Europa League Group G H I

[AlanK]

Don't imagine anybody cares other than for the prediction game, but

At the half:

Hapoel K-S 0, Athletic 1 Goal by Llorente at 34'.

Edit: Final score

Hapoel K-S 0, Athletic 2 Toquero hit the 0-2 at 76'

[Dragonite]

In Group G, Sporting had to win its game, and they also needed Genk’s help against Videoton. Genk provided the help, but Sporting couldn’t do its part.
It was actually worse than that, this time they were in numerical advantage (unlike three other times where they were in numerical disadvantage), but they still conceded two more goals in that situation, instead of recovering to win the game.
No poor excuses like “we don’t care about the EL”, they lose because they are bad.
They look like a Russian/Ukrainian/Turkish team, they sign a bunch of big name veterans, who have big salaries, are worthless, and aren’t allowing the rise of younger, better and cheaper players.
While it’s questionable that these Russians/Ukrainians/Turkish teams have any young talents that would do much better than the worthless veterans, Sporting is supposed to have them.
They should get rid of Boulahrouz, Schaars, Izmailov, Pranjic, Elias, Gelson Fernandes, Jeffren, and replace them by players that they already have, in the youth teams. They will still finish in an EL position, they’ll save millions in salaries, and the replacements will be “transferable” in the next years, unlike these players that nobody wants, not even for free.
In this EL, their only competition is against PSV, Athletic Bilbao and perhaps Marseille for the “biggest flop” in the tournament. And so far they win that competition, because the others at least won one game, and Sporting so far didn’t.

Basel against Videoton for the remaining spot (Basel can actually win the group with a win in Belgium), Videoton has only 17% to qualify (they must win and Basel must lose), while Basel has 83%.


In Group H, Rubin Kazan won it. That means, in theory, an easier opponent in the last 32 round, so maybe they’ll have a long season in the EL, perhaps their best ever. They never reached the quarter finals, maybe this season they will.
The other two teams in this group are so bad that they can’t even defeat each other. It is scary to imagine one of these teams in a CL group stage. They were both eliminated in the CL qualifiers by teams that also dropped to the EL (Hapoel Kiryat Shmona and AEL Limassol), and are also punching bags in the EL.


In Group I, Athletic Bilbao woke up too late. Lyon won’t get a 6-0-0 anymore, so Athletic’s postponed game became pointless. Sparta Prague advanced from its group instead of a team from a “big nation” for the second time in a row (Athletic Bilbao and Palermo). Ironically, when they had no teams from “big nations” in their group, they were eliminated (PSV, FC Copenhagen and Cluj). Another example that teams are unique, Palermo isn’t Inter, Athletic Bilbao isn’t Barça, and FC Copenhagen isn’t Nordsjaelland, Cluj isn’t Otelul Galati.
I hope that this time Sparta Prague doesn’t sell its best players during the winter break (who are their key players, by the way?)

[Dragonite]

Group G review:



Genk was fantastic… from a team who couldn’t win a single game in last season’s CL to a team who hasn’t lost a single game in this season’s EL.
Last season they were the only Belgian team who failed to advance from the group stages, this season they are the only Belgian team that succeeded.
Now they will face Stuttgart in the next round. They won’t be the favourites… Last season Hannover 96 eliminated two Belgian teams, Club Brugge and Standard Liège. They had already faced Standard Liège in the group stages and finished behind, but in the KO stages things were different. Maybe that will happen again in Stuttgart and Genk’s case; in the group stages Stuttgart was worse, but in the KO stages things may be different.

In the group preview I was listing Genk’s signings. Now I can say that they used their money well, in real reinforcements, they haven’t burned it in worthless mercenaries like many others do.




Unlike Genk, Basel is having a bad season. Last season they were qualified to the CL last 16, eliminating Manchester United, while this season they almost missed qualification to the EL last 32… and they were already eliminated in the CL qualifiers by Cluj.
Last season Heiko Vogel was the hero that guided the team after Fink’s escape, this season he was the villain that was eliminated in the CL qualifiers and was about to be eliminated in the EL too, when he was replaced by Murat Yakin. Last season Alexander Frei was a super goal scorer, this season he can’t score a single goal…
There was another thing that changed, but this one helped Basel… They finally defeated Sporting, while they used to lose against them. In the end, that win made the difference between qualifying or not from this group.
Now they will face Dnipro. They should be eliminated, but since they’re doing things unusually this time, perhaps they’ll finally advance from a post group stage KO round, something that they can’t do since 2005/2006, when they eliminated Monaco and Strasbourg before being eliminated in the quarter finals by Middlesbrough.




