The Curse of the Europa League

It is well known that participation the Europa League has a detrimental effect on Premier League performance. A combination of a large number of matches, many in Eastern Europe, combined with having to play on Thursday nights, takes its toll on league form. With that in mind I thought I’d have a closer look at the curse of the Europa League.

Fantasy Football Performance of Europa League players

The following stat may suprise you. Not a single Tottenham or Swansea player increased their Fantasy Premier League value over the season. The statistic is all the more shocking when you consider that Tottenham finished the season in sixth position. Swansea were terrible while they were in Europe. It was only after being knocked out and finding themslves in a relegation battle that they actually began to produce the goods. This situation should not have been a suprise, as the season before it was Newcastle struggling due to the demands of the Europa League.

2014/15’s English Europa League Teams

Everton

The midfield was already a rotation nightmare, and that was without the Europa League. Seamus Coleman is likely to begin the season priced much higher than last season – priced similarly to Leighton Baines. Unless they have a very kind opening fixture list then might be safer to avoid

Hull

All I will say about Hull is they would do well to be knocked out of Europe early or they may well find themselves in trouble in the league

Tottenham

Tottenham are an unusual case. Playing in the competition for the third season in a row, poor player form has already been priced in, so there could actually be some decent Fantasy bargains in this team. A quick look at the season’s biggest price droppers sees many Tottenham players make the list. Hard to imagine them falling further.

Conclusion

Would be much better to pick players from teams that just avoided Europe. It is probably no coincidence that Liverpool, Everton and Southampton all performed well this season without Europa League distractions. This season it could well be Manchester United who see the real benefit of missing out on Europe.

24 Comments Post a Comment

J0E
9 years, 11 months ago
Can see Manchester United benefiting from a lack of Europa action next season. The whole group stage just seems so long and arduous. It's no wonder that the best teams don't want to be in it.
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Dino
9 years, 11 months ago
Good post Trigger

I keep forgetting Everton will have the Europa to contend with next season. For me their squad is too shallow and I think they may struggle for this reason. Hull will likely struggle for the same reason.

Spurs as you say are a different proposition. I think they have built up sufficient squad depth like the top 4 teams (except Liverpool) to play in Europe and the league so they should be ok as long as we know who is safe from rotation so that will depend on the new manager.

It would be great if someone actually went back and looked at league positions and the drop from the previous year for teams playing in the Europa.
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DGW blindness is for Kinnea…
9 years, 11 months ago
Couldn't put it better. To the point. Well done
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Respect My Authoritah
9 years, 11 months ago
Good post. Though its about Europa, Liverpool seem likely to fall for the same curse unless they significantly bulk up their squad
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Baines on Toast...
9 years, 11 months ago
I think it's possible that Everton and Spurs could start alright before it becomes a real issue. Qualifiers may set Spurs up to be match fit against strugglers (Eriksen almost certain to be in my team GW1), while Everton could be more of a struggle but with kind fixtures their defenders could still get off to a flyer.
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1. Dino
  9 years, 11 months ago
  Yes I would agree with that Baines, I think in the past the teams that have struggled due to Europa have done so close to xmas and post xmas as the sheer volume of games catches up to them through injuries and loss of form.
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Camp No No
9 years, 11 months ago
Tottenham can't really blame the EL, though. They rotated practically the whole first XI for the EL matches.
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1. Hamstergod
  9 years, 11 months ago
  Yeah, they did rotate big time, I think their league form can be attributed more to a number of new players and the need to settle in, rather than Europe League.
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  1. Camp No No
    9 years, 11 months ago
    And to one-dimensional tactics and lack of creativity in midfield.
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    1. Hamstergod
      9 years, 11 months ago
      This
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JK - Cønt ⭐
9 years, 11 months ago
Very good Trigg

I've mentioned the EUROPA thing in relation to Pool this season (and lack of it), same for United next season and as a cautionary note in relation to Hull
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Bambi
9 years, 11 months ago
Not sure why Liverpool are not on the list? Yes they are not in the Europa league and so don't have to travel as far but they have a much shallower squad than spurs (not claiming it is worse). Pool have a collection of 16-17 versatile players which i think unless they bulk up will affect them worse than spurs
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1. Dino
  9 years, 11 months ago
  The Europa does seem to be worse on teams though as at least if you are playing champions league on a tuesday night you get a minimum three full days to your next game and if your game is on sunday (which a lot of the big teams games usually are you get 4 full days.
  
