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Europa League 2017-2018

Would you be okay with Wenger staying on as manager if he wins the Europa League?


  • Total voters
    30

Yousif Arsenal

On Vinai's payroll & misses 4th place trophy 🏆
Trusted ⭐
Koln look s**t no wins in league yet 1 goal scored. So I'm expecting very smiliar performance and result against Bournemouth.

Excited to see Nelson and hopefully jack start too.
 

HK_Gooner

Member
Would be insane to play our best 11 with a top 6 match this weekend. I would advocate that Wenger not even go to the game on Thursday and just stay home and run practices for the Chelsea game. Doing well in the Prem >>> doing well in a 2nd tier European competition featuring FC Kovlakistan.

We barely miss CL last year and have a rough start, and now everyone thinks its impossible for us to make top 4. Bad games happen. Liverpool just got demolished and you don't see pundits saying they have no shot at top 4. Only at Arsenal. Its September people.
 

tcahill

Well-Known Member
--------------Giroud

-----Alexis/Welbeck-Iwobi

AMN-Elneny-Wilshere-Debuchy

----Chambers-Per-Mustafi

This team should beat Cologne, but away from home I can see a potentially even clash.

Points of doubt;
-Wingbacks; AMN has been struggling recently, including as a WB. Debuchy is fit again, and Bellerin needs a rest before Chelsea. He looked decent when he last played eons ago, and should have the natural stamina to make a good WB.
-Midfield; Wilshere is going to be a little rusty, has never played with Elneny before. Looks like a decent partnership on paper though.

Cologne shouldn't be underestimated, as they finished 5th in the Bundesliga last season, on the other hand they're dead last in the league right now, coming of a 3-0 thumping by FC Augsburg, who are a solid team but nothing special. T
-They are pretty decent at counters, which is a real weakness of our 3-4-3 formation.
-They also possibly could be resting some key players (wouldn't bank on this though).
 

Tywin

Active Member
We should be able to rotate and still get results. Bear in mind its a knockout competition later on playing our first team all the way is no certainty that we will win it. The game against Chelsea is more important than this one imo. Wont these ****ers be rotating a bit as well or are they no hopers for the CL?
 

DanDare

Emoji Merchant and Believer-In-Chief
Trusted ⭐

Player:Saliba
We should really exploit the Europa league as a chance for rotation and rest.

Winning itbreally only means you're 17th best in Europe but I think the emotional capital and reputations you gain from international fans is bigger than its competitive worth. For building our commercial revenues I'm sure to win it would have some value
 

pikey2000

Well-Known Member
We should really exploit the Europa league as a chance for rotation and rest.

Winning itbreally only means you're 17th best in Europe but I think the emotional capital and reputations you gain from international fans is bigger than its competitive worth. For building our commercial revenues I'm sure to win it would have some value

Winning it means we enter the Champions League doesn't it? I'd say that alone is enough to make it our primary objective outside of the league this year.
 

DanDare

Emoji Merchant and Believer-In-Chief
Trusted ⭐

Player:Saliba
Winning it means we enter the Champions League doesn't it? I'd say that alone is enough to make it our primary objective outside of the league this year.

I think finishing in the qualifying positions (ideally winning the league) is a higher priority than getting in through winning Europa
 

Tywin

Active Member
For a club that has won as few european trophies as Arsenal and a manager who has never won one before you would think that the EL would be a decent pot. I would say its a bigger trophy than the FA Cup/League Cup as well.
 

HK_Gooner

Member
If we cannot get out of the group stages fielding a weakened side, then that's fine. We won't have the extra fixtures in the 2nd half of the season and will have more rest and hopefully fewer injuries. Our starters will be fresher than the teams playing in the CL. Maybe we'll also get knocked out of the FA Cup early and clear out the schedule even more.

In 2013-14, Liverpool had no Europe, got knocked out of the Carling Cup in the 3rd round and FA cup in the 5th. Starting from Feb 16th of that year, they played one fixture a week for the remainder of the season, which was the last 12 fixtures of the season. They went 10-1-1 in those matches and missed the title by two points. Resting your starters and having a full week to prepare against opponents is a very big deal.

If we are able to get out of the group stages, then the round of 32 is in February. At that point, we'll know where we are in terms of the league and can start thinking about what is the best way back into the CL and prioritize accordingly.

