Nobody realises how hard it is to balance Europe with the premier league. From the position we was in it looked like we was down and out. We’re in a European semi final whilst balancing it with the biggest relegation dog fight, well, I’d argue since our last. That is seriously impressive. We’ve also had FOUR managers to add on top of that and so much shite going on off the pitch with a hatred from other premier league teams who wanted to see us fail. Go prove everyone wrong you shagging reds!
by Gullible_Bike_3272
6 Comments
Spurs literally did this last year
Majority of that hardship is of our own making
It’s not an overlooked impressive feat, constantly hiring and firing square pegs.
I genuinely think that people DO realise that it’s hard to balance PL and Europe, we’ve heard it all season long and it gets brought up quite often.
I take your broader point though, all things considered we’re fighting valiantly. It’s been a trainwreck of a season and to think we could still have something to celebrate at the end, it could turn out to be great still. I actually quite enjoy being disliked by fans of other clubs. Who wants to be liked by everyone? The feeling is reciprocated anyway. I don’t like any of those fuckers either.
If we do win Europa (which seems unlikely but who knows) I’d be concerned about next season, when we’ve got to figure out a way to compete in the Champions League with this squad. We’d need big changes, but I feel like what we really need right now is stability.
There will be another team – or two – in our position next year. Whether it’s Brighton, Bournemouth, Brentford, Everton – they’ll find themselves in Europe and they’ll struggle to stretch the squad over so many games with all the associated travel.
Bigger clubs than us struggle to balance the two sets of demands. Look at Spurs.
Also it’s no surprise that United are punching above their weight this season and City have had their best spell of the season since going out of Europe
Yeah, it’s pretty common to have a bad season your first time juggling Europe and the Prem. I think the Europa League is probably the most challenging one schedule wise because it doesn’t pay enough to let you massively bolster the squad like a CL position would and you can’t just play the kids like you would in the Conference League.
So all being told, to be in the last 4 of the Europa and trending towards being safe in the Prem, alongside all the unforced errors we’ve had this season (Nuno v Edu, Ange, Dyche and the worst set of signings you’ve ever seen), we’re not doing too badly.