Liverpool Consider ‘Sacrificing’ The Europa League Next Season – Is It The Right Thing To Do?
Liverpool manager Roy Hodgson has revealed today that he is, in so many words, considering ‘ditching’ next season’s Europa League campaign in order to help stabilise his squad ahead of a potentially gruelling domestic season.
Liverpool still have to qualify for the European competition via a two-legged preliminary fixture with Macedonian side FK Rabotnicki, and after that may face a further 17 games on the road to the final in Ireland next May.
Hodgson has been warned against deploying the players that were on World Cup duty, given that many only returned to pre-season training last week and those which featured in the final (Fernando Torres, Pepe Reina and Dirk Kuyt) are yet to return from their extended hiatus at all.
The newly-appointed manager has said that he will consult the medical team at Liverpool in order to assess his squads fitness for purpose, but also hinted that the final decision may not be his to make;
“I worry a lot about not having enough players for next week.
[The qualifiers against Rabotnicki] will be two unbelievably difficult games at this stage of the season but it depends where we put the Europa League in the grand scheme of things.
The sports scientists tell me it would be wrong if I use the World Cup players this early, if we want to use them throughout the season. But if we don’t throw them in, then we don’t have the players with experience to play these games, so it is a cleft stick.
It is a balance that I cannot sort out on my own. It will be a decision for the club to take on. Where in the list of priorities does the Europa League come?”
A good question.
One would naturally assume that, for a club of Liverpool’s self-imposed stature, the Europa League would feature fairly lowly in their list of ‘things-to-do’ – a piffling triviality to be endured in repentance for last season’s underwhelming efforts.
The competition itself carries none of the highfalutin’ glamour or financial boon that it’s bigger brother, the UEFA Champions League, can afford to lavish on it’s competitors (there is €7 million in prize-money for winning the CL, compared to the €1 million avaialable for taking the EL title) and is, by-proxy, seen by many of the larger clubs as a non-event or a waste of time – especially when you consider that there are potentially greater rewards on offer for a half-decent domestic showing.
The games themselves can easily stray into the ‘mickey mouse’ genus when you consider the sheer amount of teams that UEFA allow (160 to start with, from countries such as Malta and Armenia) to enter the tournament in the name of Euro-friendly diversity, without a seconds thought for the quality of football on show in what is supposedly a ‘showpiece’ competition – everybody, regardless of how sh*te they are, must get their chance (which I believe is engraved in Latin over the door of the UEFA headquarters in Nyon).
When you consider the squad in question, you begin to side with Hodgson’s insecurity.
Whereas I cannot fault the shrewd moves that Liverpool have already made in the transfer market this summer (Joe Cole, Milan Jovanovic and Danny Wilson), they are but three additions to a collective that is still pretty p*ss-weak numerically and in terms of depth in some fairly key areas.
With such a dearth of bodies available to him (and a reluctance to rush any further signings through in preparation), you’ve seriously got to question whether Hodgson’s heart is really in having to undertake the extra games that would be necessitated by playing in the Europa League, bearing in mind that it’s not the trophy that the club and it’s supporters feel it should be chasing – with most deeming an FA Cup victory to be a better, and altogether less taxing, measure of their prospective resurgence.
If Hodgson and the board truly have one eye on the greater good then maybe a fallow year with European competition on the back-burner (i.e. being prepared to drop out sooner rather than later) would allow Liverpool a bit more leverage in their quest to rebuild after a year or two of unrest, turmoil and a crucial loss of momentum.
Topics: English Premier League, Europa League, Features, Liverpool
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Well, at least our few England players won’t be too knackered after their world cup campaign…
July 23rd, 2010 @ 15:20All well and good, but a poor showing will dent our European seeding should we make it back into the Champions League next year !!!!
July 23rd, 2010 @ 15:39Babel and Reina never played so I dont see how either can be tired, having said that I wouldnt risk playing Reina in such easy games.
Now with the rest of the squad we have, I believe there is no need for any of our big guns to even be on the bench, who the hell is this rabotnicki anyway a bunch of nobodies. Beat them convincingly with the reserves and lets move on to the next round.
July 23rd, 2010 @ 15:45i agree , the europa league is a joke of a competition .the league cup ranks higher , plus if ,if, we have a good premiership campaign we will be forever playing catch up because of having to play on sunday as el games are played on thursday. get out as soon as possible
July 23rd, 2010 @ 15:50Let the younger players devolop in the europa league. If they get far then good on em. It will be a good opportunity to showcase their talents and push the way into the first squad..
