⚽UEFA Conference League Discussion Thread -- 2023/24 | Winner: Olympiacos

[Daniel91]

Disappointed about Hajduk loss, I want to see manager from my country reaching group stage. BVut realistic, there is not much hope left after you concede 4 goals against Villarreal.

Realistically, Villarreal is a much better and more experienced team than Hajduk, a semi-finalist in the Champions League and any other result would be a big surprise. The difference in the quality of these two teams was obvious during the game, especially in the first half.
Villarreal's coach rested his main players in this game, and in the second half he just played the game to the end and did not chase the result anymore, thus saving Hajduk from an even bigger defeat and disaster.
The players and fans of Hajduk are hoping for a miracle in return, but that would really be a huge surprise because the difference in the quality of the team is too great.

[Lucius]

The players and fans of Hajduk are hoping for a miracle in return, but that would really be a huge surprise because the difference in the quality of the team is too great.

And they certainly have the right to hope for that, because a difference of only 2 goals is not something that is unattainable, especially if you are playing on your home field in front of 30 000 fans. In addition, according to information from the domestic press, the Spanish club has not accredited a single journalist, nor will any of their fans officially attend the match, which is unheard of in recent history.

To me, this seems like an underestimation of the opponent, which Hajduk can certainly turn to their advantage, regardless of the fact that the quality is undoubtedly on the side of the visiting team.

[snipie]

To me, this seems like an underestimation of the opponent, which Hajduk can certainly turn to their advantage, regardless of the fact that the quality is undoubtedly on the side of the visiting team.

Villarreal is having a good start in La Liga, topping the table, winning vs ATM and scoring many goals. With 2 goals advantage it will be quite hard to defeat them unless they will not play with their main squad in the start then I could say that they are underestimating their opponent.
BTW, Apoel was 2-3 on aggregate before losing 3-5.

[buwaytress]

Anyone keen on suggesting an upset? I'm looking at Basel, Slavia Prague and Nice as potential giants to topple, their opponents aren't exactly unknowns either, and these I feel are just slightly skewed odds because of the "home" advantage.

Villareal won't let this one slip, so avoiding them for now.

[Pulsar77]

Basaksehir are going to play the second leg today. The first match didn't satisfy me at all. They had a potential to win in Istanbul but they couldn't defend very well after Antwerp started to take control of the match. They had a big problem on dealing with that pressure. This dominance can be even more in Belgium today if Basaksehir didn't learn their lesson well. If Basaksehir still can't improve their defending then they had better focus on being more effective in attacking. Because if they get ahead first again then they should focus on increasing the goal difference rather than trying to save the score until the end. We saw that they weren't good at keeping a 1-0 advantage until the final whistle in the first leg.

[boltz]

Vikings - FCSB is the game for me today and just because I know so well FCSB that I do believe they will qualify today even if they don't have pretty good chances but the overall team of FCSB is way better than Vikings so it should be normal that this factor should decide the game.

The odds are also attractive with :

[morvillz7z]

<...>

^^ I guess i have to agree with this....

∆ Viking FK - Fotbal Club FCSB BTTS @1.62 ∆  won

The Romanian squad, imo, has a lot more quality/better overall players, and they clearly dominated in the first match, but their defense looked shaky on a couple of crosses/long balls and got caught off guard, and they couldn't recover. I think they'll get a positive result today and move on to the group stages. Viking play their home matches on artificial turf, which is and always will be an advantage. They should be able to score at least one goal. Their last six home matches (in all competitions) have all ended with both teams scoring, averaging 3.16 goals per match in that stretch.

Anyone keen on suggesting an upset? <...>

I don't chase upsets but Viborg and Zrinjski look good on paper...

[boltz]

<...>

^^ I guess i have to agree with this....

∆ Viking FK - Fotbal Club FCSB BTTS @1.62 ∆  won

The Romanian squad, imo, has a lot more quality/better overall players, and they clearly dominated in the first match, but their defense looked shaky on a couple of crosses/long balls and got caught off guard, and they couldn't recover. I think they'll get a positive result today and move on to the group stages. Viking play their home matches on artificial turf, which is and always will be an advantage. They should be able to score at least one goal. Their last six home matches (in all competitions) have all ended with both teams scoring, averaging 3.16 goals per match in that stretch.

