⚽UEFA Europa League Discussion Thread -- 2021/22 Winners: Eintracht Frankfurt!

[AndySt]

Oh Leicester is just not clicking this season or they don't have enough luck to win matches, they had the lead for most of the match but Napoli got a draw in last few minutes.
Leicester is not doing great in Premier league with two loses, Napoli is in top form with 3 wins in Seria A, and it is going to be hard for anyone from group C to win in Italy.
If I would pick one favorite to win Europe League this season it would be Napoli.

The most important thing is whether Napoli will be able to maintain such excellent form for the whole season and whether the depth of the squad is enough for the team to also successfully perform in the Europa League in the presence of a bunch of competitors in the Europa League itself, as well as then the teams from the Champions League who took third places in the group. In any case, it is only the beginning of the season and it is unknown how the situation will develop further and the clubs from the Europa League need to pray that Unai Emery and his Villareal will remain in the Champions League and not return back to the Europa League, because we all know perfectly well what name the winner of the tournament will bear 

[hahay]

Oh Leicester is just not clicking this season or they don't have enough luck to win matches, they had the lead for most of the match but Napoli got a draw in last few minutes.
Leicester is not doing great in Premier league with two loses, Napoli is in top form with 3 wins in Seria A, and it is going to be hard for anyone from group C to win in Italy.
If I would pick one favorite to win Europe League this season it would be Napoli.

The most important thing is whether Napoli will be able to maintain such excellent form for the whole season and whether the depth of the squad is enough for the team to also successfully perform in the Europa League in the presence of a bunch of competitors in the Europa League itself, as well as then the teams from the Champions League who took third places in the group. In any case, it is only the beginning of the season and it is unknown how the situation will develop further and the clubs from the Europa League need to pray that Unai Emery and his Villareal will remain in the Champions League and not return back to the Europa League, because we all know perfectly well what name the winner of the tournament will bear 

It's too early to say that the candidate for champion is Napoli, I think Napoli still doesn't have the criteria to win this tournament. If Napoli can prove to be a champion candidate, then at least against Leicester last night they can win big. But the truth is, Napoli are only able to draw and to reach the final will certainly pass many other top teams which I don't think Napoli have that chance.

[ShowOff]

Oh Leicester is just not clicking this season or they don't have enough luck to win matches, they had the lead for most of the match but Napoli got a draw in last few minutes.
Leicester is not doing great in Premier league with two loses, Napoli is in top form with 3 wins in Seria A, and it is going to be hard for anyone from group C to win in Italy.
If I would pick one favorite to win Europe League this season it would be Napoli.

Don't forget, there are still 8 other team from the Champions League who fail to qualify for the next round will return to the Europa League. Napoli will probably be the favorites to lead the group C standings as they are quite strong so far. But for the next round I think the match will be more difficult. In group C Leicester also don't seem to be underestimated even though at the moment they are not in the best form in the Premier League, they will try to stay competitive in the European League.

[snipie]

Don't forget, there are still 8 other team from the Champions League who fail to qualify for the next round will return to the Europa League. Napoli will probably be the favorites to lead the group C standings as they are quite strong so far. But for the next round I think the match will be more difficult. In group C Leicester also don't seem to be underestimated even though at the moment they are not in the best form in the Premier League, they will try to stay competitive in the European League.

These teams that will join later from CL aren't top either and a team like Napoli or Leicester (once they woke up) could challenge them easily..
Maintaining a positive result and a clean sheet were a hard mission yesterday and teams like Frankfurt, Celtic, Dinamo, OM and Lazio were able to do way better in this first round.

