Europa League 24/25

There are no weak teams in Europe these days and given the fact we only picked up 3 points against Copenhagen and Galatasaray last season (and were lucky to even get that with Copenhagen last minute penalty miss), who are both worse than some teams we will be facing, it won’t be easy.
 
Camara said:
No, all teams are in the same league table. The top 8 teams qualify for R16. The next 16 will have a playoff to try to get to R16. The remaining rest are eliminated from european competitions (no one drops to Conference).
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Argh. So we play 4 random away games and 4 random home games?
 
Is there any advantage to finishing in 1st vs 7th/8th in the league phase? And same question for 9th vs say 16th?

I thought I read somewhere that they'll try to matchup opponents based on league standing (so in the quarter finals the 1st place team would matchup with the weakest knockout winner, theoretically), but not seeing a lot on it. It'd help improve interest in the league for many teams if there are incentives throughout for finishing better. Otherwise a team could lock up a top 8 finish by the 5th/6th league game.
 
bb8 said:
Is there any advantage to finishing in 1st vs 7th/8th in the league phase? And same question for 9th vs say 16th?

I thought I read somewhere that they'll try to matchup opponents based on league standing (so in the quarter finals the 1st place team would matchup with the weakest knockout winner, theoretically), but not seeing a lot on it. It'd help improve interest in the league for many teams if there are incentives throughout for finishing better. Otherwise a team could lock up a top 8 finish by the 5th/6th league game.
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1st-8th go straight to the round of 16 and there is no advantage gained from positions.

9th-24th go through to the play-off round with the winners of that going to to last 16.

In the draw for the play-off round the teams that finished 9th-15th are seeded so play at home 2nd.

In the draw for the last 16 the clubs that finished 1st-8th are seeded so play at home 2nd.
 
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bb8 said:
Is there any advantage to finishing in 1st vs 7th/8th in the league phase? And same question for 9th vs say 16th?

I thought I read somewhere that they'll try to matchup opponents based on league standing (so in the quarter finals the 1st place team would matchup with the weakest knockout winner, theoretically), but not seeing a lot on it. It'd help improve interest in the league for many teams if there are incentives throughout for finishing better. Otherwise a team could lock up a top 8 finish by the 5th/6th league game.
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Yes, there is. From what i gather, there will be no more draws. In the R16, the top seed will face the lowest ranking team from the play-offs and so on. It's a bracket, like basketball, where the top two finishers in the league phase can only meet in the final.
 
Who's Kissing Cameras? said:
Loss to Sociedad (yes I know it wasn’t a pen) and a collapse at home to Sevilla before getting thrashed away.

Barca wins and Real Betis wins were nice though.
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This is ridiculous, we were really good in Europe that season. The Sociedad game was weird with the minute silence before kick off, their goal not being a penalty as you said, but we went on to win every other game in the group. We beat Barcelona, battered Betis and were well on the way to comfortably beating Sevilla until the two injuries followed by two of the flukiest own goals you'll ever see. And then in Seville, De Gea did completely insane De Gea things and killed us, which is exactly why he's not at the club anymore. I don't really think the form that year could be criticised, we were good.
 
JB7 said:
This is ridiculous, we were really good in Europe that season. The Sociedad game was weird with the minute silence before kick off, their goal not being a penalty as you said, but we went on to win every other game in the group. We beat Barcelona, battered Betis and were well on the way to comfortably beating Sevilla until the two injuries followed by two of the flukiest own goals you'll ever see. And then in Seville, De Gea did completely insane De Gea things and killed us, which is exactly why he's not at the club anymore. I don't really think the form that year could be criticised, we were good.
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Fair enough mate, all good points. Perhaps I was being a bit hyperbolic.

Let’s see how we navigate this draw.
 
Shinjch said:
Tougher games than I was expecting to see. But this is where we are at the moment - most games will be tough.
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If we are playing a full strength squad Rangers, PAOK, Bodo/Glimt, Twente, FCSB should not be tough matches. If they are means ETH hasn't gotten the team drilled in by then and is time for him to go.
 
The home atmosphere at Porto and Fene. Getting traveling Rangers and Twente fans. At least there will be good atmosphere at out games.
 
theatreofdreams777 said:
Please no club with hideous scum fans like galatasaray or other turkish clubs etc. It's unbearable to watch us lose to those shitty clubs and their vile animal fans at OT like last season.
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You didn't mention Rangers? Who once wrecked Manchester city centre? Or maybe their ethnicity and the color of their skin plays a part in your disgusting comment re: animals.

Pathetic post.
 
Love the new format to be fair.

Can’t wait for that Rangers game, and the Porto and Fenerbahce away games will be fun but difficult. The home games aren’t particularly interesting other than that, but we should get through based on those games just in case we do slip up away from home.
 
Not too many longer travels, so that's good
 
Never mind us supporters I doubt any manager or player wanted extended group format but here we are because of the stupid European Super league the money men were trying to force in. Rangers in Old Trafford and away trips to Turkey,Portugal should be somewhat interesting when are the dates confirmed.
 
Was originally against the idea of one big league, but looking into it, it does seem more interesting. Some decent ties there too. Hoping to see the likes of Collyer/Amass/Wheatley get some good minutes. Don't want the first 11 burning out for the weekend fixtures.
 
Not that I've seen.

Where is the best place to find them quickly once released?
 
Bastian said:
The only team I don't want is a team from occupied Palestine.

Would love to get the bigger teams and actually feel like we are playing in a high level competition. That being said, I don't want to run the first XI into the ground either, so I hope the assistant managers talk sense into ETH with regards to that.
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The assistant managers will assist ETH in all he does. It won’t be a case of them talking sense to him, stop making up scenarios.
 
We have Villa away a couple of days after traveling to Porto, West Ham away a couple of days after traveling to Fenerbace and City away right after going to Viktoria Plzen.
 
Certainly not ideal to start off with the two toughest away games in the first 3 matches. If we struggle in them, we're going to be playing catch up the rest of the matches and probably in a mustn't lose scenario if we're to finish top 8, and so unlikely to rotate personnel.

The flip side is that if we can pull off (surprisingly) good results in those tough early away matches, then we might well be in a position to rotate more by the time of the easier later games.
 
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