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

[Distraction]

Big congrats to Partizan really. They are one of the surprising teams in this stage. I was expecting Nice and Koln to be number one and two but it looks like Koln are almost out of the tournament already now. Partizan fought really bravely against them despite not being the favourite side. Defeating Koln in Germany was a bigger success but this one was also a huge success. Because it was a crucial match for both sides. Partizan were going to relieve or Koln were going to be in the competition again.

I don't understand why Koln are playing this much badly. Maybe they just want to focus on being more successful in the Bundesliga this year. But they don't join this kind of tournaments ofter also. Therefore I would have expected them to be more ambitious than this.

[S A KHAIR]

I don't understand why Koln are playing this much badly. Maybe they just want to focus on being more successful in the Bundesliga this year. But they don't join this kind of tournaments ofter also. Therefore I would have expected them to be more ambitious than this.

Manchester United team could not score any goal in 60 minutes against Omonia. They are doing a lot of monogamy. They may have had 23 shots, but were still unable to break down Omonia's defence. Omonia's players are only repelling attacks from United's players. But the important thing is that we are not seeing good performances from Ronaldo. I expected a good performance from Ronaldo in today's match because he played quite well in the last two matches.

[boltz]

FCSB should be ashamed of themselves and they are as I just saw the conference speech after the game from some players and even the coach...and also media are all over them calling this the most ashamed game of football in Europe competitions for a team from Romania...pretty sad night but also great job for CFR Cluj.

United lucky with McTominay but they should have scored earlier in my opinion. 

[LTU_btc]

Partizan won against Koln again. Congrats to fellow Bitcointalkers who support this team After this win they have good chances not just to reach next round, but take 1st place in group. Esepcially after unexpected Nice loss against Slovacko.
Happy for first Zalgiris win which keep their chances to reach next round. Game against Pyunik ended 2:1, but Zalgiris wasted so many chances that it could ended 5:1 or 6:1. In other group game Slovan and Basel echanged goals - 3:3. Now situation in this group is very interesting - between 1st and 4th places there is just 3 points gap.
For me biggest upset today is Cluj win against Slavia. They were big underdogs, but managed to score 2 goals, Slavia failed to score, despite making 24 shots, 4 on target.

[buwaytress]

Great pick with Cluj hehe. They rarely concede goals even in our internal tournament Liga 1 and every team think that they can score against them and yet , so few of them are doing so.

Heh, heh, yeah, can't believe they got such strange way to win and to not concede, but can't really take credit for picking them for superiority, I'm a victim of seeing them "recently" in UCL, but also I honestly think these teams are not recognised enough for their quality, I hope to squeeze that value for many more years.

we did it another time, 2:0 home win against Koeln, and 6 points from these two matches, must say that I did not looked forward to more than 3 points
with these points, we need just to beat Slovacko at home to qualify no matter other results, and away match with Nice, great position, bearing in mind Nice and Koeln in the group

it was a firework before the match, and that usually end-up with losing points, but this time was different

keeping fingers crossed for Slovacko to take at least point in France, Nice is playing under1.5

Absolute blast man, and Nice, big laughs. Glad I avoided them and Koln (whom I used to back a lot last season actually!). Nice lost and got a key guy sent off (Todibo) so it's nicely primed for you guys. Good luck!

[Joca97]

Partizan won against Koln again. Congrats to fellow Bitcointalkers who support this team After this win they have good chances not just to reach next round, but take 1st place in group. Esepcially after unexpected Nice loss against Slovacko.
Happy for first Zalgiris win which keep their chances to reach next round. Game against Pyunik ended 2:1, but Zalgiris wasted so many chances that it could ended 5:1 or 6:1. In other group game Slovan and Basel echanged goals - 3:3. Now situation in this group is very interesting - between 1st and 4th places there is just 3 points gap.
For me biggest upset today is Cluj win against Slavia. They were big underdogs, but managed to score 2 goals, Slavia failed to score, despite making 24 shots, 4 on target.

Thanks,now with Nice losing to Slovacko o most an insane scenario must happen so that we dont qualify,we just need also a draw against Nice to be first in the group so this is a huge achievement for us and if we continue to play like this we might even see quarters or the semi finals. Slavia Prague is really disapointing this season. They were much better before and now they are losing some serious amount of points and they were considered as one of the favorites to win the group.