[slackovic]

What do you guys think about West Ham vs Dinamo Zagreb? Will the Hammers be able to beat best croatian side at their home? I am riding West Ham as Hammers attack will be the in-form beast Mitchel Antonio who I think has a good physicality and finish to score goals just hope they also don't allow Zagreb to find some room easily inside their box and allow to score some goals. Its first match for Hammers into European action and I expect David Moyes side to make the best first impression.

west ham has shown its quality in the first match by defeating dynamo zagreb at home with scorer 0-2, I think moyes experience in coaching several teams that have played in european competition so far has really helped westham to win, currently westham is the leader of the European league group H standings with 3 points and from the available stats, the Hammers had almost 68% possession and were even able to create some scoring chances.

As Dinamo fan I watched the game and it was really exhausting to watch it. West Ham controlled the entire game, but it didn't dominate Dinamo. It was clear who is better team at the field, but I thought that West Ham would attack more. What surprised me the most, West Ham didn't create much in front of Dinamo's goal and they scored both goals after "gifts" from Theophile-Catherine and Šutalo.

I guess Dinamo will try to find it's chances in matches against Genk and Rapid.

[Coyster]

Oh Leicester is just not clicking this season or they don't have enough luck to win matches, they had the lead for most of the match but Napoli got a draw in last few minutes.

I think Leicester were sloppy last night, they had that victory in their hands but they couldn't take it over the finish line, I'm pretty sure Brendan Rodgers must have been absolutely livid with his players in the dressing room at full time. If they must have a chance to be Europa League champions, then they ought to learn how to finish off games when they actually have the chance.

Having said that, Napoli striker Victor Osimhen played a very good game yesterday, and he got two goals for his efforts, he is a very good striker, though he prolly is yet to live up to expectations since moving to Napoli for a large sum of money, but he showed glimpses of what he can do last night and I'm pretty sure with time he'll start firing on all cylinders.

[3meek]

None of my predictions came true yesterday! I placed bets on four different matches and they all lost! Three of them ended in a draw... Even Lokomotiv managed to get back into the game in the last minute!
By the way, the most interesting match, in my opinion, was Betis vs Celtic!

[Pierre 2]

I am glad that Galatasaray surprised many fans today and unexpectedly won a difficult match against Lazio. I haven't watched the match but the stats look like it had a big element of luck (shots on target 1-5). In any case, an excellent result. Fenerbahce achieved an away draw, which must also be recognized as a success. I hope the misadventures of the Turkish clubs ended there and then we will see a good game from them.

I know you are from Russia, therefore, you must understand the nuances around the Spartak team, especially in the 21-22 season, which is an anniversary for it. Fans will forgive the poor results with Leicester and Napoli, but the defeat to Legia (and most likely not the last) has already caused a huge amount of negativity towards the club's management today.

@KTChampions, I think that Spartak turned into biggest joke in Russia. Poor results not just in Europe, but in domestic league too.I don't even talk about what's going on in their management. You're from Russia, so you probably know things better than me. I just feel sorry for Spartak fans.

Sure   The clowning around the club continues and if the results were normal, it could be tolerated, but now the fans are simply bitter and openly hate the owner's mistress who meddles in club affairs, she also does not seek to calm the situation and all this accumulates like a snowball. Obviously this is not good for the team.

I watched whole Galatasaray-Lazio match. Stats are bit misleading in my opinion. Galatasaray was playing with ball lot more than Lazio especially first half I think. They had some chances that Kerem Aktürkoğlu missed. I won't deny Lazio also missed a lot of positions which was lucky for Galatasaray. But I feel like if Galatasaray was beaten instead it also wouldn't be right. Galatasaray definitely had element of chance with keeper's mistake especially but not like they were shit in match. Lazio actually underperformed in my opinion.

[ILuckyGuyI]

We watched an interesting match between Leicester and Napoli. Napoli played much better than their opponent here. Despite this performance, Leicester got ahead 2-0. In the second half, we had a better Napoli against Leicester and they managed to turn the game around. Osimhen's performance was really good that he scored 2 goals. I expected Leicester to win this but it was a close call.

[Ebede]

West Ham won there first match, quite impressive, David Moyes have been doing well.
Zouma was Superb yesterday, he's had so much experience from previous Europa league games.

