2011/12 Europa League thread

Fucking Hearts ffs, lozl.

FC Nordsjælland got 0-0 with Sporting Club de Portugal.

Odd was that they also met last year, Sporting won 3-1 on Agg, 0-1 and 2-1. Nordsjælland were better prepared this time around even though their squad was slightly weakened since last year while Sporting have spent close to £10m.

They can surely surprise in Portugal, surprised they didn't start with Andreas Laudrup and supposedly the Portuguese commentators were as well according to the studio as they lit up when he was coming on in the 2nd half. He came close to deciding the match when sadly the ref called for a freekick instead of a play on that lead to a goal, the freekick should have gotten Sporting a red card as it was a clear goal chance right on the edge of the penalty box.

Possibly there could be 3 danish teams in EL this year, i have a hard time believing that FC Copenhagen can turn 1-3 around, and OB are playing against Villareal at El Madrigal and chances are that Villareal will put one or more past them, to think otherwise would be insane. Then there is Nordsjælland a mid league team from Denmark with focus on ball control and passing over physique, last year sporting lost 0-2 against Brøndby at home, and Nordsjælland managed to pressure them through the whole match until they got one in right at the end.

We'll see next week, could be a miracle and have Copenhagen and OB win/draw and Nordsjælland win/draw (away goals win)

Muhkoo, is the new FCK manager doing well at all?

Muhkoo wrote:FC Nordsjælland got 0-0 with Sporting Club de Portugal.

Odd was that they also met last year, Sporting won 3-1 on Agg, 0-1 and 2-1. Nordsjælland were better prepared this time around even though their squad was slightly weakened since last year while Sporting have spent close to £10m.

They can surely surprise in Portugal, surprised they didn't start with Andreas Laudrup and supposedly the Portuguese commentators were as well according to the studio as they lit up when he was coming on in the 2nd half. He came close to deciding the match when sadly the ref called for a freekick instead of a play on that lead to a goal, the freekick should have gotten Sporting a red card as it was a clear goal chance right on the edge of the penalty box.

Possibly there could be 3 danish teams in EL this year, i have a hard time believing that FC Copenhagen can turn 1-3 around, and OB are playing against Villareal at El Madrigal and chances are that Villareal will put one or more past them, to think otherwise would be insane. Then there is Nordsjælland a mid league team from Denmark with focus on ball control and passing over physique, last year sporting lost 0-2 against Brøndby at home, and Nordsjælland managed to pressure them through the whole match until they got one in right at the end.

We'll see next week, could be a miracle and have Copenhagen and OB win/draw and Nordsjælland win/draw (away goals win)

They might have a chance if we keep playing Postiga upfront. The guy can't finish to save his life.

I thought Mikkelsen did better than Laudrup as a sub.

Rosenborg were dire. So bad that even booing them off the pitch didn't seem sufficent to express the level of complete rubbishnes being displayed on the pitch. That is all.

Well actually Aalesund beat AZ Alkmaar and generally looked good, so.. there's that.

Laurencio wrote:Rosenborg were dire. So bad that even booing them off the pitch didn't seem sufficent to express the level of complete rubbishnes being displayed on the pitch. That is all.

I really feel for your club. Once the greatest team in Scandinavia, but OB and FCK have surpassed them now. It's sad to see.

Pip wrote:

Laurencio wrote:Rosenborg were dire. So bad that even booing them off the pitch didn't seem sufficent to express the level of complete rubbishnes being displayed on the pitch. That is all.

I really feel for your club. Once the greatest team in Scandinavia, but OB and FCK have surpassed them now. It's sad to see.

Tell me about it. This is our new manager's idea of a good tactic:

Chuck the best passer in the team way out on the wing and limit his exposure to the ball. Give the defensive midfielder who isn't really creative the role of playmaker. Put two 18 year olds to run the team in the middle, when one of them is tired replace the best one of them with a useless player who can't play football. Play a striker that hasn't scored in 3 years up front.

Seriously I have never in my life been more annoyed at tactics than I was today. Even Åge Hareide didn't manage to annoy me to the same extent with his beyond absurd tactics for the national team (which were dire in every sense of the word).

However he can't take all the blame. The board are pretty rubbish at transfers. Our best defender left on a free due to contract "disagreements", our best striker left on a free to Cyrstal Palace, our best defensive midfielder left for Schalke. Before that they had also managed to squander roughly £6M on useless players, like the leftback who only played 5 games, or the midfielder who played 1 game, or the striker who played 20 minutes and since has never been seen from again, and don't forget the striker who can't score even if the goal is wide open.

They made a few good buys this season though, particulary Dockal who is brilliant but horribly missused.

Granted, if the old man himself, Nils Arne Eggen, was still in charge we'd probably still win the league.