[Boristhecat]

-skip-
For me biggest upset today is Cluj win against Slavia. They were big underdogs, but managed to score 2 goals, Slavia failed to score, despite making 24 shots, 4 on target.

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that this pattern (when the favorite seems to be trying and delivering an incredible number of shots on goal but cannot score) for some reason is often found in such "weak" tournaments. For example, yesterday the same thing happened in the game Manchester United - Omonia. I can't explain it by a lack of motivation - after all, the team is doing useful things and even more than usual (against equal opponents), but at the same time, the performance is very low. I wonder why.

[LTU_btc]

Maybe I'm wrong, but it seems to me that this pattern (when the favorite seems to be trying and delivering an incredible number of shots on goal but cannot score) for some reason is often found in such "weak" tournaments. For example, yesterday the same thing happened in the game Manchester United - Omonia. I can't explain it by a lack of motivation - after all, the team is doing useful things and even more than usual (against equal opponents), but at the same time, the performance is very low. I wonder why.

It's difficult to comment something without watching that game. Though, probably difference of level between Slavia and Cluj is smaller than MU and Omonia. From stats it looks that Cluj scored early goal and then only needed to save score and try to punish opponents on counter attacks. And it's not easy to score against properly parked bus. I won't forget how good Mourinho in his prime was at parking a bus. I think nobody can't beat him there, Simeone isn't even near to him.

[casperBGD]

~snip
I won't forget how good Mourinho in his prime was at parking a bus. I think nobody can't beat him there, Simeone isn't even near to him.

yeah, especially with Porto, he won Champions league with them, and it was mere a miracle to see them winning CL
and it was based on parked bus mostly

but nevertheless, Conference league is lower quality competition, and parking bus against Slavia is much easier task, than parking bus in front of United attack

[Daniel91]

Partizan won against Koln again. Congrats to fellow Bitcointalkers who support this team After this win they have good chances not just to reach next round, but take 1st place in group. Esepcially after unexpected Nice loss against Slovacko.
Happy for first Zalgiris win which keep their chances to reach next round. Game against Pyunik ended 2:1, but Zalgiris wasted so many chances that it could ended 5:1 or 6:1. In other group game Slovan and Basel echanged goals - 3:3. Now situation in this group is very interesting - between 1st and 4th places there is just 3 points gap.
For me biggest upset today is Cluj win against Slavia. They were big underdogs, but managed to score 2 goals, Slavia failed to score, despite making 24 shots, 4 on target.

Thanks,now with Nice losing to Slovacko o most an insane scenario must happen so that we dont qualify,we just need also a draw against Nice to be first in the group so this is a huge achievement for us and if we continue to play like this we might even see quarters or the semi finals. Slavia Prague is really disapointing this season. They were much better before and now they are losing some serious amount of points and they were considered as one of the favorites to win the group.

Congratulations for the great results of Partizan this season in the conference league.
It's really not easy to beat the respected German premier league team, Koln twice in a few weeks.
I actually expected a lot more from another Serbian club, Crvena Zvezda, but they didn't even manage to qualify for the Champions League and it seems that they will be relegated from the Europa League as well.
With a little luck, Partizan could make a big European result this season. From what I've seen, they play very well.
I also expected much more from Slavia and for me they are a big disappointment.

[buwaytress]

~snip
I won't forget how good Mourinho in his prime was at parking a bus. I think nobody can't beat him there, Simeone isn't even near to him.

yeah, especially with Porto, he won Champions league with them, and it was mere a miracle to see them winning CL
and it was based on parked bus mostly

but nevertheless, Conference league is lower quality competition, and parking bus against Slavia is much easier task, than parking bus in front of United attack

I was just saying the other day how much I kind of miss old, battling, combative, sour Mou. He seems to be a happy guy these days (not withstanding Roma's poor season so far) but I'd love to see him and Tammy go through group stages so it's a must-win tonight at Helsinki... he will be hoping Betis win big so the final showdown with Ludogorets is in his hands.

Will be sharing a bet later this week, not sure if anything is tempting enough for me but remember this is the league for goals!

