Europa league pots (as it stands)


Realistically if worst comes to worst on Wednesday we should have no issues finishing 1st in these groups.

As much as not getting CL would be hard to take, I think we could go far again in the EL.

I must admit, there’s something really good about seeing Rangers FC in pot 1
A Betis or Real Sociedad team in form will be really hard to beat, I can tell you. Topping a group is not a foregone conclusion, qualifying is a must though.
 
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If we end up in EL there’s no reason why we wouldn’t navigate whichever group we got comfortably but there’s still going to be top drawer sides dropping in from the CL the following stage.
 
Pot 1 and European football after Xmas excites me a fair bit. Minus the money in CL, I don’t really care for it atall
Thee is still a bit of romance about the Europa League, despite UEFA‘s continual tinkering with the format. The Champion’s League is increasingly formulaic and anodyne. I won’t be sorry to qualify for the CL but I’ll gladly embrace the EL again.
 
No issues finishing first when the team we just 0-2 away to is one the bottom seeded pot 4 teams. :))
You're the 2nd or 3rd to mention that already. I must've missed the memo where we ended up in the Europa after they put us out. Wonder how they'll do in their second leg vs PSV next week? We are notoriously slow starters and were absolutely awful in that game. We were also missing 2 of our 3 key players from last season in Europe, 2 other big contributors we'd sold on and had a number of players making their European debuts for us. It was never going to be an easy game no matter who we were playing and we got caught with our pants down. We turned it around in the second leg and were still only at about 60% doing it.

By the time the groups come around we will have Morelos and Kent fit to start games, Davies fit enough to partner Goldson every week, Yilmaz bedded in and Tilman, Lawrence and Matondo with more games under their belts. I highly doubt, just like Malmo last season if we got them later in the year, that that result would repeat itself. The amount of people on here who continuously downplay our European achievements and standing whilst being right at the front of the queue for dishing out the abuse when we inevitably do get a bad result never ceases to amaze me.
 
You have to factor in travel.

Qarabag is not a favourable draw. Imagine having to travel to Asia the Thursday before a tough game at weekend.
It’s a fair trip but I think we’ve more chance of beating them than an Olympiacos for instance.
 
I'd rather compete in a tournament we had a realistic chance to win if I'm being honest. But I do understand the financial side of things. The CL as much as I want us to qualify next week just isn't our playground anymore. It isn't for any Scottish side.

My concern is the damage getting pummelled into the CL does to future qualifications / our coefficient.
Imagine this place if we got a serious doing off someone it just wouldn’t be worth it honestly. I’d love to qualify but I think some fans don’t understand the difference in quality.
 
I want us in the Champions League group stages - just to take a percentage of the champions league TV money off our divided brethren from the east end who have more or less got it spent already
 
Realistically we would gain far more coefficient points in the EL and go far deeper too.

CL is purely about money and hoping to finish third.

As had been said, anyone from the nineties will not take any of those teams for granted.
 
You're the 2nd or 3rd to mention that already. I must've missed the memo where we ended up in the Europa after they put us out. Wonder how they'll do in their second leg vs PSV next week? We are notoriously slow starters and were absolutely awful in that game. We were also missing 2 of our 3 key players from last season in Europe, 2 other big contributors we'd sold on and had a number of players making their European debuts for us. It was never going to be an easy game no matter who we were playing and we got caught with our pants down. We turned it around in the second leg and were still only at about 60% doing it.

By the time the groups come around we will have Morelos and Kent fit to start games, Davies fit enough to partner Goldson every week, Yilmaz bedded in and Tilman, Lawrence and Matondo with more games under their belts. I highly doubt, just like Malmo last season if we got them later in the year, that that result would repeat itself. The amount of people on here who continuously downplay our European achievements and standing whilst being right at the front of the queue for dishing out the abuse when we inevitably do get a bad result never ceases to amaze me.
Great post @Spart7

There is a name for the kind of people who seem to love downplaying everything we have achieved recently, ah yes I remember now it's arseholes.
 
It’s the 30th year anniversary of the champions league this year, and obviously we are one of the founder clubs, represented by one of those 8 stars on that famous badge, fingers crossed we make it through on Wednesday, we could have an opportunity to market this … get it done
 
All 4 clubs above us in Coefficient from big leagues , superb effort over past seasons in Europe for the club .
 
It’s the 30th year anniversary of the champions league this year, and obviously we are one of the founder clubs, represented by one of those 8 stars on that famous badge, fingers crossed we make it through on Wednesday, we could have an opportunity to market this … get it done

Is that you Mr Bisgrove .
 
