Champions League - Group E (CHE - VAL - LEV - GENK)

betclick · Post by **betclick** » Tue Aug 30, 2011 23:29

Chelsea - Valencia - Bayer Leverkuzen - Racing Genk

- Chelsea is experienced in this stage and will unlikely lose the place in the last 16.
- Leverkuzen's return might be successful but Valencia wants to continue qualifying to the next round.
- It's hard to believe Genk will end with 0 points.

Prediction: 1.Chelsea 2.Valencia 3.Leverkuzen 4.Genk

Polak · Post by **Polak** » Mon Sep 05, 2011 15:39

Another [fairly] predictable group

Chelsea
They have a new and very succesful [so far] coach in charge. They have not signed too many players and have not gotten rid of some players that they were perhaps expected to get rid of. From the players they have added to their Champions League squad they have Juan Mata from Valencia so he is going to get to play a match against his former team right now. They also have Raul Meireles, whom I am assuming Villas Boas likes for some reason. That is about it. Chelsea should not have any problems in this group, but later, with 33 year old Drogba and 32 year old Anelka, the attack is looking a bit old. Drogba is injured [not sure how seriously]. I do not see that as a problem though, Chelsea have too many strikers. They play with 1, they have 4 or 5. I know the others could move over to the side in the attacking wingers role, but I really expected at least one of the 2, Anelka or Drogba, to leave.

Valencia
Last time they went out to Schalke. This time they have Levekusen. They are expected to qualify but I do not think it is going to be a formality. They should be able to do it though. They made some average signings. Well average for a team with ambitions to go far in the Champions League, as I expect Valencia do got. No more Joaquin and Mata, among the transfers they have Victor Ruiz from Napoli and also Adil Rami from Lille. There are others from the Spanish league as well. It seems like a reasonably strong squad, but only strong enough to get in to the 2nd round, not much further.

Bayer Leverkusen
Leverkusen have played in the competition previously and even done well, very well, but that was ages ago, the team is different, except for Ballack who has returned to them. They did well to get 2nd place last season. Some people even thought they had a chance to catch up with Dortmund and challenge for 1st, but Dortmond were in fantastic form all season. They have 4 goalkeepers in the Champions League squad. Michael Ballack has the experience. The only major signing they seem to have made is Schurrle from Mainz. The major loss was Vidal to Juventus and Hyypia has retired. I said Valencia has got a squad that are strong enough to qualify but no go much further, Leverkusen have a squad that is strong enough to make 3rd, then possibly try to go from there.

Racing Genk
The team the others have got to look to beat, particularly Leverkusen, probably twice, if they want to even consider challenging for 2nd place. Their squad is not great. I am not saying it is a bad squad. Hey they won the Belgian league with it [well most of it]. I just think that for the Champions League, and this group, it is not enough. They only went through on penalties. They should be bottom. None of their signings are particularly great or known. Sandomierski, Benteke, Masuero. I do not know the guys, only Sandomierski. They sold Courtois to Chelsea. Other than that I think I only know Buffel from the squad. It is going to be difficult for them to get anything from this group. Any draws they can get would be something. Who knows they might even get a home win, but I cannot see them winning away.

prediction

Chelsea
Valencia
Leverkusen
Racing Genk

Dragonite · Post by **Dragonite** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 10:41

Chelsea

Valencia

Bayer Leverkusen

Genk

Group E

People say that Group G is the “Europa League winners” group - then this group is the “CL beaten finalists” group.

Chelsea never failed in the CL groups, in 9 attempts. And they won’t fail this time as well.
Raul Meireles was a good signing. With Essien’s injury there was a spot vacant in Chelsea’s midfield, Mikel or Oriol Romeu (other signing) were the candidates, but with Raul Meireles Chelsea gets stronger.
Mata was also a good signing; it gives Villas-Boas the opportunity to play in a 4-3-3 with two proper wingers (Mata and Malouda) instead of with a striker playing as winger (Drogba/Anelka/Fernando Torres).

