⚽UEFA Europa League Discussion Thread -- 2023/24 | SFs

[execijutiere]

Fenerbahce will be looking for a win against austria wien today. Honestly, I see Fenerbahce as the clear favorite. There is a team formation that is slowly starting to settle down. With the addition of one or two new signings, we can say that a team that will do well in Europe is being born. This match may end in a draw. But my expectation is that Fenerbahçe will win. We don't know the squad at the moment. I can say that the fate of the match depends entirely on the first 11 that Jorge Jesus will put on the pitch.

[casperBGD]

interesting thread, did not see this thorough voting on other places, and just few votes, mostly Manchester, Arsenal, Rome, Lazio

my vote was basically first for Lazio
looking at current results in qualification rounds, Fenerbahce and Olympiakos will probably join group stage, and make all this competition pretty interesting for lower level countries

[snipie]

interesting thread, did not see this thorough voting on other places, and just few votes, mostly Manchester, Arsenal, Rome, Lazio

There isn't many votes here since this topic is relatively new and many people didn't notice it yet (and others avoided it since it is anti-spam imo).
The ones that voted for ManU wouldn't do it if they saw how epic they are performing right now but all can change later (or not ).
For Arsenal, I am the only one that supported them until now and they didn't fail at least until now in EPL.
In this stage, It is hard to follow everything and they aren't that interesting mostly. Olympiacos and Sheriff just managed to get 1 point, the other known teams won except Gent.

[CLS63]

Fenerbahçe are 1-0 ahead in the away match against Austria Wien now. If they manage to carry this score to Istanbul then we can assume that they took a step for the group stage. The team under the management of Jorge Jesus had a striking result like 6-0 against Kasımpaşa in their domestic league as well. It is early to talk about now but I wouldn't be surprised if we reach the quarter final this year (I can't be very objective as I'm a fan ).

[el kaka22]

How do you guys keep up with this many teams. All of them coming from all kinds of nations and leagues that I do not watch, and you know each and every one of them, hell ltu_btc knows the manager changes and all and the positions of the clubs they are playing against.

I have to say I am not good at it like this, it doesn't feel like I could do the same thing and usually I end up failing and not doing the right thing. That's me though, maybe I am wrong and it is easier than I imagine but it looks like it would require hours and hours every single day to keep up with this many teams, I check a few leagues and a few clubs, none of which are in the elimination place right now.

[LTU_btc]

Biggest upset today is Gent loss 02 at home against Omonia. I didn't watched game and I have just one question - how? Fenerbahche made serious statement for group stage after beating Austria Vienna 0:2 away. They scored early goal and then in the end managed to double their lead. Dnipro-1 late goal against AEK keeps them in the fight - it's just 1:2 I haven't saw such game where both teams attack that much for a while.
Vey early own goal of Zalgiris let Ludogorets to win game 1:0. 2nd leg game will be very interesting. From all teams probably only Ferencvaros earned spot in group stage already.

looking at current results in qualification rounds, Fenerbahce and Olympiakos will probably join group stage, and make all this competition pretty interesting for lower level countries

Wouldn't be so confident about Olympiacos, especially after today's result. They had no chance against Maccabi Hiafa, won against Slovan just after penalties and now struggling against Apollon. Not everything is going well for them.

[execijutiere]

Fenerbahçe won with a dominant game. Austria wien didn't even have a decent attack. Personally I was afraid that maybe it could end in a draw but it didn't happen as I feared. Fenerbahçe managed to return to Istanbul with a huge advantage for the round. From now on it will be much easier for Fenerbahce.

[casperBGD]

-snip
 Maybe Shamrock may bounce back in the return leg, which looks unlikely, but for last night, Ferencvaros had something to celebrate over.

it is not unlikely, it is almost impossible for Shamrock to kick-out Ferencvaros
I like clubs from Ireland, but it is too much a competition for them to play in European cups, Ferencvaros was playing CL last season, and they are continuously solid in Europe

regarding Olympiakos, yeah, they are struggling this season, but it is probably due to their season not starting yet, and they need some time to upgrade form

[buwaytress]

Heh, so Rangers did NOT make a return to Europa, instead we get PSV (if I got the tables and paths all right) but we still have business to do with Qualifyings tonight.

I'm actually going to back Austria Wien tonight, already put that pick on my odds thread. Fenerbahce are a bit scary right now, 2 wins 1 draw puts them top of Super League while Wien are closer to bottom than top, but that makes them dangerous opponents in Europe I'd say. At 76/10, great value for me!

[LTU_btc]

Personally I don't see serious arguments of Austria Wien that they can offer against Fenerbahche. I'm going with combo of Fener and Olympiacos wins. Oly is struggling this season so far, but I think that simply must beat Apollon at home. I think that Gent will win against Omonia, but I'm not really sure that it will be enough after loss in 1st leg 2:0.
I'm backing Zalgiris against Ludogorets. Yeah, Im biased here, bbut I don't see why not. They lost 1st leg just 1:0 and Zalgiris is playing much better at home.

