UEFA Europa League Thread

[Messinterista]

All the news and discussions relating to the new and improved UEFA Cup...The Europa League!

[Messinterista]

[Coachofbestofthebest]

[Messinterista]

[RomaShield27]

My lord, Italian teams are performing woeful in the Europe League this season. What's the story? Unlike previous years it looks as if the Italian clubs in his competition are actually giving a shit; playing full strength sides, showing more interest and enthusiasm, and yet they're still crap. Palermo lost 0-3 at home to CSKA, Samp lost, Napoli and Juventus only drew, and after three games all four Italian representatives are linger down the wrong end of their group tables.

Its not good for the Italian co-efficients, as JI will no doubt point out, but its also not for the reputation of the league to see them all performing so shit.

[maro]

Perhaps it shows us how poor the league really is?

[RomaShield27]

Er... right. Thanks for the riveting discussion.

[maro]

I was trying to make a serious point which you might have noticed, I think, were you prepared to read a bit more thoughtfully and generously. Do the performances of the Italian sides in Europe this year not make you wonder about the quality of Serie A? I've seen very little good football from any Italian sides this year. On the other hand, Lech Poznan against Rube and Man Shitty, Basle against us in the first half, Young Boys and Spurs in those two games, Werder Bremen in the first leg against Samp - these teams have all played with greater pace, greater enthusiasm, greater imagination, greater attacking intent, committing more numbers forward, moving the ball more quickly than I've seen from any Italian side except perhaps Palermo on one occasion. Italian sides look slow to my mind and unambitious - and old and tired. From what I've seen so far this season - and no doubt it's coloured by how poorly Roma have been doing - Serie A seems to me a very poor league in more ways than one. It was a relief watching Lech Poznan come forward last night.

[RomaShield27]

Perhaps. It sounded as if you were being snooty and sarcastic, which is a honest mistake on my part considering you've been doing a lot of that lately.

I don't agree that the league is poor. Not at all. Inter have played some good football in Europe and have got some impressive scorelines up and are still a team to be feared. Roma have been in turmoil, granted, but there is nothing new there, and a month from now we could see ourselves beating Chelsea or Madrid if we were drawn against them, as we're just like that. In the Europa League, while I think the Italian clubs are taking the competition a lot more serious, I don't think they have been performing to their full potential at all, for whatever reason. I can honestly say i think Juventus are a much better team then the likes of Lech Poznan or Salzburg, yet they haven't got the results against them. The same could be said for Palermo against Sparta Prague or Lasanne, Sampdoria against Debrecen or Metalist, and even Napoli against Steaua or Utrecht. These Italian clubs are certainly better then this level of opposition in my mind and should be up near the top of their respective tables, which is why I was asking the question of why they have been so woeful in the first place.

[maro]

In fact, edzo, I think we established that you'd been doing a lot of misreading of my posts lately, finding more sarcasm and snootiness than was there. Next time I'd prefer to an "honest mistake" a little more care in not jumping to conclusions. You've apologised to me in a PM for your really quite offensive jumping down of my throat in the Roma board a week or so ago. I should like to see a little more evidence in your actions that that apology was sincere; otherwise you're going to end up totally alienating another of your posters.

[Giacomo]

There is a fundamental problem with the performance of Italian teams in EL and even in CL, especially considering the amount of money invested in these squads in terms of transfer fees and salaries.

Serie A might not be poor, but it is certainly inferior to the top 3 leagues now (EPL, Primera Liga and Bundesliga) and there appears to be little sign of recovery.

it seems to me that maro's post above is an accurate explanation of the reasons why, especially the style of football which is ill-suited to the current european game.

[maro]

It seems Crapello shares my view, for once:

Molto critica invece la sua analisi sull'attuale situazione del calcio italiano: “L'obbligo di vincere non dovrebbe esistere nei settori giovanili, dove si fanno crescere le piante. Nel professionismo, purtroppo, l'allenatore che non vince deve essere cacciato via. A livello europeo, il calcio italiano è messo male. Abbiamo dominato per anni, ora in Europa il calcio tecnico e fisico ha la meglio sul calcio italiano tecnico-delizioso. Il nostro movimento ha vinto la Champions con l'Inter che aveva tanti stranieri forti fisicamente e validi tecnicamente. In Italia si parla per proteggere i piedi buoni, che non bastano. Ci vuole la forza fisica. Probabilmente, poi, ci sentiamo appagati: i tecnici, anche quelli del settore giovanile, dovrebbero viaggiare per capire cosa succede fuori”.

Chiusura infine sulle cattive abitudini italiane, come la simulazione e le partite spezzettate da fischi a ripetizione:

“Il fallo tattico è nato in Italia e viene usato ormai in tutto il mondo. Se uno si butta per terra e simula, sa che verrà premiato dall'arbitro. Non si cambia uno stile di gioco in 3 mesi, spero che la strada intrapresa da Braschi prosegua. Lo stile italiano non ha prodotto risultati: bisogna cambiarlo”.

[juventino_italiano]

http://football-italia.net/feb25k.html

[Messinterista]

"There are also ramifications for participation in the Europa League, as from 2012-13 the team that finishes sixth in Serie A will stay at home. "
So 4th and 5th qualify for Europa and thats it? Ugh, its getting much much worse.

[juventino_italiano]

[Messinterista]

Ah fuck forgot about the Coppa Italia spot.

