Turkish Posted 1 June, 2015 Share Posted 1 June, 2015 The trouble with your par season is that it would leave us out of Europe the following season, making it harder to keep and/or attract the kind of players we need. That's the challenge - keeping that level of consistency and not being the next Everton that threatens the top six, gets a half decent European run, but slips back as a result. Not easy, but should be exciting. COYRs So you wouldn't want the consistency of Everton, a club who have only finished below our highest ever premier league finish 3 times In the last 11 years? That sort of consistency isn't good enough for you right? You wouldn't want us 'slipping back' like that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wes Tender Posted 1 June, 2015 Share Posted 1 June, 2015 ...perhaps a reasonable question, but how do we know until we try? The only way we'll know how good we are is to get involved and find " our level " . .... Are we afraid of the possibility of success, or should we try and play safe and keep the 38 game format but watch Spuds and Liverhampton go forward in Europe? Having got this far, I fully expect to see a squad enlarged considerably by next season. With one or two departures (Clyne/Schneiderlin) then I expect 4-5 new names. Academy lads will still be in the picture, but they will know that playing in Europe is raising the bar - even higher. If they are good enough, it'll be a win-win situation. I agree with this. There is a lot of pessimism about how we will fare, based on what other clubs have achieved in the European League. In many ways, we are not typical of many of those clubs. I have faith in the board to identify the sort of additional signings we will need and the combination of Reed and Koeman's abilities to oversee our progress into Europe. Many believe that we might sink a few places because of the additional burden of games, but I am quietly confident that we could qualify next season too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
notnowcato Posted 1 June, 2015 Share Posted 1 June, 2015 We've bucked many trends the past 5 years. I expect the planning is in place to buck the league form drop off expectation held by the lazy sports observers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saint86 Posted 1 June, 2015 Share Posted 1 June, 2015 The target for next season is simple... go all out to win the euro league Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nta786 Posted 1 June, 2015 Share Posted 1 June, 2015 The target for next season is simple... go all out to win the euro league If someone offered me 16th and win the Europa League I'd actually take it lol! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Redslo Posted 1 June, 2015 Share Posted 1 June, 2015 If someone offered me 16th and win the Europa League I'd actually take it lol! But definitely not 17th. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyOldBoy Posted 2 June, 2015 Share Posted 2 June, 2015 Some people miss why Saints will get a VERY different experience out of the Europa League... We have a deeper squad that any other club outside the top 5 if you include our younger up-and-coming talent and I fully expect RK to blood youngsters as often as possible in our Early games. Opposition mostly will be weak in terms of talent but strong in terms of strategy and I think RK is perfectly equipped to deal with that and improve our younger players. Clubs that have struggled with the Europa league have done so simply because they have no robust squad that could be spread to cope with the schedule.... We do.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 2 June, 2015 Share Posted 2 June, 2015 Clubs that have struggled with the Europa league have done so simply because they have no robust squad that could be spread to cope with the schedule.... We do.... Do we? Is that why we went on two (arguably three) runs of needlessly crappy results last season due to injuries, because we have a robust squad? Winning it will involve an extra 19 matches. That's 50% more games than the league campaign - for which we get one bye one round in the League Cup. Even losing in the first tie we'll be playing one match more than last season if we do as well in the other cups. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JonnyOldBoy Posted 3 June, 2015 Share Posted 3 June, 2015 Do we? Is that why we went on two (arguably three) runs of needlessly crappy results last season due to injuries, because we have a robust squad? Winning it will involve an extra 19 matches. That's 50% more games than the league campaign - for which we get one bye one round in the League Cup. Even losing in the first tie we'll be playing one match more than last season if we do as well in the other cups. I disagree.... success in the Premier League and success in the Europa cup are completely different goals with completely different ingredients to succeed. I think we have just the right mix to be able to go quite far in the Europa with a mix of regulars and up-and-coming players... whereas in the Premier league, there is much less time on the ball and younger players need to be acclimatised to this heady football theatre carefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The9 Posted 3 June, 2015 Share Posted 3 June, 2015 I disagree.... success in the Premier League and success in the Europa cup are completely different goals with completely different ingredients to succeed. I think we have just the right mix to be able to go quite far in the Europa with a mix of regulars and up-and-coming players... whereas in the Premier league, there is much less time on the ball and younger players need to be acclimatised to this heady football theatre carefully. I don't think the ingredients to succeed are THAT different, a good team is a good team. I can certainly confirm that I think most of the 8 kids who made their debuts last season are in no way ready for either competition, and though we might choose to play a couple of them in the 3rd Qualifying Round or maybe a dead rubber in the Group Stage, we won't be any more reliant on them than we are at the moment, i.e. not very much at all. This idea that having a load of kids who don't play enough because they're not good enough equals "depth" is a fallacy that some Saints repeatedly buy into. Even Ward-Prowse is only a borderline starter after 2 years of regular involvement in the squad. Admittedly more competitions means more matches for them to potentially play in, but there's quite a risk in deciding to chuck kids into European competitions. The obvious example from last season is Harry Kane, but he and Mason were pretty much the only kids who got into Spurs' side last season, and Kane already had a couple of fairly successful Championship loans under his belt - that's really not the same as chucking in kids who have 5 minutes off the bench at 3-0 up, for instance, especially when the REST of the squad isn't exactly brimming with European cup experience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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