Anyone keen on suggesting an upset? <...>

I don't chase upsets but Viborg and Zrinjski look good on paper...

FCSB did it and it was a well deserved victory! What a game and I'm almost out of my voice as I really love this team. Now all is left is to see if Craiova will move further as well as CFR already qualified so it's a pretty good night for Romanian teams after so many years...

[casperBGD]

~snip

Villareal won't let this one slip, so avoiding them for now.

hard to expect that Villareal will let it go, especially since they have two goal advantage (and Hajduk is far from LFC, that took them down in second half, after marvelous first half in CL SF)

Basaksehir is up against Antwerp, could be good for turn-over in second half
thinking about Vaduz, they have 1:1 from first match, and Rapid is far from secure, but my eyes are on Linfield, they have solid chance to pass into group stage against RFS, probably most unknown pair in this stage
compared to Twente against Fiorentina, seems that draw is pretty pushing some unknown teams into group stage

[LTU_btc]

After all, Koln took things seriously and did what they were supposed to be against Fehervar. Nice won against Maccabi after extra time, despite getting red card onnearly minutes of extra time. West Ham won against Viborg big again. Fiorentina eliminated Twente. Villarreal didn't letvHajduk to make comeback and won again. So, after all, teams from big leagues reached groups.
Anderlecht after penalties kicked out Young Boys.
And most ridiculous result Rapid Vienna loss against Vaduz at home 0:1. They got eliminated by team from Liechtenstein which play in 2nd division of Switzerland.

[CLS63]

It was like a miracle for Başakşehir to finish the first half 1-0 ahead. Because Antwerp had a big dominance. But the second half was much more in favour of Başakşehir. They managed to keep the match under control. Until Aleksic's goal I was still doubting the match. Because they were ahead by one goal in the first leg as well and you remember what happened in the last moments.

Başakşehir already had a better squad quality than their opponent but it was still not an easy round for the Turkish representative.

[Joca97]

After all, Koln took things seriously and did what they were supposed to be against Fehervar. Nice won against Maccabi after extra time, despite getting red card onnearly minutes of extra time. West Ham won against Viborg big again. Fiorentina eliminated Twente. Villarreal didn't letvHajduk to make comeback and won again. So, after all, teams from big leagues reached groups.
Anderlecht after penalties kicked out Young Boys.
And most ridiculous result Rapid Vienna loss against Vaduz at home 0:1. They got eliminated by team from Liechtenstein which play in 2nd division of Switzerland.

Well Koln proved that they are a league over Fehervar and they just destroyed them today. Fehervar had the result but wasnt enough for them. Expected at least one more goal on Villereal and sadly just ended 0:2 it was pretty much one sided in this duel

[buwaytress]

FCSB did it and it was a well deserved victory! What a game and I'm almost out of my voice as I really love this team. Now all is left is to see if Craiova will move further as well as CFR already qualified so it's a pretty good night for Romanian teams after so many years...

Well done boltz my man! It would probably have been worth more betting on the away side, but a win's a win, and I got nothing out of tonight, since I didn't put down anything heh.

But it's so good to see someone who actually supports a team and see them through. Maybe I start betting on your team in the competition proper!

BTW you'll join UCL pool of course, right?

[Slow death]

RSC Anderlecht 0 - 1 BSC Young Boys

Young Boys won the game but couldn't get far, and a very sad scenario for Young Boys that in the past would seem to be a promising team, in this game they didn't even look like the same team that scored 10 goals in the Swiss Cup. really European competitions are very different from domestic competitions, a team can be good in their country's local competition and go in the European competition to lose against another team in their country's local championship and next. in this case Anderlecht has had good results in the Swiss league. I wanted to bet on Young Boys but I forgot to place a bet

OGC Nice 2 - 0 Maccabi Tel Aviv FC

this is an expected result, nice was the favorite to win this game

SK Slovan Bratislava 2 - 1 HSK Zrinjski Mostar

SK Slovan Bratislava was very lucky in this game, in the first leg they lost, they arrive in this game they score 1 goal, draw and manage to take the game to extra time, but during extra time they concede 1 goal and then they have 1 less player because they had red card, when everything seemed lost to them, they scored again and the game was tied. then they come to penalties and they win. honestly this is great luck, i doubt they will have that same luck in the next games