Laurencio wrote:

Pip wrote:

Laurencio wrote:Rosenborg were dire. So bad that even booing them off the pitch didn't seem sufficent to express the level of complete rubbishnes being displayed on the pitch. That is all.

I really feel for your club. Once the greatest team in Scandinavia, but OB and FCK have surpassed them now. It's sad to see.

Tell me about it. This is our new manager's idea of a good tactic:

Chuck the best passer in the team way out on the wing and limit his exposure to the ball. Give the defensive midfielder who isn't really creative the role of playmaker. Put two 18 year olds to run the team in the middle, when one of them is tired replace the best one of them with a useless player who can't play football. Play a striker that hasn't scored in 3 years up front.

Seriously I have never in my life been more annoyed at tactics than I was today. Even Åge Hareide didn't manage to annoy me to the same extent with his beyond absurd tactics for the national team (which were dire in every sense of the word).

However he can't take all the blame. The board are pretty rubbish at transfers. Our best defender left on a free due to contract "disagreements", our best striker left on a free to Cyrstal Palace, our best defensive midfielder left for Schalke. Before that they had also managed to squander roughly £6M on useless players, like the leftback who only played 5 games, or the midfielder who played 1 game, or the striker who played 20 minutes and since has never been seen from again, and don't forget the striker who can't score even if the goal is wide open.

They made a few good buys this season though, particulary Dockal who is brilliant but horribly missused.

Granted, if the old man himself, Nils Arne Eggen, was still in charge we'd probably still win the league.

Ouch, who did you sign whom was useless? Also, who would you take as Rosenborg manager? Realistically?

Pip wrote:

Laurencio wrote:

Pip wrote:

Laurencio wrote:Rosenborg were dire. So bad that even booing them off the pitch didn't seem sufficent to express the level of complete rubbishnes being displayed on the pitch. That is all.

I really feel for your club. Once the greatest team in Scandinavia, but OB and FCK have surpassed them now. It's sad to see.

Tell me about it. This is our new manager's idea of a good tactic:

Chuck the best passer in the team way out on the wing and limit his exposure to the ball. Give the defensive midfielder who isn't really creative the role of playmaker. Put two 18 year olds to run the team in the middle, when one of them is tired replace the best one of them with a useless player who can't play football. Play a striker that hasn't scored in 3 years up front.

Seriously I have never in my life been more annoyed at tactics than I was today. Even Åge Hareide didn't manage to annoy me to the same extent with his beyond absurd tactics for the national team (which were dire in every sense of the word).

However he can't take all the blame. The board are pretty rubbish at transfers. Our best defender left on a free due to contract "disagreements", our best striker left on a free to Cyrstal Palace, our best defensive midfielder left for Schalke. Before that they had also managed to squander roughly £6M on useless players, like the leftback who only played 5 games, or the midfielder who played 1 game, or the striker who played 20 minutes and since has never been seen from again, and don't forget the striker who can't score even if the goal is wide open.

They made a few good buys this season though, particulary Dockal who is brilliant but horribly missused.

Granted, if the old man himself, Nils Arne Eggen, was still in charge we'd probably still win the league.

Ouch, who did you sign whom was useless? Also, who would you take as Rosenborg manager? Realistically?

Morten Moldskred

Realistically? That is a damn good question. Until this season I'd say the guy who they hired no contest. However, some of his tactical choices are beyond all comprehension. I still think if he was given the players he needed he could turn it around (our squad is awful when it comes to depth) as he's a very good manager. However, if I were to replace him there's just a handful of managers I'd even consider. Kjetil Rekdal is probably the best norwegian manager we "could" get and the only norwegian I'd actually consider. He's a bit of an asshole, but a phenomenal coach when it comes down to it.

bcfcben wrote:Finished 0-0 with us. We played really well as well and were unlucky not to win. Looking forward to the home game now

I did not have the time to watch your game but this sounds exciting to hear about. If you make the group stage you should be certain to have one or two nice away games to go to without ticket issues. Although it is possible that a team from Belarus, Georgia, or Lithuania could be in the group stage and I personally would not want to go to those countries as I have no idea how well they are developed or what the safety factor is like.

Weather130 wrote:

bcfcben wrote:Finished 0-0 with us. We played really well as well and were unlucky not to win. Looking forward to the home game now

I did not have the time to watch your game but this sounds exciting to hear about. If you make the group stage you should be certain to have one or two nice away games to go to without ticket issues. Although it is possible that a team from Belarus, Georgia, or Lithuania could be in the group stage and I personally would not want to go to those countries as I have no idea how well they are developed or what the safety factor is like.

All the major cities are fine.

I never had the chance to mention but Olympiakos Volou were kicked out of the competition due to the match fixing scandal going on in Greece. Therefore Differdange of Luxembourg is in the current round playing PSG. Must be nice for the fans of these guys because a team from Luxembourg has never got this far in Europe.