[buwaytress]

Decided not to put any money down on lines tonight, but if I were going to, I'd probably put a lot of money down on Villareal, who lost their boss to Villa -- maybe going as far as they can in Conference will be their welcoming gift to impress new gaffer Setien, who'll also want to do his best to remind Barca about his qualities (haha).

[darxiaomi]

I dont know what to do, but i can confirm im going to follow the D group.

Its really close between each team, and the two "bigs" of this group are in second and third position so i can expect a good matches agains the other teams.

But Thurdsday are really busy of matches  and you dont know what to do and see.

[boltz]

Lottery league is back  and I couldn't hold myself to not place a bet on first half on Austria Vienna to score 1 goal...so let's see what happens. If this bet gets green , then I will patiently wait for CFR Cluj game in order to place a bet on them to score in first half or even both teams to score because it's a very important game for both of the teams.

[morvillz7z]

Wish me luck tomorrow...i need goals from Slovacko and Köln!

Match just couldn't be played today, pretty thick fog around the stadium you could barely see anything. They should try to finish it tomorrow around noon, at least that's the plan.

Given the outcome of the other match in Group D, both sides would like to secure three points if they are to advance to the 1/8 and 1/16 finals.

Six goals were scored in the reverse fixture last month in Germany, three goals would do just fine for me tomorrow, fingers crossed!

[casperBGD]

Wish me luck tomorrow...i need goals from Slovacko and Köln!

good luck man, I am also pretty interested in that match, although not for betting only
Partizan lost their match in Nice, so need at least point against Slovacko at home to secure next phase, and win should do first place, if Nice is not win over Koeln
but, Koeln motivation will depend on tomorrow match, since both teams now have chances to play for something in last round, in case winning tomorrow

[buwaytress]

Wish me luck tomorrow...i need goals from Slovacko and Köln!

Man, that is a beautiful ticket! I slipped up on a lot of tickets in Europa, and now waiting for 2nd half to see if my acca and final ML will hit but doesn't look good. Now I wish I'd taken a few picks in Conference as the teams I was looking at for HT wins would have all hit (Monaco, Hearts, Nice).

Hope Koln score 3 in first half so you're relaxed to enjoy the rest of the game!

[LTU_btc]

I haven't paid much attention other games, my attention was on Basel - Zalgiris game. Zalgiris started game in worst possible way and conceded goal on 1st minute. on 17th minute result was 2:0 already. Bad that I can't upload video here because Basel goalkeeper mistake is must see. He basically made what Karius did in 2018 UCL final. This mistake let Zalgiris to score. in second hald they managed to score another goal and game ended 2:2. This result and Slovan win against Pyunik still keeps Zalgiris hopes alive. We need to beat Slovan at home last round and Basel not to lose against Pyunik. Doesn't sounds impossible.
From other games, Gent draw with Rovers lookes unexpected. And it makes Gent situation complicated before last round.

[buwaytress]

We've been seeing plenty of goals in this league (strange for me, but maybe I don't know the stats enough or team capabilities) so I'm going to go for a really, really long acca, and hope almost every tie has something in it.

Too long to post but 15 legs all on every game in this week's Conference, ML plus goal counts (would have gone for cards but not all have markets), with just a couple of dollars on the line.

I will post only if it wins haha.

[Pulsar77]

I might bet on a betslip like this tonight:

• AZ win @1.61
• Partizan win @1.50
• Lech Poznan or draw @1.53

The total odd is 3.69 maybe but I still see it as a favourable one for now.

AZ defeated Dnipro before and they can do the same in a home match as well. Maybe one point is enough for AZ to secure the lead but I don't think they would leave it to chance.

Partizan are playing against Slovacko. Slovacko have no goal left in the group stage. However Partizan need to win if they want to secure next round ticket comfortably. They should be making it easily by getting a win here.

As for Lech Poznan they are playing a home match against Villarreal. Normally this is a really tough match and Villarreal defeated them before. However Villarreal have already secured their lead. I don't think they would play with their main players mostly. I expect a big rotation. Lech Poznan need to fight for the win. Otherwise Hapoel can really get past them and steal their ticket to next round. Actually I might change it with a Hapoel win @1.54 also. Because they wouldn't have any problem on defeating Austria Vienna as Austria Vienna have no goal left.