English UEFA Cup Challenge 2009

It's about time the EPL showed it's strength in the other competition, especially given our entrants to next years competition.

Everton
Tottenham
Portsmouth
Man City
Aston Villa

Assuming the Thai doesn't actually go mad over the summer and they spend as expected, all of the above sides should have a decent chance of winning the competition. We are never going to dominate in a similar way to the Champions League, given the amount of sides of a similar ability that are in the competition, but we should at least have a semi finalist next season.

I think that we could do quite well in it, obviously a lt will depend on who is in charge and what happens in the summer. But as thing stand the likes of Corluka, Elano, Petrov, Bojinov, Castillo, Hamann, Richards, etc and the style of football we play i think we could do well, we have a lot of players with either international or european experiance.

Who else around Europe has qualified ?

Hamburg, Wolfsburg, Stuttgart, and prob Levekuse through intertoto.

Is it top 3 for champs in france meaning it will be Marseille and St Etienne?

Milan or Fiorentina, Sampdoria and Udinese from Italy ?

Sevilla or Atletico, Racing and Valencia through Copa del Ray from Spain ?

As it stands, we have very little European experience in our squad (Laursen, Bouma, Carew is about all I can think of who would've. Maybe Barry whenever we last qualified..) so, assuming we make it through the Intertoto, UEFA will be a bit of a learning experience

Sgoater1 wrote:I think that we could do quite well in it, obviously a lt will depend on who is in charge and what happens in the summer. But as thing stand the likes of Corluka, Elano, Petrov, Bojinov, Johnson, Richards, etc and the style of football we play i think we could do well.

Who else around Europe has qualified ?

Hamburg, Wolfsburg, Stuttgart, and prob Levekuse through intertoto.
?

No, it's Wolfsburg and Hamburg through the league and Borussia Dortmund through the German cup. Stuttgart are in the Intertoto Cup and Hertha Berlin may qualify through the Fair Play league. I don't think Leverkusen have any way into Europe now.

Sheffield gunner wrote:

Sgoater1 wrote:I think that we could do quite well in it, obviously a lt will depend on who is in charge and what happens in the summer. But as thing stand the likes of Corluka, Elano, Petrov, Bojinov, Johnson, Richards, etc and the style of football we play i think we could do well.

Who else around Europe has qualified ?

Hamburg, Wolfsburg, Stuttgart, and prob Levekuse through intertoto.
?

No, it's Wolfsburg and Hamburg through the league and Borussia Dortmund through the German cup. Stuttgart are in the Intertoto Cup and Hertha Berlin may qualify through the Fair Play league. I don't think Leverkusen have any way into Europe now.

Ithink CSKA are in it aswell and they could do very well. Id quite like a trip to Germany or Italy.

Sheffield gunner wrote:Hertha Berlin may qualify through the Fair Play league

Should this happen (I still hope for the DFL to give it to Leverkusen instead...), it will ruin our otherwise promisingly looking UEFA campaign next season.

Hamburg
Wolfsburg
Dortmund
Stuttgart
.
.
.
.
(Hertha)

Sgoater1 wrote:I think that we could do quite well in it, obviously a lt will depend on who is in charge and what happens in the summer. But as thing stand the likes of Corluka, Elano, Petrov, Bojinov, Castillo, Hamann, Richards, etc and the style of football we play i think we could do well, we have a lot of players with either international or european experiance.

Who else around Europe has qualified ?

Hamburg, Wolfsburg, Stuttgart, and prob Levekuse through intertoto.

Is it top 3 for champs in france meaning it will be Marseille and St Etienne?

Milan or Fiorentina, Sampdoria and Udinese from Italy ?

Sevilla or Atletico, Racing and Valencia through Copa del Ray from Spain ?

In Spain Atletico are confirmed for the CL, so it'll be Sevilla and either Racing or Mallorca. Assuming of course, Atletico and Barça win their qualifying matches.

blutgraetsche wrote:

Sheffield gunner wrote:Hertha Berlin may qualify through the Fair Play league

Should this happen (I still hope for the DFL to give it to Leverkusen instead...), it will ruin our otherwise promisingly looking UEFA campaign next season.

Hahahahaha, told you our good run in the UEFA Cup this season is just a positive exception...

Nah, seriously. I think you are too harsh on Hertha. It wasn't just them who embarrassed the Bundesliga abroad. Schalke (2003/04, 2006/07), Dortmund (2003/04), Hamburg (2003/04) or Bremen (2002/2003) didn't cover themselves with glory either. Maybe the Berliners learned their lesson in the meantime and finally try to take the Cup more serious.

Dwarf wrote: It's about time the EPL showed it's strength in the other competition, especially given our entrants to next years competition.

Everton
Tottenham
Portsmouth
Man City
Aston Villa

Assuming the Thai doesn't actually go mad over the summer and they spend as expected, all of the above sides should have a decent chance of winning the competition. We are never going to dominate in a similar way to the Champions League, given the amount of sides of a similar ability that are in the competition, but we should at least have a semi finalist next season.

Easier said than done.

4 English teams in the CL means the 5th/6th/7th placed sides in England have to take on:

the number one clubs from countries where they have missed out on the CL at the qualifying stage, or filtering out from the CL groupstages.

