Other games (2025/26)

[The Prophet]

Think the FA Cup and League Cup are about on par these days. 

[Mike]

CL>League>Europa>FA>Conference>League

[The Prophet]

17 minutes ago, Mike said:

CL>League>Europa>FA>Conference>League

 

I'd say

 

Major trophies: League and Champions League

Regular trophies: FA Cup, League Cup, Europa League

Minor trophies: Conference League 

[The College Dropout]

Always need some degree of player power imo. Worked his whole life for this career and 1 year just taken away from him. 

[Kid Icarus]

How I'd rank them now is very different to how I'd have ranked them even 5 years ago. 

 

Achievement

League>Champions League>FA Cup>League Cup>Europa>Conference

 

Reward

Champions League>League>Europa>FA Cup>Conference>League Cup

 

My ranking

League=Champions League>FA Cup>League Cup>Europa>Conference

 

 

Edited May 21 by Kid Icarus

[leffe186]

1 hour ago, Nucasol said:

Maybe it’s recency bias due to the difficulty of our 24/25 win coupled with watching Man City put 10 past Exeter in the FA Cup 3rd round and then another gimme v Salford in the 4th round.

Yeah, it’s swings and roundabouts (unless you’re Chelsea, apparently). Don’t forget also that European sides are kept apart when they enter the League Cup which means more chance of an easy game (you got Bradford, we got Doncaster etc). In the FA Cup you can get anyone - we faced Villa in the 3rd round.

[leffe186]

19 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

How I'd rank them now is very different to how I'd have ranked them even 5 years ago. 

 

Achievement

League>Champions League>FA Cup>League Cup>Europa>Conference

 

Reward

Champions League>League>Europa>FA Cup>Conference>League Cup

 

My ranking

League=Champions League>FA Cup>League Cup>Europa>Conference

 

 

 

One argument for the Europa relative to the English trophies is that the achievement also reflects your achievement the previous year. Once you get in it it’s easier, but getting in in the first place is the tricky bit.

[Kid Icarus]

1 minute ago, leffe186 said:

One argument for the Europa relative to the English trophies is that the achievement also reflects your achievement the previous year. Once you get in it it’s easier, but getting in in the first place is the tricky bit.

Within in the PL/won the FA Cup to an extent yeah. That's not even just English arrogance or anything either, it's just how the competition is at the moment. 

 

We're in a unique position in that respect as well in that we won the League Cup and qualified for the CL. Context and all that, but qualifying for the CL didn't feel like anywhere near the achievement winning the LC did. 

[The College Dropout]

15 minutes ago, leffe186 said:

One argument for the Europa relative to the English trophies is that the achievement also reflects your achievement the previous year. Once you get in it it’s easier, but getting in in the first place is the tricky bit.

This is true. You have to finish 5th-7th in the PL or win the FA Cup.... or do a Forest.

 

It's kind of cool Palace may end up in the UEFA Cup anyway right? Big steps to go but a great chance of 4 trophies in 3 years for a club that has previously won precisely nowt.

[The College Dropout]

12 minutes ago, Kid Icarus said:

Within in the PL/won the FA Cup to an extent yeah. That's not even just English arrogance or anything either, it's just how the competition is at the moment. 

 

We're in a unique position in that respect as well in that we won the League Cup and qualified for the CL. Context and all that, but qualifying for the CL didn't feel like anywhere near the achievement winning the LC did. 

The feast and famine stuff is partially bad luck and poor performance. This is Villa's 3rd non-CL European campaign over the last 5 years because they've been consistent.

 

This Europa League win will have done wonders for their co-efficient. As Europa League winners will they get maximum pot money?

[Abacus]

As of now;

 

League - CL - Europa - FA Cup - League Cup - Conference League - Papa John's Trophy - Charity Shield - Club World Cup

 

Though, after the last couple of years and the ridiculous number of teams qualifying for Europe, I'm tempted to drop the Europa down a couple of spots re prestige.

 

And I'm not being bribed to give two hoots about that last sham.

