Toffees (A) - Top 4 Trophy, Six Pointer Match Thread

[DB10GOONER]

Much like if we met Gazidis in a lift, SteveO beat me to the punch!!

How anyone could call the 7-0 against Prague a great game of football is beyond me. It was like watching kids playing football. Lefty has seen prison gang rapes that were more equally matched than that!

Yeah the struggle you put up was pathetic

Selective quoting there, Lefty. Bit like your selective memory of your time at Her Majesty's Pleasure. I say "Her Majesty" but of course I mean "Big Bubba" from Cell Block D.

Block C You dubliners and the alphabet

I was more impressed that I actually did that without fucking it up

Me too!!

[mcdowell42]

Can see him resting players against wigan next week in his pursuit of 4th place.I know where my priority is.Ive said it b4 and ill say it again 17 YEARS in a row and the best we have done is 1 final,thts a disgraceful record and nothing to shout about,while the other cup comps we would have possibly won over the years hes fucked away because of the CL.

We were 4TH last season and at the min we are 4th again and possibly could be 5th by end of season how the fuck is that improvement.

[StuartL]

Can see him resting players against wigan next week in his pursuit of 4th place.I know where my priority is.Ive said it b4 and ill say it again 17 YEARS in a row and the best we have done is 1 final,thts a disgraceful record and nothing to shout about,while the other cup comps we would have possibly won over the years hes fucked away because of the CL.

We were 4TH last season and at the min we are 4th again and possibly could be 5th by end of season how the fuck is that improvement.

It is always Qualifying that is used as the yardstick as that is what we always manage.
Getting out of the group we have often done but have not managed every time.
We have sometimes got to the last 16.
Occasionally we get to the last 8.
Twice we have managed a semi (steady)
One final appearance in 17 years.
Not particularly good for a club that is / was ranked in the top 8 of Europe for many seasons and had a seeding that helped us with our group stages, which we still often fucked up finishing in runners up positions.

We are better than Everton, bit do we actually have the heart, desire, passion to go through it all again ?
If we get a draw, that should be sufficient to see us into 4th and the holy grail of £35 m playoff qualifier.

[foxinthebox2001]

A big game, our ability to attract top loan stars like Kallstrom is in the balance, and the green light for some big spending on top quality players. There is already talk of Salomon Kalou being linked with a summer move.
You think he wants Europa league Football? no, its 6 CL group games, finishing 2nd, and a first knockout round brownholing he is after.
That and another £30m in the coffers to add to the £100m already stashed.

[Henry Norris 1913]

if we can just sneak fourth again, that will hopefully persuade kallstrom to sign a permanent deal and thus this season will be wenger's greatest achievement!

take that "invincibles"

[SteveO 35]

A big game, our ability to attract top loan stars like Kallstrom is in the balance, and the green light for some big spending on top quality players. There is already talk of Salomon Kalou being linked with a summer move.
You think he wants Europa league Football? no, its 6 CL group games, finishing 2nd, and a first knockout round brownholing he is after.
That and another £30m in the coffers to add to the £100m already stashed.

Sagna's super quality replacement Serge Aurier may also decide to stay at Toulouse unless offered the chance of a glory night at Olympiakos to seal 2nd place in the CL Group

[northbank123]

The hysteria over CL qualification never ceases to amaze me. I echo all of the points that Augie raised earlier. Perhaps its because I lived without Arsenal being involved in the old European Cup for all but 1 year in the first 20+ years of following the club, that being without it doesn't bother me. As far as I'm concerned its a bloated competition that only becomes interesting at the phase when all of the also ran clubs like us have been knocked out. If we start using the CL to reinvest in the squad rather than line the pockets of our 67% shareholder I might be bothered again.

4th place will see us facing a two legged play off (unwelcome), a boring six match group stage over 3 months (unwelcome), before a 2 leg defeat to a side with genuine ambition of winning it (unwelcome).

Look at the stadia during the Group stage - people all over Europe are bored with its format. Its so obviously designed to include as many big clubs as possible and the day they stretched it out to the top 3-4 teams in each of Europe's big leagues was the day they devalued it. Gazprom. Heineken blah blah blah.....send us the £25m a year for qualifying in the Group and we'll use it buy property, increase the size of the commercial team, pay bonuses to the staff and repay the stadium debt ready to sell a debt free entity in a couple of years time. The stuff that fans dreams are made of eh?

