Europa League: different name, same old story

Aston Villa fans must have been counting their lucky stars when they went out of the Europa League last Thursday, going down on away goals against Rapid Vienna. Last season manager Martin O’Neill fielded a weakened side in the last 32 game away at CSKA Moscow, with the defeat that followed, he subsequently hosted a meal for disgruntled fans who paid around £1,000 each for the privilege. The crux of the issue was simple, the draw of Europa League (or Uefa Cup as it was then) didn’t sufficiently compromise for the extra games played.

Simply put, Villa didn’t have the squad to cope. A surprising statistic coming from the Premier League last season was that Villa on fielded 17 different players during the entire season – the lowest in the league. When you consider that before the second leg of that match in Russia, Villa had played an extra nine games on top of what they would play in the league, and that to reach the final, they would have to play a further six, its hardly surprising that O’Neill didn’t have the Uefa Cup at the summit of his priorities.

Instead he was focused on the league. And who can blame him. It was late February, his side were on a serious charge of breaking into the top four, the extra games were an unnecessary distraction. The fact that Villa’s season tailed off fairly quickly after that probably goes to prove what O’Neill was worried about all along.

So what for England’s two remaining sides, Everton and Fulham. The newly named Europa League offers a slightly modified format – albeit with the same number of games to reach the final. Everton under David Moyes seem to have a good squad that could, with some good fortune on the injury front, have the potential to go a good distance in the competition. Fulham on the other hand, have a decent squad, under a manager that has them extremely well drilled. Whether they can handle the extra pressure of European games, without having too adverse an effect on their league form.

The inherent problems with the Europa League are deep set. For a start, for the past few years, teams coming from England going into the competition have changed year on year. The issue is that the more you play in the Europa league, the less likely you are to play in the competition next year. Playing more games affects your league form, which in turns means you finish outside of the Europa League places for the following season.

The second issue is that, financially, it just isn’t worth it. To win the competition would net you £6.5 million. All well and good, providing you win it. The issue remains whether you can you cope with the extra 17 fixtures, without dropping so far down in the league that the prize money for winning the Europa League would be bigger than the drop in Premier League prize fund that finishing 12th compared to 7th would be, for example. The answer for Fulham and Everton is probably not. Neither one is likely to win the competition, and both are only a few injuries away for a very problematic season.

The future isn’t all bad news though. Its probably fair to say that there are six teams in the Premier League with squads that could handle both domestic and European competitions. The “big four”, Manchester City and Tottenham. Things going to form two of them will finish in the Europa League spaces for next season, and both have the squads and the financial power to cope with it.

And in truth, even with a change of name, the Europa League/Uefa Cup does have a lot of history to go with it, and for Tottenham or Manchester City it would be a realistic aim should they be in the competition next season. With the greatest of respect to Everton, Villa, Fulham – and the rest who feel they have a chance of reaching those positions at the end of the season, Tottenham and City are the two sides who, right now, could mount a serious challenge on the competition.

By Bob Bamber