Valencia failed twice in their last 4 CL groups… And in both occasions, they had a German team in their group (Werder Bremen 2004/2005 and Schalke 04 2007/2008).
7 players arrived (goalkeeper Diego Alves, defenders Barragán, Rami and Ruiz, midfielders Parejo and Canales and forward Piatti), and 8 players left (goalkeepers César and Moyà, defender Navarro, midfielders Ignacio González, Joaquín and Vicente and forwards Domínguez and Mata).
This Valencia is far away from the 2000-2004 Valencia. Last season they were good enough to finish ahead of Glasgow Rangers and Bursaspor, but I doubt they are capable of doing much more than that.

Bayer Leverkusen is back to the CL!
As we can see from their chart, they were never eliminated in a group stage in the past 10 seasons.
They have some problems, though: they changed coach, from Heynckes, a former CL winner, to Robin Dutt, a rookie. They also have Adler injured… and Barnetta as well, though Adler is the main absence. Finally, they were eliminated by Villarreal in last season’s EL.
I think that Bayer Leverkusen’s squad has several good options – up front they can play Kiessling or Derdiyok, Ballack can also play in their midfield… Ballack has more CL experience than all his teammates together! (Ballack 87 vs. Others 26)!!

Finally, Genk…
Genk is an “hotelish” team. If it wasn’t for their 2002/2003 CL participation, they would be just like Otelul Galati & co.
On one hand, I’m happy that we’ll see Genk instead of 0-0-6 Maccabi Haifa (2009/2010), and instead of 0-0-6 Partizan (2010/2011)… On the other hand, I remember that Genk itself couldn’t win a single game in their previous CL participation, and I wonder why we must have one of these teams in the CL!!
Joneleit is injured, and Genk signed 3 defenders in the last days of the transfer window: Sarr, Masuero and Grimi. They also got a new coach, Mario Been.

Prediction
1. Chelsea
2. Bayer Leverkusen
3. Valencia
4. Genk

og2002gr · Post by **og2002gr** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 10:45

Again, a strong Pot 3 team, makes this group an interesting one.

Chelsea seems out of form at the moment. Give hopes to their opponents but cant imagine they can lose the 1st place.

Valencia despite selling players keeps being strong. They had a bad draw but still Spanish level is higher than German.

Bayer is rising, Valencia is not a giant so it won't a surprise to catch 2nd place, but still it will a big success.

Genk is the Belgian champion, so they ought to fight hard for 3rd place. Aris did great last year against Atletico and Bayer. Genk shouldn't be in the 0-2-4 teams group.

1. Chelsea 70%
2. Valencia 55%
3. Bayer 45%
4. Genk 30%

maluyaca · Post by **maluyaca** » Sat Sep 10, 2011 14:03

og2002gr wrote:Again, a strong Pot 3 team, makes this group an interesting one.

Chelsea seems out of form at the moment. Give hopes to their opponents but cant imagine they can lose the 1st place.

Valencia despite selling players keeps being strong. They had a bad draw but still Spanish level is higher than German.

Bayer is rising, Valencia is not a giant so it won't a surprise to catch 2nd place, but still it will a big success.

Genk is the Belgian champion, so they ought to fight hard for 3rd place. Aris did great last year against Atletico and Bayer. Genk shouldn't be in the 0-2-4 teams group.

1. Chelsea 70%
2. Valencia 55%
3. Bayer 45%
4. Genk 30%

1. Chelsea 85%
2. Valencia 65%
3. Bayer 25%
4. Genk 1% ---> 80% for 0-0-6

CL for Genk is just too soon. Hopefully will the money bring some extra on the long term. We will learn and we will be kicked, this squad is no CL material, like every Belgium team isn't CL material at the moment. I hope we get a point and that we don't loose with high scores.

JK · Post by JK » Tue Sep 13, 2011 23:03

I didn't watch the game from Leverkusen, but from what I read, they weren't so bad. That they lost against Chelsea away, was the expected result. Their still decent performance make hope for the other games.

maluyaca · Post by **maluyaca** » Tue Sep 13, 2011 23:57

We're not a 0-0-6 team !!!

Not bad with just 2 central defenders who are able to play. I think Valencia underestimated Genk. Or did we play without pression?