July 23rd, 2010 @ 15:57Should certainly be down their below any other competition. Let our young lads see what they can do, and if they win let them go as far as they can. It will be valuable experience for them and a bonus for the club if they can get anywhere half way decent in the tournament.
July 23rd, 2010 @ 18:10I completely disagree with the author’s opinion that the Europa League is a worthless competition to participate. The quality is pretty low/high depending on the stage, just like CL. CL provides better quality in the latter stages but both tournaments are pretty competitive.
The author implies that somebody has to decide whether a team should participate in a competition based on how good they are. This is decided based on their domestic league performances and UEFA point system. What else do you need? A US College-type of filtering where coaches/journalists decide who is playing in the final stages? The author’s comments are complete nonsense.
Teams from all countries all allowed to participate in both tournaments (aren’t there teams from Malta and Armenia in CL qualifying stages?). And why shouldn’t they participate in the first place?
If people don’t like the quality of soccer in a competition then they shouldn’t watch it. Doesn’t the FA cup competition in England (and other countries) include lowly and mediocre teams from all divisions? Don’t these clubs deserve a chance to win such a title? I believe that’s part of the beauty of the competition. It’s truly European.
Why would the FA cup be more important for Liverpool to win than the Europa League? Europa League success will help Liverpool’s image outside of UK (which also means more money from advertsising, etc.).
July 23rd, 2010 @ 18:38I also don’t understand why playing less games per season would allow Liverpool’s squad to rebuild? If the squad depends again on 2-3 players like it did with Benitez then it will fail to win anything regardless of the number of games played. If it’s a more complete squad it needs games to gel. And if there is one competition to put in the back burner that’s the League cup as well as the first stages of the FA cup.
I am LFC fan and for me all European competitions as well as the Premiership should be the primary targets for this club.
What he is saying is that the squad cannot compete on all fronts and he wants the club to be aware of it. Clever plan to reduce expectations if you ask me
July 23rd, 2010 @ 22:26Oh this makes me laugh ‘pool fans crying into their brews, just soak it up as it will be the only silverware you will get near next year.
July 24th, 2010 @ 06:20Forget the Europa! At the end of the season if we win the Europa but finish 6th then it’s a bad season! But if we get knocked out of Europe early and compete for the title securing at least a CL spot then Roy’s first season will be a success!
July 24th, 2010 @ 08:20I am a liverpool fan i would stress that some of these players get paid maga money to play for the fans and the game they love. Dumping the E.L would be a big mistake it would effect or seedings for next year. I agree with some comments. Let the younger players play great experance for them but when your being payed 90 g’s a week BEG’S the question are you in for the money ?????? let our young liver birds play and mix it up with experance Roy will lead us in the way to glory ( YOULL NEVER WALK ALONE)
July 24th, 2010 @ 09:59The comments about the “Europe League” are unfortunate. Prior to the invention of the “Champions League”, only the winners of domestic leagues could take part in what was then the “European Cup”. The was a genuine cup of champions.
Teams finishing below first place e.g. 2nd to 6th, would enter the UEFA Cup.
Teams winning their Domestic Cups would enter the European Cup Winners Cup.
Under the European Cup, the biggest clubs would sometimes get drawn together and get knocked out early and smaller clubs had a chance of winning it. To stop this, the big clubs threatened UEFA they’d start their own competition so UEFA changes all tournament to favour the big clubs i.e. Group Stages rather than knock outs, the rich leagues get 4 places each etc.
They even get rid of the Cup Winners Cup altogether and then invent the Europa League which further favours the largest of the ‘next level’ clubs in rich countries as it has a group stage and seeding.
Now, when one of the Big 4 fails to qualify for the Champions League, UEFA is accused of in some how showing unfair favouritism to small clubs and teams in ‘allowing’ them to compete? UEFA is comprised to every competing football nation in Europe. Should we perhaps ban every team that is not from western Europe so the ‘real’ teams have a better chance of winning and their poor players on £100K a week don’t get tired? I thought it was sport and everyone gets to play on a level playing field?
With respect Chris your comments re: smaller teams appearing in European compeition is an example of the ‘money money money’ attitude that someone big teams are more important than anyone else.
July 25th, 2010 @ 11:03