KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum 5th Required for Europa

There are three places in the UEFA Europa League available: the FA Cup winners will enter at the Group Stage; the fifth place team in the Barclays Premier League will enter at the Play-Off stage; and the Football League Cup winners will enter at the Q3 stage.

In the event the FA Cup winners are qualified for the UEFA Champions League the FA Cup runners-up will qualify, but in the place reserved for the lowest ranking Barclays Premier League representative. The place with direct access to the Group Stage will be given to the club that finishes in the highest position in the Barclays Premier League of the clubs qualifying for the UEFA Europa League.

http://www.premierleague.com/en-gb/fans/faqs/who-qualifies-to-play-in-europe/

I think what that means is that if Man Ure/Man City/Chelsea win it, Blackburn/Wigan/Millwall still get a EL place but the they will get the one that has to go through the qualifying round. The team finishing 5th will take the place that goes straight though to the group stages. No place for the team finishing 6th.

Yep to enter the Europa they'll need to win the FA CUP.

Doesn't matter anyway as we'll get 4th

If we had a squad big enough to play 2 games in 3-4 days at a consistent level it would be worth giving it a real go. With our current squad it's a bit of a waste of time, especially if you have a bad start to the season, like we did.

Can't the same be said for the league cup? It's an absolute joke of a competition. And the FA cup has more teams competing than the league cup and europa league put together.
The league should always be top priority but if can get in the Europa then it should be our 2nd highest point of focus.
We should use the league /FA cup for giving a bit of experience to the fringe players.

I would rather be in the champions league but if it has to be in Europa so be it not being in European competition is a disaster. I enjoy watching the games in midweek whatever the opposition and the zenit game was one of the most exciting games of the season. I really don't get the tired players argument if they are tired then they should go to bed.

Liverpool FC has to be in Europe

We have to push for fifth place now and the season is still alive after yesterday's result.

I think it all depends on whether our intention is to really try and push for top places in the PL in the future.

If we're doing that then we will see a continued strengthening of our squad - both quality wise and in numbers. That in turn will push the club against playing more games - or else some of the players (or all) will simply be playing too few games in the coming year or two.

With no EL or CL we will be facing only the PL and domestic cups, which I think won't be enough to attract prospects and be able to keep them at our club.

The long term goal has to be qualifying for CL football on a regular basis though!

And you are still a fan of LFC, great.

"Tiredness" is rarely the real reason for poor performances. Managers and fans just use it as an excuse. If a player is that tired, then why would the manager pick him in the first place if he already knew he was knackered from playing a few days previously?

Maybe because the squad is thread thin and no player would perform better than the tired one who was playing - and who ended up making some mistakes in that particular game?

Choice 1: Play a tired player who's the best one you have available.

Choice 2: Play a worse player who's fit.

You can't be sure before the game what choice is better, can you?

Not if they are 'genuinely' knackered. But if an international athlete played 80 or 90 minutes of football on wednesday or thursday, would he be too knackered to perform at the weekend? There would have to be something physically wrong with him if that was the case.