Expected results in Group G this week.
bossake wrote:Last year Steaua had 6 points from 6 games in the Group and now have 6 points from 2 games. Really impressive. It is first away win in groups for us (both CL+EL) from November 2012 when we win also 2-1 away at Molde.We missed an away win in Champions League groups in 2013 in Basel when they equalised us in 92min, so I was afraid today
. Also was first win for Steaua in Switzerland from 4 games.
It is the first time in the new format of groups (2009+) a romanian team starts with 2 wins in a row in the group stage.
But same like in the first win vs Plzen, we had the chance on our side. In the first half we made our poorest half from this season. Lugano when already leading 1-0 had a crossbar, a very big chance for making 2-0.
In the second half we started a solid play, actually we just played at our value against Lugano a team which sincerly is not very valuable but today played a lot with their heart, maybe that is why after min 75 they were somehow down physically.. We played very good not too much, only ~ 20 mins, but was enough to lead 2-1 and after we conserved the win, Lugano had in the whole second half only a chance at 1-1. But in the first half they simply ruled the game, we almost didnt created nothing.
I would had prefered another result at Plzen - Beer Sheva 3-1 (draw or win for Beer Sheva), so with this current table (Steaua 6, Plzen3, Beer Sheva 3) I still believe we have a lot to work to secure the qualifier. Beer Sheva - Steaua is scheduled for the next round and is crucial for us to dont lose that game.
Like bossake said yesterday in the “EL round 2 general thread”, Steaua already collected as many points in just two matches this season as in their entire EL campaign last season.
It’s also only the second time in 23 EL away matches that they won. Yet, unlike Celtic’s CL away win which was a huge surprise to me, this one wasn’t. Why? Because Lugano is awful, I don’t consider them good enough to compete with the other teams in this group.
In Group H, expected results too, at least to me…
Some people are shocked with FC Koln’s defeat… When I look at them, I can only see a weak team. I couldn’t care less about their neighbours, they aren’t here to help them. FC Koln is on its own. Their neighbours already helped them with an EL group stage direct spot, and I seriously doubt that FC Koln would have made it this far had they started in ELQR3 like for instance Freiburg did.
But let’s play that “neighbours” game for a while, shall we?
Two years ago, one of their neighbours, Augsburg, also lost an EL MD2 match at home against one of Red Star’s neighbours, Partizan. And despite having a 6 points disadvantage to the Serbian team at this point (FC Koln “only” has 4), they still recovered to finish top 2 and qualify.
So, if this “neighbours” thing matters, maybe it will happen again?
In Group I, expected win for FC Salzburg, and…
The only “unexpected” result in these three groups this week, to me at least, was Konyaspor winning against Vitória Guimarães!
Steaua’s already collecting as many points in just two games this season as in its entire EL campaign last season is nothing compared to what Konyaspor did, they already tripled their score!!
Vitória Guimarães is a disgrace.
Their motto is “we’re better than Braga”.
These “better than Braga” wannabe posers just lost to a team that had never won a single match in its history. They were in a winless streak of 7 EL matches, and now they’re not anymore because they found another worthless team like them, who is also in its own EL winless streak of 7 matches now (and with the potential to grow a lot more).
You think that results will make them rethink their false premises?
Of course they won’t! If results don’t support their delusional theories, they’ll just find idiotic excuses, like “results don’t matter, the only thing that matters is… attendances!!?!”
Vitória Guimarães and Konyaspor are a waste of two EL direct spots; better teams aren’t competing anymore so that these two parasites can be here now. Having them together in this group is a blessing for the other two teams, FC Salzburg and Marseille, it’s practically a direct qualification for the EL last 32 for these two.
I’d actually like if one of them made me eat my words, particularly at Marseille’s expense, but I just don’t see it happening.