[Superior Acuña]

For me, I'm genuinely happy we won the LC rather than Europa first. The Europa has declined markedly in value since we were in that semi-final but there's also just that I'm glad we could do it in Wembley with so many of our fans there. Now we've done that, would certainly enjoy a Europa. I'd probably prefer to win the LC again though, than the Europa, if I could choose. (FA Cup would trump both for next on my wishlist)

 

Prestige

CL - PL - FAC - Europa - LC- Conf

Achievement

PL - CL - FAC/LC - Europa - Conf

What I'd like next

PL - FAC - CL - LC - Europa- Conf

 

 

Edited May 21 by Superior Acuña

[leffe186]

It is still going to vary year-on-year, naturally. You guys had to face Forest, Wimbledon, Chelsea, Brentford, Arsenal and Liverpool, and Liverpool themselves faced West Ham, Brighton, Southampton, us and you. However, this year Man City won it by beating Huddersfield, Swansea, Brentford and you before beating Arsenal. Tough, but not especially gruelling. Chelsea got to the FA Cup final this year by beating Charlton, Hull, Wrexham, Port Vale and Leeds, which I'm sure Man U would rather have faced in last year's Europa than Twente, Porto, Fenerbahçe, PAOK, Bodø/Glimt, Viktoria Plzeń, Rangers, Steaua Bucharest, Real Sociedad, Lyon, and Athletic Bilbao.

 

I broadly agree with KI but I think the Europa is harder to place becuase it's such a different competition. Ultimately to win the final of the League or FA Cup you're probably going to have to beat at least two teams better than anything you'll find in the Europa. However, the amount of obstacles you have to face to win the Europa are huge and you're not going to get many bites of the cherry.

 

 

[Bizza]

[Wolfcastle]

Don't think the pecking order of the cups has changed except fluctuations in the Europa & League Cup. Its more just the standard and standing of the Europa and Confrence have dropped massively from the UEFA/CWC days. I'd definitely have preferred the UEFA last millennium but not since really.

 

 

 

Edited May 21 by Wolfcastle

[AngelofTheFourth]

I will say this. There are a lot of things Emery's Villa made look easy, but it actually isn't. Last season, I remember seeing comments about how the new UCL format made things much easier for them, yet this season we have done nowhere near as well as they did last season. In fact, the increased number of games has made our league performances even worse and ended our UCL run with one of the worst losses by an English team in the UCL, at the hands of Barca, who then got knocked out by Atletico the next round. I think we would have had a great shot at winning Europa, but I very much doubt we would have juggled the league as well as they did while doing it. Ours would have been on par with Spurs and Man United last season (which would have still bee impressive).

[alexf]

28 minutes ago, AngelofTheFourth said:

I will say this. There are a lot of things Emery's Villa made look easy, but it actually isn't. Last season, I remember seeing comments about how the new UCL format made things much easier for them, yet this season we have done nowhere near as well as they did last season. In fact, the increased number of games has made our league performances even worse and ended our UCL run with one of the worst losses by an English team in the UCL, at the hands of Barca, who then got knocked out by Atletico the next round. I think we would have had a great shot at winning Europa, but I very much doubt we would have juggled the league as well as they did while doing it. Ours would have been on par with Spurs and Man United last season (which would have still bee impressive).

I remember Villa's fixtures being a lot kinder in the CL league phase than ours were. Probably something to do with coefficient or something. Which meant they had 2 less games as didn't need a play off. 

So they got Club Brugge in the last 16, where we got Barcelona. So they only got 1 game further than we did. 

But yes they did navigate the league a lot better that season than we have this and only just finished behind us in the league that year. But I would, and still have argued that their squad has always been deeper than ours for the entirety of the last 4/5 years we have been competing with one another. They had a stronger base to build from than we did, more saleable assets to fund squad building, and the advantage of being able to flog to Saudi Arabia (Duran 70m, Diaby 50m) and where are either of those players now? Dodgy as fuck that. But we aren't allowed to sell to saudi in the same way as we can't book the profit.

Whilst we have had a few better star players in my opinion in the likes of Isak, Bruno etc. Beyond the first 11 i think they have had us beat in terms of depth and have a few decent players for every position. 

