Europa League 2017/2018: Groups J K L
Posted: Wed Sep 13, 2017 17:07
Group J:
Athletic Bilbao will play the EL group stages for the 6th time, the 3rd in a row (and the EL for the 7th time, the 4th in a row, since in 2014/2015 they joined it later after starting in the CL groups)
In their previous five EL group stage experiences they advanced four times and failed once, in 2012/2013.
They have a new coach, José Ángel Ziganda, without EL experience.
But what he lacks in EL experience, his squad has to spare, as several of their players were in multiple EL campaigns for them. Susaeta for instance has 42 EL appearances for them, Muniain has 41, De Marcos 38, Iturraspe 32, San José 31, etc. And others like Raúl García, combining his appearances for them with the ones he already had in his previous clubs, also have 39.
Last season, although they advanced from the group stages, they were still disappointing, as they were “only” second placed behind Genk, and then they were immediately eliminated by APOEL in the following round.
Actually that’s their most usual EL outcome, “out in the last 32 round”, it happened in three of their six participations. And yet they’re eternally famous for reaching the EL final once.
Some teams just have this “feature” of people always looking only at their hits and ignoring their misses, while with others precisely the opposite happens, their hits are ignored and their misses are endlessly remembered.
They had to eliminate Dinamo Bucharest and Panathinaikos to be here - easy, but still harder than the direct qualifications that many worse teams benefited from.
Hertha Berlin will play the EL for the second time.
They were directly qualified to the group stages, and if that wasn’t already scandalous enough, on top of that they were also a pot 2 team!!
Someone may ask, if Hertha Berlin, Hoffenheim and FC Koln were all inexistent teams in the last half-decade, why is the first in pot 2 and the other two in pot 3?
That’s because Hertha Berlin wasn’t completely “inexistent”, they were in the EL qualifiers last season, when they were immediately eliminated by Brondby. And what was their “reward” for LOSING to Brondby last season?
For starters, a direct spot, to prevent that disaster from happening again… and if that wasn’t already enough, an extra coefficient point to put them above their inexistent neighbours, and Partizan, Astana and Nice as well!
Congratulations UEFA! Your system is flawless!
Having said that, Hertha Berlin does seem to have “something” that his neighbours don’t… But perhaps it’s just a consequence of being in pot 2 instead of 3, so being compared to worse teams and look better in comparison.
Or perhaps it’s also a consequence of having that EL campaign back in 2009/2010 when they advanced from the group stages.
Zorya will play the CL for the 2nd time, the 2nd in a row.
They’re almost like Konyaspor. They too got a direct qualification last season, and despite that were unable to win a single game, 0-2-4 (while Konyaspor was 0-1-5). And despite that, they were once again rewarded with a direct spot!!
But in their case, they even got more than that; they climbed from pot 4 to pot 3!!!
How can a 0-2-4 be enough to climb a pot (but not a 0-1-5 in Konyaspor’s case)?
Is it the Ukrainian country contribution making the difference over the smaller Turkish one? Is it the breadcrumbs that Zorya gathered in unsuccessful attempts to survive the qualifiers in the two seasons before these? Is it the 2 points instead of just 1?
In a perfect system, Zorya wouldn’t be directly qualified, and wouldn’t climb a pot!
Then, unlike Konyaspor, they haven’t even changed coach, which means they’re not exactly unhappy with what happened to them last season.
In terms of players, lots of activity too, that can be briefly explained by taking in some Dnipro refugees, while sending some of their players to the bigger brother Shakhtar Donetsk.
Ostersund will play the EL for the 1st time.
Unlike the Hertha Berlin and Zorya parasites, they played the qualifiers, three rounds.
And they were outstanding, eliminating much bigger teams than these two parasites that they’ll now face in the group stage.
They eliminated Galatasaray in ELQR2, which allowed them to temporarily adopt Galatasaray’s coefficient in ELQR3 and get an “easier” team in ELQR3, Fola Esch.
But in ELQR4 they were back to the unseeded pot, and their final opponent was PAOK. And they eliminated them too!
It’s a more impressive path than Athletic Bilbao’s, and it’s definitely more impressive than they way that Hertha Berlin and Zorya got there.
And now, if they eliminated the “better” Galatasaray and PAOK, can they also eliminate the “worse” Hertha Berlin and Zorya?
Yes, they can. But I don’t think they will. But if they do, I’ll be delighted!