  If you are playing Europa it is always a Thursday night and while you play your games on the Sunday (I think all Europa teams play on the Sunday or the Monday but not sure?) that still only leaves 2 full days between games.
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JT's Dog
9 years, 11 months ago
good post
just out of interest, would you say europe impacts on a certain type of team?
By this I mean many of the top teams have done well in europe but still managed to hold up well in the league. The usual belief is that the have bigger squads so can cope, but how much do they actually rotate their players in champ league.
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1. Dino
  9 years, 11 months ago
  They have better quality players to rotate into their teams for league games without dropping too many points and some rotate in Europe as depending on seeding you can end up with a pretty easy group. I guess the big teams seldom actually put out their best 11 in games unless there is a big game or a bit of space between games.
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Twelve years a slave
9 years, 11 months ago
Several people are asking why Liverpool are not on the list. The poor league form of europa league teams appears specific to that competition. The main culprit appears to be the Thursday night games. Not enough time to recover for the weekend games. This view is supported by several premier league managers
. There is also the sheer volume of games, the more remote locations, poorer pitch quality at some of the less glamourously venues .
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1. Dino
  9 years, 11 months ago
  Good point on the Geography spread too. The lesser leagues which generally participate more in the Europa than the champions league are generally from more eastern Europe and therefore a much greater distance for travelling.
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2. getfunky
  9 years, 11 months ago
  do they really play that many more games tho? i thought it was one qualifing round (same as finishing fourth in the cl) then 6 games in the group stage (same again) then one extra round in the knock-out stages. if you compare spurs to arsenal last season that's only two more games.
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Margarido
9 years, 11 months ago
Couldn't agree more.
But it's fair to say that it all depends on the coach and his ambitions on UEL.
British coach's tend to discard europe unless its Champions League. So maybe Martinez will be the one who puts a stronger team on thursdays!
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1. Dino
  9 years, 11 months ago
  Even when they don't put much of an emphasis on it the competition still takes its toll as you have to fly all the players to the game, you have to prepare the whole squad for the game and even if it is a second string player getting injured in a game it means he is not available to step in for a league game if one of your first team players gets injured/suspended.
  
  The other thing it does it in preparing to face a team midweek you are not concentrating all week on the game the following weekend. If you try and incorporate rest days while playing every 3/4 days it does not leave much time to work on tactical shape or set piece moves etc that would normally be worked on in the training ground.
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  1. Margarido
    9 years, 11 months ago
    Spot on Dino. That's the British case on small/medium clubs.
    But if you look to Spain or Portugal you will see teams getting way with national titles and deep runs in Europe.
    
    It all starts on the view form the Coach.
    If i was a pro player, i would prefer a match to a training session. No matter the distance and time of flight.
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    1. Dino
      9 years, 11 months ago
      I agree with you to an extent but not many leagues are as strong as the EPL so when a lot of these teams say in Spain or Italy for example come off the back of a Europa league game they can probably rest a lot of their main players and still get the result.
      
      I am not saying the EPL is the best league in Europe (don't want to go opening that can of worms) but the difference in points between top and bottom in the EPL is the smallest of any of the major leagues. This reflects the fact that the weaker teams in the EPL will give the top teams a much tougher game than will happen in the other major leagues.
      
      It does make it more difficult imo for EPL teams to progress through European competitions but this is why they need the quality squads. The problem is if you are not in Europe you can't really afford the quality squad and the wages that go with it so it is catch 22 to a certain extent.
      
      Also it would be crazy for an EPL team to chase European glory at the potential expense of getting relegated as the cash for staying in the epl is about three times the cash from doing well in the Europa. The same can be said for the champions league. It would be crazy for a team to try and win the champions league at the expense of losing the chance to qualify for it the following year through the league due to the cash on the line.
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      1. Margarido
        9 years, 11 months ago
        I agree with you on the EPL strength has a league.
        I'am Portuguese and its the only league in the world that i follow. I mean, i see every weekend game that's televised (5 normally).
        
        But it's not all about the money… Silverware it's the goal of this game.
        
        Everton and Tottenham are not in relegation fights. Will be looking to see how they approach next year.
        Would their fans prefer a top 4 or a UEL cup?
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Dino
9 years, 11 months ago
A good point on this years Europa is that the winners get a place in the Champions League the following year. So if an EPL team wins it and doesn't finish in the top 4 then the EPL would have 5 participants in the following years competition.

This is a significant change to previous years as in effect it is now worth an extra 50m if you win it (estimated worth of participation in the Champions League).

Also if an English team wins the Champions League next season and don't finish in the top 4 the EPL will have 5 teams in the Champions League the following year.
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