Europa League hindrance or help

[Risky]

I love it when we're in the Europa League.  Never once have I wished we weren't in it.

[velimski]

I for one can't wait to see the blues play some team in Chernobyl in mid July. 

I'd much rather see the entire Liverpool first team squad with Gerrard, Souness, Jamie Redknapp and Phil Thompson (sent as the commentary team) spend a decent amount of time in Chernobyl.

[Macca77]

10,000+ blues at Lille, 9000 at Nuremburg, 6000 at Benfica etc... nobody could accuse us of not taking it seriously

[Jimmywhack]

Love a Thursday night out

[TheRam]

Only bad thing is they don't sell ale at the match.

[mikey_blue]

I love it when we batter teams from countries I've never heard of.

[phillyt]

I don't remember Martinez using it as an excuse to be fair.

Infact he actually embraced it.

He embraced the EL but the extent to which he prioritised it effected the PL form so much. He refused to address this form because of the EL run. Perhaps he never expressly said it but there was a definite attitude that the atrocious league performance was excused by the brilliant European performances.

[Outworlder47]

Other sides currently in their leagues' Europa spots, for comparison (these would all draw into the 3rd qualifying round, as the 7th place PL team this season will):
Astra Ploiesti
Sparta Prague
PAOK Thessaloniki
Galatasaray
Sion
Zulte-Waregem
PSV Eindhoven
Zorya Luhansk, Oleksandria
Zenit St. Petersburg, Ufa
Vitoria Guimaraes
Olympique Marseilles
Eintracht Frankfurt
Real Sociedad

Some nice trips there, and some absolute nightmares (I'm looking at you, Ufa).

[phillyt]

Other sides currently in their leagues' Europa spots, for comparison (these would all draw into the 3rd qualifying round, as the 7th place PL team this season will):
Astra Ploiesti
Sparta Prague
PAOK Thessaloniki
Galatasaray
Sion
Zulte-Waregem
PSV Eindhoven
Zorya Luhansk, Oleksandria
Zenit St. Petersburg, Ufa
Vitoria Guimaraes
Olympique Marseilles
Eintracht Frankfurt
Real Sociedad

Some nice trips there, and some absolute nightmares (I'm looking at you, Ufa).

Would we be seeded in the qualifying draw tho. So we would get an easy (in theory) route to the competition proper.

Not that we will have to worry when we overhaul united and the shite. 🤔🤔🤔

[Major Clanger]

Imagine going to an away trip to San Sebastian with a massive "Sorry about Moyes" banner.

[blueToffee]

I'm not a fan of the Europa League format at all but I do like us being in Europe and hopefully we now have the money to expand the squad with enough quality to manage the extra games.

That said, I can't think of too many recent examples where a PL club improved its league position from the year before whilst playing the EL..? Anyone?

[Alanvideo]

Really fancy a trip to Prague. 

[Major Clanger]

I'm not a fan of the Europa League format at all but I do like us being in Europe and hopefully we now have the money to expand the squad with enough quality to manage the extra games.

That said, I can't think of too many recent examples where a PL club improved its league position from the year before whilst playing the EL..? Anyone?

Well, we did for example. And Spurs. And United.

Basically anyone who didn't just get to the EL on the back of an outstanding and/or lucky season, after which a less successful season is a statistically likely scenario with or without EL anyway.

[Thornton_19]

You have to look at teams like Atletico Madrid and Seville who both took the comp very seriously won it multiple times and then kicked on in other aspects. We must follow this model.

[kramer0]

Basically anyone who didn't just get to the EL on the back of an outstanding and/or lucky season, after which a less successful season is a statistically likely scenario with or without EL anyway.

Agreed. "Europa League kills PL form" is the narrative but regression to the mean is the real story.

Teams that are genuinely good can perform on both fronts.