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It does, which is why it is fantastic that just one match ago we were much nearer 2nd than 8th.

Note the above shows the Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round losers joining the remaining teams which won through from the Europa League 3rd Qualifying round in the Play Off round. At all stages in EL, if you lose, you're out. So whereas the Champions League PlayOff round (for 4th place in the Prem) includes the kind of sides named above, the Europa League PlayOff round will only have the losers from the CL 3rd Qualifying Round in it. I dare say they'll be seeded somehow too.

Here's some Europa League qualification fun from Wikipedia. Each stage shows the teams ADDED to the competition. There are a bunch of notes about Chelsea not playing in EL next season and similar with Belgian and Belarussian sides at the bottom. Worth remembering that even AFTER the Europa League Group stages you still get the 3rd place Champions League group losers parachuting into the competition. First qualifying round (104 teams) Romania (3rd) Hungary (CW) Finland VPS (4th) Malta (2nd) Israel (3rd) Hungary (2nd) Iceland KR (CW) Malta (3rd) Cyprus (2nd) Hungary (3rd) Iceland FH (2nd) Liechtenstein (CW) Cyprus (3rd) Slovenia (CW) Iceland Víkingur Reykjavík (4th) Northern Ireland (CW) Denmark (2nd) Slovenia (2nd) Latvia (CW) Northern Ireland (2nd) Denmark (3rd) Slovenia (3rd) Latvia Skonto (2nd) Northern Ireland (3rd) Croatia (2nd) Slovakia (CW) Latvia Jelgava (3rd) Wales (CW) Croatia (3rd) Slovakia (2nd) Montenegro (CW) Wales (2nd) Poland (2nd) Slovakia (3rd) Montenegro (2nd) Wales (P-W) Poland (3rd) Moldova (CW) Montenegro (3rd) Armenia (CW) Belarus Dinamo Minsk (2nd)[Note BLR] Moldova (2nd) Albania (CW) Armenia (2nd) Belarus Shakhtyor Salihorsk (3rd)[Note BLR] Moldova (3rd) Albania (2nd) Armenia (3rd) Scotland (2nd) Azerbaijan (CW) Albania (3rd) Estonia (CW) Scotland (3rd) Azerbaijan (2nd) Lithuania (CW) Estonia Sillamäe Kalev (2nd) Sweden (CW) Azerbaijan (3rd) Lithuania Kruoja Pakruojis (2nd) Estonia Flora Tallinn (3rd) Sweden IFK Göteborg (2nd) Georgia (country) (CW) Lithuania Atlantas (3rd) Faroe Islands Víkingur Gøta (CW) Sweden AIK (3rd) Georgia (country) (2nd) Republic of Macedonia (CW) Faroe Islands HB (2nd) Bulgaria (CW) Georgia (country) (3rd) Republic of Macedonia (2nd) Faroe Islands NSÍ Runavík (4th) Bulgaria (2nd) Kazakhstan Kairat (CW) Republic of Macedonia (3rd) San Marino (CW) Bulgaria (3rd) Kazakhstan Aktobe (2nd) Republic of Ireland St Patrick's Athletic (CW) San Marino (2nd) Norway Rosenborg (2nd) Kazakhstan Ordabasy (4th) Republic of Ireland Cork City (2nd) Andorra (CW) Norway Odd (3rd) Bosnia and Herzegovina (CW) Republic of Ireland Shamrock Rovers (4th) Andorra (2nd) Norway Strømsgodset (4th) Bosnia and Herzegovina (2nd) Luxembourg (CW) Gibraltar (CW) Serbia (CW) Bosnia and Herzegovina (3rd) Luxembourg (2nd) (FP) Serbia (2nd) Finland SJK (2nd) Luxembourg (3rd) (FP) Serbia (3rd) Finland Lahti (3rd) Malta (CW) (FP) Second qualifying round - 52 remaining teams from above plus these 14: Belgium (P-W) Austria (4th) Cyprus (CW) Belarus (CW) Turkey (4th) Czech Republic (4th) Denmark (CW) Scotland (CW) Greece (4th) Romania (2nd) Croatia (CW) Switzerland (4th) Israel (2nd) Poland (CW) Third qualifying round - 33 remaining teams from above plus these 25. Spain (6th) France (LC) Belgium (3rd) Czech Republic (CW) England Chelsea (LC)[Note ENG - would be Saints if we come 7th, or 6th if neither Arsenal nor Liverpool wins the FA Cup] Russia (3rd) Turkey (3rd) Czech Republic (3rd) Germany (6th) Russia (4th) Greece (3rd) Romania (CW) Italy (5th) Netherlands (3rd) Switzerland (CW) Israel (CW) Portugal (4th) Netherlands (P-W) Switzerland (3rd) Portugal (5th) Ukraine (3rd) Austria (CW) France (4th) Ukraine (4th) Austria (3rd) Play-off round - 29 remaining teams from above plus these 15 Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round losers. (UCL Q3) (UCL Q3) (UCL Q3) (UCL Q3) (UCL Q3) (UCL Q3) (UCL Q3) (UCL Q3) (UCL Q3) (UCL Q3) (UCL Q3) (UCL Q3) (UCL Q3) (UCL Q3) (UCL Q3) Group stage - 22 remaining teams from above plus these 26 giving the 48 teams in the Europa League Group Stage Spain (CW) Italy (4th) Turkey (CW) (UCL PO) Spain (5th) Portugal (CW) Greece (CW) (UCL PO) England (CW) France (CW) (UCL PO) (UCL PO) England (5th) Russia (CW) (UCL PO) (UCL PO) Germany (CW) Netherlands (CW) (UCL PO) (UCL PO) Germany (5th) Ukraine (CW) (UCL PO) Italy (CW) Belgium Club Brugge (CW)[Note BEL] (UCL PO) Round of 32 - 24 teams from the Group stages plus 8 Champions League Group 3rd Place teams. (UCL GS) (UCL GS) (UCL GS) (UCL GS) (UCL GS) (UCL GS) (UCL GS) (UCL GS) Notes ^ Belarus (BLR): Dinamo Minsk will enter the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round if they or BATE Borisov win the 2014–15 Belarusian Cup. Shakhtyor Salihorsk will enter the second qualifying round instead of the first qualifying round if they win the 2014–15 Belarusian Cup. ^ Belgium (BEL): Club Brugge have qualified for the 2015–16 European competitions by winning the 2014–15 Belgian Cup. They may still qualify for the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League if they finish in the top two of the 2014–15 Belgian Pro League or by winning the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League. ^ England (ENG): Chelsea have qualified for the 2015–16 European competitions by winning the 2014–15 Football League Cup. They may still qualify for the 2015–16 UEFA Champions League if they finish in the top four of the 2014–15 Premier League. They may also enter the Europa League group stage, depending on their league position and the identity of the winners of the 2014–15 FA Cup.

