Europa League 25/26

[Username]

Letting Kali go isn’t great but we do have options - MGW or JMc can play as a false 9 and Ndoye has the attributes to do a job there. Not great but how often does a team stumble on a solution through adversity? Next man up attitude of cooper was great- we had players chomping at the bit and willing to commit to the team at expense of their own games - e.g. Colback at left back. Trouble is I don’t see SD doing that and using it as an excuse and commenting against the squad. Cooper was brilliant on the whole of squad management and team spirit (Worrall may disagree!).

I’d understand that if we were in control of our European future but there’s too much at stake right now.

[The reds]

Ola Aina back in the squad. Zinchenko not in the squad anymore.

[BomberBowyer]

Ola Aina back in the squad. Zinchenko not in the squad anymore.

Wonder if there is any chance Zinc goes back? Not like we have FA or League cup games for him to play in and PL wise he’s a liability and won’t oust Williams.

[DeesideRed]

Ola Aina back in the squad. Zinchenko not in the squad anymore.

Be nice is that was across the board  :Up Yours:

[Username]

He could play in midfield if Yates is out for a while, I’m not keen on Dominguez in that deeper role tbh.

[Sausage Roll]

It's REALLY tight at the top of the table as it stands now. We don't win tonight it's very unlikely we make the top eight. Though as it stands right now even if we lose tonight we definitely make the playoffs.

That's now though - still 45 minutes to go.

[stirred]

The results went our way, if we had won we would be top 8.

[stirred]

The top 7 are mathematically out of reach. No way we get top 8 being 15th now. So that’s 2 extra play off matches.

[wassy04]

It does feel like qualifying for Europe is a bit of a poisoned chalice. It's obviously great but its so many more matches. You can try it like Palace and make no changes and burn yourselves out (whilst also not even making top 8). Or you can take our approach and watch your non starters show why they don't start.

Aside from Arsenal and Villa, pretty much every European team has struggled in the league with injuries and worse than expected results. Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs, Palace and us.

Whereas teams that have not looked great but have less matches eg Man Utd, Brentford, Sunderland, Everton (us last year) are benefitting. Gives you hope for next season if we stay up I suppose. Maybe CL for the money or nothing is what you want.

Anyway, all that said, we're through to round 2, so a minimum of 3 more games! This might not come around again so I'm gonna try and enjoy it. Hopefully we at least play our best team for the knockout matches. Grind out a few penalty shootout wins perhaps.

[DeesideRed]

It does feel like qualifying for Europe is a bit of a poisoned chalice. It's obviously great but its so many more matches. You can try it like Palace and make no changes and burn yourselves out (whilst also not even making top 8). Or you can take our approach and watch your non starters show why they don't start.

Aside from Arsenal and Villa, pretty much every European team has struggled in the league with injuries and worse than expected results. Man City, Liverpool, Chelsea, Spurs, Palace and us.

Whereas teams that have not looked great but have less matches eg Man Utd, Brentford, Sunderland, Everton (us last year) are benefitting. Gives you hope for next season if we stay up I suppose. Maybe CL for the money or nothing is what you want.

Anyway, all that said, we're through to round 2, so a minimum of 3 more games! This might not come around again so I'm gonna try and enjoy it. Hopefully we at least play our best team for the knockout matches. Grind out a few penalty shootout wins perhaps.

Think Villa struggled in their first European season. It's only wolves in memory who have qualified for Europe for first time then kept same PL level. 

Guess the manager ..

[Sniffer Dog (Admin)]

Who cares about Wolves and Villa.

We are here for the Forest.

EL is the second biggest cup competition in Europe and the winner even goes into the CL.

We have spent the last 30 odd years yearning to be back in Europe.

So stop pretending it doesn't matter.

Because it does matter and it matters a lot.

[wassy04]

Who cares about Wolves and Villa.

We are here for the Forest.

EL is the second biggest cup competition in Europe and the winner even goes into the CL.

We have spent the last 30 odd years yearning to be back in Europe.

So stop pretending it doesn't matter.

Because it does matter and it matters a lot.

Not sure anyone is saying it doesn't matter, Europa League is everything for us this year. I said we should just play the first team yesterday and secure that top 8 spot. 

The post was more of a mitigation in general that its just really hard to manage both competitions and that there are too many matches really. You rotate and you play terribly, you don't rotate and you get burnt out and end up playing terribly later on anyway. You need those squad players to step up to manage it and they haven't.