[taz]

UEFA Europa League Third Qualifying Round-FIrst Legs

Bnei Yehuda 1-0 Helsingborg
Slask Wroclaw 0-0 Lokomotiv Sofia
AEK Larnaca 3-0 Mlada Boleslav
Ventspils 1-2 Partizan Belgrade
Alania Vladikavkaz 1-1 Aktobe
Karpaty Lviv 2-0 St Patrick's Athletic
Olimpija Ljubljana 1-1 Austria Vienna
Aalesund 4-0 Elfsborg
Metalurgist Rustavi 2-5 Rennes
Red Bull Salzburg 1-0 Senica
Anorthosis 0-2 Rabotnicki
Sparta Prague 5-0 Sarajevo
Vorskla Poltava 0-0 Sligo Rovers
Valerenga 0-2 PAOK
Young Boys 3-1 Westerlo
Bursaspor 2-1 Gomel
Hapoel Tel Aviv 4-0 Vaduz
Omonia Nicosia 3-0 ADO Den Haag
RNK Split 0-0 Fulham
Levski Sofia 2-1 Spartak Trnava
AZ Alkmaar 2-0 Jablonec
Gaziantepsor 0-1 Legia Warsaw
Dinamo Bucharest 2-2 Varazdin
Differdange 0-3 Olympiakos Volou
Paks 1-1 Hearts
Zeljeznicar 0-2 Maccabi Tel Aviv
Club Brugge 4-1 Qarabag
Mainz 1-1 Gaz Metan Medias
Nacional 3-0 Hacken
Palermo 2-2 Thun*
Stoke City 1-0 Hajduk Split
Atletico Madrid 2-1 Stromsgodset
Midtjylland 0-0 Vitoria Guimaraes
Ried 2-0 Brondby
KR Reykjavik 1-4 Dinamo Tbilisi

*Josip Ilicic and Fabrizio Miccoli were the scorers for Palermo. It is looking like an early exit for Palermo. They went behind after 6 minutes through a Benjamin Luthi goal, Josip Ilicic equalised on 13 minutes. Thun went back in front on 56 minutes through the veteran Marc Schneider and just as it looked like Thun had got themselves an away win, Fabrizio Miccoli equalised in the final minute.

[DavidP]

[taz]

UEFA Europa League Third Qualifying Round-Second Legs

Mlada Boleslav 2-2 AEK Larnaca (Agg: 2-5)
Varazdin 1-2 Dinamo Bucharest (Agg: 3-4)
Aktobe 1-1 Alania Vladikavkaz (Agg: 2-2) (Alania Vladikavkaz won 4-2 on penalties)
Elfsborg 1-1 Aalesund (Agg: 1-5)
Karabakh 1-0 Club Brugge (Agg: 2-4)
Stromsgodset 0-2 Atletico Madrid (Agg: 1-4)
Sligo Rovers 0-2 Vorskla Poltava (Agg: 0-2)
Gomel 1-3 Bursaspor (Agg: 2-5)
Legia Warsaw 0-0 Gaziantepsor (Agg: 1-0)
Rennes 2-0 Metalurgist Rustavi (Agg: 7-2)
Brondby 4-2 Ried (Agg: 4-4) (Ried won on away goals rule)
Dinamo Tbilisi 2-0 KR Reykjavik (Agg: 6-1)
Gaz Metan Medias 1-1 Mainz (Agg: 2-2) (Gaz Metan Medias won 4-3 on penalties)
Hacken 2-1 Nacional (Agg: 2-4)
Hajduk Split 0-1 Stoke City (Agg: 0-2)
Helsingborg 3-0 Bnei Yehuda (Agg: 3-1)
Senica 0-3 Red Bull Salzburg (Agg: 0-4)
Spartak Trnava 2-1 Levski Sofia (Agg: 3-3) (Spartak Trnava won 5-4 on penalties)
Lokomotiv Sofia 0-0 Slask Wroclaw (Agg: 0-0) (Slask Wroclaw won 4-3 on penalties)
Maccabi Tel Aviv 6-0 Zeljeznicar Sarajevo (Agg: 8-0)
Thun 1-1 Palermo (Agg: 3-3) (Thun won on away goals rule)*
ADO Den Haag 1-0 Omonia Nicosia (Agg: 1-3)
Olympiakos Volou 3-0 DIfferdange (Agg: 6-0)
PAOK 3-0 Valerenga (Agg: 5-0)
Rabotnicki 1-2 Anorthosis (Agg: 3-2)
Vaduz 2-1 Hapoel Tel Aviv (Agg: 2-5)
Westerlo 0-2 Young Boys (Agg: 1-5)
Red Star Belgrade 7-0 Ventspils (Agg: 9-1)
Fulham 2-0 RNK Split (Agg: 2-0)
Jablonec 1-1 AZ Alkmaar (Agg: 1-3)
Hearts 4-1 Paks (Agg: 5-2)
St Patrick's Athletic 1-3 Karpaty Lviv (Agg: 1-5)
Sarajevo 0-2 Sparta Prague (Agg: 0-7)
Austria Vienna 3-2 Olimpija Ljubljana (Agg: 4-3)
Vitoria Guimaraes 2-1 Midtyjlland (Agg: 2-1)

*After a goalless first half, Palermo took the lead four minutes into the second half after Pablo Gonzalez, who was instrumental in assisting Novara's promotion, put Palermo ahead. However, Thun equalised on 65 minutes through the youngster Dario Lezcano. Palermo tried desperately to get another goal with Josip Ilicic and Fabrizio Miccoli going close but Thun held out for the 1-1 draw putting Palermo out of the Europa League on the away goals rule.

[DavidP]

basically all everyone needs to know is that Dinamo Tbilisi ended the three europa leage qualifying rounds with an aggregate score of 22-4 (5-1, 6-2, 6-1 (were we playing tennis out there?)) and are through to the playoffs.