Prediction
1. Athletic Bilbao
2. Hertha Berlin
3. Ostersund
4. Zorya
Athletic Bilbao will play the EL group stages for the 6th time, the 3rd in a row (and the EL for the 7th time, the 4th in a row, since in 2014/2015 they joined it later after starting in the CL groups)
In their previous five EL group stage experiences they advanced four times and failed once, in 2012/2013.
They have a new coach, José Ángel Ziganda, without EL experience.
But what he lacks in EL experience, his squad has to spare, as several of their players were in multiple EL campaigns for them. Susaeta for instance has 42 EL appearances for them, Muniain has 41, De Marcos 38, Iturraspe 32, San José 31, etc. And others like Raúl García, combining his appearances for them with the ones he already had in his previous clubs, also have 39.
Last season, although they advanced from the group stages, they were still disappointing, as they were “only” second placed behind Genk, and then they were immediately eliminated by APOEL in the following round.
Actually that’s their most usual EL outcome, “out in the last 32 round”, it happened in three of their six participations. And yet they’re eternally famous for reaching the EL final once.
Some teams just have this “feature” of people always looking only at their hits and ignoring their misses, while with others precisely the opposite happens, their hits are ignored and their misses are endlessly remembered.
They had to eliminate Dinamo Bucharest and Panathinaikos to be here - easy, but still harder than the direct qualifications that many worse teams benefited from.
Hertha Berlin will play the EL for the second time.
They were directly qualified to the group stages, and if that wasn’t already scandalous enough, on top of that they were also a pot 2 team!!
Someone may ask, if Hertha Berlin, Hoffenheim and FC Koln were all inexistent teams in the last half-decade, why is the first in pot 2 and the other two in pot 3?
That’s because Hertha Berlin wasn’t completely “inexistent”, they were in the EL qualifiers last season, when they were immediately eliminated by Brondby. And what was their “reward” for LOSING to Brondby last season?
For starters, a direct spot, to prevent that disaster from happening again… and if that wasn’t already enough, an extra coefficient point to put them above their inexistent neighbours, and Partizan, Astana and Nice as well!
Congratulations UEFA! Your system is flawless!
Having said that, Hertha Berlin does seem to have “something” that his neighbours don’t… But perhaps it’s just a consequence of being in pot 2 instead of 3, so being compared to worse teams and look better in comparison.
Or perhaps it’s also a consequence of having that EL campaign back in 2009/2010 when they advanced from the group stages.
Zorya will play the CL for the 2nd time, the 2nd in a row.
They’re almost like Konyaspor. They too got a direct qualification last season, and despite that were unable to win a single game, 0-2-4 (while Konyaspor was 0-1-5). And despite that, they were once again rewarded with a direct spot!!
But in their case, they even got more than that; they climbed from pot 4 to pot 3!!!
How can a 0-2-4 be enough to climb a pot (but not a 0-1-5 in Konyaspor’s case)?
Is it the Ukrainian country contribution making the difference over the smaller Turkish one? Is it the breadcrumbs that Zorya gathered in unsuccessful attempts to survive the qualifiers in the two seasons before these? Is it the 2 points instead of just 1?
In a perfect system, Zorya wouldn’t be directly qualified, and wouldn’t climb a pot!
Then, unlike Konyaspor, they haven’t even changed coach, which means they’re not exactly unhappy with what happened to them last season.
In terms of players, lots of activity too, that can be briefly explained by taking in some Dnipro refugees, while sending some of their players to the bigger brother Shakhtar Donetsk.
Ostersund will play the EL for the 1st time.
Unlike the Hertha Berlin and Zorya parasites, they played the qualifiers, three rounds.
And they were outstanding, eliminating much bigger teams than these two parasites that they’ll now face in the group stage.
They eliminated Galatasaray in ELQR2, which allowed them to temporarily adopt Galatasaray’s coefficient in ELQR3 and get an “easier” team in ELQR3, Fola Esch.
But in ELQR4 they were back to the unseeded pot, and their final opponent was PAOK. And they eliminated them too!
It’s a more impressive path than Athletic Bilbao’s, and it’s definitely more impressive than they way that Hertha Berlin and Zorya got there.
And now, if they eliminated the “better” Galatasaray and PAOK, can they also eliminate the “worse” Hertha Berlin and Zorya?
Yes, they can. But I don’t think they will. But if they do, I’ll be delighted!
Prediction
1. Athletic Bilbao
2. Hertha Berlin
3. Ostersund
4. Zorya