Thee is still a bit of romance about the Europa League, despite UEFA‘s continual tinkering with the format. The Champion’s League is increasingly formulaic and anodyne. I won’t be sorry to qualify for the CL but I’ll gladly embrace the EL again.

Realistically all the last 24 teams in europa will have a chance to go to final. Same cannot be said about last 32/16 in the UCL.

Europa may be poor brother but it’s much more fun imo.

A group of death europa draw would be interesting as it would bring a 3rd place europa league finish as a genuine possibility. Dropping into the conference with a good European team who just got unlucky in a tough group would see us as a very big fish in that tournament. Unlikely but looking at those teams not impossible.
 
A lot of arrogance in this thread. Plenty of hard games in there if we end up in the europa
 
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Red Star, Qarabag and Kyiv dropped into the Europa groups tonight. Red Star and Kyiv will be in pot 1 unless Zagreb also drop down tomorrow night in which case Kyiv would be the top ranked pot 2 team. Qarabag will be in pot2 either way. If we do get through tomorrow we would be the highest ranked team in pot4 following Benfica qualifying tonight.
 
Red Star, Qarabag and Kyiv dropped into the Europa groups tonight. Red Star and Kyiv will be in pot 1 unless Zagreb also drop down tomorrow night in which case Kyiv would be the top ranked pot 2 team. Qarabag will be in pot2 either way. If we do get through tomorrow we would be the highest ranked team in pot4 following Benfica qualifying tonight.

I’d be gutted if we go to the Europa - but there are still some cracking places to go

There are also some places I would rather not go B-D Fenerbahce , Qarabag and ofcourse Lennon lot if they go through
 
Is it just me or does the EL look a bit weaker that it has the past few years?
Partly yes, partly no. No Napoli, Leverkusen, Lyon, Benfica from pot 1 but replaced by Man U, Arsenal, Lazio and Roma so no real drop off and arguably stronger. Pot2 looks slightly weaker than last season, pot3 stronger and pot4 slightly weaker too. If we end up there the quality of teams we could get in a group with us definitely looks weaker overall but that's the benefit of moving up a pot. Shows a difference too that Celtic were 3 positions above us and were highest ranked in pot2 last season. If we were both in it this year we'd be 5th highest ranked in the tournament and they'd only be halfway up pot2.
 
I'd really rather be in the CL, not just for the financial aspect but so we avoid Sunday games.

The Scum will play on Saturdays and we don't to want to hand them the initiative any more than we already have.
 
A lot of arrogance in this thread. Plenty of hard games in there if we end up in the europa
This reply seems to be a standard response to any positive opinion irrespective of the tournament we are in. We could be in a tournament with a collection of the worst teams in the world as competition and still it would get trotted out.

There is a big difference between arrogance and confidence yet people often confuse the two on here. Arrogance would be if we were saying we would win the Europa 4 seasons ago when we were sitting on 3.25 coefficient points, bottom of pot4 and having lost to Progress the previous season simply because we are Rangers.

Confidence comes off the back of the previous 4 seasons results, having risen from 266th to 33rd in the rankings and boosted our coefficient by almost 50 points (highest points increase in Europe over those 4 seasons possibly and definitely the biggest climbers in terms of ranking), our having gotten out the groups in each of them despite very difficult draws, the Ibrox factor, our consistent 2 legged results over those seasons (including qualifying which the big guns didn't have to do, again it must be the highest in Europe I'd imagine), last seasons incredible run and the fact being in pot1 this season, if we end up there, means we are very likely to get, on paper, the easiest group we've had since our return. There is a not so subtle difference between the two. If we end up there then people have every right to expect a group win and justifiably so imo.
 
Is it true that if we end up in the EL and we finish first we skip the last 32 or the play off as they call it now and go straight into the last 16?
Yes, same as happened last year in a tournament we were in!!

They call it the play off round as there aren't 32 teams in it so can't call it last 32!! EL Group Winners go through to last 16, runners up play a Champions League 3rd placed team - that's how we ended up with Dortmund last year.

Third place EL team drops to Conference and plays a group runner up in their playoff round.
 
Last season, we had 4 points after 4 games in EL. Lose the game v Prague and its a disaster. I feel we have deteriorated in Europe (I know, I know) because our away form is much poorer (Dortmund apart) and we have to rely on Ibrox. The midfield of Jack, Davis and Kamara was better than Lundstram and Jack/Davis/Kamara now.
 
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