football. we’ve got no hope.
 

Offside

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Not at all. There's no way we make top four and with the EL we at least have a trophy can win in theory. Not that these guys have the guts to do it
This makes no sense. There’s 36 games to go so “no way we make top 4” is not certain. Narrative changes very quickly as it did a couple of years ago when we got spanked by Spurs and Palace.

And by your logic of going by what we’ve seen after 2 games, then there’s absolutely no way we win the Europa League either.
 

Ronnie O'Sullivan

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We should try to get 3rd place in the Europa Group standings and earn a place in the conference. There is 0% chance we can win the Europa League. Conference League maybe 5% chance.
 

Chief123

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It looks like Europa League will be our priority for the next couple of weeks.

2 games of Europa before we play our next game. Guessing we can play a stronger lineup.
 

tomaldinho1

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Personally I think no midweek game and sole focus on the league is more likely to get us CL than trying to do everything. Chelsea are going to have an interesting season, Pool look broken, Spurs and Arsenal simply aren't that amazing. A transitioning United can make top four but we need players fit, the EL is a major risk with it's Thurs kick offs and extra games.
 

DanielofLeyland

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Just get a system that works and play well then see what happens. Never understand the talk of 'prioritising'. If we are good enough then we will win more games then we lose. Let's see what happens if Erik gets us playing consistently well.
 

el3mel

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I would like to win it but I don't think we are good enough to challenge for both top 4 and EL at the same time, and at the moment, getting top 4 is probably more important for the team's future than winning this one. We can try to win domestic cups instead.
 

Trequarista10

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It looks like Europa League will be our priority for the next couple of weeks.

2 games of Europa before we play our next game. Guessing we can play a stronger lineup.
I'm not sure this is correct, unless more games are going to be cancelled? From what I can see so far, there's a Europa game next Thursday, then 2 PL games before the next Europa game. Unless I'm missing something.
 

B. Munich

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I would like to win it but I don't think we are good enough to challenge for both top 4 and EL at the same time, and at the moment, getting top 4 is probably more important for the team's future than winning this one. We can try to win domestic cups instead.
How so? If you win the EL you will be automatically qualified for the CL. No need of a top 4 finish.
 

el3mel

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How so? If you win the EL you will be automatically qualified for the CL. No need of a top 4 finish.
Cementing us as one of the top teams in the league is more important at the moment for the club than winning a 2nd tier European competition. Winning it will be fun and will get us CL alright but becoming closer to the top guns in the league will be better for the team's development imo than winning it and finishing 6th.
 

Dread Devil

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I think Ten Hag might think Top 4 will be easier than winning the Europa league…

Man City are guaranteed top four and most likely first.

There are huge problems at Liverpool, they have run out of steam and energy…something has fallen off a cliff there. Are they allowed Asthma Steroids anymore?something has gone very wrong.

Chelsea have problems, albeit they have a new manager who is very good but it will take a while for him to settle with this squad…

I would have thought that after those three the next contenders are Spurs and the Gooners….but I don’t think they will have the stamina or squads for a season like this….


Looking at Ten Hags first line up in the Europa league, I think he has his eyes on the League…and I think he is right….

We have a greater chance of making top four with the first team and trying to qualify with a mix in the Europa league..hopefully we can strengthen one or two positions in Jan and go for both.
 
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KirkDuyt

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I wish all clubs would just take the EL seriously. There's plenty of big teams in it. Especially for teams like Tottenham who have won feck all (have they actually ever won a trophy?) The arrogance of not giving it your all is baffling to me.
 

Chief123

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I'm not sure this is correct, unless more games are going to be cancelled? From what I can see so far, there's a Europa game next Thursday, then 2 PL games before the next Europa game. Unless I'm missing something.
Ah yes of course. Just one game on Thursday which we can field a full strength team.
 

RedOrange

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I wish all clubs would just take the EL seriously. There's plenty of big teams in it. Especially for teams like Tottenham who have won feck all (have they actually ever won a trophy?) The arrogance of not giving it your all is baffling to me.
It's not arrogance that stops clubs from taking these seriously, it's the extra 6-12 matches that wear out the players too much unless you've got enough depth.

The EL isn't beneath us, we just can't afford to play the full starting 11 twice a week, because we're absolutely dire without any single one of them.
 

Tap

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It's not arrogance that stops clubs from taking these seriously, it's the extra 6-12 matches that wear out the players too much unless you've got enough depth.

The EL isn't beneath us, we just can't afford to play the full starting 11 twice a week, because we're absolutely dire without any single one of them.
We can give less priority to the domestic cups. They are not as prestigious and don’t offer automatic CL qualification anyway.
 

TheRedHearted

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We can give less priority to the domestic cups. They are not as prestigious and don’t offer automatic CL qualification anyway.
Yep.
It’s a catch 22 with Europa. I’m happy because it gives this team European experience but honestly come next summer we’ll have more of a new team anyway. Is it more important we let ten Hag stamp his philosophy on the team and let them have rest? Part of me thinks so, the other part says no EL is a good way to champions league. I’m torn!
 

tentan

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So we could have potentially six teams in the Champions league?
 

Tyrion

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I think we should prioritise the league given that we might actually have an outside chance of top 4 given Chelsea's and Liverpool's struggles. Arsenal and Spurs aren't all that reliable either.

That said, we should do enough to last until the latter stages in case we fall behind in the league.

We can give less priority to the domestic cups. They are not as prestigious and don’t offer automatic CL qualification anyway.
Personally I think the FA Cup is still more prestigious. It just doesn't give CL qualification.
 

cyril C

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How so? If you win the EL you will be automatically qualified for the CL. No need of a top 4 finish.
So you think winning Europa is piece of cake, ask Ole.

Group games, 1/16, and even 1/8 are potentially easier (unless you meet Liverpool or Chelsea), thus good venue for fringe players to get some game time. Do you prefer Maguire start against City or Spurs, or some club names that you can't pronounce. The same can be true for Ronaldo. Rest key players in the earlier Europa games, until we reach 1/4.
 

Threesus

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It is definitely important to win it this season. How is dubravka on penalties?
 

suheilsworld

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I’m in for prioritizing league and Europa together and I’m sure ETH will get the whole team playing well in both the competition soon enough. Another bit of reason to take Europa a bit seriously is to ensure we finish 1st in the group and not 2nd to avoid playing the 3rd place CL group team and directly going to R16 matches
 

OlsensHummelBoots

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Let's be fair, beggars can't be choosers and if United got any chance of silverware this year it'll obviously be in one of the cups.

Put aside the Sociedad result and if we go through the group stage, I'll suggest we've shown enough against Liverpool and Arsenal we got the capabilities to win a cup.

Whether it's the Carabao, FA or the Europa? I'm not particularly arsed. It would represent progress, give the support something to be excited about and if the Europa give Champions League qualification which I'm not confident we'll be able to do via the league this season.

Some on here must still think we're a nailed on 'Top 4' team if we can afford to turn our noses up at a piece of silverware? Never really understood that mentality anyway?
 
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TheLord

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I think we have a better chance of winning the Europa and getting a CL spot next season that finishing fourth in the League.

Our major problem is consistency; we look decent in one match, and dreadful in another.

That said, we will likely do neither.