[casperBGD]

Zvezda won over Braga yesterday, for a solid group start, it was a good value bet, but came quite hard, with score from penalty spot nearing the match end

Eintracht was most suprise yesterday, failed to won at home, while other results are mostly as expected, Lyon won easily in Scotland, Betis won at home against Celtic, Monaco and Olympiakos as well
PSV and Sociedad played one great half-time, but it was four goals in the end, as expected BTTS and over3.5

[cryptofrka]

West Ham played well yesterday but I expected more from Dinamo though. We always seem to give away cheap goals in European games, yesterday was no exception.

It's a shame that the first game was WH at home, it's always easier to play against the favorite later on when they already secured qualification.

For passing the group the games against Rapid and Genk will be the ones that count anyway so no drama yet - but Dinamo will have to play better than they did last night.

[KTChampions]

I am glad that Galatasaray surprised many fans today and unexpectedly won a difficult match against Lazio. I haven't watched the match but the stats look like it had a big element of luck (shots on target 1-5). In any case, an excellent result. Fenerbahce achieved an away draw, which must also be recognized as a success. I hope the misadventures of the Turkish clubs ended there and then we will see a good game from them.

no chance,  turkish teams filled with ex premier league stars since few years ago and it still didnt bring european title come closer, nice result for both turkish clubs though, ozil shining...
nothing really surprising except for the unlucky lazio , the two italian teams got a result they never wanted...  poor lazio and lucky napoli with its comeback.

its getting hard to guess who gonna win the title this season, every clubs seems equal.

The problem with the Europa League is that it is a "consolation tournament" for those who were unlucky with the Champions League, so the top teams have no motivation here, while the middle peasants want to win at least some title. Therefore, in fact, the chances of all teams (except for the very weak ones) are approximately equal.

[DU18]

None of my predictions came true yesterday! I placed bets on four different matches and they all lost! Three of them ended in a draw... Even Lokomotiv managed to get back into the game in the last minute!
By the way, the most interesting match, in my opinion, was Betis vs Celtic!

I hope you don't lose all the money you have for those matches   .
I actually didn't think that Real Betis could score a lot of goals in that match, even though if we look at Celtic actually have more accuracy in passing the ball and dominate the game in that match than Real Betis, with this victory, Real Betis are now in 1st position in the Group G standings with 3 points equal to Leverkusen in second place.
oh yes I see it seems like that Celtic are not supported by their fans in that match , Am I wrong?

[CryptocurencyKing]

West Ham won there first match, quite impressive, David Moyes have been doing well.
Zouma was Superb yesterday, he's had so much experience from previous Europa league games.

David Moyes is the most important factor in this sentence. West ham united trusted  him this time and they are enjoying the stability that Everton under during his tenure with them. He is almost a top coach if not one. West ham have had a fantastic start to the 2021-22 season, winning two of their opening three games before drawing with Crystal palace and Southampton. He has transformed Michail Antonio into a firing all round striker even to the point of him becoming the club record premier league scorer in the process. Kurt Zouma had a very good game, he needed a chance to prove himself and that was what Moyes assured him. Good to have kept a clean sheet away from home. I'm happy they have the squad depth to maintain this form.

[kro55]

West Ham played well yesterday but I expected more from Dinamo though. We always seem to give away cheap goals in European games, yesterday was no exception.
It's a shame that the first game was WH at home, it's always easier to play against the favorite later on when they already secured qualification.
For passing the group the games against Rapid and Genk will be the ones that count anyway so no drama yet - but Dinamo will have to play better than they did last night.

Don’t think the West Ham team is weak. My bet on this match yesterday was for West Ham's wins. And West Ham has been able to win. West Ham's Premier League performance is good enough. So in this match, I bet they would win. Dinamo Zagreb, on the other hand, performs very well against a weaker team but loses most matches when the opponent is strong.