Videoton was much better than Debrecen, the previous Hungarian team playing group stages. Videoton got 6 points in 6 matches, while Debrecen picked a 0-0-11 before finally defeating an indifferent Sampdoria in the 12th game.
They were the team who used fewer players in this group, 19. (Basel used 20, Genk 23 and Sporting 25).
They should be proud of their EL campaign: eliminated Slovan Bratislava, Gent and Trabzonspor to reach the group stages, defeated Sporting (no, just “defeated” isn’t enough, humiliated Sporting), defeated Basel, after match day 5 they were still fighting for qualification… although when they played match 6 they were already eliminated, because the game was postponed and Basel hasn’t lost its.
It would be nice to see them for a second season, like we saw Debrecen.




If someone told me that the Portuguese teams would get a total of 16 points in the EL group stages, I would say “OK, Sporting gets 16 points and Académica and Marítimo will both get 0-0-6’s”. And after that I would say “Wait, something is strange about that”… “Sporting ONLY gets 16 points?!”
The 16 points were 6 for Marítimo, 5 for Académica and 5 for Sporting… Unbelievable!
Portuguese teams have a reputation of having good (great?) management. That’s questionable in any case, particularly in Sporting’s case. They try to copy other teams, but they fail. And then they are too impatient, so they change “role model” all the time. The guys that were signed last season were already discarded this season, the guys that were signed this season will be discarded in January, new guys will arrive… it’s a vicious cycle.
I’m not saying that they shouldn’t change now, of course they should. But they should choose well, they can’t be hostage of player agents like they are now.

Sporting now should focus on returning to the Europa League, to erase this humiliating season with much better ones, like they erased 2005/2006 with the next seasons. Maybe that Financial Fair Play will actually be a good thing for them, it won’t allow them to sign worthless expensive veteran foreigners, and will force them to play with skilled cheap young locals.

[Dragonite]

Group H review:



Rubin Kazan is the most consistent Russian team: for the 4th consecutive season, they will be playing the EL last 32. Not bad, for a team that was unknown before that.
The others are inconsistent, sometimes they go further, but sometimes they crash early.
This group was easy, a lot easier than last season, where they faced PAOK, Tottenham and Shamrock Rovers. This time they had two “Shamrocks” in the group.
They won the group, in theory that would give them an easier opponent next and a better chance to go further… But they got Atlético Madrid. It would have been better to finish second and now they would be playing against Cluj.
They should be eliminated by the strongest possible Atlético Madrid, but they should also be good enough to eliminate the Atlético Madrid that played in the group stages.
They use to sign players from the opponents, so perhaps Atlético Madrid should also see this clash as a business opportunity, they will be showing players to a potential buyer. It’s tempting to show the “reserves” (players that they don’t need), but it’s also dangerous from a sporting perspective.




Inter was, coefficient-wise, the strongest team in the EL (now, with Chelsea’s arrival, they aren’t anymore). They have enough coefficient points to be a pot 1 team in the CL. They were European and World Champions 3 years ago.
Yet their group stage performance had little to do with the coefficient that they have. They were defeated 5-2 by a team with less than 40% of their coefficient. The other two teams were too tiny to stand a chance.
In Russia, instead of trying to get the first place, since qualification was already secured, they sent some teenagers from the team that won NextGen Series last season, like Benassi and Romanò. Other teenager from that team, Croatian forward Livaja, is their top scorer with 4 goals. He is also one of three players that played in every game; the others are wingbacks Jonathan and Álvaro Pereira. On the other hand, a player like Sneijder hasn’t played yet. He hasn’t played much in the domestic league either; his absence has more to do with not being welcomed at Inter anymore than with Inter’s lack of interest for the EL.
Inter used 26 players, more than Rubin (21), Partizan (19) and Neftchi (16).
They are big favourites against Cluj. If they get through, the next round against Tottenham or Lyon promises to be thrilling, maybe the next EL winner will come out of it.




Partizan Belgrade is already a classic punching bag. Despite the “pot 3 team finishing third” expected outcome, they couldn’t win a single game, not even against Neftchi (nobody expected them to win against the other two). This adds up to a 0-0-6 in the CL two seasons ago, a 1-0-5 in the EL three seasons ago (the “1” was against an indifferent Shakhtar Donetsk in match day 6), and a 0-0-4 in the UEFA Cup four seasons ago.
Their happiest season was probably 2011/2012, where they were kicked out before the group stages by Shamrock Rovers so their torture session ended earlier.
Are they satisfied with their “biggest fish in the aquarium” status, and don’t have European ambitions? It seems so, they haven’t even fired the coach, it’s because they’re satisfied with his results.




Unlike Partizan, 3 points are great for Neftchi. It was their debut in a group stage; it was also the debut for an Azeri team. They aren’t from a country who claims to be a European giant with lots of “talent” that was harmed by the current circumstances.
They eliminated last season’s CL quarter finalist APOEL to reach it, unlike Partizan that eliminated unknown Tromso.
Now they should stop comparing themselves to Partizan (too easy), and find a new measuring stick. BATE Borisov?