Apart from wondering how much greater our pre-season generally is than all the teams those players already played for (Mane for one already had league matches under his belt when he joined), and how many of the loans will even be here (Djuricic, Elia, Alderweireld), our pre-season this pre-season might end in July due to Europa League qualifiers, which doesn't exactly suggest we'll be better off than in previous years. As for Ward-Prowse to City, I'd take their arm off if they offered £10m.

We know it hasn't gone completely, but 2 months ago we were 3rd and in a much more healthy position. We also haven't won more than 4 matches in a row at any point yet during what is already a very successful season, so we'd have to hit unprecedented levels of results. Losing to the likes of Everton and West Brom away (and Swansea at home) has significantly increased the likelihood we'll have to beat Spurs home and Man City away to come top 4, whereas at the end of January it was just about beating the bottom half and levelling out results against the rest.

And before the last match we were 2 points nearer 2nd than we were 8th. Swings and roundabouts.

I think you're misunderstanding the nature of the tactics. Until we scored (which was 4 minutes before half time) it was a relatively open game, from which you'd expect the side in the top 6 to beat the side in the bottom 3 pretty much every time, especially as we still had the better defence even without Wanyama. When we scored, we protected the lead. Had we been playing with both Wanyama and Schneiderlin we probably wouldn't have had as many defensive scares, but we certainly wouldn't have created as many chances either. Hindsight shows Koeman got it spot on, even though we lost the first choice keeper we STILL didn't concede and he was right to start with a more attacking side and get the goal before shutting the game down. It has nothing to do with "we were toilet", it has everything to do with the balance of defending and attacking players, and needing to win home games against weaker teams. Plus, as I've said numerous times already, most bottom sides won't even try to attack like Burnley, and will be happy to kill time and play for a 0-0, meaning the onus is very much on Saints to be more attacking, knowing the away team won't offer much attacking threat even if we do have one fewer defensive player than usual. West Brom home at the start of the season was the very definition of Saints being too defensive and not threatening enough. We were never going to concede in that game, but we didn't look attacking enough to score either. Top 6 sides go out to win these games, and Saints in particular need all the players going forward that we can afford to get a goal. Once we're leading I don't care if we stick 11 players on the goalline, but you don't win matches without scoring at least once.

