This is a discussion on English teams and the UEFA Cup within the European Sports forums, part of the Sports Forums category; Okay so it is no well kept secret that the English Premier League is seen as the most dominant in ...
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Okay so it is no well kept secret that the English Premier League is seen as the most dominant in the world right now with all four qualifying teams making into the final eight of the UEFA Champions League on a yearly basis and this year with three of the English team left being in the semi finals we are guarenteed to once again have at least one English team in the final itself with the posibility of having an all English final also hanging in the balance.
My question is though, if we are so dominant in the Champions League, English teams that is, why are we not bossing the lesser European competition that is the UEFA Cup and soon to UEFA Europa League? We have teams like Aston Villa and Everton trying to bust into the top four in the Premier League on a yearly basis. Where as we also have teams building up, such as Man City who made it the furthest this year but still faltered and then we have teams like Spurs who under Harry Redknapp are building back to what they were quite nicely.
Okay so this season we all know of the controversy of Martin O'Neil basically disrespecting the competetion and sacrificing it to concentrate on the league. That however doesn't stop others.
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I think it may be that both Tottenham and Portsmouth did much the same thing as Aston Villa. As in, they realized that the league was more important and they focused on that instead. If memory serves, both were sitting near the relegation zone through the first half of the season. Survival in the Premiership would be more important for either club than a deep run or even winning the UEFA Cup.
Man City took the competition a bit more seriously, I think, but just ran up against a tough HSV side.
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Clubs need to take it seriously in my opinion, obviously City were the only English side that did this year and yes they did make a good go of it but they still didn't win it. Maybe things will change along with the name, who knows...
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Its not just English teams who dont taket seriously,the Italians and the Spanish tend not to take it seriously. Look at the last four in the competition, 2 German teams and 2 Ukraniain teams.
Look at it from the teamspoint of view, if its a choice between taking the UEFA Cup seriously or trying to get into the Champions League then they will take trying to finish in the top 4 everytime.
Italians don't seem to take it seriously but in the past 5 years there has been 4 Spanish representatives, 3 times winning it and 1 runner up. Which were Valencia and Sevilla who won it twice and then Espanyol who were the runners up in the all Spanish final in 2007.
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The UEFA Cup is completely different to the Champions League, really. The Champions League is the best of the best, but the UEFA Cup can be participated in by teams that finish as far down as 7th in their Leagues. In the Champions League, some of the worst places you have to visit are Spain, Russia etc, where in the UEFA Cup you have to visit places like Belarus, Ukraine, Macedonia etc.
I don't think it's a fact of we don't try (apart from some openly admitting this year that they wanted to concentrate on the League), I think it's just a case of we're not as good as some of the sides in there. In some Leagues, you need to finish as high as 3rd to claim a UEFA Cup place, where in the Premiership, you can finish as low down as 7th. And then of course you get the big name that doesn't qualify for the Champions League like AC Milan, Bayern Munich etc.
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Look at it from the teamspoint of view, if its a choice between taking the UEFA Cup seriously or trying to get into the Champions League then they will take trying to finish in the top 4 everytime.
Or in the case of Spurs and Pompey, its a choice of taking the UEFA Cup seriously or survival in the Premiership. Its a no brainer. You arent going to sacrifice your Premier League status to win the UEFA Cup.
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