Europa League 2011/2012

Black Adder said:
And why's that? I personally despise both Hajduk and their supporters, but don't see any problems with them playing Stoke or do you know something I've somehow missed?
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You're from Croatia so I don't need to tell you what type of reputation Hajduk (Torcida) have. This will be the first game in Europe for Stoke in nearly 40 years. They too have a nasty contingent of fans, so it has a lot of potential for incident.
 
holyland red said:
Hapoel Tel-Aviv FC (ISR) v FC Vaduz (LIE)

Shocking from Vojvodina losing to this lot 3:1 at home after beating them 2:0 away.
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Snow said:
They aren't all bad. They play in Switzerland because they are the best team in Liechtenstein by miles. They always qualify for EL because they win the cup in Liechtenstein every time. 14 times in a row now. Don't know why this is allowed by UEFA.
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A very average Hapoel (lost 5 first-team players from last season's CL side) beat Vaduz 4:0 in the first leg in Tel Aviv.
 
Actually I think the club and the players are both fools for this whole situation.

Hopefully whatever happens Pat's season will fall apart as a result.
 
My team in Macedonia shocked 2008/2009 champions league team Anorthosis with a 2-0 win at their ground. Hope they can keep there cool, progress and get an alright draw. Would be awesome to see them in the Europa League.
 
Europa League can ruin Tottenham's Premier League title bid

Harry Redknapp has labelled Tottenham's Europa League campaign 'a killer' ahead of tomorrow's play-off draw.

Spurs would have to come through SEVENTEEN games to win the trophy and boss Redknapp believes those extra matches could severely hit chances of a title push.

Redknapp plans to rest senior players during the Euro campaign and give young hopefuls a chance to prove they can make the grade.

He said: "The young lads will get plenty of games in the Europa League because otherwise I think it's a killer, to be frank.

"Thursday and Sunday every week... a nightmare. You've got no chance in the Premier League with that, it kills you off.

"We will give those boys like Jake Livermore and Andros Townsend experience and see how we go.

"We've loaned a few young players out but we are going to keep a few behind and give them the chance to play in the European competition."

Spurs were the shock team of last season's Champions League before losing 5-0 on aggregate to Real Madrid in the quarter-finals.

Redknapp believes the extra day to recover from Champions League football makes a huge difference to Premier League preparations.

He added: "It's different in the Champions League when you play Tuesday or Wednesday, it's just got a different feel to it.

"You have to go to crazy places in this Europa League, all over the place - but we'll give it our best shot whatever we do."

The play-off is the final qualifying round for the Europa League with the winners going in to 12 groups of four, who play each other home and away.

Tottenham must name their 25-strong Europa League squad by midnight on August 9 while the Premier League 25 must be lodged on September 2.

Redknapp is demanding his team hit the ground running when they kick off the season at home to Everton on August 13 if they are to mount a serious title challenge.

Spurs play four of the title contenders in the opening six weeks and Redknapp has only boosted his squad with the arrival on a free of goalkeeper Brad Friedel, although a bid has been lodged for Blackburn centre-half Chris Samba.

The Spurs boss added: "We have an unbelievable start. Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal plus Liverpool in the first six weeks.

"It will be interesting. We'll soon find out how good we are.

"As for signing players, I don't want to leave it late like last season when we signed Rafa van der Vaart on the last day of the transfer window.

"But it's not easy to find players who are better than the ones you've got. If we don't get anybody we'll just get on with what we've got and give it our best shot. It's all we can do."
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"You have to go to crazy places in this Europa League, all over the place - but we'll give it our best shot whatever we do."
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Like feck you do, most exotic clubs go out early and there are about the same countries represented as there are in Champions League. In some odd cases you indeed have to travel to countries like Moldova (they had a team in group stages once) of which position on the map I know very little but other than that you will mostly be facing teams from the same countries as you would in Champions League. It's European competition, how many 'crazy places' are there in Europe nowadays, really?

Besides, play your reserves, you bought about two hundred players and still cannot give any of them enough rest?
 
Stupid argument. No different than the Champions League. Oh wait, what's that Harry?

It's different in the Champions League when you play Tuesday or Wednesday, it's just got a different feel to it
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Oh yes. That's totally different. Know what you mean now Harry.

Knobhead.
 
Romania has 5 teams in EL...more than anybody else, England has 4...those are just the Play-Off's...:)
 
Good passing play that from Spurs. They are up 3-0. They don't even have to worry about the second leg if its keep going like this. They could just play their second team.
 
Hearts are crap though, what the hell has happened to Scottish football. This is like playing a divison 3 team.
 
gambit28 said:
Hearts are crap though, what the hell has happened to Scottish football. This is like playing a divison 3 team.
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And Rangers and Celtic are Championship sides

Scottish Football is beyond awful
 
5-0 Spurs? Are Spurs that good or are Hearts supposedly the third best team in Scotland that bad?
 
Canuckred64 said:
5-0 Spurs? Are Spurs that good or are Hearts supposedly the third best team in Scotland that bad?
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More the latter than the former: Hearts gave us acres of space and time, far more than almost any team I've seen Spurs play ... it was almost like a training session at times.

But still, I enjoyed watching our pace and slick, quick passing. A 5 - 0 win will do morale no harm.
 
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