Last season, when the round of 32 came up (also Feb), Man U were sitting in 6th place in the league. At that point, Mourinho played all his first choice players in every Europa league fixture. Likely we will do the same if top 4 in the league is looking bad. If we are sniffing at the title, though, I hope we play the kids in Europa and go for the league.
 

Mitch

Blonde Brigade Grand Wizard
I want to see:

----------------Giroud-----------
---------Iwobi--------Walcott---------
AMN----Wilshere-Elneny--Nelson
------Holding-Per--Chambers---
------------------Ospina-------------
 

RoadrunnerReloaded

Active Member
Would be insane to play our best 11 with a top 6 match this weekend. I would advocate that Wenger not even go to the game on Thursday and just stay home and run practices for the Chelsea game. Doing well in the Prem >>> doing well in a 2nd tier European competition featuring FC Kovlakistan.

I don't understand and completely disagree with this snobby, elitist attitude.

The EL guarantees entry into the CL, we are the favorites (highest squad cost in the EL!), Wenger does not have a European trophy. It would be foolish to not do everything we can to win the EL.

Ajax, Dortmund, Liverpool and Manchester United all took the EL seriously. All four clubs tried their hardest to win it. What do those four clubs have in common that we don't?
They have all actually won the CL, unlike us. And they still aren't turning their noses up at the EL. Yet Wenger with 0 European trophies to his name should just bin off the competition because some of you think we are too good for it?

Utter lunacy to suggest that. If anything bin off the two useless domestic cups that offer us nothing. I'd much rather start all youth in the two domestic useless Cups.
I'd trade all 3 of our recent FA Cup wins recently for 1 EL win this year.

Seriously no one cares about domestic cups anymore. The EL is more prestigious than any domestic cup.
 

HK_Gooner

Member
I don't understand and completely disagree with this snobby, elitist attitude.

The EL guarantees entry into the CL, we are the favorites (highest squad cost in the EL!), Wenger does not have a European trophy. It would be foolish to not do everything we can to win the EL.

Ajax, Dortmund, Liverpool and Manchester United all took the EL seriously. All four clubs tried their hardest to win it. What do those four clubs have in common that we don't?
They have all actually won the CL, unlike us. And they still aren't turning their noses up at the EL. Yet Wenger with 0 European trophies to his name should just bin off the competition because some of you think we are too good for it?

Utter lunacy to suggest that. If anything bin off the two useless domestic cups that offer us nothing. I'd much rather start all youth in the two domestic useless Cups.
I'd trade all 3 of our recent FA Cup wins recently for 1 EL win this year.

Seriously no one cares about domestic cups anymore. The EL is more prestigious than any domestic cup.

So I'm elitist because I dont care about the EL, yet you are not elitist when you don't care about the FA Cup? Are we too good for the FA Cup? Aren't we one of the favorites?

If you rate the EL highly, that's fine. I don't. If you asked me who won the last 5 EL cups, I would be able to name 1. Just don't be a hypocrite and slag other people for not caring about a competition when you are "elitist" about other competitions.
 

tcahill

Well-Known Member
I don't understand and completely disagree with this snobby, elitist attitude.

The EL guarantees entry into the CL, we are the favorites (highest squad cost in the EL!), Wenger does not have a European trophy. It would be foolish to not do everything we can to win the EL.

Ajax, Dortmund, Liverpool and Manchester United all took the EL seriously. All four clubs tried their hardest to win it. What do those four clubs have in common that we don't?
They have all actually won the CL, unlike us. And they still aren't turning their noses up at the EL. Yet Wenger with 0 European trophies to his name should just bin off the competition because some of you think we are too good for it?

Utter lunacy to suggest that. If anything bin off the two useless domestic cups that offer us nothing. I'd much rather start all youth in the two domestic useless Cups.
I'd trade all 3 of our recent FA Cup wins recently for 1 EL win this year.

Seriously no one cares about domestic cups anymore. The EL is more prestigious than any domestic cup.

I agree, would much rather win the EL than the FA Cup. We're the laughing stock of europe right now, and winning the EL could partly address that.

However, I think the common view in this forum if you read previous posts is to play our B team in the group stages, while gradually introduce more first XI players as we need to when the games get more difficult. To me this makes much more sense, we can see the effect of having fully rested players on the league. Our B team should be easily capable of winning our group. The teams you mentioned also fielded weaker teams in the earlier stages.
 

RoadrunnerReloaded

Active Member
So I'm elitist because I dont care about the EL, yet you are not elitist when you don't care about the FA Cup? Are we too good for the FA Cup? Aren't we one of the favorites?

