Well, we can start with a win of my club Feyenoord over Manchester United that fielded with substitutions about 250 million €€ of attacking and midfield worth plus a transfer free Ibra, the self proclaimed god of Old Trafford. I guess that's the biggest surprise of the evening, given the discrepancy of transfer value of the players on the pitch.
Hapoel Be'er Sheva was tied for 275th in the club coefficients for the five seasons ending 2015-2016 with a worse coefficient than the minimum coefficient for a club from the Top 17 countries. They won at Inter Milan. Dundalk was 359th in the club coefficients for the five seasons ending 2015-2016 with a worse coefficient than the minimum coefficient for a club from the Top 30 countries. They had the worst coefficient of the clubs in the Group Stage, and they got a draw at AZ Alkmaar, who had the 13th best coefficient (the top team in Pot 2).
Not sure where you get AZ being #13. They are #63. And that is only because of one decent EL run 3 years ago. If you take out that one season they would be somewhere down around #140.
First round in the books. The Zenit comeback over Maccabi Tel Aviv was probably the highlight-reel game of the round. Inter Milan losing at home in the wake of a dismal start to Serie A wasn't as notable as it would have been in past years...but then they turned around and beat Juve. Go figure.
After beating Inter Milan, Hapoel Be'er Sheva hosts Southampton on Thursday. It would be unusual for a club that isn't from one of the top leagues to beat an English club and an Italian club in the same group.
EL is rather interesting tournament this year. Roma, MU, Liverpool, Zenit, Shakhtar, Fiorentina. All they are the pretenders to get this Cup.
I'd keep an eye on Villarreal and Athletic Bilbao too. Spanish clubs always go far. And this year I think we'll see two dangerous German clubs parachute into tournament in Monchengladbach and Leverkusen ...
As we all can see, only Zenit, Shakhtar and Schalke are ubeaten after 3 matches. Are they top 3 right now?
Hey Guys, so we have had 4 rounds of Europa League so far. Who do you think are the favorites to win it? Manchester United and Roma are by far the best teams in the tournament on paper, but Man Utd isn't performing well at all. Roma slipped in two games, but since their group is easy, it might not be necessary to win all games in the group stage especially since they are trying for the title in Serie A. However I think Roma will look much more of a threat in the knockouts as look at how good they are doing in Serie A. These are my top 6 favorites so far: 1. Roma: I honestly think they are the best team in the tournament, and were the unluckiest team ever not to make it to the UCL. The referee was against them in the playoffs after sending off two players, and of course you will not make it with 9 against 11 plus the ref. Anyway they look quite promising with a midfield of De Rossi, Nainggolan, and Strootman. Salah has pace, and Dzeko is in the form of his life. Perotti as well is in great form. The injury to Florenzi is a big blow, but I think they have suitable replacements for him at least in the Europa League. The defense is quite strong as well with Kostas Manolas, Rudiger, and Vermaelen. As long as they give 100% they are in the driving seat. 2. Borussia Monchengladbach: Right now they are in the UCL, but its like a 99% chance that they will be in the Europa League for the knockouts. They have struggled a bit in the UCL because they have a tough group, but against the smaller teams in Europe they have looked quite convincing. Monchengladbach in the second half of the season will be a really tough team to beat, and their high pressing can be really hard to deal with for other teams. I think that this team has potential and really high team spirit which separates them from a lot of other teams their level and better on paper. 3. Manchester United: I don't know what to say about them. Ultimately they have a great team on paper, and were probably considered favorites coming into the tournament, but their team spirit is awful and they are managed quite poorly. Also I am not sure how seriously they are taking the Europa League, but if they are serious, and the team spirit improves, they can be a side to cause huge problems for many teams. Especially with Pogba, and Ibrahimovic. They have great quality on paper but are inconsistent. Sometimes strong and sometimes weak, we never know for sure, which is one of the reasons I have Roma and Monchengladbach above them. 4. Fiorentina: Fiorentina have been doing really well in Europe lately and are improving a lot this season. They seem to be struggling in the Serie A, but I think they have fixed a lot of their problems that occurred early on in the season. I think the problem was that a lot of players were confused and had trouble communicating on the intentions of other players, but this seems to have been solved as they have been scoring goals much easier lately, and with players like Bernardeschi, Ilicic, Kalinic, Babacar, and Gonzalo Rodriguez, they can go far in the Europa League. 5. Zenit Saint Petersburg: Zenit is a team that seems to be improving every year and has a 100% record in the Europa League so far. I think they have the quality to go really far, but defensive teams will cause them trouble however. Overall I am not sure what to say, but I think Zenit is definitely a team we must watch out for and can be a huge threat on their day. Shakhtar Donetsk, and Spurs will also be teams to look after, and I would rank them after the five I have listed. Spurs will be going down to the Europa League most likely. Also watch out for the La Liga teams, none of them look convincing early on, but Villarreal or Athletic Bilbao might get better overtime.
I like : 1) Roma 2) Zenit St. Petersburg 3) Ajax 4) Fiorentina 5) St. Etienne 6) Anderlecht As for potential parachuting teams : 1) Tottenham Hotspur 2) Olympique Lyonnais 3) Sporting 4) Besiktas
Well the fact is I never knew Rostov would get promoted down. However I don't think so, honestly, I think it was more of horrible play by Bayern than Rostov being a real threat. Rostov are not to be underestimated, but honestly though, Bayern Munich played that game terribly.
I can see Rostov doing something. Don't forget that they eliminated Ajax and Anderlecht in order to get to Champions League. The same Ajax and Anderlecht who are some are two of the best performers so far in EL group stage.
Yeah they might well do something. I am not counting out Rostov, but Anderlecht and Ajax have really easy groups and don't rate them highly at all. Rostov however I expect to make quarterfinals, semis if really lucky, if they make it to EL.
Lets not get ahead of ourselves. Rostov won't make it to the EL unless they get at least a draw in Eindhoven next week.
Will Shakhtar do what's expected of them and get a win or at least a draw v. Braga? Would be very strange if they can't knowing that Shakhtar are much stronger than Braga, Shakhtar's manager is ex-Braga and Braga need to avoid a loss? Braga fans were already celebrating after their draw a couple of weeks ago.
Who knows... Many foreigners on the Shakhtar roster are viewing their employment as a springboard to a top 5 league club. They will not care that their head coach came from Braga.
Hoping that's the case ... Gent did well in the Champions League last year and they're usually great to watch ... they need Shakhtar to not let Braga win though.