2023/2024 Conference League Group G: Frankfurt - PAOK - HJK - Aberdeen

[sgtcecil]

1. Frankfurt
2. Aberdeen
3. PAOK
4. Helsinki

Aberdeen 2nd???? Optimistic! They looked threatening going forward but wasteful vs Hacken as well as bad (and naive) at the back.

They *should* get 3rd ahead of HJK but wouldn’t count on it.

[Dragonite]

Frankfurt

Kolo Muani left for Paris, replaced by Chaibi.

[Polak]

Frankfurt are far head of the rest of them. PAOK have weak enough opponents so should be able to finish 2nd. HJK and Aberdeen are left to fight for some remaining points.

1. Frankfurt
2. PAOK
3. Aberdeen
4. HJK

[Dragonite]

Expected wins for PAOK and Frankfurt.

Aberdeen scored from its only shot on goal.

[abzpablo]

Expected wins for PAOK and Frankfurt.

Aberdeen scored from its only shot on goal.

There were a couple of good chances at the end for us in Frankfurt to take a point. Considering our start to the season was terrible, this match seems to have galvanised the team and the new players are starting to settle into a cohesive team. We managed to win 3-1 at (the new) rangers in Glasgow on Saturday, meaning the end of their manager.

HJK tomorrow evening is a must win. They seem to have had a mixed bag of results in recent times in Europe, so it's hard to know what to expect.

I will travel to Thessaloniki for matchday 4 in November, and just hope there is still something to play for then - as football without consequence is not football !

[BurningStorm]

Eintracht controlled the game in Greece, they looked better almost the whole game (xG: 0.47 vs 1.34) but lost after two set-pieces. The other game was a draw. So we have:

Paok 6
Eintracht 3
Helsinki 1
Aberdeen 1

Next MD:

Eintracht - Helsinki
Aberdeen - PAOK

The same games obviously on MD4 too. If the two favorites of the group win both upcoming games, they are both through after MD4 and would battle on MD5 in Frankfurt for the group win. Lets see if one of the underdogs can do something. I hope Aberdeen can grab at least a point against the Greeks.

[matt]

Eintracht confirm a shaky start of the season but should still qualify together with PAOK.
HJK once again (almost) won the league and qualified for a group stage in the meantime, you can't ask for much more, while Aberdeen once again fail to win at home against an opponent from Scandinavia: not exactly a great show of strenght.

[Jim26]

Eintracht confirm a shaky start of the season but should still qualify together with PAOK.
HJK once again (almost) won the league and qualified for a group stage in the meantime, you can't ask for much more, while Aberdeen once again fail to win at home against an opponent from Scandinavia: not exactly a great show of strenght.

AFC should have won on Thursday evening, but as against Hacken we missed several very presentable chances (both Miovski and Duk). The away game in Helsinki might actually suit Aberdeen a bit more in terms of style of play. It was a strange game overall, the first half lasted almost 60 minutes thanks to three injury breaks.

Two very hard games await against PAOK, it will be an exceptional result to win the home game I think.

[Dragonite]

Congratulations PAOK!


Disastrous day for Trapp, firstly he conceded two goals from PAOK's only two shots on goal, and then in the end of the match he was sent off!

It was a perfect day for PAOK, not only they won their match, but the result in Aberdeen vs HJK was a draw, and none of the three Greek teams in EL won!


Disappointing draw for HJK in Scotland. In their previous Conference League participation they won both games against the lowest ranked opponent Alashkert. Now they couldn't win the first game against the lowest ranked opponent Aberdeen.

[Dragonite]

Expected wins for PAOK and Frankfurt.

0-6 against Frankfurt was the biggest defeat in HJK's Conference League history, above 0-5 against Maccabi Tel-Aviv in 2021.

[Lubomir25]

Expected wins for PAOK and Frankfurt.

0-6 against Frankfurt was the biggest defeat in HJK's Conference League history, above 0-5 against Maccabi Tel-Aviv in 2021.

You type that like PAOK deserved it. It was only expected if you only look at odds. Aberdeen should have won the game and probably would have if VAR done their job properly. PAOK were average against Hearts at home and a rookie manager was Hearts undoing in the end. PAOK will make the next round but won't get far in the tournament

[Lorric]

Expected wins for PAOK and Frankfurt.

0-6 against Frankfurt was the biggest defeat in HJK's Conference League history, above 0-5 against Maccabi Tel-Aviv in 2021.

You type that like PAOK deserved it. It was only expected if you only look at odds. Aberdeen should have won the game and probably would have if VAR done their job properly. PAOK were average against Hearts at home and a rookie manager was Hearts undoing in the end. PAOK will make the next round but won't get far in the tournament

I was expecting him to have something to say about "videoclowns" in this one.

[Dragonite]

Expected and deserved are totally different things.

I expected PAOK to win and they won.

Deserved is subjective.

I watched uefa.com 2 minutes highlights and all goals seem fair, the penalty kick included.

Plus PAOK had more shots (12-8), more shots on goal (6-3), more corner kicks (5-2), more ball possession (64%-36%), so not only they won the only stat that matters which is goals scored, they also won in all the other "secondary stats" that are normally used when talking about "deserved" results.

[Lubomir25]

Expected and deserved are totally different things.

I expected PAOK to win and they won.

Deserved is subjective.

I watched uefa.com 2 minutes highlights and all goals seem fair, the penalty kick included.

Plus PAOK had more shots (12-8), more shots on goal (6-3), more corner kicks (5-2), more ball possession (64%-36%), so not only they won the only stat that matters which is goals scored, they also won in all the other "secondary stats" that are normally used when talking about "deserved" results.

It's not the penalty that was given that was the issue, it was the blatant penalty that wasn't given at 2-1 to Aberdeen. It was that bad I assumed VAR wasn't in operation in the conference league groups until they intervened at the last minute.

PAOKs 2nd goal was a deflection and the 3rd a penalty which is also why after watching the whole game I'd say they were lucky to get anything from it with all that combined.

[emortal]

After two tumultuous weeks, which saw them first not showing up @ AEK (2-0) and then demolishing Olympiakos (2-4) away, PAOK returns to Toumba stadium and the ECL vs Aberdeen.

Even a point would seal qualification and 2024 ECL football in Thessaloniki.
But at this point nobody would be content with anything other than a record-breaking 7th-consecutive European W!

If that's indeed achieved, PAOK would go into the showdown in Frankfurt knowing that a draw there is enough to secure first place.
Given that I expect an easy win for Eintracht in Helsinki tonight.

Very curious as to how Lucescu will approach this game.
Is he going to start the game cautiously like in Scotland, or go for an early blitz to take advantage of the "Toumba-effect" on Aberdeen?
The starting 11 should reveal the approach.