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Europa League

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Earlier this season we played much better football with less possession, and looked much better through the counter attack then anything else. I was more nervous about playing the teams such as Palace who are happy to not have the ball and look to counter. Norwich, Burnley, Sheff utd, Villa all examples of teams we struggled to break down. I wasn't too surprised when we picked up the points under big Dunc, in the so called tougher games, as we had the chance to play football within the spaces of the opposition half, something not possible against the 'smaller' teams who were simply crowding us out.

For this reason, i am looking forward to our next few games, way more than i was our last few. Europa league here we come!
 
Gaffa said:
Apart from them at home I don’t think it’s a hard run of fixtures
Are people really worried about Manchester United these days
Did anyone see Arsenal at Burnley last week they are awful too
Leicester are not the same team pre Xmas
We’ve a good run of homes bar them lot
Chelsea and Tottenham away be tough but nothing else worries me
Take 4 points from next two easily
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  • My opinion on United is that they are erratic. On their day, they can be good, but who knows what United will turn up?
  • Again, Arsenal and Chelsea are just them games we don't win, we bottle it, but confidence is high. What works in our favour is Arsenal are off for a tough game in Greece against Olympiacos on the Thursday night. Won't be getting back until very early hours of Friday morning, which hampers their prep.
  • Chelsea too, they'll be playing Liverpool on the Wednesday in the cup, so lets hope that goes to Extra time.t
  • If Spurs beat Leipzig, they'll be playing the week before playing us
So the teams around us all have games before playing us, which hopefully will work for us.

Still trying to be pessimistic.
 
Sod the Thursday Cup, target Chelsea...only 5pts ahead, go balls out for 4th.
12 games.


Yes I realise I've totally jinxed it now, but 14th to 4th are in their own little inconsistency league...we've started, how long it will last who knows, being less inconsistent.
Its on I tells ya.
on-diddly-'kin-on.
 
WeAreEvertonians said:
Wolves are behind us, the same us you’ve been massively critical of, the same us who have had 3 managers with about a third of the season to go. You’re terrible at this.
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Aye because we've played a game in hand you daft knacker.

Regardless of where they are in relation to us they are 3 points off 5th - thereforr they are not struggling this season are they.
 

Catfish Blues said:
But, qualifying, and playing in the Europa might also be a decent stepping stone towards playing in the Champions League, and I reckon anyone who can't see that, and would rather skip European nights for a season or two, is a bit weird.
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Call me weird if you so wish, however for our long-term interests/benefits I would prefer for the club to miss the Europa League, for a number of reasons.

Before anyone mentions it, yes it's great for us fans, who get to go on jollies, and I've always thoroughly enjoyed going to Europe with the blues - it's a privilege.

However, the whole rigid Thursday and Sunday routine, often flying to the depths of nowhere, is something that I feel has a negative impact on our domestic game.

It's all well and good when people mention sending the youth players, but it still upsets the players with jet-lag and has a negative impact on coaching options.

At least with the Champions League, you have the rotating Tuesday and Wednesday option, and the next match can be Saturday (minimum of two day break).

You then have the point that that to win the thing requires nineteen games, has much less kudos and doesn't really fill the bank with prize money or sponsorship.

It may be a more sensible (less emotive) approach, nevertheless I would wish we aimed to push on in the league AND really focus on a domestic cup.

The end goal would be therefore competing for a CL space (that's a risk I admit) or winning a much required trophy, with much less games required to win it.

By the way, if we did get into Europe then I would fully support the club and players and would want to win it!
 
barneygumble said:
As much as i want to get excited, i'll be grounded as they come until we play our next run of games.

Arsenal A
United H
Chelsea A
RS H
Norwich A
Leicester H
Spurs A

The pessimist in me knows we've got a complex of getting results at the Emirates and at Stamford Bridge, which could be a huge factor.
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Ancelotti doesn't have a complex though. He has those players thinking they can win. You have to remember also - Chelsea and Arsenal have inexperienced managers. Man Utd have a poor manager. We will beat Liverpool. Ancelotti knows how to beat Liverpool.
 
barneygumble said:
As much as i want to get excited, i'll be grounded as they come until we play our next run of games.

Arsenal A
United H
Chelsea A
RS H
Norwich A
Leicester H
Spurs A

The pessimist in me knows we've got a complex of getting results at the Emirates and at Stamford Bridge, which could be a huge factor.
Click to expand...

