The UEFA Cup Draw

[Spur_Forever]

The draw is on October 3rd, which, if I'm not mistaken, is this coming Tuesday.

In terms of format, I know that we'll be in a group of 5, where the top 3 progress to the knockout stages. Not sure of the mechanics of the draw (seedings etc...) so if anyone is well-versed in that kind of stuff, please enlighten the rest of us.

All I know is that it would be great if we could avoid the likes of Sevilla, Ajax, Lens, Nancy, Palermo, Leverkusen, and the other British sides. Might be a little too much to ask and we'll probably get stuck with at least one of the above.

Don't get me wrong, on paper I think we can beat all of them. I just think we'll be better placed to do so later on in the season when our team has gelled as a unit, and Martin Jol has ironed out a few kinks in the system.

I'd love to have Auxerre (we all know Santini's cr@p tactics), one of the Swiss sides (like Grasshoppers), and another Eastern European side with no financing and horrible resources (like Mlada Boleslav - even though they took out Marseille).

What do you think?

[pookspur]

all i know is that i want us to be drawn at the lane for the second match, on 2 Nov. i'll be getting into london that day, and i want to see spurs in a uefa cup match.

[THFC1]

I think we will likely have one good team in our group, as long as we are at home against them then that would be good but 3 teams qualify from the group so we should be alright.

[tomas_brolin]

on paper, spurs can match up against anybody...

just hope lennon and berbatov gets healthy so the other players dont get burned out too early

[Phillystile]

here's the seeding groups:

POT A seville, newcastle, panathinaikos, parma, ajax, bayer leverkusen, feyenoord, auxerre

POT B club brugge, basel, az alkmaar, sparta prague, rangers, celta de vigo, paris st germain, lens

POT C besiktas, palermo, espanyol, heerenveen, partizan belgrade, rapid bucharest, wisla krakow, slovan liberec

POT D fenerbahce, austria wien, hapoel tel aviv, osasuna, blackburn, grasshoppers, dinamo bucharest, livorno

POT E tottenham, maccabi haifa, sporting braga, nancy, eintracht frankfurt, zulte waregem, mlada boleslav, odense

we'll be drawn into a group of 5 with one team from each pot. we wont be with any other english teams. IMO, worst possible scenario is something like ajax, lens, palermo, osasuna, while best would be feyenoord :p , sparta, liberec, hapoel.

[Danners9]

Auxerre, Basel, Wisla, Hapoel, Spurs. Please ;)

[pookspur]

parma are decidedly pants these days, so i wouldn't mind them out of group A. or panathanaikos.

i'd kind of like to get rangers out of group B. the atmosphere would be great, whether at ibrox or the lane. and don't forget - rangers are crap!

any of the slavic clubs from group C will do. well, i guess romanians aren't slavic, but throw rapid in there, as well.

and i'd love austria wien from group D. if we get them away, i'm absolutely there. i made a few friends at the franz horr stadium a couple of years ago, and i'd love to go back. admittedly, however, getting them in the spring would be even better. guess that goes for all of 'em, though, doesn't it?

[The Double]

If we draw Feyenoord, then I fully expect everyone on this board to beat up the first Dutch person they see on the street, just to keep the rivalry alive.

[pookspur]

If we draw Feyenoord, then I fully expect everyone on this board to beat up the first Dutch person they see on the street, just to keep the rivalry alive.

if we draw feyenoord, i'm kicking martin jol's ass.

[Colm]

here's the seeding groups:

POT A seville, newcastle, panathinaikos, parma, ajax, bayer leverkusen, feyenoord, auxerre

POT B club brugge, basel, az alkmaar, sparta prague, rangers, celta de vigo, paris st germain, lens

POT C besiktas, palermo, espanyol, heerenveen, partizan belgrade, rapid bucharest, wisla krakow, slovan liberec

POT D fenerbahce, austria wien, hapoel tel aviv, osasuna, blackburn, grasshoppers, dinamo bucharest, livorno

POT E tottenham, maccabi haifa, sporting braga, nancy, eintracht frankfurt, zulte waregem, mlada boleslav, odense

we'll be drawn into a group of 5 with one team from each pot. we wont be with any other english teams. IMO, worst possible scenario is something like ajax, lens, palermo, osasuna, while best would be feyenoord :p , sparta, liberec, hapoel.
Worst case:
Seville
Rangers
Palermo
Fenerbahce
Tottenham

