2023/2024 Conference League Group E: AZ Alkmaar - Aston Villa - Legia - Zrinjski

[Polak]

I agree with the statement that if Legia lose both games to AZ then obviously AZ deserve to go through ahead of them.

[BorisMo]

Congrats to Aston Villa and Legia for advancing from the group. It was a pleasure to play against 3 amazing teams. I think we represented ourselves well on our group stage debut. 4 points, and we didn't get trashed in any game like most people probably expected. Hopefully we can qualify again and maybe get easier group next time. Good luck to Villa and Legia in the knockout stages.

P.S. Safe trip home to Villa fans who came to Mostar. You were class act, just like in Birmingham. You are welcome to West Mostar any time. Sorry for inconveniences that happened to some of your fans in east part of Mostar, those were not Zrinjski fans that attacked you. See you soon hopefully.

[Firnen]

Prediction

1. Aston Villa
2. AZ
3. Legia Warsaw
4. Zrinjski

AZ failed miserably.

[Dragonite]

Congratulations Aston Villa for winning the group!


And congratulations Legia for advancing from this group!


Legia was the only unseeded team advancing from the Conference League groups, all the others came from pots 1 and 2.

AZ Alkmaar went from Conference League semifinalist to Conference League group stage elimination in just a few months.

At least guys like Poku, Goes, Owusu-Oduro and Addai didn't play 3 games for the senior team, which means that they can still play for the UEFA Youth League team.

Prediction:
1. AZ Alkmaar
2. Legia
3. Aston Villa
4. Zrinjski

I was right about Legia second and Zrinjski last, and wrong about the rest.

[Polak]

Initial prediction

It's nice that Dragonite thinks Legia can be above Aston Villa, but having seen his logic for it, it's completely baseless. Historical results in Europe really are not important in predicting outcomes of fixtures happening now. You can't make predictions between two teams based on their European history. Well you can, but it won't get you very far. Legia drew with Real Madrid in the CL in 16/17. They got knocked out by Dudelange in a Europa League qualifier 2 seasons later. Neither of those results have any relation to the strength of Legia's team now.

Also, Legia also has more experience in Europe than Man CIty. So what? They would be destroyed by them now if they competed. I admit that I make this mistake myself sometimes, taking European experience into account when making predictions. For instance I predicted that Braga would finish above Union Berlin in the CL based on European experience.

Aston Villa have a strong team and should top this group. Legia have an outside chance for 2nd, given that AZ appeared to struggle in knocking out Brann, but I still think they'll be 3rd, or even 4th if they're no careful. Zrinjski could be a bit of a surprise package. Theoretically the weakest team in the group, but they could take some points from others, particularly Legia. Last season they beat Tobol and only lost to Slovan Bratislava on penalties in the Conference League qualifiers. This season they smashed Breidablik and narrowly lost to LASK.

Oh, and I almost forgot the most important reason. Legia has two Portuguese players, Yuri Ribeiro and Josué

Make that 3 . They loaned Gil Dias from Stuttgart.

1. Aston Villa
2. AZ
3. Legia
4. Zrinjski

Actual table

1. Aston Villa
2. Legia
3. AZ
4. Zrinjski

Well done to Legia for finishing 2nd in a difficult group. The other 2 positions I got correct but I didn't think Legia would be able to pick up 12 points in such a group. Pleasant surprise.