The obvious play is to take the EL more seriously than they otherwise would. Remember the place is relative to the next five years. The chance that either finishes fourth in the next five years isn't that small, but it's far less likely that one finishes third. Plus take into account the once in a while bink and it's an easy decision.

Although I do agree that the opportunity to **** united over does make it a bit tougher.

yeah, this. The bolded is pretty close to 100%

Right. But if they happen to have a semi decent season and get 4th then they are ****ed and in the same boat they would've been had they got 5th/6th.

Plus, winning the Europa league gets them into CL the following year so that should give them all the incentive they need to take the tournament seriously.

Which will be absolutely hilarious if that happens.

Yes, it's pretty likely Spurs and/or Plop will finish in the top 4 in the next 5 years. How often will they do it more than once though? that starts to become much more unlikely.

In addition, you have to consider the relative value to Spurs and Plop. Their commercial deals are brokered in the knowledge it's unlikely that they will see any CL action, so CL qualification isn't worth that much more than the £25m or so prize money.

However, all Utd's commercial deals are structured assuming CL qualification, hence the £100m figure it would potentially cost them (lifted from bandits's recent post). So in EV it's going to cost Utd, or whoever else misses out, anywhere between £2-400m if England lose a CL spot.

Liverpool actually get a good deal of money from commercial deals. If they would ever have a decent run playing consecutive years in the CL then their ability to attract even more commercial deals go's up considerably more considering how popular a club they are in Asia.

Shockingly I actually agree with mourninho here. Sometimes a player just needs a minute to gather themselves after a knock and treatment is not necessarily. Having to take that player off for a play or two in a spot where you're already down a man has some massive implications as he can't come back on till the next restart.

If they snap went on the field vs waiting to confirm he needed treatment I definitely think he has a reason to be mad. He obviously handled it poorly with how he blasted her (not in the way we'd all love to blast Eva either).

Watching MOTD... Utd fans bitch a lot about how the chevrolet logo ruins their kit, but Sunderland's is much worse.

Mickey Mouse cup starting tonight, we're at Morecambe and I hope we lose

agreed, though afaik this isn't possible. The ref has to invite them onto the field, and that's only going to be because either the player requests treatment or the ref considers it potentially serious. Seems the likeliest explanation is the ref made a bad call, assuming Hazard himself didn't ask to be treated.

The one thing I don't understand is Chelsea have six PL defenders and one of them is either injured or suspended at most at the same time and then there's Arsenal which have eight PL defenders and really often there's a situation where four of them are either injured or suspended.

What happens when you factor in the impact on league performance of Thursday night football?

"Jose Mourinho has radically downgraded the duties of Chelsea first team doctor Eva Carneiro, including her removal from the bench on matchday, just three days after his trenchant criticism of her and head physiotherapist Jon Fearne.

The 41-year-old doctor, of Spanish and British parentage, will continue to be the team’s first team doctor but will only work from the club’s Cobham training base. She will not travel with the team to games, home or away, nor will she attend training sessions outside on the first team pitch at Cobham.

Today, Chelsea refused to comment on her specific situation. A spokesman for the club said: “We don’t comment on internal staffing matters.”

ouch

I quite enjoyed coming across this article and the last few lines:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/foo...-Mourinho.html

anyone can spend a fortune and build a great team, but it takes a special manager to spend a fortune, build a great team and blame the medical staff for that team's failures. see pep, jose

Just motivating her and her team to be better doctors.

That physio is normally the main highlight, when watching the parked bus.

Where is this stars sportsbook free bet?

Also bad from Mourinaids that. He's entertaining but damn hes a nob
How about telling Hazard to stop taking a breather and get his arse up of the deck

Definitely is open to existing customers.

SK, just make 4 £25 bets at odds of 1.5 or bigger and you'll be credited with 4 free bets a day or so later, must be used on odds of at least 2.0. Don't forget the free £25 6+ team acca.

Thanks marty

I forgot about the 6+ acca as well!

Free money if you just lay off your free bets on an exchange, EV is probably around £75.

Seriously the only good thing about Chelsea. Hope another PL club comes along for her.

Meanwhile in the conference north, Stockport, who 15 years ago were in the championship, are losing to FC United, who 15 years ago didn't exist

Marty,

Do I need to make 4 separate deposits to get the four free bets? How do I claim the free accumulator?

Lovely pair of adidas copa boots.