Royal Antwerp FC 1 - 3 Istanbul Basaksehir FK

Istanbul won and passed to another stage, I also forgot to place a bet on this game

SK Rapid Wien 0 - 1 FC Vaduz

Rapid Wien was eliminated, I even thought they could move to another stage, I'm glad I didn't bet on this game

Gil Vicente FC 1 - 2 AZ Alkmaar

Gil Vicente suffered a humiliating defeat in these two games

HNK Hajduk Split 0 - 2 Villarreal CF

as expected from villareal, they won without much difficulty

[MAAManda]

SK Rapid Wien 0 - 1 FC Vaduz
Rapid Wien was eliminated, I even thought they could move to another stage, I'm glad I didn't bet on this game

Not only you, I think everyone who understands football will think the same as you. Rapid Wien dominated in their 2 matches against Vaduz (Home & Away), but they were not able to maximize the chances they got. They made too much possession without making many attempted shots until they ended up losing like losers. I bet on Rapid Wien's win in this match and lost $100 . Hopefully they can't compete for the title race in the Austrian league. Besides that I also lost $200 in the Hamrun Spartans Vs Partizan Belgrade match, I can't believe they can't win against a weak team like Hamrun Spartans, even though they can win by 2 goals in the first leg.

[CLS63]

The groups were drawn today. Başakşehir have an average+ group comparing to the tournament. Fiorentina are already a tough competitor. And Hearts are the third most performing team in the Scottish League recently. RFS are a really weak team for Başakşehir so I don't expect them to lose any points in both matches. I think Başakşehir can advance by finishing the group at the second position right behind Fiorentina if they show a good performance like they did against Antwerp in the rematch.

[Daniel91]

To me, this seems like an underestimation of the opponent, which Hajduk can certainly turn to their advantage, regardless of the fact that the quality is undoubtedly on the side of the visiting team.

Villarreal is having a good start in La Liga, topping the table, winning vs ATM and scoring many goals. With 2 goals advantage it will be quite hard to defeat them unless they will not play with their main squad in the start then I could say that they are underestimating their opponent.
BTW, Apoel was 2-3 on aggregate before losing 3-5.

As expected, Villarreal played a routine match and easily defeated Hajduk. The difference in the quality of these two teams was obvious.
I actually feel sorry for Hajduk because they finally have a good team and great fan support, but they had the misfortune of getting the main favorite of this competition as their opponent.
Even the Villarreal coach stated that he regrets that the team with such fantastic fans will no longer play in this competition.
Next year will be a new opportunity and we hope for a much better draw and an easier opponent 

[emrecemsan]

Considering the current teams in the group stage, I think that Villarreal and West Ham are the closest teams to become the champions.

Villarreal can even be the biggest favourite team. Their journey in the Champions League was incredible last season. We watched them eliminate top tier teams like Juventus and Bayern Munich and reach the semi final. Now they are in a really good shape too so not much thing changed about them. However it is up to how much they will care about this tournament as well. Because they can qualify for the Europa League by having a good season in the La Liga too. It isn't the toughest job for them. If the prize was joining the Champions League then I wouldn't doubt their performance here.

[buwaytress]

Villareal and West Ham @emrecemsan? Don't fall for West Ham at 8/10, definitely Villareal at 7/1.

If doing any outright, I'd pick a team with at least 10/1 odds (which you can boost daily on a platform like Sportsbet for 11/1 or more), in fact I'd pick a handful of them. One hits and it's big end-of-season profit.

Don't think any of these favourites except Villareal but Koln (19/1) or Basel (26/1) why not?

[buwaytress]

Games are coming in thick and fast, and as usual, I'm looking for what I'd call value bets against superior opposition (which get even more ridiculous when playing at home).

Teams to eye: Fiorentina, Villareal, Basel and West Ham, all playing at home, mixed fortunes in domestic leagues (except bloody Villareal I'd say), and odds are all above 10/1 to lose.