Liverpool FC Forum

by **bigmick** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 5:55 pm

There has been much talk of Rafa switching his attention to winning the Europa League, saving/resting players in the Premiership etc. Im just wondering if people think that it's fair enough (if indeed he is) as it would at least give us a decent chance of a trophy for the first time in four seasons.

So there it is, are we switching focus? Should we be switching focus? What is the main motivation for the switch in focus, if indeed we are?

by **leep33** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 5:59 pm

We should be able to go for both, we still have a chance but we will have to win all our games, i think we will beat Benfica Thursday night, but then its Athletico or Valencia and neither of them are easy games.

by **tubby** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 6:02 pm

Rafa has a good record against Spanish clubs although the way we are playing at the moment im not sure if you can still use past performances as an indicator. To be honest finishing 4th should be the main priority but it means nothing if things don't change in the board room as well. If they don't we will be back here again next season.

by **stmichael** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 6:07 pm

To be honest, the way things have gone I'd feel a bit better going into the new season with a bit of silverware. In an age when CL and money dominates everything it's all too easy to just dismiss silverware, especially the League Cup, Europa League etc. Right now we've gone far too long without winning anything.

The league is out of our own hands, all we can do is win and hope others slip up.

by **niny8** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 6:30 pm

i'm new here, so please don't be too harsh on me!

I believe that we still have a chance to finish fourth and fight for Europa League too, but to finish fourth we don't exclusively depend on ourselves. Considering this, I think we should try hard to win against Benfica and hope the ref isn't against us! Last thursday we played a long time with ten men, this time it will be different, we just have to focus and don't mess it up.

Of course it would be better to achieve both the fourth place and the Europa League Cup, but maybe it wouldn't be to clever to give up on Europa League just because we have to face difficult ties in order to win it and by the end of the season face the possibilty of being unable to reach fourth!

by **account deleted by request** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 6:39 pm

For the club and our future the CL is all important. For the fans and probably most of our players a cup would be a great way to put a terrible season behind us.

by **damjan193** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 6:53 pm

I think that Rafa will go for the Europa Cup, the title is more important to him, and since he most probably will not be here next season, he wont give a f*ck about the team's future.

by **Reg** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 7:14 pm

If we win the UEFA Cup do we qualify for CL? At the end of the day its about $$$.

by **Scottbot** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 7:21 pm

Hands down 4th place for me.

by **tonyeh** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 7:31 pm

bigmick wrote:There has been much talk of Rafa switching his attention to winning the Europa League, saving/resting players in the Premiership etc. Im just wondering if people think that it's fair enough (if indeed he is) as it would at least give us a decent chance of a trophy for the first time in four seasons.

So there it is, are we switching focus? Should we be switching focus? What is the main motivation for the switch in focus, if indeed we are?

To me it's fairly obvious Mick.

I think Benitez suspects that he won't be here in the Summer and he's focusing on the Euro cup as a future bargaining chip. HIS future bargaining chip.

It'll allow him to say that that while the team were rubbish for the season, he still managed to steer them to a European cup win.

His future destination, after all, is Europe.

IMO, we should be focusing on both. It doesn't HAVE to be either one or the other.

But, I would place more umph in getting 4th.

by **shabelle50** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 7:36 pm

Bizarre as to why Claire Rourke in the LFFCTV studio last night was asking fans who rang in "what needs to happen for the next game?". The truth is we're chasing shadows for fourth now it's game over pretty much as far as fourth is concerned. City, Villa and Spurs can all drop points between now and the last game and still finish above us even if we win every game. Surely the debate should be about what happens after the end of the season. We may as well focus on the Europa games now the only question as far as the league is concerned is where we finish to qualify for next season's Europa league 5th, 6th of 7th.

by **stmichael** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 7:38 pm

Reg wrote:At the end of the day its about $$$.

Which is exactly why a lot of people are falling out of love with the game. If you asked Spurs fans now if they'd rather win the FA Cup or finish 4th (despite winning nothing of note aside the League Cup for 20 years) I guarantee you the majority would say 4th.

Unfortunately it's even more important for us because of pinky and perky running the club. At the moment we're being outspent by the likes of Sunderland which is a sad state of affairs. Man City, Spurs and Villa will continue to outspend us next season and for the foreseeable future and we're going to be left behind. We have to be realistic.

by **damjan193** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 7:38 pm

Reg wrote:If we win the UEFA Cup do we qualify for CL? At the end of the day its about $$$.

No, I think that we dont qualify for the CL if we win Europa Cup.Shaktar won UEFA Cup, but they didnt qualify for the CL, so no, we wont qualify.The only thing that we will get if we win is an automatic qualification into the group stages of Europa Cup, in case we end below 7th

.I think that the same thing goes for the CL, remember when we won against Milan, but we were 5th in the league, but we still went in insted of Everton who were 4th

.

by **Dundalk** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 7:48 pm

Sadly its 4th place for me

Such is football these days that its all about money

by **puroresu** » Mon Apr 05, 2010 8:08 pm

4th. Not just cos its all about the money bit the simple matter of winning a tournament that your only in cos you were not good enough in the big tournament means very very little. finishing in the top 4 has more credibility.

Its like those 5 a-side tournaments you played as a kid. The best teams get out the group in the top 2. The rubbish drop into the 'shield'. Nobody gives a damn about the 'shield'

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