UEFA Cup 2008/2009

[SpurSince57]

Sevilla, Valencia (crap this season, but can only be better next, surely), Racing, Everton, Milan, Hamburg, Benfica, Ajax, CSKA. And us.

 

[joey55]

I'd say Sevilla will struggle in all competitions next season. It's going to be incredibly difficult for then to keep hold of their players this summer. They came very close to losing Alves last year and looks certain to leave. Poulsen apparently has a low buy out clause, Fabiano is supposedly a target for many big clubs and Keita has been linked with both Liverpool and Arsenal. I'd say other than Villareal they were the Spannish team of the year this season. Given what happened at the start of the season and then Ramos leaving, what they've achieved since has been outstanding. But, I think they might have come to the end of the road and need a period of rebuilding over the next season ot two. After the dreadful start when Ramos left they found themselves in 14th and on 6 pts from 6 games. In the following 32 games they've actually won more points than Barcelona and would have finished 3rd behind Real and Villareal. They did this with their best defender and Captain out for the entire season. But it's an achievment that will go largelly unnoticed.

 

[Kevealis]

The top 2 teams in spl go into the champ league and motherwell have already claimed 3rd spot for the uefa cup And Queen of the South get in too

 

[miles_64]

Really interesting Joey - I was one of those who had managed to largely 'unnotice' that! Were they still playing 'the Ramos style'? By that I mean rapid wing play on the counter-attack?

ScotBear - Never write off Milan. They'll bounce back quicker than Posh Spice's knockers.

 

[michaelden]

Yeah, I really dislike the fact that the CL teams that lose get a second bite of the cherry.

Wasn't Platini trying to change this?

 

[joey55]

Really interesting Joey - I was one of those who had managed to largely 'unnotice' that! Were they still playing 'the Ramos style'? By that I mean rapid wing play on the counter-attack?

ScotBear - Never write off Milan. They'll bounce back quicker than Posh Spice's knockers.

I can't really say as I only started following them after Ramos left. When Ramos joined us, i watched a few matches from last season that i downloaded, but not enough to see a significant difference. With that group of players pretty much any coach with half a brain would play a high tempo game with plenty of width. With those wide players you'd be crazy not to. Though the previous coach, Caparos, didn't, but he's gone on to prove he only does have half a brain.

Also, the whole Ramos way of playing isn't quite what our fans think. At Malaga he didn't use pace out wide, he used Duda and an eastern European Letko (sp?). Also he would usually play a 451 with Canibal as a lone striker. I think the so called "Ramos style" was more to do with the fact he inherited a group of players that were crying out to be played like that. Most coach's tend to favour 442, so with the pace and quality they had out wide, there really was only one way to play. Guillem on Sky mentioned a few differences, such as they have become more direct. I guess they must be more attacking as they scored 11 more goals. They also now nearly always play Fabiano with Kanoute, whilst Ramos would sometimes play either Kersakov, Cheventon or Saviola off him. Also Jimenez it seems will only play the quick players out wide, whilst Ramos would sometimes play Marti wide.

 

[Marty]

Sevilla

They made the CL tonight after Atlético's loss at Valencia. They beat Athletic Bilbao to leapfrog Atlético and claim CL.

 

[joey55]

They made the CL tonight after Atlético's loss at Valencia. They beat Athletic Bilbao to leapfrog Atlético and claim CL.

No, they lost out on the head to head rule. GD doesn't count in Spain.

 

[Marty]

Fucking incompetent Norwegian online news :roll:

 

[General Levy]

No, they lost out on the head to head rule. GD doesn't count in Spain.

The head to head rule is even worst than letting the CL drop outs in the UEFA Cup.

 

[Kyras]

The head to head rule is even worst than letting the CL drop outs in the UEFA Cup.

I like the head to head rule, it seems more deserving, rather than who can stick more past Derby and Bolton sort of thing. It's a closer match to who is better, although I do like goal difference as it makes teams more attacking, in theory.

 

[spursfan77]

It does look tough next year. it really pisses me off though that the champions league teams come in after the group stages, it really makes a mockery of the competition. it may get a bit more coverage this year though what with having milan in it

 

[tRiKS]

Obviously we'll go out to Hamburg in the knock-out stages.

 

[brasil_spur]

Sevilla
Valencia
Racing Santander
Everton
Man City
Portsmouth
Milan
Sampdoria
Udinese
Nancy
Saint-Etienne
PSG
Hamburg SV
Vfl Wolfsburg
Borussia Dortmund
Benfica
Maritimo
Vitoria Setubal
Rapid Bucharest
Dinamo Bucharest
Unirea Urziceni (romania)
Politehnica Timisoara (romania)
Feyenoord
Ajax
Heerenveen
Nec Breda
CSKA Moscow
Metalist Kharkiv (Ukraine)
Club Brugge
Banik Ostrava (Czech Rep)
Kayserispor (Turkey)

These teams look potentially very difficult, let's hope for a good draw in the later rounds.

 

[Blurgh]

w00 we could play Martin's new boys

 

[MrWoolley]

Alot of tough teams in there. Though at least it raises the credibility of the competition, and gives us some good games to see at the Lane.

 

[StanSpur]

SPURS
Sevilla
Valencia
Everton
Man City
Milan
Sampdoria
Udinese
PSG
Hamburg SV
Borussia Dortmund
Benfica
Feyenoord
Ajax
CSKA Moscow

That is a pretty strong (historically) line-up! To be honest this could be the making of the UEFA Cup - with teams like these it's hardly a Mickey Mouse Euro Cup is it? I just want to avoid as many of the Italian and Spanish teams as possible at the start and hope their poor form in the league this season (AC Milan in particular) can continue through to the cup.

 

[bubble07]

the probem is we have faced 2 top european sides in this competition and lost them both

 

[SpurSince57]

And very narrowly in both cases—both of those games could easily have gone in our favour.

 

[miles_64]

3rd time lucky, eh?! It definitely looks tougher than in past seasons. Would love to see us play CSKA, Sevilla and Milan.

CSKA - spent a year in Russia so it would be good banter with my mates back there

Sevilla - Revenge

Milan - the club with the most international trophies in the history of football