Let's see what we can do in Leverkussen with De Bruyne in the team and maybe some extra central defenders who are fit to play.

Michael S Collins · Post by **Michael S Collins** » Wed Sep 14, 2011 04:08

Leverkusen played very well, didn't take their chances, and lost. Shame.

zender · Post by **zender** » Fri Sep 16, 2011 15:17

maluyaca wrote:We're not a 0-0-6 team !!!

Man you make a 180 really fast.

Next time have a bit more faith in your team.

If Genk can get a win somewhere combined with one more draw, I will be very happy regardless of the third spot.

maluyaca · Post by **maluyaca** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 11:14

zender wrote:
maluyaca wrote:We're not a 0-0-6 team !!!
Man you make a 180 really fast.
Next time have a bit more faith in your team.

If Genk can get a win somewhere combined with one more draw, I will be very happy regardless of the third spot.

What 180 turn? I thought we would lose all the games, every point that Genk will earn will be a appreciated as a victory. So we got a draw so I'm happy. Apparently Genk is coming back after some disastrous years. For the moment the competition is the most important and hopefully in 2 or 3 years we can have a little bit of ambition in European. Let's say passing the winter in EL. You never know what will happen if we get a draw on the next game out at Leverkussen.

First ambition of Genk in Europe should be to get a high enough clubcoefficient to be seeded in the 4rth round of EL.

Dragonite · Post by **Dragonite** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 13:53

As expected, Bayer Leverkusen lost in England.
The 0-0 in the other game is great for them, they will now climb to the 2nd spot if they defeat Genk, supposing than Valencia won’t defeat Chelsea.

And Genk already has 1 point… Overall, they have 5 draws in 7 CL games.
I wonder if they would they rather have 2 wins and 5 defeats, or zero wins but just 2 defeats like they do?
Anyway, this point doesn’t mean much for Genk, they’ll still finish bottom of their group. It means, though, that Valencia already wasted 2 points and is already behind in the fight for the 2nd spot with Bayer Leverkusen.

UCL_Lover · Post by **UCL_Lover** » Sat Sep 17, 2011 16:08

Dragonite,

still it is two early to say that somebody has got an advantage.

Valencia plays at Stamford Bridge on MD6, which means that they may get a valuable point there. Probably a 0-0. Keep that in mind.

Who ensures that Bayer will win in Belgium? This is also on MD6, but what if Genk have hopes for EL?

The next games, may bring Bayer 1-2pts in front of Valencia, if the latter don't win Chelsea at home, supposing that Bayer will win Genk in Germany.
So, Valencia would surely look for 4 points in their double fight against Leverkusen on MDs 3-4.

zender · Post by **zender** » Wed Sep 28, 2011 02:43

Who says that Bayern Leverkuzen won't be 4 points behind Valancie after MD 2?
I still see Valancia finishing in second place in this group, they had a smal hick up last time against Genk but I don't think that they are going to repeat that and who knows maybe it is Leverkuzen's turn to have a hick up today.

maluyaca · Post by **maluyaca** » Thu Sep 29, 2011 08:25

Ok we lost in Germany, shade we had better chances then Leverkussen who was clearly without confidence. Too pitty, but the Genkies on the tribune overclassed the Germans on the tribune.

I don't know what to think about Leverkussen - is that the vice champion of Germany? - but I think at home we have a chance of getting something.

I hope that by then a little win will be enough to qualify for EL. We have to make at least the same points as Leverkussen will get in the next 3 games.

It's possible because I don't think the Leverkussen of yesterday will get many - maybe even any - points.

Dragonite · Post by **Dragonite** » Sat Oct 01, 2011 11:53

Expected win for Bayer Leverkusen.

And unexpected draw for Valencia against Chelsea: In their previous two visits to Valencia, Chelsea won both, by the same score, 2-1. That was my prediction for this game was well.

Now Chelsea has two easy games, they should win both and have 10 points by the end of round 4. And Bayer Leverkusen and Valencia will be fighting for the second spot.

So far Valencia wasn’t impressive, in 180 minutes they only scored once, from the penalty spot. I think they are one of the most over-rated teams in this CL, alongside Manchester City and Borussia Dortmund.