Who will be the UEFA Cup finalists?

[Hail to the Thief]

Sheik-going by something I read a couple of days ago both Rangers and Celtic will go into the group stages next year, because Man Utd and Chelsea have both qualified for automatic places through the league position and, for one of them, winning the competition. Not sure if that has been officially confirmed anywhere, but that was the press line on Tuesday. Because of Rangers success I think Scotland may now have an extra UEFA Cup place for the season after next, when the whole competition will be restructured after doing away with the Intertoto Cup. Again I'm not sure how reliable that information is, but if true it would mean 2xCL places and 3xUEFA Cup places.

[Hail to the Thief]

and Eric Cantona agrees with me

In 2006 The Sun newspaper reported Cantona as saying that Manchester United had lost their soul and that the current players were a bunch of sheep. The Old Trafford idol reckoned the days of maverick entertainers like himself and George Best were gone and feared the Red Devils were betraying their past by putting out boring, functional teams.

Obviously I don't follow Man Utd to the same extent as you do, but I didn't think this was such a problem at Old Trafford these days, the Barca and Chelsea games aside. Indeed as it stands they are on course to win the league due to the far superior goal-difference, against a Chelsea side who definately haven't been reaching any sort of entertainment levels over the last 3 years. I don't think the 4-5-1 formation helps, though it's becoming an increasinly popular tactic to use.

I totally agree with your point though, football has to be about more than results. Its difficult to argue with the likes of Rangers this season results wise, and I'd imagine there won't be too many fans complaining, but it's been painful to watch, the kind of football that makes your eyes bleed. We've had something similar at Easter Road this year, where results have improved under Paatelainen, yet the football on show has been terrible to watch. The second half of the season has been less than enjoyable, and if it continues attendances will take a hit, regardless of results. Aberdeen I suppose are similar; last season was one of their most successful ones in recent years in terms of league placement, but attendances were still low because the entertainment was poor. As I said its difficult to argue against results, and I'm sure we won't get much agreement from the Rangers fans on here, but hopefully the entertainment level goes up in the next few years or interest in football will take a serious hit. As Bobby Williamson once said, "If you want entertainment, go to the cinema." Thankfully he didn't last much longer.

[Ranald]

I agree with much of what the horse says, although I'm prepared to let Man Utd off the hook. As HTTF says, they've not been lacking in the entertainment department for most of the season so playing a bit cagily in the last couple of games is understandable. I think they'll take a different approach to a one-off game like the final.

As for football in general, Greece winning Euro 2004 was the worst thing that could've happened to the game. Managers of less well-off clubs realised that with a bit of organisation they could take on and beat the more talented teams. At that point it was inevitable that the managers of the bigger teams would adopt the same philosophy when taking each other on.

[A Horse called Juan Face]

As regards Man Utd, Im just disappointed that they played so defensively against a team that has now failed to score in 5 games, even though United themselves arent going through their best patch of the season. I can see what Cantona meant actually, its not that the team doesnt score a lot of goals, but the way they play is more formulaic than usual.

As for football, look at the state of the dribble. Why do you think Messi is so lauded? Because he can dribble the ball, but if you look back 10-15 years ago every player could dribble the ball, it shouldnt be something special. The dribble is being outlawed. Going back to the Nani incident, Graham Poll came out in a column afterwards and said that players should only be allowed to dribble depending on what way theyre facing, what the score is, what the time in the game is, and which part of the field they are in. Sorry but thats the biggest pish ive ever heard and if it comes from a former referee it just shows what state the game is in. Even look at the Eduardo incident, pundits were trying to make excuses for Martin Taylor for one of the worst tackles Ive ever seen, saying things like its not his fault Eduardo was too fast for him. People with names like Martin Taylor should be taking my coat off me at a restaurant, theres a good pleb. Luckily there are still a few players coming through that can dribble, the likes of Ben Arfa, Nasri, Miralem Pjanic at Metz, Pablo Piatti and Sebastian Giovinco but i honestly think that in 5-10 years it might be defunct. I mean how often in football nowadays do you see someone hitting the line and getting a cross in? Hardly ever.

The only reason this is in a Rangers thread is because the way they play is symptomatic of the problems. I mean how can you honestly expect to nurture young talent in an environment like that. Its not possible.