2011/12 Europa League Qualifying Rounds

3rd Qualifying Round - 1st Leg

Bnei Yehuda 1-0 Helsingborg
Slask 0-0 Lokomotiv Sofia
AEK Larnaca 3-0 Mlada Boleslav
Ventspils 1-2 Crvena zvezda
Alania 1-1 Atkobe
Karpaty 2-0 St. Patrick's
Olimpija Ljubljana 1-1 Austria Wien
Aalesund 4-0 Elfsborg
Metalurgi Rustavi 2-5 Rennes
Salzburg 1-0 Senica
Anorthosis 0-2 Rabotnicki
Sparta Praha 5-0 Sarajevo
Vorskla 0-0 Sligo
Valerenga 0-2 PAOK
Young Boys 3-1 Westerlo
Bursaspor 2-1 Gomel
Hapoel Tel Aviv 4-0 Vaduz
Omonia 3-0 Den Haag
Split 0-0 Fulham
Levski 2-1 Spartak Trnava
AZ 2-0 Jablonec
Gaziantepspor 0-1 Legia
Dinamo Bucaresti 2-2 Varazdin
Differdange 0-3 Olympiacos Volou
Paks 1-1 Hearts
Zeljenicar 0-2 Maccabi Tel Aviv
Club Brugge 4-1 Qarabag
Mainz 1-1 Gaz Metan
Palermo 2-2 Thun
Stoke City 1-0 Hadjuk Split
Nacional 3-0 Hacken
Atletico Madrid 2-1 Stromsgodset
Midtjylland 0-0 Vitoria
Ried 2-0 Brondby
KR 1-4 Dinamo Tiblisi

Was only really interested in this to see how Atletico would fair in their first competitive match under Manzano. Pretty strict 4-4-2:

-------------------Joel

Silvio-----Miranda-----Dominguez----F. Luis

Juanfran-------Gabi-------Tiago-------Reyes

-------------Adrian-----Forlan

Two goals from Reyes were enough to win the match but a late goal means Atletico are going to be at least a little uncomfortable when they go back to Norway for the second leg.

Den Haag Omonia Nicosia

If that isn't a sign of a very difficult season....

Qualify yourself for European football in june...get knocked out of it in july...wait another 25 years for the next chance.

Was it worth it Ricky?

Fey wrote:

Qualify yourself for European football in june...get knocked out of it in july...wait another 25 years for the next chance.

Was it worth it Ricky?

at least we dreamt one month of it

This is odd...halfway through the first half of Hajduk Split vs. Stoke, the ref has briefly paused play to allow the players to have a drinks break

fcb wrote:This is odd...halfway through the first half of Hajduk Split vs. Stoke, the ref has briefly paused play to allow the players to have a drinks break

Same thing is expected at Lokomotiv - Slask game, apparently Southern Europe is quite hot at the moment.

Atletico 0-1 up in Norway thanks to a goal from Adrian Lopez. This makes things a lot easier. Still it's Atleti so there is plenty of time for them to f*ck everything up.

Reyes finishes things off with the second.

Hajduk Split-Stoke game is pretty dreadful stuff. Stoke have brought their "special" football to Europe. They've just scored in the 2nd min of injury time after a home team defender literally bundled the ball in off his arse off a cross from the right.

Bröndby 4:2 after 4:0 lead to drop out against Ried. drama baby.

Mainz in extra time now...will be a tough season for them i guess

fcb wrote:Hajduk Split-Stoke game is pretty dreadful stuff. Stoke have brought their "special" football to Europe. They've just scored in the 2nd min of injury time after a home team defender literally bundled the ball in off his arse off a cross from the right.

That's what I was hoping for, it should be fun watching teams dealing with them

Yeah, we can finally see how "Random European Team" does on a cold wet Wednesday night in Stoke

palermo and mainz are out

Just back from the Cottage. Was only a tenner in so couldn't resist. Fulham went through the motions and as expected it was a pretty poor match. Riise and AJ the best players. Hangeland was a donkey throughout. Said hello to MJ on the way out.

could be a horrible year for germany in the europa league

main05 already out
hannover96 is unseeded, so the chances are big that they dont reach the group stage

only schalke left

Spurs get Hearts in the play-off round. Grateful for this draw, was fearing some random trip to an ex-soviet neverneverland

Who's ready for the game of the season so far?

