Blog FC asks:

Has success in Europe become too important, coming as it seems to at the cost of league respectability?

I don’t think league respectability is lost. It is very prestigious to win the English Premiership as is most domestic league titles. However, a team can face a situation where it secures a champions league spot or nearly secures it. However, the league champions are way ahead like a Barcelona in Spain. In this scenario, a team can find itself concentrating more on Europe. Often players are rested before a big European tie as well when domestic stakes are not that high. A perfectly understandable scenario.

Some thing like Mr. Wenger did a few days ago versus the Spurs does not come under this though. For why should he have not played his best players right from the start in such a crucial tie? And then he had the teremity to say “Every thing went against us.”

The second question Blog FC asks:

And given Liverpool’s dismal defense of its European title, should winning the title be reason enough for a club to be invited back, even if it doesn’t otherwise qualify for the event?

Definitely not. The Champions League spot has to be earned. The only way to earn them should be by performing within the given norms. System should not be changed for a huge variation in performance between league and Europe. If Spurs are ahead of Arsenal in the domestic league, they have earned their spot.

This debate is likely to heat up this year too, like last year ahead of the Champions League finals. My stand is firm on the issue.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 27th, 2006 at 5:31 am and is filed under Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.