The next 4 games we simply have to put another body in midfield imo. Our midfield is just not good enough to compete effectively well enough - maybe against the likes of Newcastle and Palace but the likes of Chelsea and Liverpool are a different proposition.

We need to go into these doing what the likes of Newcastle and Wolves do - 5-3-2 with 2 holding mids and using the fullbacks and extra man in the middle to burst forward on the counter to supply the front two and try make it an ugly 1-0/ 2-1 scrappy win.

Im not bothered if its ugly its the most effective way especially with a midfield as poor as ours.
 
tremont said:
Ancelotti doesn't have a complex though. He has those players thinking they can win. You have to remember also - Chelsea and Arsenal have inexperienced managers. Man Utd have a poor manager. We will beat Liverpool. Ancelotti knows how to beat Liverpool.
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Perhaps.

But you can’t change players over night.

I want to be wrong. I’d happily be wrong.

Just think they’ll be The games we struggle in.
 

PhilM said:
Call me weird if you so wish, however for our long-term interests/benefits I would prefer for the club to miss the Europa League, for a number of reasons.

Before anyone mentions it, yes it's great for us fans, who get to go on jollies, and I've always thoroughly enjoyed going to Europe with the blues - it's a privilege.

However, the whole rigid Thursday and Sunday routine, often flying to the depths of nowhere, is something that I feel has a negative impact on our domestic game.

It's all well and good when people mention sending the youth players, but it still upsets the players with jet-lag and has a negative impact on coaching options.

At least with the Champions League, you have the rotating Tuesday and Wednesday option, and the next match can be Saturday (minimum of two day break).

You then have the point that that to win the thing requires nineteen games, has much less kudos and doesn't really fill the bank with prize money or sponsorship.

It may be a more sensible (less emotive) approach, nevertheless I would wish we aimed to push on in the league AND really focus on a domestic cup.

The end goal would be therefore competing for a CL space (that's a risk I admit) or winning a much required trophy, with much less games required to win it.

By the way, if we did get into Europe then I would fully support the club and players and would want to win it!
Click to expand...


Don't qualify for europe, so we can qualify for Europe.

Look at the Spurs model. Year on Year in Europe, building their rep, and seized their chance, personally, can't see why we can't have domestic runs and European runs?

Every other team does it. Teams like Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs have all played their kids in recent Europa runs, no reason why we couldn't in the earlier stages and in the far away games, and still compete for Top 4. Liverpool broke back in, Spurs broke in.

Stop with the excuses. In Carlo We Trust.
 
barneygumble said:
Don't qualify for europe, so we can qualify for Europe.

Look at the Spurs model. Year on Year in Europe, building their rep, and seized their chance, personally, can't see why we can't have domestic runs and European runs?

Every other team does it. Teams like Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs have all played their kids in recent Europa runs, no reason why we couldn't in the earlier stages and in the far away games, and still compete for Top 4. Liverpool broke back in, Spurs broke in.

Stop with the excuses. In Carlo We Trust.
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Until we have a squad with real strength in depth and that includes capable youth players, I unfortunately can't see us competing on multiple fronts.

Teams like Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs have historically have had this much better quality in depth, or at least to an extent, which has helped them flourish.

Apart from our first XI and our two injured central midfielders, we really do not have much more quality in our entire squad.
 
barneygumble said:
Perhaps.

But you can’t change players over night.

I want to be wrong. I’d happily be wrong.

Just think they’ll be The games we struggle in.
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Agreed, but here's the thing - I don't think he needs to change the players. He just needs to change them back. We have good players that have been mis-managed.

Chelsea, Man Utd and Arsenal don't fear us. They fear Ancelotti. Under him, we will be beat mediocre teams. Those teams are mediocre.

For The Derby, the pressure will be all on Liverpool. Klopp knows this, especially if they are still unbeaten when we play them. This isn't Marco Silva's Everton. This is Carlo Ancelotti's Everton. They will lose at Goodison.
 
Lloydystark said:
Wasn’t it like a million miles away too?
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Yeah they sent them to Baku. Arl on the fans that. Should have just had it at Wembley. They need to have 3 or 4 potential locations drawn up then once the finalists are sorted, make a sensible decision on the venue. I think Chelsea took about 4 fans to that.
 

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