[Daniel91]

West Ham played well yesterday but I expected more from Dinamo though. We always seem to give away cheap goals in European games, yesterday was no exception.
It's a shame that the first game was WH at home, it's always easier to play against the favorite later on when they already secured qualification.
For passing the group the games against Rapid and Genk will be the ones that count anyway so no drama yet - but Dinamo will have to play better than they did last night.

Don’t think the West Ham team is weak. My bet on this match yesterday was for West Ham's wins. And West Ham has been able to win. West Ham's Premier League performance is good enough. So in this match, I bet they would win. Dinamo Zagreb, on the other hand, performs very well against a weaker team but loses most matches when the opponent is strong.

West Ham was not as good as Dinamo was bad in this match.
The match was decided by two incredible mistakes of Dinamo players, and such things must not happen again.
It is obvious that Dinamo does not have the quality to fight for the first place in the group, probably not for the second place in the group, but Dinamo will most likely fight with Rapid for the third place and for the continuation of the competition in the conference league.
Dinamo is no longer at the playing level as under coach Bjelica or Mamic in the last few years and this is probably their maximum at the moment.

[Joca97]

West Ham played well yesterday but I expected more from Dinamo though. We always seem to give away cheap goals in European games, yesterday was no exception.
It's a shame that the first game was WH at home, it's always easier to play against the favorite later on when they already secured qualification.
For passing the group the games against Rapid and Genk will be the ones that count anyway so no drama yet - but Dinamo will have to play better than they did last night.

Don’t think the West Ham team is weak. My bet on this match yesterday was for West Ham's wins. And West Ham has been able to win. West Ham's Premier League performance is good enough. So in this match, I bet they would win. Dinamo Zagreb, on the other hand, performs very well against a weaker team but loses most matches when the opponent is strong.

West Ham was not as good as Dinamo was bad in this match.
The match was decided by two incredible mistakes of Dinamo players, and such things must not happen again.
It is obvious that Dinamo does not have the quality to fight for the first place in the group, probably not for the second place in the group, but Dinamo will most likely fight with Rapid for the third place and for the continuation of the competition in the conference league.
Dinamo is no longer at the playing level as under coach Bjelica or Mamic in the last few years and this is probably their maximum at the moment.

I honestly avoided this match because i know Dinamo in the years before was really good at home and in Europe games.Wasnt expecting such an easy win by West Ham and so many mistakes by them to lose this match.Well last year they were good against big opponents like Atalanta they won 4-0 at home last year. But this must be one of their weakest teams in the last 5-10 years

[el kaka22]

Everyone was talking about how Lazio would dominate Galatasaray and easily beat them with a lot of goals, there were people betting 3.5+ goals difference, 4 goals difference!! And we have seen Lazio lose.

I love this game because of all these cool unexpected results, never assume that one team is better than the other would lead to same team beating them. Sure Lazio is definitely the better team, and sure 9 out of 10 times Lazio wins this matchup, but that 1 time could be today, just like how it happened. I do not like to mix fandom and wagering together, just because you support Lazio or you do not like galatasaray doesn't mean that you should end up making stupid decisions while betting neither.

[mv1986]

Everyone was talking about how Lazio would dominate Galatasaray and easily beat them with a lot of goals, there were people betting 3.5+ goals difference, 4 goals difference!! And we have seen Lazio lose.

I love this game because of all these cool unexpected results, never assume that one team is better than the other would lead to same team beating them. Sure Lazio is definitely the better team, and sure 9 out of 10 times Lazio wins this matchup, but that 1 time could be today, just like how it happened. I do not like to mix fandom and wagering together, just because you support Lazio or you do not like galatasaray doesn't mean that you should end up making stupid decisions while betting neither.

Not sure though why so many people expected a lot of goals to be scored, but ultimately this game was very close anyway. It is not like Galatasaray dominated it. Could have gone either way with the lucky end and the own goal in favor of Gala. I am quite convinced that the home game will be much more one-sided for Lazio.