2023/2024 Conference League Group D: Club Brugge - Bodo/Glimt - Besiktas - Lugano

[Dragonite]

[Dragonite]

Club Brugge




Road to Conference League:
Conference League QR2: AGF Aarhus
Conference League QR3: KA
Conference League Playoff: Osasuna


Bodo/Glimt




Road to Conference League:
Conference League QR2: Bohemians
Conference League QR3: Pyunik
Conference League Playoff: Sepsi


Besiktas




Road to Conference League:
Conference League QR2: Tirana
Conference League QR3: Neftchi
Conference League Playoff: Dinamo Kyiv


Lugano




Road to Conference League:
EL Playoff: Union SG



Prediction:
1. Besiktas
2. Club Brugge
3. Bodo/Glimt
4. Lugano

[bjkman1903]

Prediction:
1. Besiktas
2. Club Brugge
3. Bodo/Glimt
4. Lugano

To be honest, I am surprised that you (of all people) predicted that Besiktas would win this group. Especially because Besiktas didn't do anything in particular in Europe for the past 5 years.

[HugoBenfica12]

Prediction:
1. Besiktas
2. Club Brugge
3. Bodo/Glimt
4. Lugano

To be honest, I am surprised that you (of all people) predicted that Besiktas would win this group. Especially because Besiktas didn't do anything in particular in Europe for the past 5 years.

and this is going to be last conference league group stage

[Dragonite]

Prediction:
1. Besiktas
2. Club Brugge
3. Bodo/Glimt
4. Lugano

To be honest, I am surprised that you (of all people) predicted that Besiktas would win this group. Especially because Besiktas didn't do anything in particular in Europe for the past 5 years.

It's true that Besiktas over the last half-decade had bad results, but this is the Conference League, it's a lot easier than CL or EL. Besiktas here isn't playing against Ajax, Dortmund and Sporting anymore, it's just Club Brugge, Bodo/Glimt and Lugano.

Maybe instead of 1st place they can be 2nd behind Club Brugge, but not even finishing 2nd would be shocking.


For CL standard Besiktas is a minnow, for EL standard Besiktas is average, for Conference League standard Besiktas should be enormous.

[naaba]

Besiktas here isn't playing against Ajax, Dortmund and Sporting anymore, it's just Club Brugge,

Brugge played 5 CL-GS in a row, finishing 3rd thrice and 2nd once.
And they just eliminated the only Spanish club of the competition.

Even a Turkish fan would have to place Brugge favorite for first place. Anyway first matchday being Brugge - Besiktas it should be settled quickly.

[Dragonite]

Besiktas here isn't playing against Ajax, Dortmund and Sporting anymore, it's just Club Brugge,

Brugge played 5 CL-GS in a row, finishing 3rd thrice and 2nd once.
And they just eliminated the only Spanish club of the competition.

Even a Turkish fan would have to place Brugge favorite for first place. Anyway first matchday being Brugge - Besiktas it should be settled quickly.

Why did you truncate my statement?

The comparison was Ajax + Dortmund + Sporting vs Club Brugge + Bodo/Glimt + Lugano.

And I also said that Club Brugge winning the group with Besiktas 2nd wouldn't shock me.

I think that Club Brugge signed some interesting players like Vetlesen, Skoras, Barberá, Igor Thiago... plus the ones they already had and that a few months ago eliminated Leverkusen and Atlético in the CL.

What's not so encouraging is their manager Deila. This is the manager that in charge of Celtic spent 11 EL matches without winning between 2014 and 2015, including two defeats against Norwegian opposition Molde.

If in charge of Celtic he lost twice against Molde, perhaps now in charge of Club Brugge he can also lose against Bodo/Glimt.


Bodo/Glimt by the way is the only serious threat to Besiktas or Club Brugge, I think that Lugano is harmless.

[Jua Ferreira]

Prediction

Brugge
Beşiktaş
Bodo
Lugano

[ecrivain 93]

Besiktas here isn't playing against Ajax, Dortmund and Sporting anymore, it's just Club Brugge,

Brugge played 5 CL-GS in a row, finishing 3rd thrice and 2nd once.
And they just eliminated the only Spanish club of the competition.

Even a Turkish fan would have to place Brugge favorite for first place. Anyway first matchday being Brugge - Besiktas it should be settled quickly.

The group is contentious, the teams are equal roughly.
However, Besiktas has more experienced players than Brugge and Bodo, also Besiktas is undefeated for 7 months in official matches.
I think Besiktas is slightly favourite in the group.

