It's Official!!: Europa League Thread

[The Bion]

Shakhtar did look really good yesterday. They should've absolutely buried Wolfsburg, who seemed half asleep. Would expect them to get past Basel as well (assuming they close out Frankfurt tonight)

Inter got a bit lucky with the missed pen against them but they generally just seemed to have a bit more than Getafe. Not fully convinced by them though I have to say, they're very workmanlike with occasional quality moments, rather than some galactico superteam. They can be got at, for sure.

 

[MARKakaJIM]

Shakhtar did look really good yesterday. They should've absolutely buried Wolfsburg, who seemed half asleep. Would expect them to get past Basel as well (assuming they close out Frankfurt tonight)

Inter got a bit lucky with the missed pen against them but they generally just seemed to have a bit more than Getafe. Not fully convinced by them though I have to say, they're very workmanlike with occasional quality moments, rather than some galactico superteam. They can be got at, for sure.

From the games I've seen of Inter this season they've generally been very solid, I guess you'd expect that with Conte, and then you've got big goal threat up top between Lukaku and Martinez. Generally think they're pretty uninspiring across the middle but Young and Moses seem to have given them a bit more down the flanks and then they've got Eriksen as a more creative option in midfield too that wasn't available at the start of the season.

I don't think they're infallible by any means but they've got some formidable choices for their back three and given Wolves general lack of numbers in the opposition box I think it would be some effort for Jimenez to get much joy against them on his own.

 

[The Bion]

For whatever reason Conte just doesn't seem to have taken to Eriksen, he's basically turned him into a supersub.

I'd argue Handanovic might be their best defender at this point. Godin is still good but not what he was, the others seem solid enough but nothing special. I'd agree it would probably turn into a war of attrition if we end up against them though, could see it being a very grindy 1-0 game either way.

Still, baby steps

 

[MARKakaJIM]

For whatever reason Conte just doesn't seem to have taken to Eriksen, he's basically turned him into a supersub.

I'd argue Handanovic might be their best defender at this point. Godin is still good but not what he was, the others seem solid enough but nothing special. I'd agree it would probably turn into a war of attrition if we end up against them though, could see it being a very grindy 1-0 game either way.

Still, baby steps

I'm a big fan of de Vrij and even more so Skriniar but would agree Godin is on the wain, they're all very good outright defenders though so playing that discplined system with the back three that Conte favours plays to their strengths and you're going to struggle to find much space between them in the box.

 

[Derby Wolf]

https://twitter.com/SwissRamble/status/1292719770937196544?s=19

Swiss Ramble predicts we've made £25m from the Europa League. Man Utd £27m and Arsenal £19m.

Also demonstrates the pittance in comparison to the CL where Lille made £38m despite getting only a point in their group.

 

[The Bear]

Euros, not Pounds.

 

[North Shropshire Lad]

Anyone fancy a couple of nights in Cologne. I've got four flights for sale - 20th-22nd August.

Bollocks...

 

[big mean bunny]

I feel its way to early to overlook Watford beating City in the cup, a La Wigan.

Hell of a ride from when I posted this.

 

[Lycan]

Rúben Neves Vs Espanyol is 2nd in the Europa League goal of the Season comp.

1st was a player from Ludogorets.

Sent from my GM1920 using Tapatalk

 

[Law's Bus]

As I'm a little bit bored, and although it's not relevant for this season, our UEFA co-efficient from our results last season is 16.000. Big deal, you might think, but with the loss of matches last season the England co-efficient for this season is only 15.742 - meaning that if we'd have qualified this season, we'd be standing on our own two feet rather than relying on the national co-efficient.

It shows just how well we actually did last season, even if the end result was disappointing, as we've now got a higher club co-efficient than every other club from all nations with a single season in European competition in the last 10 years.

Pretty impressive stuff.

 

[prawnking]

Let's hope we can build on it next season