UEFA Europa Conference League - Alkmaar, Legia and Zrinjski

[rougegorge]

I think it could well be out of us and Brighton for 7th and the final European spot. A play off between us on the last day of the season.

If it were to come to that, I would hope they have made the Cup Final, as inevitably some players would be playing it safe.

[Smithy]

A fair few seem to think it's almost a given Liverpool will finish 6th. W4 D3 L4 over the last couple of months suggests otherwise.

The thing with Liverpool is that their form is pretty poor, but they are well capable of putting together a run of four or five wins on the bounce, regardless of who they play. Of the teams immediately below us, they are probably the only ones capable of doing that.

There is no reason why their terrible form won’t continue until the end of the season, but their poor form feels temporary, rather than their new normal. I thought the same about Chelsea, right up until they appointed Lampard. Now I think they’re lucky they’ve got 39 points already so should be safe.

[olaftab]

I think it could well be out of us and Brighton for 7th and the final European spot. A play off between us on the last day of the season.

If it were to come to that, I would hope they have made the Cup Final, as inevitably some players would be playing it safe.

If they do make the final we don't want them to win it if we pip them to 7th.

[PeterWithesShin]

Only once this season have Liverpool won 3 or more league games in a row, and that was either side of the World Cup. Time to stop building up other clubs and start building ourselves up. I have little doubt if any side in the division had the choice of playing us or Liverpool next they'd all choose Liverpool.

[levico]

I hope not. I think having to deal with the grind of Thursday nights playing in Ruritania will impact our chances of pushing on in the league. We need another year of Emery to have the squad to cope with it.

I knew I would find a sensible post if I searched for it LOL.

Very good point, other teams have found it very difficult to properly prepare for the next weekend game when they have a Europa match on Thursday. I would say that the current squad couldn’t cope with that even with the genius that is Unai. I guess our owners will consider what needs to be done if we qualify.

[PeterWithesShin]

I'm not sure there's much sense in not wanting to qualify for Europe this season as it may impact us next season and stop us from, er, qualifying for Europe.

[Smirker]

There aren't any downsides.

If we need a bigger squad we'll get one.

We'll be fine. Coping with both is what big clubs do and that's where we are headed.

[Dave]

I'm not sure there's much sense in not wanting to qualify for Europe this season as it may impact us next season and stop us from, er, qualifying for Europe.

Personally I hope we stop playing football matches altogether in case it impacts our ability to play football matches in the future.

[Skerra]

The fact is that those teams that play in the Champions League on a Wednesday, play their PL match on the Saturday. Those that play on a Thursday evening play their PL match on a Sunday so can’t see any problem with that. In addition, if we want to attract better players, the sooner we get into a European competition, the better.

[Matt C]

There’s a lot of logic to wanting to progress gradually but let’s be honest, if there’s even an iota of chance of Europe, we grab it now with both hands. Attract better players, nearer football’s top table… we’ll take it now.

[Rory]

There’s a lot of logic to wanting to progress gradually but let’s be honest, if there’s even an iota of chance of Europe, we grab it now with both hands. Attract better players, nearer football’s top table… we’ll take it now.

Agreed, my only concern is that if we miss out, it'll be considered a disappointment. Given where we were, a top half finish would be a very good achievement in itself.

Emery is working miracles as far as I'm concerned, and I'm confident it's sustainable and part of a long term upward trajectory, but it's taken a near-flawless run of form to break into the top 6. With some teams around us having games in hand, some tough fixtures to come, and after giving up almost a third of a season head start, finishing 7th-9th would not be a failure.

That's just a hope that we can all bear in mind where we started and that we've been making up for lost ground. There's no reason for us not to do our best to win every game we play, finish as high as we possibly can, and build for a future befitting the quality of our squad, the pedigree of our manager and our stature as a football club.

There's nothing we can do about those first dozen games now, but we're onto a very, very good thing.

[algy]

We now get to play every team between 3rd and 10th, plus Wolves. All the results will be magnified - a win for us is a defeat for a side we're in direct competition with for a European place, and vice-versa.

Emery gets this right and the Champions League is a distant but tangible possibility. Bad run of injuries/form/.. and we end up in the bottom half. Really is very, very tight. Regardless though, what he's achieved so far is nothing short of miraculous.

[Axl Rose]

Newcastle and Spurs are the games I badly want to win. Put both of those fuckers and their rubbish fans in their places

[Meanwood Villa]

Another great set of results yesterday and we've put some distance between us and Chelsea, Fulham and to a lesser extent Brentford. Good to get our noses in front of Brighton too. Yes they have games in hand but they still have to play Arsenal and Citeh and how likely are they to pick up points from them? Would be great to see Arsenal do Liverpool today too.

Next week is going to be very interesting, two teams in great form. Exciting times.

[LeeB]

Newcastle and Spurs are the games I badly want to win. Put both of those fuckers and their rubbish fans in their places

Agreed, though I'm in full Villa battle mode now. I have no concessions to give to any team, they're all poxy, can get fucked and will be chewed up and spat out (if they're lucky) by the unstoppable Villa juggernaut.