Posts Tagged ‘Europa’

Martin O’Neil has come out and criticised the revamped Uefa cup for being far too convoluted and I for one agree with him.
How many of those fans actually advocating the virtues of qualifying for it have actually looked at the fixture congestion that is going to result? With our current squad and our record in terms of injuries I can see this becoming a really burdensome commitment. I can see no way that we are ready to sustain another successful league campaign and compete on this footing.The games schedule is as follows:
Third qualifying round, 1st leg 28/29.07.2009
Third qualifying round, 2nd leg 04/05.08.2009
Play-off round, 1st leg 18/19.08.2009
Play-off round, 2nd leg 25/26.08.2009
Group stage, Matchday 1 15/16.09.2009
Group stage, Matchday 2 29/30.09.2009
Group stage, Matchday 3 20/21.10.2009
Group stage, Matchday 4 03/04.11.2009
Group stage, Matchday 5 24/25.11.2009
Group stage, Matchday 6 08/09.12.2009
First knockout round, first leg 16/17/23/24.02.2010
First knockout round, second leg 09/10/16/17.03.2010
Quarter-finals, first leg 30/31.03.2010
Quarter-finals, second leg 06/07.04.2010
Semi-finals, first leg 20/21.04.2010
Semi-finals, second leg 27/28.04.2010
Final (Santiago Bernabéu, Madrid) 22.05.2010

Even if we do hold our end up over this additional 18 games, it is going to mean an absolute glut of Sunday fixtures in 09/10. Give me 3pm on a Saturday anytime! And, yes, I do realise that success inevitably leads to odd fixture KO times and dates. I just don’t see us ready for this one. Not yet.

Following on from my article yesterday in which I highlighted The Fail on Sunday’s Ian Ridley’s ludicrous bias towards the Spuds and the supposedly outstanding manager that Redcrapp is, it occurs to me that no one is really considering the likelihood that it is going to be Wigan who end up in 7th spot.

On paper, it’s a no brainer. Consider the remaining fixtures of the respective teams;
We still have to play 4 of the top 6, the Totts still have to play Manure, Everton and Liverpool, whilst the mighty Wigan face Blackburn, Bolton, West Brom, Stoke and Porstmouth as 5 of their last 6 fixtures.