[_GS_]

They eliminated last season’s CL quarter finalist APOEL to reach it, unlike Partizan that eliminated unknown Tromso.

unknown to who?

[AlanK]

Unknown to Dragonite.

[SHEV]

Obviously you can consider team with ranking points of 6.335 as unknown

[_GS_]

anyone who follows international football can recognize them thanks to their time-to-time good performances in European cups, and some upsets they caused.

[AlanK]

@GS:

Indeed. In 2009, I had occasion to sweat blood as Athletic Bilbao played Tromso on 20 and 27 August in QR4 of the EL

Athletic eked out a 3-2 win in San Mamés; then scored first in Tromso. Easy going? Not on your life--Tromso scored shortly thereafter and then it was Katy bar the door for the rest of the game; Athletic held on to tie 1-1 and progress 4-3 overall.

Tough opponent; two tough games.

[Dragonite]

Group I review:


Lyon was the best team of the Europa League group stage, with 16 points. That doesn’t mean that they are the best team of the Europa League.
Last season the best team of the EL group stage was Anderlecht, with 18 points. In the next round, they were eliminated by AZ Alkmaar with two defeats.
Two seasons ago it was Zenit, also with 18 points. They also eliminated Young Boys in the next round, but then they were eliminated by Twente in the last 16.
Three seasons ago it was FC Salzburg with 18 points. In the next round they were eliminated by Standard Liège.
They shouldn’t worry about what previous “best group stage teams” did, though. They should worry about their next opponent, Tottenham.
They were kidding in the group stage, using 28 players, more than Athletic Bilbao’s 26, Sparta Prague’s 21 and Hapoel Kiryat Shmona’s 21, more than anyone else in CL+EL except Manchester United and Bayer Leverkusen, who also used 28. Now, against Tottenham, even full-strength Lyon may not be enough.




Sparta Prague had its best ever EL group stage performance: 9 points, just like in 2010/2011, but this time with a goal difference of +3 (in 2010/2011 it was 0).
My comment about them before the group stage was “This season they already impressed by eliminating Feyenoord, the team that won the UEFA Cup 10 years ago; Can they do something bigger and put themselves between Lyon and Athletic Bilbao?”
Yes, they can, and they did it. How much of it was Sparta Prague’s merit and how much was Athletic Bilbao’s demerit, that’s not Sparta Prague’s problem.
Now they will face Chelsea, they will be crunched, right? Wait… wouldn’t they be crunched by Feyenoord in August? And then smashed by Athletic Bilbao? Perhaps this clash against Chelsea won’t be as unbalanced as it seems. They faced Chelsea in the 2003/2004 CL, and although the aggregate score was 0-1, they both advanced. And it was 0-1, it wasn’t 0-10.
They don’t need to eliminate Chelsea or Liverpool to earn my respect; they already earned it when they eliminated Palermo and Athletic Bilbao, these minor teams who hide behind nationality “my neighbours are better than yours”. And in Viktoria Plzen they also have a decent neighbour. That’s the difference between for instance Czech Republic and Belarus, Belarus only has BATE Borisov.




Athletic Bilbao was the Europa League beaten finalist some months ago. Now they couldn’t even progress from the group stage. How could they become so much worse so quickly?
It’s the same coach, almost the same players (only Javi Martínez left), they were playing serious (while they still had a chance to advance).
Last season was too good to be true; they aren’t supposed to be better than Manchester United, Schalke 04, Sporting… So, “not defeating” this kind of teams again wouldn’t be a problem. The problem is that they haven’t defeated Sparta Prague, picked no points against Lyon’s reserves, and even dropped points against unknown Israelis.
Plus, any “normal” team sells its central midfielder for 40M€, gets the money and signs 10 better players in Brazil for 4 M€ each. But not abnormal Bilbao, who also has self-imposed restrictions that their players have to be Basque. With only a population of 3 million people to pick from, no matter how talented, they can compete with the Baltic countries perhaps, not more than that.
If they are so concerned with the roots of their players, why do they accept to be leaded by a foreigner?



Hapoel Kiryat Shmona was an unknown team before this season, and will be forgotten soon, 2 points in the EL group stage isn’t a memorable record.
Against Lyon, Sparta Prague and Athletic Bilbao, there wasn’t much that they could do; avoiding a 0-0-6 was already a success.
They haven’t interfered in the Sparta Prague-Athletic Bilbao fight for the second spot, got 1 point against each of them. If Athletic Bilbao failed to qualify, it wasn’t because the Israelis were “friendly” with the Czechs.