2008/09 UEFA Cup and UEFA CL- French Clubs Thread

[SportBoy333]

Congratulations to Rennes for making it to the next round of the UEFA Cup. They will join St. Etienne, Nancy and PSG. Good luck to them all. Bordeaux, Lyon, and Marseille in the Champions League. France really needs a good year in Europe this season.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Yeah, they do, though the CL draw was very tough. I don't think any French team got an easy draw.

[lefutur]

I think the french sides can surprise some people because nobody expects anything of them. Even Marseille have a decent chance of going through based on early form because Liverpool have been far from impressive.

[SportBoy333]

I'm anxious to see how far St. Etienne and PSG can go in the UEFA Cup. Obviously if OM or Bordeaux finish 3rd in their CL groups(which is very possible) they will have the better chance in that competition. I'm not expecting much out of Nancy or Rennes.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

I think that all the teams in the UEFA Cup with the exception of Nancy are about the same level. With Nancy, I don't doubt their cohesion and team spirit, though I do think for them to be successful both in Europe, as well as L1, there has to be a bit of depth on the roster which they do not have. And I don't think anyone expects them to do as well in L1 as they did the previous season, while we know if they had to pick, they would want success domestically over success in Europe. One can argue that Rennes don't have that depth either, but they have a brilliant academy which can produce stars in the making (Brahimi and Damien Le Tallec would be examples), who will get opportunities, one has to think.

[SportBoy333]

I didnt think PSG would do well in the Uefa Cup because I thought they'd be too worried and occupied with trying to stay out of the relegation zone but since they recruited well this summer they will probably avoid the relegation zone all year thus allowing them to do better in Europe.

I didnt really think St. Etienne's summer recruitment was that impressive so I'm not really expecting them to go far in the UEFA Cup. The best chance for French to go far in that competition is obviously Marseille, Lyon and Bordeaux should they enter it later on.

[SportBoy333]

St. Etienne vs. Hapoel Tel Aviv FC
Rennes vs. FC Twente 1965
PSG VS. Kayserispor
Nancy vs. Motherwell FC

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

I think all the French teams should win those match-ups. Though on the other hand, the Champions League :(

[SportBoy333]

Twente was in the Champions League so shouldnt they be favored over Rennes ? I think so.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

I don't. Twente's best player had been Engelaar, who is a Dutch international (he was a starter at Euro 2008), who has now left to go to Schalke in Germany. Also, which is more impressive as an achievement? 4th in the Eredivisie or 6th in L1? No offense to our Dutch friends, but the strength in their national team is based abroad.

[SportBoy333]

Good point. How good is Motherwell do you think ?

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

I have no idea.

[SportBoy333]

3rd in Scotland. I dont think Scottish teams that arent Celtic or Rangers usually do well in Europe but I could be wrong.

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

No offense to our Scottish buddies, but except if I'm wrong, I think that Motherwell could very well play defensively as Scotland did very successfully against France in the Euro qualifiers. If that's the case, it's interesting as Nancy are a side that are counterattack as well, so while I expect and hope that Nancy will win, I don't think we can throw Motherwell out.

Even though I don't think Twente are favored, the Rennes-Twente match-up is going to be the closest one, I believe.

[Gotham PSG]

I think it's a 50-50 for all four teams, and I can as easily foresee all of them passing, as well as none of them.
I am not very confident about our matchup with this turkish team

[SuperSebGrimaldi]

Don't think the Europe experience of Makélélé and Giuly will be a big factor?

[Gotham PSG]

playing a game in the middle of asia against unknown players, there's always the element of surprise, and turkish teams appear quite solid to me, so I do believe, at this point in time, it's 50-50.
It depends how the team fares in the next week or two in the ligue, because despite the good result against Bordeaux, I don't think we are solid enough to be confident in a win.

[johan neeskens]

I don't. Twente's best player had been Engelaar, who is a Dutch international (he was a starter at Euro 2008), who has now left to go to Schalke in Germany. Also, which is more impressive as an achievement? 4th in the Eredivisie or 6th in L1? No offense to our Dutch friends, but the strength in their national team is based abroad.

I'll gladly admit that Twente aren't as strong as last season but then again judging on the French league so far, Stade Rennais aren't as strong as last season either. I think the two are pretty evenly matched up to be honest.

[johan neeskens]

No offense to our Dutch friends, but the strength in their national team is based abroad.

Do you think these players started to become proper footballers instantaneously when they crossed the border or that they were already pretty good before they moved abroad? The only reason the Dutch league isn't a top European league is because of the financial issue. Small population equals low television revenue and as a result our best players leave for higher paying jobs. The overal standard of youth development, management and coaching in the Dutch league however is of the highest level and as a result the average Dutch professional footballer is comfortable on the ball, technically skilled and tactically smart. And as such they typically adapt to the allegedly higher quality of play in foreign leagues fairly easily.

[bubbles_gsh]

you want a suprise in uefa?
Hapoel tel aviv vs saint etiene'

israely side are very succesfull in uefa, beating teams like -milan, chelsea, parma, lokomotiv moskva, and before 2 years PSG at France....