We won 3 of the last 4 FA Cups. What practical benefit did it offer us? Did it allow us to resign our best players? No. Did the 3 out of 4 FA Cups convince our squad player that we were more likely to challenge than Liverpool? No. Did winning 3 FA Cups get us into the CL? No.

The EL offers concrete practical benefits that far outweigh anything 3 FA Cups in 4 years has offered us.

If you rate the EL highly, that's fine. I don't. If you asked me who won the last 5 EL cups, I would be able to name 1. Just don't be a hypocrite and slag other people for not caring about a competition when you are "elitist" about other competitions.

EL offers CL berth. FA Cup does not. One attitude is pragmatic while the other is snobby and naively looks down on a much more valuable competition for our club.
 

RoadrunnerReloaded

Active Member
I agree, would much rather win the EL than the FA Cup. We're the laughing stock of europe right now, and winning the EL could partly address that.

However, I think the common view in this forum if you read previous posts is to play our B team in the group stages, while gradually introduce more first XI players as we need to when the games get more difficult. To me this makes much more sense, we can see the effect of having fully rested players on the league. Our B team should be easily capable of winning our group. The teams you mentioned also fielded weaker teams in the earlier stages.

I have no problem fielding weaker teams as long as we do not prioritize the domestic Cups at all. I don't want to see any of our starting XI playing in domestic cups this year. That would be a complete waste.
 

Tywin

Active Member
The problem with EL is the schedule. We play in the EL get 2 days rest and face Chelsea. They play in the CL and get 4 days rest before facing us. The EL is obviously the biggest pot we can win this season since our title challenge is over but the short rest periods between matches is a killer.
 

HK_Gooner

Member
I agree, would much rather win the EL than the FA Cup. We're the laughing stock of europe right now, and winning the EL could partly address that.

However, I think the common view in this forum if you read previous posts is to play our B team in the group stages, while gradually introduce more first XI players as we need to when the games get more difficult. To me this makes much more sense, we can see the effect of having fully rested players on the league. Our B team should be easily capable of winning our group. The teams you mentioned also fielded weaker teams in the earlier stages.

I dunno... I see the poll results, so clearly I'm in the minority here, but I really don't see why (outside of CL qualification) we should be proud of winning this.

Last season, Man U won Europa. I have probably 10+ friends who are Man U fans, and they had a field day with me and my Arsenal friends for not making CL. They never once attempted to rub our faces in the fact that they won Europa last year. My Liverpool fan friends still bring up the fact that they won the CL back in 2005.
We won 3 of the last 4 FA Cups. What practical benefit did it offer us? Did it allow us to resign our best players? No. Did the 3 out of 4 FA Cups convince our squad player that we were more likely to challenge than Liverpool? No. Did winning 3 FA Cups get us into the CL? No.

The EL offers concrete practical benefits that far outweigh anything 3 FA Cups in 4 years has offered us.



EL offers CL berth. FA Cup does not. One attitude is pragmatic while the other is snobby and naively looks down on a much more valuable competition for our club.

No, I'm pretty sure you're the snob that thinks that everyone should care about what you care about. We've made CL many, many years. It is meaningless compared to one league title. If you can't rationalize that people think that winning the league is more important than playing CL, there's nothing to discuss.
 

RoadrunnerReloaded

Active Member
I dunno... I see the poll results, so clearly I'm in the minority here, but I really don't see why (outside of CL qualification) we should be proud of winning this.

Last season, Man U won Europa. I have probably 10+ friends who are Man U fans, and they had a field day with me and my Arsenal friends for not making CL. They never once attempted to rub our faces in the fact that they won Europa last year. My Liverpool fan friends still bring up the fact that they won the CL back in 2005.


No, I'm pretty sure you're the snob that thinks that everyone should care about what you care about. We've made CL many, many years. It is meaningless compared to one league title. If you can't rationalize that people think that winning the league is more important than playing CL, there's nothing to discuss.

You believe that our current squad managed by 2017 Wenger is a good shout to win the league?
 

Tywin

Active Member
I would be happy with the EL obviously its not a CL or league title but its still a bigger trophy than the FA Cup or League Cup. You wouldnt be going around screaming about winning an FA Cup or League Cup would you? Doesnt mean its not nice to win a pot especially a european one. God knows our euopean trophy cabinet is pretty fkin empty.
 
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