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Europa League Thread

Cochise

Cochise

Steve Carr
Mods please feel free to merge this if there is already a thready out there, I couldn't find one.

Just looking at tonights results and was really suprised to see Ajax trailing by three goals at home to Salzburg. I know a few people were really talking them up, but that is some impressive feat.
 
Ajax were played off the park.

That Nayim-like goal from Soriano:ross:

Worrying for Dutch league football. Ajax still are the Eredivisie's best side but got smashed to pieces by a fit and pacey Red Bull side.
It was coming though. Ajax have been playing poorly in recent weeks.
 
machotime said:
Ajax were played off the park.

That Nayim-like goal from Soriano:ross:

Worrying for Dutch league football. Ajax still are the Eredivisie's best side but got smashed to pieces by a fit and pacey Red Bull side.
It was coming though. Ajax have been playing poorly in recent weeks.
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I think thats not fair on Salzburg: I'm employed in Austrian football so watch all the games, Bundesliga and second division, and Salzburg are a quality outfit.

Extremely technical, and having searched for a coach to bring the right formula of attractive football and winning (not like Huub Stevens anti football) they appear to have found that in Roger Schmidt, who had Paderborn playing some nice stuff in Germany.

They have a superb blend in their team, with unsung workers like Chritoph Leitgeb building the platform for Kampl, Mane etc to play. In reserve they have internationals like Dusan Svento who would walk into every other team in Austria, and who was the subject of bids in winter.

There is a mini-renaissance going on in Austrian football at the moment; domestically only Austria Vienna and Sturm Graz are going backwards. Rapid Vienna have made an excellent internal appointment in Zoran Barisic, and now have the youngest team in the Bundesliga with up to 7-8 academy products on the field in some matches. With regards to Rapid look out for players like Marcel Sabitzer (had a spell in the AC Milan youth set up) and Louis Schaub (18, one of the brightest prospects in Austrian football).

Rapid drew twice with Genk in their group, and should have won both times and qualified (I was in Belgium for the Genk match), also drawing once with Dynamo Kiev, whikst in their group Salzburg dismantled standard Liege twice. Its not too far fetched to suggests the best teams in Austria are currently better than the top teams in Belgium.

Austria Vienna, despite being currently 5th in the Bundesliga, took 4 points off Zenit in the CL too.

I don't think anyone should be falling off their seats in the next couple of seasons if Austrian team (to a certain point, of course), start taking more and more scalps in Europe, and I'd say Salzburg are definitely a dark horse for a semi-final spot. I certainly think they would give us a game, for example. They already have the league in the bag and will be focussing all resources on the EL.
 
Don't get me wrong. I wasn't criticising or belittling Red Bull. They played fine and had the guts to close Ajax down deep inside their own half.

Red Bull were simply better as a team and they had better players (Mane, Kampl, Alan, Soriano, Ramalho) who were able to play fast attacking football.

What I do notice is that German and also this Red Bull side are so much more fitter than Eredivisie sides. Feyenoord have tried to play high pressure football but get tired doing it after half an hour and there have been enough former Eredivisie players who have commented about the higher intensity in training in Germany compared to in Holland.

People in Holland like to say that the Eredivisie is losing ground because the best players keep on getting bought but that has always been the case and it should now hit home that countries with teams which have smaller budgets like Switzerland and Austria are better too now.

People in Holland are also pleased way too easily. After 2 good games in the CL, Veltman got hyped into being the next top class defender and Ajax's biggest talent. It goes to player's heads. Since the winterbreak, he has made big mistakes in every game.
Most people are also happy seeing the goals fly in in the Eredivisie. That's fine. Attacking football is good to watch but when defenders aren't anywhere near an attacker, then what's the point?
I can't recall the amount of goals Graziano Pelle scored with his head for Feyenoord where the defender didn't even jump!
 
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machotime said:
Don't get me wrong. I wasn't criticising or belittling Red Bull. They played fine and had the guts to close Ajax down deep inside their own half.

Red Bull were simply better as a team and they had better players (Mane, Kampl, Alan, Soriano, Ramalho) who were able to play fast attacking football.