Also, not sure why it needs repeating time and again, but last summer was the most unsettling and derailing to our momentum as it could be. Best player on strike right up until end of August leaving us starting the first few games with no striker, missing out on a shit ton of first transfer targets and ending up splurging all our Isak money on unfortunately players that have underperformed this season and one that was supposed to be plug and play in Wissa getting injured before he kicked a ball and returning as a completely different player to what we were supposed to be getting.

Villa have had no where near the same upheaval and distraction in comparison and that shows in their ability to qualify for Europe 4 times in a row whether that be CL, EL or ECL, they have been able to keep a steady momentum whilst we have been up and down. 
 

 

 

Edited May 21 by alexf

[AngelofTheFourth]

16 minutes ago, alexf said:

I remember Villa's fixtures being a lot kinder in the CL league phase than ours were. Probably something to do with coefficient or something. Which meant they had 2 less games as didn't need a play off. 

So they got Club Brugge in the last 16, where we got Barcelona. So they only got 1 game further than we did. 

But yes they did navigate the league a lot better that season than we have this and only just finished behind us in the league that year. But I would, and still have argued that their squad has always been deeper than ours for the entirety of the last 4/5 years we have been competing with one another. They had a stronger base to build from than we did, more saleable assets to fund squad building, and the advantage of being able to flog to Saudi Arabia (Duran 70m, Diaby 50m) and where are either of those players now? Dodgy as fuck that. But we aren't allowed to sell to saudi in the same way as we can't book the profit.

Whilst we have had a few better star players in my opinion in the likes of Isak, Bruno etc. Beyond the first 11 i think they have had us beat in terms of depth and have a few decent players for every position. 

Also, not sure why it needs repeating time and again, but last summer was the most unsettling and derailing to our momentum as it could be. Best player on strike right up until end of August leaving us starting the first few games with no striker, missing out on a shit ton of first transfer targets and ending up splurging all our Isak money on unfortunately players that have underperformed this season and one that was supposed to be plug and play in Wissa getting injured before he kicked a ball and returning as a completely different player to what we were supposed to be getting.

Villa have had no where near the same upheaval and distraction in comparison and that shows in their ability to qualify for Europe 4 times in a row whether that be CL, EL or ECL, they have been able to keep a steady momentum whilst we have been up and down. 
 

 

 

 

They finished 8th in league phase they should have faced 9th placed atalanta who shockingly lost thier tie against club brugge who finished lowest in playoff stage.

 

Yes the summer was a factor for us. But villa have also had players that have wanted to leave. They are better at not letting it get to the point that  happened with isak. Duran had a big ego and they got rid as quickly as possible. All this comes with experience of dealing with clubs this level. They also have a lot of less players who think they deserve to go somewhere better which i think is more of an age thing as their squad is a lot older. 

[TheBrownBottle]

3 hours ago, The Prophet said:

Think the FA Cup and League Cup are about on par these days. 

The parallel universe doesn’t exist where they’re on par.  It’s the FA Cup man.  If we didn’t win the league cup last year I’d be astonished if a single person on here agreed with this sentiment.  
 

If the FA Cup is on par with the League Cup then football is fucking dead. 
 

edit: most football fans can remember large numbers of cup finals.  They can remember significant winners.  No-one beyond the winners remembers league cup final winners. 

 

 

Edited May 21 by TheBrownBottle

[TRon]

1 hour ago, AngelofTheFourth said:

I will say this. There are a lot of things Emery's Villa made look easy, but it actually isn't. Last season, I remember seeing comments about how the new UCL format made things much easier for them, yet this season we have done nowhere near as well as they did last season. In fact, the increased number of games has made our league performances even worse and ended our UCL run with one of the worst losses by an English team in the UCL, at the hands of Barca, who then got knocked out by Atletico the next round. I think we would have had a great shot at winning Europa, but I very much doubt we would have juggled the league as well as they did while doing it. Ours would have been on par with Spurs and Man United last season (which would have still bee impressive).

 

 

They've done brilliantly since Emery took over. No matter playing two games a week or one, they've consistently been up there. 

 

We would have been up there as well if we hadn't made a pigs ear of the transfer window last summer. 

[TheBrownBottle]

57 minutes ago, alexf said:

I remember Villa's fixtures being a lot kinder in the CL league phase than ours were. Probably something to do with coefficient or something. Which meant they had 2 less games as didn't need a play off. 

