It's Official!!: Europa League Thread

[Paddingtonwolf]

The set of results needed to end up in Pot 2 is simply ridiculous. You wouldn’t put an accumulator on it as it would be burning money.

I’ll give a few of the more likely ones needed:
Rangers to beat Legia Warsaw (0-0 and second leg at Ibrox)
Rijeka to beat Gent (1-2 and second leg at Rijeka)
Strasbourg to beat Eintracht (1-0 and second leg in Frankfurt)
Molde to beat Partizan (1-2 and second leg in Molde)
Spartak to beat Braga (0-1 and second leg in Moscow)

And that’s just the possibles. We also need things like Linfield holding on against Qarabag

 

[Jinky]

In all honesty, there are only a handful of clubs in Pot 1 that I think we'd struggle against and would prefer to avoid (Man utd being one of them and we can beat them on our day, as proven last season). The likes of CSKA, Lazio, Besiktas, Wolfsburg etc we can beat & shouldn't be scared of.

I get that it would be nice to be in pot 2 because we'll probably end up with 2 very beatable sides - but I don't think we should be scared of anyone, really.

 

[Sniffer]

In all honesty, there are only a handful of clubs in Pot 1 that I think we'd struggle against and would prefer to avoid (Man utd being one of them and we can beat them on our day, as proven last season). The likes of CSKA, Lazio, Besiktas, Wolfsburg etc we can beat & shouldn't be scared of.

I get that it would be nice to be in pot 2 because we'll probably end up with 2 very beatable sides - but I don't think we should be scared of anyone, really.

Can you draw a club from the same country in the group stages?

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Oh definitely. Don’t forget we can’t draw Arsenal or Manchester United as the Pot 1 team. Sevilla would be extremely tough. The others look not too bad. If we end up in Pot 3, so be it. We just need to beat Torino.

For the Pot 2 miracle there are something like 15 matches with teams with higher coefficients. Maribor and Ludgorets both have a higher coefficient. That means of the remaining 14 matches we need a maximum of 4 matches to go against us to sneak in. And certainly two of the ties are as good as over after the first leg. It would be a monumental fluke to get in to pot 2.

 

[Norman Deeley]

We need to finish in the top 2 in the group, don't we? Round of 32 is top 2 from 12 groups plus the eight third placed teams from the CL groups?

 

[Kenny]

We need to finish in the top 2 in the group, don't we? Round of 32 is top 2 from 12 groups plus the eight third placed teams from the CL groups?

Yep

 

[The Bion]

Well if we end up in Pot 3 we already know we can beat Young Boys :icon_mrgreen:

 

[Wombat del combate]

we already know we can beat Young Boys :icon_mrgreen:

Someone'll get offended by that.

 

[b3h]

Someone'll get offended by that.

Only the old boys

 

[Norman Deeley]

This is bloody exciting isn't it. If we turn away from co-efficients and look at the bookies ("Those boys are never wrong" - former boss Dean Jailbird) then we're a general 16/1 to win it, with a top price of 22/1. Even allowing for a bit of pro-UK weighting, only Roma and Sevilla are shorter among teams we could play, with Sevilla around 14/1 and Roma 14/1 or 16/1. Then you're up to teams like Lazio, Wolfsburg, Bruisers Moenchengladbach and Porto, all at bigger prices. Then plenty of teams with higher coefficients than us at much bigger prices. It might be tough, but if we go through tonight we must be odds-on to make the knockout stages

 

[Tony Towner]

Didn't Man Utd win the Europa League (against Ajax) in 2017? Or is the coefficient raised by Champion's League participation, hence Arsenal's advantaged position?

They did, but don't forget Arsenal made the final last year too. CL does carry more weighting than EL and Utd weren't in either in 14/15. The coefficients cover the previous 5 seasons so this is the last year it damages them.

 

[SSB]

Get your Europa League tat

https://shop.wolves.co.uk/shop/gifts/europa-league/

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Just waiting for them to announce the sleeve badges...

Pot 1:

Spain Sevilla CC: 104.000
England Arsenal CC: 101.000
Portugal Porto CC: 93.000
Italy Roma CC: 81.000
England Manchester United CC: 78.000
Ukraine Dynamo Kyiv CC: 65.000
Turkey Beşiktaş CC: 62.000
Switzerland Basel CC: 54.500
Portugal Sporting CP CC: 50.000
Russia CSKA Moscow CC: 48.000
Germany VfL Wolfsburg CC: 40.000
Italy Lazio CC: 37.000

Pot 2:

Netherlands PSV Eindhoven CC: 37.000
Russia Krasnodar CC: 34.500
Scotland Celtic CC: 31.000
Denmark Copenhagen CC: 31.000
Portugal Braga CC: 31.000
Belgium Gent CC: 29.500
Germany Borussia Mönchengladbach CC: 29.000
Switzerland Young Boys CC: 27.500
Kazakhstan Astana CC: 27.500
Bulgaria Ludogorets Razgrad CC: 27.000
Cyprus APOEL CC: 25.500
Germany Eintracht Frankfurt CC: 24.000

Pot 4:

Netherlands AZ CC: 10.500 [note 1]
Portugal Vitória de Guimarães CC: 9.646
Turkey Trabzonspor CC: 8.000
Ukraine Oleksandriya CC: 7.780
Luxembourg F91 Dudelange CC: 6.250
Austria LASK CC: 6.250
Austria Wolfsberger AC CC: 6.250
Slovakia Slovan Bratislava CC: 6.000
Switzerland Lugano CC: 6.000
Scotland Rangers CC: 5.250
Romania CFR Cluj CC: 3.500
Hungary Ferencváros CC: 3.500

We will ignore Pot 3 as obviously we are in it.

There really isn't a lot to be scared of there, especially as we can't draw the English sides. Sevilla is the BIG avoid if possible, but unless we got them and Eintracht from Pot 2 I would actually be pretty confident of progress. Tomorrow is going to be exciting to follow the draw.

 

[Tony Towner]

Worst draw from a travelling perspective
Dynamo Kiev
Krasnodar
Trabzonspor

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

But from a progress perspective I reckon that would be fine.

Plus Astana in pot 2 is further than Krasnodar I think. Although both would be horrendous to get to.

What I would LOVE to get:

Porto, APOEL, WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS, Ferencvaros (played them in 1972 so that would be a lovely touch)

 

[PuntsWolf]

Kyiv ain’t that bad. Definitely want to be avoiding Trabzon, Astana and Krasnodar

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Plenty of flights to Kyiv. Maybe not from Brum but definitely would be manageable.

Krasnodar looks like Black Sea coast so quite a bit nearer than Pyunik*. Astana is of course fookin MILES.


*but potentially a bit war-zoney

 

[Langers]

I really want us to be drawn in a tasty group. Bring them on - this is what we all wanted: big European sides under the Molineux floodlights. Sure, there are better sides than us we could be drawn with but we can give any team a good game. They'll want to avoid us.

Can't wait.

 

[Tony Towner]

I'm sure we'll get one of Sporting or Porto from Pot 1. I'd love to get Copenhagen and take them apart from Pot 2

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Wolfsburg and Wolfsberger would be somewhat amusing as group-mates.