The other big nations tend to have higher placed sides than 5th because they dont qualify 4 clubs into th CL, so the likes of Germany, Russia, Holland, Italy, Porugal and Spain often have there 3rd,2nd or even 1st best clubs in the competition

We went out to the best club in Holland last season on penalties. It was a good run, and the season before we went out in the quarters to Sevilla, the eventual winners.

Newcastle reached the semis the season before I remember correctly,

the EPL has always done ok in the UEFA cup, I think people expect too much though to expect the 5th best club in England beating the likes of PSV, Spartak Moscow, Sporting Lisbon etc. These clubs have steeped European tradition, and often walking their leagues so can afford to take the UEFA seriously

Plus us, Everton, Aston Villa, Man City will all be looking to hang onto the coat tails of the big 4 in the league, that will be the priority next season - everyone wants to have a crack at breaking into that group of clubs and the CL; doing well in the UEFA cup will be a bonus, but not the main priority

Milan and Ajax today confirmed their places in UEFA Cup and are sure to do well......well Milan will.

Senor Woody wrote:
We went out to the best club in Holland last season on penalties. It was a good run, and the season before we went out in the quarters to Sevilla, the eventual winners.

And Everton went out to the semi finalists Fiorentina on penalties. With the amount of sides entering the competition next year of a decent stand, one side should at least be given a relatively straight forward path to the semis at least.

With Milan in the competition, provided they take the competition seriously, the balance clearly shifts. They are high favourites for the UEFA Cup title.


@Haeschen
If Hertha ruin our season once again, I want them to be permanently banned from Europe. I'd start a petition myself, seriously.

blutgraetsche wrote:
With Milan in the competition, provided they take the competition seriously, the balance clearly shifts. They are high favourites for the UEFA Cup title.

Like Bayern were last year?

Favorites, but far from immortal if they perform like they are in a transition period like Bayern did.

Nobody is invincible, fo course. And it's true that they are in a transition period now indeed. Still, they are strong favourites for the title, they have more cup experience in their squad than anyone.

Dwarf wrote:

blutgraetsche wrote:
With Milan in the competition, provided they take the competition seriously, the balance clearly shifts. They are high favourites for the UEFA Cup title.

Like Bayern were last year?

Favorites, but far from immortal if they perform like they are in a transition period like Bayern did.

I was exactly thinking the same

blutgraetsche wrote:Nobody is invincible, fo course. And it's true that they are in a transition period now indeed. Still, they are strong favourites for the title, they have more cup experience in their squad than anyone.

The main elements of there squad that are in transition are in the areas where they have the most experience. They'll be able to escape from danger more than any other side, but they will still be susceptible to sides like Zenit.

There isnt a single team in it we cant beat...of the pitch that is

Sevilla, Racing, Valencia (Copa del Rey) are in for Spain. Mallorca and Deportivo will play Intertoto.

My God next year’s UEFA Cup could be very good, especially with some Big names in the tournament, maybe this is what the Cup needs (now for everyone to give 110%)

Markus wrote:My God next year’s UEFA Cup could be very good, especially with some Big names in the tournament, maybe this is what the Cup needs (now for everyone to give 110%)

A shame the formats dire.

24 groups of 4 teams. Home and away games and only the winners qualify for the next round and reward a coefficient point bonus for each position in the group. With only one team qualifying, seeding becomes far more important and so there should be no dead games.

Dwarf wrote:

Markus wrote:My God next year’s UEFA Cup could be very good, especially with some Big names in the tournament, maybe this is what the Cup needs (now for everyone to give 110%)

A shame the formats dire.

24 groups of 4 teams. Home and away games and only the winners qualify for the next round and reward a coefficient point bonus for each position in the group. With only one team qualifying, seeding becomes far more important and so there should be no dead games.

What they have changed the format ??

according to wiki, it's not till the following season:

New Format in 2009/2010
On November, 30th 2007 UEFA decided to introduce a new format for the UEFA Cup for the three-year cycle, starting in the season 2009/2010. The biggest change is that there will be a group stage with 12 groups of 4 (in a double round robin) instead of 8 groups of 5. Apart from that, the qualification will change significantly. [5]

Associations ranked 7-9 will send the Cup winner and 3 other teams to the UEFA Cup qualification, all other nations send a Cup winner and 2 other teams, except Liechtenstein, Andorra and San Marino, who will only send a Cup winner. Usually, the other teams will be the next highest ranked clubs in each domestic league after those participating in the Champions League, however France and England will most likely continue to use one spot for their League Cup winner. Additionally, 3 places in the first of four qualifying rounds are still reserved for Fair Play winners.

Generally, the higher an association is ranked in the UEFA coefficients, the later its clubs start in the qualification, however every team except the title holder has to play at least one qualification round.

Apart from the teams mentioned, an additional 15 losing teams from the Champions League qualification round 2 will enter in the last UEFA Cup qualification round, and the 10 losers of the Champions League qualification round 3 will directly enter the UEFA Cup group stage. The 12 winners and the 12 runners-up in the group stage will advance to the first knock out round, together with 8 3rd placed teams from the Champions League.

The Intertoto Cup will be abolished and folded into the UEFA Cup, much like the Cup Winners' Cup had been in the late 1990s.