What I do notice is that German and also this Red Bull side are so much more fitter than Eredivisie sides. Feyenoord have tried to play high pressure football but get tired doing it after half an hour and there have been enough former Eredivisie players who have commented about the higher intensity in training in Germany compared to in Holland.

People in Holland like to say that the Eredivisie is losing ground because the best players keep on getting bought but that has always been the case and it should now hit home that countries with teams which have smaller budgets like Switzerland and Austria are better too now.

People in Holland are also pleased way too easily. After 2 good games in the CL, Veltman got hyped into being the next top class defender and Ajax's biggest talent. It goes to player's heads. Since the winterbreak, he has made big mistakes in every game.
Most people are also happy seeing the goals fly in in the Eredivisie. That's fine. Attacking football is good to watch but when defenders aren't anywhere near an attacker, then what's the point?
I can't recall the amount of goals Graziano Pelle scored with his head for Feyenoord where the defender didn't even jump!
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Thats interesting. Do you live in Rotterdam?

So I guess people shouldn't be surprised when players are signed from the Eredivisie then don't perform in England?

Maybe clubs will start looking more to emerging nations like Austria and Switzerland (obviously Swiss league is more established on a European level) as viable markets for buying players...
 
Juventus are the overwhelming favourite to win this imo

Remember the final will be held in Torino - they will be desperate to win it

Especially after the disappointment in the CL

Juve also put out quite a strong team yesterday to show they take it seriously
 
Armchair Expert said:
Thats interesting. Do you live in Rotterdam?

So I guess people shouldn't be surprised when players are signed from the Eredivisie then don't perform in England?

Maybe clubs will start looking more to emerging nations like Austria and Switzerland (obviously Swiss league is more established on a European level) as viable markets for buying players...
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Don't live there but am a regular there.

It's harder nowadays to say who from the Eredivisie will do well in the EPL or Bundesliga but IMO Tadic and Bruno Martins Indi stand out as being good enough to already make a move to a good club and be a success.
Regarding Clasie, while he's a good passer of the ball, I'm not sure about his engine. Memphis Depay is good but predictable. More predictable than Dries Mertens and I could go on about more players...
Having said that, the players who left last summer, Strootman and recently Mertens are doing really well in Serie A. Eriksen will definitely come good and Chadli, despite being disappointing in some games, could come good if he improves his end product. Virgil van Dijk has done better than expected too for Celtic so it at least has been a decent season for the Eredivisie's reputation when it comes to selling players.
Better than previous years when we've seen especially Twente players become flops abroad with Ruiz, Luuk de Jong, Elia, Arnautovic and Braafheid.
 
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Betis have just taken a two-goal lead over Rubin Kazan, meaning the Russians have to score 3 in 25 minutes.

Goals in other games being played:

Napoli 1-0 Swansea (1-0 on agg.)
Basel 1-0 Maccabi Tel-Aviv (1-0 on agg.)
Ludgorets 0-1 Lazio (1-1 on agg.)

Edit: Swansea have equalised, giving them the away goals advantage.
 
Soriano hits post for Salzburg. Should be 2-3 goals up in this leg too. Despite Salburg being a quality outfit, Ajax look shiit.
 
Shaktar Donetsk 0-2 Viktoria Plzen (1-3 on agg.)
Eintracht Frankfurt 1-0 Porto (3-2 on agg.)
 
Rubin Kazan out. Dont mind that at all. If, we were to progress, the less travelling the better, much prefer teams from Spain going through rather than Russia.
Besides we played Kazan recently.
 
Unreal round of games so far.

Salzburg continue to impress, annihilating Ajax.
Porto amazingly through!!
Lazio knocked out!!
 
Mumorn said:
Unreal round of games so far.

Salzburg continue to impress, annihilating Ajax.
Porto amazingly through!!
Lazio knocked out!!
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Definitely some unexpected scorelines there. Some cracking games though by the looks of it.

Swansea gave it a good go, those last 10 mins were a proper cup tie. Top entertainment
 
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