So they got Club Brugge in the last 16, where we got Barcelona. So they only got 1 game further than we did. 

But yes they did navigate the league a lot better that season than we have this and only just finished behind us in the league that year. But I would, and still have argued that their squad has always been deeper than ours for the entirety of the last 4/5 years we have been competing with one another. They had a stronger base to build from than we did, more saleable assets to fund squad building, and the advantage of being able to flog to Saudi Arabia (Duran 70m, Diaby 50m) and where are either of those players now? Dodgy as fuck that. But we aren't allowed to sell to saudi in the same way as we can't book the profit.

Whilst we have had a few better star players in my opinion in the likes of Isak, Bruno etc. Beyond the first 11 i think they have had us beat in terms of depth and have a few decent players for every position. 

Also, not sure why it needs repeating time and again, but last summer was the most unsettling and derailing to our momentum as it could be. Best player on strike right up until end of August leaving us starting the first few games with no striker, missing out on a shit ton of first transfer targets and ending up splurging all our Isak money on unfortunately players that have underperformed this season and one that was supposed to be plug and play in Wissa getting injured before he kicked a ball and returning as a completely different player to what we were supposed to be getting.

Villa have had no where near the same upheaval and distraction in comparison and that shows in their ability to qualify for Europe 4 times in a row whether that be CL, EL or ECL, they have been able to keep a steady momentum whilst we have been up and down. 
 

 

 

 

We’ve massively outspent them.  They’ve been better managed. 

[mayubeproud]

For me, winning the Europa League is definitely a better achievement than FAC/LC.

 

One has to go through at least 15 games to win the UEL, versus 6-7 games in FAC/LC. Most of the teams in the Europa League got a reasonable standard. Look at the teams who can't even get into play-offs this year, there are teams like Feyenoord, Rangers and Nice that could stand a chance surviving in the PL. You probably have to go through at least 12-13 not-so-easy games to win the UEL, versus 4-5 in FAC/LC as one would typically face 1 or 2 lower league sides during the process. You need to perform well rather consistently over a long time against a lot of decent teams to win the UEL, which makes it very risky to tank in the league to try to win it and when you do decide to tank in the league, it could mean end up getting 17th like Tottenham last year.

 

Those who argue that one have to compete with the very best teams like Man City/Arsenal in FAC/LC, these teams tend to field a slightly weakened side even in the later stages of the competition. Even when they do field their very best players, those players may not be as determined as in the league or UCL. Thus even in the last 1-2 decades where football got much more commercialized, many lesser teams like us, Crystal Palace, Leicester, Wigan, Birmingham, Portsmouth and Swansea were still able to win either one of FAC/LC. You'll never witness upsets that frequently in any top leagues or UCL.

 

In terms of the reward, UEL is clearly better than FAC/LC as it offers more prize money as well as a ticket to next year's UCL.

[Superior Acuña]

20 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

The parallel universe doesn’t exist where they’re on par.  It’s the FA Cup man.  If we didn’t win the league cup last year I’d be astonished if a single person on here agreed with this sentiment.  
 

If the FA Cup is on par with the League Cup then football is fucking dead. 
 

edit: most football fans can remember large numbers of cup finals.  They can remember significant winners.  No-one beyond the winners remembers league cup final winners. 

 

 

 

 

I think the FA Cup is still above the LC, but only marginally. The LC has grown since its lowest ebb (largely due to Pep) and the FA Cup has fallen. I can barely remember most recent finals for either, they're all blended between the two - some combination of Man City, ManU, Liverpool, Chelsea. What makes them memorable is if someone different wins them - either. Our LC win will be more memorable to your average non-toon fan than this year's FAC, I believe. And obviously last year's FAC also memorable, thanks to Palace.

[Mattoon]

15 minutes ago, TheBrownBottle said:

We’ve massively outspent them.  They’ve been better managed. 

 

Or, like @alexfsaid, they started at a higher base line and we've had to catch up by spending more, Villa still have a higher wage bill than us, which is about as accurate a needle for performance perception as you can get. There's fairly more nuance to how Villa did last season to how we did this season in the same competition.

[Paullow]

Who's everyone got in the big one tonight? Will The Jags finally do it?