So that’s it. Tottenham beat Chelsea courtesy of a fortuitous Woodgate header three minutes into the first half of extra time.
Spurs have one of the three UEFA cup spots. Unless they go on to win this year’s competition that leaves only two more spots.
Many would argue that we’ve had a great season, and although we’re down in 7th position, provided West Ham win their game in hand, we’re only two points off of 10th. Being the only team to have played all of the “top four” twice, we’re obviously looking like improving on our position, but we could have a bad run at any time, and there’s not much difference in class between any of the teams from 5th to 10th. Also, Tottenham are on the up, having won the Carling Cup and being in fantastic form, they can’t be written off. Isn’t it asking a bit much for us to finish 6th, in order to get into Europe?
Hold on, we’re playing Man Utd in the FA cup quarter final. Let’s just say that we lose, then the chances of Man Utd avoiding Chelsea in the draw, and both of the teams getting through their semi-final draw, doesn’t look good for us. Unless they face each other in the draw, or we get to the final, then another UEFA cup spot is going to whoever, as Man Utd and Chelsea are pretty much gaining a European spot from the league. Which unfortunately would mean that there is only one UEFA cup spot left.
Now, the chances of us hitting bad form at some point this season are pretty high, so we shouldn’t be arrogant and assume that we will get that 5th spot. We have to work very hard to get it, or even the 4th spot. Even if we finish 6th, that’s the best finish we’ve had since we won the league, and is 3 places higher than last year. Considering that due to the Premier League winning the fair play award, an extra UEFA cup spot was awarded last year, we could have got into Europe via the intertoto cup had we applied for it (or if Poll had given that goal – but I’m not going to go into that), and that was finishing 9th. For us to finish 6th and not get into Europe is shambolic, and would be absolutely unacceptable, seeing as Blackburn entered this year’s UEFA cup, having finished 10th last year!
Furthermore, our rivals, such as Everton, Man City and Tottenham have all applied for the Intertoto Cup, as far as I know, so why shouldn’t we? It’s a back up option if the FA cup and/or league doesn’t go our way.
Harry didn’t apply last year as it’s an early start to the season, and basically we already had the Asia Trophy to contest, but he’s entered before with West Ham. We would gain much more money from being in the UEFA cup, and more players would want to join us.
So this is just a plea to all Pompey fans, to persuade our club to enter the intertoto cup, and make sure that we get into Europe (perhaps someone could set up a poll, or tell me how to?)
Written by jbaker.
The views within this article are the views of the individual who wrote and submitted this piece, sometimes solely theirs. They are not necessarily shared by the Vital Pompey Site Journalists.