Best case:
Auxerre
Sparta Prague
Slovan Liberec
Dinamo Bucharest
Tottenham

[ox utd]

don't want any turkish sides - almost impossible to win at their grounds, and if you do win you may get your players beaten in a riot afterwards.:eek:

[Spur_Forever]

POT A: Hoping to avoid Seville and Ajax. Leverkusen and Feyenoord wouldn't be great either, but are certainly better than the first two. Pookspur's right about Parma's current form, but they're a good side which might well improve, so I'm hoping for Auxerre or Pana.

POT B: Lens is the team to avoid in my mind. PSG are mimicking our current form in the French league, but remain a good side. Celta, Az Alkmaar and Sparta are solid sides that might cause us problems. So I'm hoping for Bruge, Bassel or at the very least, Rangers.

POT C: Definitely do not want Palermo. Hope to avoid Espanyol. Anyone else, would be fine. Ideally, though we'd get Wisla Krakow or Slovan Liberec.

POT D: Osasuna is the only team I'd hope to avoid. Fenerbache and Livorno have the makings of decent sides, but I don't really worry about them. Anything else is fine.

[THFC1]

I agree with Colm's worst case scenario. Rangers will be a horrible draw especially if we get them away.

I would like it if we got Feyenoord but i have a feeling we will have Ajax for some reason, I would take PSG from pot B. Wisla from pot C and Vienna from D.

We are the best team in pot 5 so the other teams wouldn't want to really draw us.

[CelticOnFire]

I want to avoid Fener as going to Turkey would be total hell.

But then again Mateja Kezman plays for them, so maybe it won't be that bad.

[pookspur]

I agree with Colm's worst case scenario. Rangers will be a horrible draw especially if we get them away...

i appreciate what you fellas are saying, and, admittedly, the fans at ibrox can bring it. but if we can't get a result against rangers, then we're not getting out of the group stage no matter who we draw.

rangers are, collectively, one huge steaming scottish turd.

[Spur_Forever]

don't want any turkish sides - almost impossible to win at their grounds, and if you do win you may get your players beaten in a riot afterwards.:eek:
Now that I think about it, I agree. The atmosphere in Turkey would be a huge disadvantage for us.

[Parkhead_Faithful]

i appreciate what you fellas are saying, and, admittedly, the fans at ibrox can bring it. but if we can't get a result against rangers, then we're not getting out of the group stage no matter who we draw.

rangers are, collectively, one huge steaming scottish turd.

While I would be happy to agree, europe might be all they have to play for again this season, they are barely holding onto third in the league, and last season it saw the same horrendous bunch of players into the knockout stages of the CL, plus le guen has plenty of european experience.

[Colm]

While I would be happy to agree, europe might be all they have to play for again this season, they are barely holding onto third in the league, and last season it saw the same horrendous bunch of players into the knockout stages of the CL, plus le guen has plenty of european experience.Wouldn't suprise me if they do well in Europe this season, It's looking more likely that the league title is going to stay with Celtic (As i'm sure you'll be delighted ;)) but it could very similar to Liverpool in 2004/05, kinda struggle in the league but do very well in europe.

[pookspur]

While I would be happy to agree, europe might be all they have to play for again this season, they are barely holding onto third in the league, and last season it saw the same horrendous bunch of players into the knockout stages of the CL, plus le guen has plenty of european experience.

that had to have been one of the least impressive group stage 'successes' in the history of the champions' league. one win in six matches. two draws with artmedia petrzalka (including a riveting 0-0 at ibrox). not impressed.

still, i'm not meaning to be argumentative as it's coming off. i'm saying i'd like rangers more for the atmosphere than for the ease of competition. still, i'd put rangers in the same category that i'd put almost every other team in the uefa cup; and that is that if we play well, we will handle them, and if we don't, we'll struggle for results.

most of the dead wood went away in the last round.

we just need to find some form. if we do, we'll get through. and if we don't, we won't - rangers or no.

[Colm]

I wouldn't mind getting Ajax, would be a nice trip to the Amsterdam arena and Amsterdam itself.

Have to avoid Sevilla and Palermo though.