[3meek]

What hurts me most today is that my multi bet lost... I was betting on Gent to win against Omonia Nyokosia, but this time the Belgians lost 2-0 again, and I also thought that Sheriff would finally show their professionalism and win Pyunik in regulation time, but it all turned out to be just in my imagination... I think I should refrain from betting for now...

[LTU_btc]

Zalgiris - Ludogorets, what a game, unfortunately without happy end for me. Zalgiris scored very early goal on 20th second, were leading 3 times. But on 120th minute of extra time referee gave very cheap and questionable penalty which let Ludogorets to win on aggregate.
Complete collapse of Gent, they lost against Omonia 0:2 again. Fenerbahche had easy life against Austria Vienna. Sheriff won against Pyunik just after penalties. Olympiacos after all won against Apollon and reached group stage. Early goal on 2nd minute was enough for them.

EDIT Olympiacos conceded on 90th minute and game went to extra time. And Oly won after penalties.

[CLS63]

I think that we have started to see the Jorge Jesus effect on Fenerbahçe.    Because tonight was amazing for them. There was a great team play above all else which helped them give nearly zero chances to their opponent. The productiveness of the team is increasing day by day. This is what Fenerbahce fans want to see from them because the team were searching for a good scorer for a long time to fix this problem. But it's getting better already now. After adding Maxi Gomez also to the team they would have even a more reliable attacking line hopefully.

[Joca97]

What hurts me most today is that my multi bet lost... I was betting on Gent to win against Omonia Nyokosia, but this time the Belgians lost 2-0 again, and I also thought that Sheriff would finally show their professionalism and win Pyunik in regulation time, but it all turned out to be just in my imagination... I think I should refrain from betting for now...

Well everybody plays football lately and i think we can expect surprises always. Gent got knocked out by Omonia and thats just a huge shame for a team from Belgium. Sheriff also barely won against Pyunik on penalties and that is a shocking for a team that played last season Real Madrid and made good results

[ILuckyGuyI]

Olympiacos are far ahead from their old strength seemingly. Because bookmakers were favouring them to eliminate Apollon easily but we are neary in the penalty shoot-outs. Carrying the match there can be very advantageous for Apollon as they can have a bigger chance for the group stage. Even if Olympiacos somehow make it to the groups I don't expect them to go too far in the tournament.

Congrats to Fenerbahce for qualifying for the group stage but Sivasspor unfortunately failed. Malmo made use of being a very experienced team in this kind of tournaments to eliminate them. Good luck to Sivasspor in the Conference League from now on.

[Joca97]

I think that we have started to see the Jorge Jesus effect on Fenerbahçe.    Because tonight was amazing for them. There was a great team play above all else which helped them give nearly zero chances to their opponent. The productiveness of the team is increasing day by day. This is what Fenerbahce fans want to see from them because the team were searching for a good scorer for a long time to fix this problem. But it's getting better already now. After adding Maxi Gomez also to the team they would have even a more reliable attacking line hopefully.

It took a few games for the effect to kick in . They shouldnt have been knocked out by Dinamo Kiev but it was those early games so anything can happen. Now once he coached them for a few months they look really good both in europe and in their own league

[execijutiere]

Fenerbahçe defeated Austria wien 4-1 at home and qualified for the groups. They won with a dominant and beautiful game. But I still think the defenders are not good enough. There will be more serious and stronger opponents in the group. The performance against them will reveal everything

[casperBGD]

interesting draw today, United with Sociedad, Sheriff and Omonia, but there are groups where there will be wholeround fight, like Zvezda, Monaco, Ferencvaros and Trabzonspor, probably strongest group

Lazio had solid draw, as Roma as well and Arsenal, should not focus much into group stage

[Boristhecat]

Very diverse group composition. Some look like Champions League groups (judging by the first two teams as group A), and some (like group D) look like the Conference League. Assuming that everyone will play with the same motivation, the outcomes of many groups are quite easy to predict, but as we saw last season, the teams play randomly, so I would rather bet on the underdogs than on the favorites in the group stage. I mean not the result of the group but individual games.

[gabbie2010]

Very diverse group composition. Some look like Champions League groups (judging by the first two teams as group A), and some (like group D) look like the Conference League. Assuming that everyone will play with the same motivation, the outcomes of many groups are quite easy to predict, but as we saw last season, the teams play randomly, so I would rather bet on the underdogs than on the favorites in the group stage. I mean not the result of the group but individual games.

Group A is an easy group for Arsenal I think PSV Eindhoven is another good club expected to qualify with Arsenal other clubs Bodo/Glimt and FC Zurich are minnows can't compete with those two top clubs, Man Utd  got an easy draw also with Real Sociedad as the formidable opponent in Group E, FC Sheriff and Omonia Nicosia are not strong enough to scale through that group though recall FC Sheriff created an upset in 2021 UCL when they defeated Real Madrid, however I don't think they can repeat such a feat again.
In group C I think Roma and Real Betis will qualify whereas other groups is open for any of the clubs to qualify.