[Firnen]

Prediction

1. Club Brugge
2. Bodo/Glimt
3. Besiktas
4. Lugano

[bugylibicska]

1.Besiktas
2.Club Brugge
3.Bodo/Glimt
4.Lugano

[naaba]

What's not so encouraging is their manager Deila. This is the manager that in charge of Celtic spent 11 EL matches without winning between 2014 and 2015, including two defeats against Norwegian opposition Molde.

If in charge of Celtic he lost twice against Molde, perhaps now in charge of Club Brugge he can also lose against Bodo/Glimt.


Bodo/Glimt by the way is the only serious threat to Besiktas or Club Brugge, I think that Lugano is harmless.

Actually Deila has been doing wonders in Standard Liège, considering the club became cheap despite new owners (777 Partners). They spend no more than 5 millions per transfer window. Now the Brugge coach (Carl Hoefkens) who did wonders in CL-GS last season is glued to Standard and started season with 3/18.

Chelsea had a last minute 30-million attempt to get 18-yo Nusa (second youngest goalscorer in Champions League). Besiktas is trying to build a team the Turkish way, but Brugge is growing a team of promising players (who eventually will leave for big amounts). That's also why I give the edge for Brugge.

[bjkman1903]

Besiktas is trying to build a team the Turkish way, but Brugge is growing a team of promising players (who eventually will leave for big amounts). That's also why I give the edge for Brugge.

By "Turkish way", do you mean transferring big names with huge salaries?
If so, that's no longer the case. Instead, Besiktas is trying to build a homogenous team and that is working so far - we didn't lose a single official match since February.

Our coach Senol Gunes is very experienced (Besiktas had its golden years in Europe under him) and our biggest threat is Aboubakar. He can score any kind of goal (see his wonderful solo goal vs Dynamo Kiev)

I also give slightly the edge to Club Brugge because our new transfers are not quite integrated to the team, but chances are around 50-50 imo where little details may influence the outcome.

Of course, we should not ignore Bodo/Glimt either in this group. I expect difficult games vs them especially in Norway.

[Dragonite]

I think that by "Turkish way" he means importing leftovers from big teams like Chamberlain and Rebic that then after a while leave for free.

While the "Belgian way" would be importing from smaller teams like Bodo/Glimt (Vetlesen), Lech Poznan (Skoras) or Ludogorets (Igor Thiago) with the expectation of selling them some years later for much more than what they paid for them now.

If everybody was following the "Belgian way" then it wouldn't work. It only works if when they're willing to sell there's someone else with a different approach that is willing to buy.


By the way, Besiktas has better CL results than Club Brugge and better EL results than Club Brugge too, so the superiority of the "Belgian way" that Club Brugge represents when compared to the "Turkish way" that Besiktas represents is questionable.

[naaba]

I think that by "Turkish way" he means importing leftovers from big teams like Chamberlain and Rebic that then after a while leave for free.

While the "Belgian way" would be importing from smaller teams like Bodo/Glimt (Vetlesen), Lech Poznan (Skoras) or Ludogorets (Igor Thiago) with the expectation of selling them some years later for much more than what they paid for them now.

If everybody was following the "Belgian way" then it wouldn't work. It only works if when they're willing to sell there's someone else with a different approach that is willing to buy.


By the way, Besiktas has better CL results than Club Brugge and better EL results than Club Brugge too, so the superiority of the "Belgian way" that Club Brugge represents when compared to the "Turkish way" that Besiktas represents is questionable.

Turkish clubs are notorious for transferring (30+ yo) "big names" (or leftovers) from big leagues. I don't say it's not working. Galatasaray managed to go to CL-QF 2013 with the likes of Sneijder, Eboué or Drogba. The season after they still made it to CL-R2. But it doesn't seem viable on the long term because they eventually fell back into line with many echoes of unpaid salaries and match fixing. Fenerbahçe for instance hasn't played CL-GS since 2008.

And I don't know in what world you see Besiktas with better CL or EL results than Brugge ?
Besiktas made it once to CL-R2, just as Brugge.
Besiktas made it once to EL-QF, just as Brugge.
And last time they met, Brugge won twice.
Last time Besiktas met a Belgian club (Genk), they could only take 1 point in 2 matches.
Last time Brugge met a Turkish club (Galatasaray), they finished ahead of them.