I am!

Is Kranjcar going to replace Modric?

Fade out wrote:Is Kranjcar going to replace Modric?

Probable team being reported

Gomes
Walker, Dawson, Kaboul, Assou-Ekotto
Lennon, Palacios, Kranjcar, Bale
Pavlyuchenko, Defoe

Injured: William Gallas, Ledley King (knee) - ooh what a change!, Steven Pienaar, Jermaine Jenas, Tom Huddlestone , Sandro , Modric

So will be more interesting to see who is on the bench - Livermore and Townsend a possibility. Good to see those 2 get some games in Europe

If that should be the starting team, anything less than a victory would be deemed a disappointment.

Saying that, alongside Everton we're the only 2 clubs left in top leagues in Britain who haven't played a competitive game yet since the start of the season, so I imagine there will be some rustiness there.

Interesting how quiet the transfer market rumours have been with regards to Bale this summer. During the season, the papers couldn't stop talking about how Madrid/Inter/Barça are going to pay 40m for him. But since the transfer window actually opened, the focus has been on Modric and Spurs' strikers rather than Bale.

fcb wrote:Interesting how quiet the transfer market rumours have been with regards to Bale this summer. During the season, the papers couldn't stop talking about how Madrid/Inter/Barça are going to pay 40m for him. But since the transfer window actually opened, the focus has been on Modric and Spurs' strikers rather than Bale.

He's had multiple back and leg injuries - not played much and when he has he hasn't looked fit. I imagine many clubs see that and would prefer to wait to see how he copes this season, both with expectation and the fact that physically he's at an age where his body is maturing and will have to adapt his game slightly. Cos there's no doubt that if he carries on playing in that lung bursting style he'll be finished by 30 easy

Vdv isn't fit, bernd?

He is, but rumours are he will be "rested" for United on Monday (ie start from the bench), given he has only just recovered and also has, erm, "stamina" problems anyway *cough cough Lazy Dutch c**t! couch cough*

Saying that, wouldn't be suprised to see him get a run out for 50 minutes or so tonight.

'Stamina problems'?




and

the fuck

schalke is 2:0 down

facking hell, every club wants to play nice footy, thats the result

first mainz and now schalke, with nice footy you win shit in europe

Kroos wrote:

first mainz and now schalke, with nice footy you win shit in europe

Aren't Barcelona and Porto the current champions of the European competitions?!
Plus Stoke are currently winning.

This is rather pathetic from Schalke though. Their performances are all over the place at the moment.

Sheffield gunner wrote:

Kroos wrote:

first mainz and now schalke, with nice footy you win shit in europe

Aren't Barcelona and Porto the current champions of the European competitions?!
Plus Stoke are currently winning.

This is rather pathetic from Schalke though. Their performances are all over the place at the moment.

german teams dont have the individual quality from those teams, and not the world class coaching to succeed with nice attacking minded football in europe

another problem, really every german team that plays in europe has a very young age ratio, maybe they dominate the match, but in the end they get raped on counter because they couldnt finsih off the game before

it works in the leauge, but europe is another story

this could be a horrible year for germany

mainz - really zero experience, talented coach but couldnt handle the pressure
schalke - average coach, some great players
leverkusen - talented squad, only average forwards, unexperienced coach
dortmund - talented coach and squad, zero experience, wanna try to dominate games, this wont end well
bayern - also very young side, try to play it safe and rely on individuals, light years behind modern football
hannover - i think slomka is a very good coach, also zero experience of the players,

in the end i can see only bayern to get out of the group stage, and all 3 EL teams out before the group stage starts

Nothing to do with attacking football, more with naivety.

Rangnick isn't exactly improving his reputation in Europe, with that little exception last year. Pretty pathetic from Schalke.

blutgraetsche wrote:Nothing to do with attacking football, more with naivety.

Rangnick isn't exactly improving his reputation in Europe, with that little exception last year. Pretty pathetic from Schalke.

of course naivety in terms of attacking and forget how to stay safe