I want us to finish as high as possible because I'm a supporter of the team, not because some pricks in UEFA redrew the qualifying criteria for their elite competition a few years ago.

Anyway, the bowl worshippers prayers will be answered because we will finish in our usual 4th spot above Everton

I bet your house is actually littered with official UEFA merchandise and the BBQ piece de resistance will be a full-size replica of the CL trophy made from chocolate and tears with a jizz finish.

[SteveO 35]

The hysteria over CL qualification never ceases to amaze me. I echo all of the points that Augie raised earlier. Perhaps its because I lived without Arsenal being involved in the old European Cup for all but 1 year in the first 20+ years of following the club, that being without it doesn't bother me. As far as I'm concerned its a bloated competition that only becomes interesting at the phase when all of the also ran clubs like us have been knocked out. If we start using the CL to reinvest in the squad rather than line the pockets of our 67% shareholder I might be bothered again.

4th place will see us facing a two legged play off (unwelcome), a boring six match group stage over 3 months (unwelcome), before a 2 leg defeat to a side with genuine ambition of winning it (unwelcome).

Look at the stadia during the Group stage - people all over Europe are bored with its format. Its so obviously designed to include as many big clubs as possible and the day they stretched it out to the top 3-4 teams in each of Europe's big leagues was the day they devalued it. Gazprom. Heineken blah blah blah.....send us the £25m a year for qualifying in the Group and we'll use it buy property, increase the size of the commercial team, pay bonuses to the staff and repay the stadium debt ready to sell a debt free entity in a couple of years time. The stuff that fans dreams are made of eh?

I want us to finish as high as possible because I'm a supporter of the team, not because some pricks in UEFA redrew the qualifying criteria for their elite competition a few years ago.

Anyway, the bowl worshippers prayers will be answered because we will finish in our usual 4th spot above Everton

I bet your house is actually littered with official UEFA merchandise and the BBQ piece de resistance will be a full-size replica of the CL trophy made from chocolate and tears with a jizz finish.

You got it buddy. In fact my whole house is sponsored by Gazprom and the fridge is full of Heineken. There's a countdown clock outside that counts down to the first qualifying round when the champions of Andorra meet the champions of San Marino. Everything of value has been laminated to stop me soiling it in utter excitement

[Henry Norris 1913]

i'd imagine clive tyldesley's voice is enough to send you into an orgasm

[SteveO 35]

i'd imagine clive tyldesley's voice is enough to send you into an orgasm

I only need to hear the first three bars of the CL anthem and I'm already tugging away in anticipation

[Robin_L]

How is a group stage with Dortmund and Napoli in it boring?

Are you another one of these types who thinks the European big clubs are Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and errr that new one that's just come on the scene in France?

I actually agree with you about the bloated nature of the competition, but it's not as bad as it was with the double group stage, and also seeing us win away in the Westfalenstadion was in no way "boring".

[northbank123]

How is a group stage with Dortmund and Napoli in it boring?

Are you another one of these types who thinks the European big clubs are Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and errr that new one that's just come on the scene in France?

I actually agree with you about the bloated nature of the competition, but it's not as bad as it was with the double group stage, and also seeing us win away in the Westfalenstadion was in no way "boring".

This year was the exception in that we were in a competitive group where every game mattered (although Marseille did end up with 0 points from 18). I actually looked forward to watching us play decent teams like Dortmund and Napoli, and it gave us two of the best performances of the season imo.

But there was still the familiar pattern of us getting caned in the early knockout rounds, which makes the group stages unfortunately a bit tedious (especially as next year we'll more than likely go back to having a walkover of a group).

[Henry Norris 1913]

looking forward to making the journey up tomorrow and supporting the lads, we haven't really got anything to play for but it's my first away game since the shameful display at old trafford, nothing can be worse than that.

UTA

[1989]

2-1 Toffees

Our pussies won't turn up.

[SteveO 35]

http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/ ... an-3378124

He's moaning already......Martinez only needs to show this article to Barry and Lukaku before the game.

Boo hoo....the nasty loan system isn't fair