Differdange's record in Europe is dire, They are 2-2-22 with 9 goals scored and 114 goals against.

They lost 0-4 aswell.

Weather130 wrote:I never had the chance to mention but Olympiakos Volou were kicked out of the competition due to the match fixing scandal going on in Greece. Therefore Differdange of Luxembourg is in the current round playing PSG. Must be nice for the fans of these guys because a team from Luxembourg has never got this far in Europe.

Differdange's record in Europe is dire, They are 2-2-22 with 9 goals scored and 114 goals against.

Sounds like a horrible time for the fans

Pip wrote:

All the major cities are fine.

Unless they draw a team from Russia in their group Right?

Roma got beat 1-0 against a very small team. Schalke lost 2-0 to similar opponents. Some big teams might go out.

Laurencio wrote:

Weather130 wrote:I never had the chance to mention but Olympiakos Volou were kicked out of the competition due to the match fixing scandal going on in Greece. Therefore Differdange of Luxembourg is in the current round playing PSG. Must be nice for the fans of these guys because a team from Luxembourg has never got this far in Europe.

Differdange's record in Europe is dire, They are 2-2-22 with 9 goals scored and 114 goals against.

Sounds like a horrible time for the fans

It might sound horrible at first but I am fairly sure that there fans are not expecting a good result and are probably excited that there tiny little club gets to play against PSG. The game might be hard to watch at first but I am sure the fans will still enjoy a day trip to Paris.

Rei Andros wrote:Roma got beat 1-0 against a very small team. Schalke lost 2-0 to similar opponents. Some big teams might go out.

Didn't Roma roughly play their youth team?

Just checked the lineup. They played a slightly weakened team with 2 youth team players. The big hitter came on in the 2nd half though.

Weather130 wrote:

Pip wrote:

All the major cities are fine.

Unless they draw a team from Russia in their group Right?

Yep, unless the team play in Moscow. Moscow is alright I suppose.

Rei Andros wrote:Just checked the lineup. They played a slightly weakened team with 2 youth team players. The big hitter came on in the 2nd half though.

Totti?

Missed an s. I should have said hitters, i.e. Totti, Borriello, and Perrotta.

UK & ROI teams

Shamrock Rovers (ROI) 1 Partizan (Serbia) 1
Hearts (Scotland) 0 Tottenham Hotspur (England) 5
Maribor (Slovenia) 2 Rangers (Scotland) 1
Fulham (England) 3 Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (Ukraine) 0
Celtic (Scotland) 0 Sion (Switzerland) 0
Nacional (Portugal) 0 Birmingham City (England) 0
Thun (Switzerland) 0 Stoke City (England) 1



ties all but over (3+ goal difference)
Maccabi Tel Aviv (Israel) 3 Panathinaikos FC (Greece) 0
Beşiktaş (Turkey) 3 Alania Vladikavkaz (Russia) 0
FC Differdange (Luxembourg) 0 PSG (France) 4
Lazio (Italy) 6 FK Rabotnički (Macedonia) 0

Upsets (personal opinion)
Vorskla Poltava (Ukraine) 2 Dinamo Bucureşti (Romania) 1
Slovan Bratislava (Slovakia) 1 Roma (Italy) 0
Ekranas (Lithuania) 1 Hapoel Tel Aviv (Israel) 0
Aalesund (Norway) 2 AZ (Netherlands) 1
Omonia (Cyprus) 2 Red Bull Salzburg (Austria) 1
Zestafoni (Georgia) 3 Club Brugge (Belgium) 3
HJK Helsinki (Finland) 2 Schalke 04 (Germany) 0

You wouldn't class the Partizan result as a shock?

Pip wrote:You wouldn't class the Partizan result as a shock?

Yes it is a shock but since I already mentioned it I did not list it again. I try not to be redundant when possible.

What do think UEFA will do about FC Sion fielding ineligible players?

SBSP wrote:What do think UEFA will do about FC Sion fielding ineligible players?

How do you ask a question of this nature without any evidance?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/14486536.stm

Sion ignored warnings from Fifa not to field players they consider ineligible.

Jose Goncalves, Pascal Feindouno, Mario Mutsch and Gabri all took part against the governing body's wishes.

Alright, it was FIFA, not UEFA. Same thing.

Dempsey clowning on some fools again. I think he'll hit 20 goals this season.

SBSP wrote:http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/14486536.stm

Sion ignored warnings from Fifa not to field players they consider ineligible.

Jose Goncalves, Pascal Feindouno, Mario Mutsch and Gabri all took part against the governing body's wishes.

Alright, it was FIFA, not UEFA. Same thing.

Well I imagine UEFA's rules have to follow along with FIFA so it is certainly similar. Still not enough details here and I believe UEFA makes the decisions here. I am sure that more is to come here.