Guest writer David Bolt argues that failure to qualify for this season's Europa League could actually be a negative rather than a positive for Liverpool this season.
Last season, Liverpool failed to qualify for Europe for the first time in 12 years. The response from the majority of fans was an overwhelming ‘meh', with many fans actually pleased not to be involved in the competition. I wasn’t one of those fans - I think that not being in the Europa League this season may hurt us a bit more than most fans think.
Jamie Carragher was one of those who was indifferent to Liverpool being in the Europa League. He said:
“The main thing for us next season is getting back into the Champions League. Not being in Europe will give us a better chance of doing that. We want to get back in the top four and do well in the cups. Playing Thursdays and Sundays isn’t ideal.”
Harry Redknapp stated something along similar lines, saying:
“The Europa League takes an even bigger toll [on league form] than the Champions League. Playing on Thursdays and Sundays every week, it’s not ideal. It’s one of those competitions that teams get into and then they try to get out of. You look at the English teams, and they all seem to have played reserve teams.”
I completely disagree. Okay, the Europa League isn’t nearly as prestigious as the Champions League, there’s no point pretending otherwise, but that doesn’t mean it has no merit. Liverpool is renowned for winning trophies, and has 3 UEFA Cup/ Europa League wins on its honours list. Would those fans who believe the Europa League is worthless like to see those removed?
I think it’s a shame that the club hasn’t got the chance to add another European trophy to the cabinet. I also disagree with Carra that being in the Europa league would have jeopardised our chances of making the top 4. Manchester City competed in the Europa League last season and managed both a cup win and a 3rd place finish in the league. I see no reason why Liverpool wouldn’t be able to do something similar, especially with the improvements made to the squad this summer and the positive start to the season.
I don’t accept the notion that the Europa League is a competition for lesser teams. There are plenty of good teams providing tough opposition. Look at the winners over the last ten years: Feyenoord, Porto (twice), Valencia, Sevilla (twice), CSKA Moscow, Zenit St Petersburg, Shakhtar Donetsk and Atletico Madrid. None of those teams would look out of place in the knockout stages of the Champions League, and all have been consistently strong in their domestic leagues (except Feyenoord, but they’re historically one of the Netherlands’ best teams).
As for being a competition solely for reserve players, look at the starting XI for the FC Braga game that put Liverpool out of the competition: Reina, Johnson, Carragher, Skrtel, Wilson (the only fit left sided defender at the time), Meireles, Maxi, Cole, Lucas, Kuyt and Carroll. Hardly a reserve team is it?
Instead of being solely reserves, Liverpool’s teams in last season’s Europa League were a mix of first-teamers, squad players and some youth, and that’s the right way to go. Liverpool have reaped the benefits of blooding young players like Martin Kelly, Jay Spearing and Jonjo Shelvey in the competition, meaning that when those players were needed in the league, they were ready.
By not playing in the Europa League this season, Liverpool will be limited in the opportunities they can give to some of the up-and-coming young players to try and gauge whether or not they are ready or good enough to play in the Premier League, which may hinder their development.
Of course, for all of his managerial experience and know-how, Kenny Dalglish doesn’t have much experience of managing in Europe. His experience of managing Liverpool in Europe runs to the 4 dismal games against Sparta Prague and Braga in last season’s Europa League. Other than that, he managed Blackburn in the UEFA Cup, getting knocked out first round against Swedish side Trelleborgs, and later managed Newcastle in the Champions League where they beat Barcelona but got knocked out in the group stages, and that’s it.
Whilst I have every confidence that Dalglish can take us a long way in the Champions League, I think it would’ve been invaluable for him to have gained more experience of managing in Europe against a variety of different tactic before entering into Europe’s premier competition next season.
Of course, there are also financial consequences to not qualifying for Europe. Last season, Liverpool made €6,131,224 from their Europa League run. Okay, that’s a drop in the ocean compared to the riches that teams playing in the Champions League get, but it’s still an amount of money that, when gate receipts and other matchday incomes are included, could be used to bring one more player into the squad. Also, with the Financial Fair Play regulations coming into play soon, any potential revenue stream should not to be dismissed lightly.
It’s saddening that so many fans think that the Europa League is beneath our club. It is not. I believe that there were many potential benefits and learning experiences that could have been gained from Europa League participation, which would have been valuable for the club as we look towards mounting a serious challenge in the Champions League next season.
No comments:
Post a Comment