I didn't think he showed any bias towards Liverpool even when they played us, he just won't give penalties and all of the major decisions were in the box. He was the same last night, doesn't give penalties, but will give fouls everywhere else on the pitch for players who just fall over rather than actually being fouled. Top sides with European experience tend to do this more than others. Can't see how or why he would be discriminating in favour of Hull anyway - though they did play in the Europa League recently for about ten seconds.

I remember that game showing that Fonte wasn't quite up to Prem speed yet. To be fair he still has the odd glitch, that back-pass to van Persie (?) for one. Luckily for us he learns from his mistakes quickly and tends not to make them again. It did show that Wigan were very good at killing the game off at 1-0 up away from home, considering they were Wigan and all...

Chelsea being involved is only "bad" if you don't already think they are leaving to go somewhere else. If you're already in the "they will be leaving" school of thought, then the involvement of one of the clubs with a load of cash who won't pick them half the time and will drive up the prices is a good thing. That's why there's an element of denial involved in claiming that news is "bad". It's bad compared to them staying, it's good compared to only (e.g.) Liverpool being involved.

Thought he was very Gaston-like in his drifting around wafting a leg at the ball when he came on in his debut and have seen nothing of him since. Elia has at least shown what he can do, albeit on a very limited basis. He was completely anonymous going forward at Everton, but at the same time, we didn't have Coleman overlapping and sticking crosses in, so he must have been doing something defensively.

Not sure why so many people are keen on Trippier, he hasn't had the opportunity to get forward being at Burnley and he's nothing like as athletic, agile or quick as Clyne - plus his crosses into the box recently have been very floaty and easy to defend. Not really sure who we should be considering at right back to be honest, not many of them out there. Jenkinson looks like our kind of buy - on loan from a top 4 side to someone below us in the table and probably looking for a permanent move. Plus he had a decent 6 months before West Ham's injury crisis hit. I wonder if the top sides are going to be more wary of flogging their off-casts to us after Bertrand's turnaround though.

Absolutely dumbfounded that someone has said "Morgan going won't be catastrophic" above. He will be an enormous loss from the team - unless we bring in a superior replacement, and that list is pretty short to begin with. I guess I should be used to it. Losing Alderweireld and Schneiderlin is a bloody big hole, and no-one is going to convince me that Yoshida and Reed wouldn't be a step down, so transfers incoming will be what determines our chances next season. Of course, this also means that we have to buy that many more players to offset the ones leaving that the standard of those incoming will surely take a hit overall. We will, most likely, need to add depth already this summer to cope with the demands of European matches. That's one of the reasons I wouldn't be surprised to see us add Elia permanently - he's shown potential, he's not an international so he gets more of a break than many others, plus he's got 6 months of the systems and coaching behind him. Good enough squad player, even though he's shown he only plays well for Saints in a yellow shirt.

Very sensible - though the blatant copying of Arsenal probably isn't going down well there.

Sakho off with a hamstring injury to join Can and Skrtel missing, which is great news for them buggering up their League run in. As long as they can get past Blackburn I'll start enjoying their defensive player shortage later.

I will be most annoyed, as it will directly affect Saints' chances of qualifying for Europe.

Can't help but think Wallace is getting a little overhyped - he's been in the form of his life for all of a month, and it's taken him 18 months to find it. As for his "amazing strike" against Plymouth, edge of the box and a nice bounce, nothing special. He might have a decent career in League One (but it won't be with Portsmouth).

I'm always amused when I see people quoting player sales as a reason not to renew. I'm either supporting the team or I'm not, it isn't a decision based on who's wearing the shirt.

I think after last year, anyone claiming lack of ambition as their reason for not sticking around will be viewed with extreme suspicion. No-one's going to buy that line again. Are they?

Anyway, come on Liverpool! (FA Cup only, and even then only til the Final assuming they're playing Arsenal).

You believe wrong. There are 2 slots direct into the Group Stages. And one going into the 3rd Qualifying Round which then goes through the EL Playoff round into the Group stage.

I suspect we might if we were playing in League 2 as well.

Have you ever seen him play? I suspect not.

Maybe I missed a comma.