UEFA Europa League

Not a walk in the park but as @Forever says if we can’t get over sides such as Lazio or Marselle we don’t have much business being in the CL.

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Yet I get ridiculed for being negative :rofl:, positive people talk up how tough Lazio and Marseille are haha

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We lost to Swansea and Bournemouth, but yeah we should be beating teams that are flying high in Europe. Good logic.

Lazio are third in Serie A

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We shouldn’t be losing to those sides though, I’m pretty sure the odds suggest we are second favourite for the Europa League, so it seems the betting agencies share my logic

I’m not saying we won’t be favourites against them. I’m saying Atletico are not the only tough opposition left. There are other decent teams we could slip up against. Teams who won’t be in this competition next year due to the improvement of their league form. The competition is a lot tougher than last year.

You’re the one who has been bemoaning our away form as a reason why we won’t get top 4 – do you think we’ll win away to these teams then?

We will win over 2 legs, Sevilla style didn’t they win the Europa League without winning an away league game in 15/16 ? :grin:

No one is saying that it will be a walk in the park though, just that we are in the top 2 or 3 favourites to lift the trophy.

A regular Premier League game and a game in the knock out stages of the EL is completely different.

Lazio are third in the Serie A, but the gap with 2nd placed Juventus is something like 12 points.

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I’m 80% sure if we had return legs of those fixtures with away goals etc. we’d still be the team going through.

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Atletico are just as capable of fucking up against us as we are them. They couldn’t get out of a group with Qarabag and Roma in it.

And while we might lose to Bournemouth or Swansea we’ll also beat Spurs and Chelsea.

In any case I would relish a game against good European sides like Lazio and Atletico than the same old Barca/Bayern match up.

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Tbf it was the group of death. Any of those 4 great sides could’ve topped that group.

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Plus Chelsea aren’t amazing this season so Atléti really should have topped the group

OK we’ll see. I think it’s arrogant to dismiss these teams who have improved since last season — i’ve watched them, they’re good, particularly Lazio - i’ve seen a lot of their games. We’re inconsistent and in no way are any of these games a foregone conclusion.

I personally don’t think we’ll win this competition. But obviously I hope i’m wrong.

Their style of play however might be a real big problem for us. They don’t mind to sit back and let us have the initiative and out play us on the counter.

The last 15 or so posts probsbly should get moved to the Europa League thread

If we look at Lazio result-wise (since you refer to their place in the table), last season they had 70 points and currently they are on a 76-point average. Improvement yes, but Roma isn’t as good as last season f.e. which explains their current position better.

In comparison we might be in the same bracket as those clubs as far as position in the own respective League goes, but we are, or should be, in the very top of the bracket. Whilst we won’t play them of the pitch; comparing our quality to theirs, 2-0 wins f.e. at the Emirates shouldn’t be that farfetched.

Lazio was just one example. There are other teams with good players. The likes of Milan have improved under Gattuso for example.

Like I said, i’m not saying we won’t be favourites against these teams, just that it won’t be as easy as people on here seem to think.

I don’t think it will be easy as nothing is really easy for us, I’m just saying we should be expected to come through over 2 legs and it’s failure if we don’t.

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But why should it be expected? The way you’re talking it’s as if we’re way better than these teams, looking down on them like they are peasants. The gulf between us and some of these teams isn’t that big – especially this season. We’ll have no Auba in this competition either.

Hopefully we’ll get the luck of the draw.

It should be expected because we have a wage bill that is probably double these clubs, hence we should progress.
Yeah no Aubameyang is a body blow and we are now relying on Lacazette, though he’s had a good record for Lyon in the Europa League.

I’m not dismissing any teams to be honest, I’m just not throwing us under the bus quite yet.

Anything is possible in knockout competition and I’m not going to immediately write us off even though I recognise and respect our competitors that’s all.

I’m not saying we’re going to be bulldozing anyone, but I don’t think for a second we’ll rollover for the likes of Lazio, Milan, Atletico or Marseille like we have done to Bayern in the past.

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