UEFA Champions League and Europa League

[Milos-BC]

Vojvodina - Hibernians 3:2


Very bad play and performance of Vojvodina from last night. It is lucky that they had a huge capital from the first match, otherwise Hibernians could've made a surprise. The players looked as if someone pulled a shotgun at them and made them come out to the field. A whole lot of mistakes in all segments of the play, and the complete lack of motivation from all players. The goals that they got were especially silly. If they plan to eliminate Honved, they need to be far, far better. Honved outclassed Čelik Nikšić with 9:0 and is the most efficient team of the 1st round of EL qualifications.

Crvena Zvezda also got their rival in the qualifications and that is IBV who eliminated Torshavn after a goal from the penalty in 90th minute.


Next week the season is starting for all teams

This is how the picture looks like:



UEFA Champions league qualifications, 2nd round


Shirak - Partizan


UEFA Europa League qualifications, 2nd round

Jagodina - Rubin Kazan

Honved - Vojvodina

Crvena Zvezda - IBV

 

[Morty]

NK Celje 0-2 Tromsø IL (2-3 agg.)
Rosenborg BK 7-2 Crusaders FC (9-3 agg.)

Both are thru, so there will be 4 Norwegian teams in the next round.

 

[Milos-BC]

Good jingle from the television about the match on Wednesday:

[video=youtube;E7pvR1B-4LQ]http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=E7pvR1B-4LQ[/video]

 

[Milos-BC]

Our team has arrived in today and completed the first training on the stadium of Shirak:

 

[aletem]

Steaua - Vardar 3:0 (3:0)

Well it wasn't 5:0 and the result was too good at the end. First half was horrible for Vardar, as they played like Santa Coloma from Andorra. I can't believe what the coach said after the game "we managed to play our game at times". :shock: What game?? There was no game from Vardar, NOTHING! They weren't playing at all! Georgievski (from Steaua) was nice enough in the last minute to give a corner for Vardar, so it will count that Vardar had a corner in the game.
Anyway, I really expect an improvement in Skopje. This is a lost duel, as I expected. However, I want that win with 1-0 or 2-1, so that postponing of not winning a match (last time Rabotnicki won over Debreceni 4:1, 7 years ago) for so long will finally end!! Vardar could have probably had chance with Dinamo Tbilisi or Sheriff or the Finnish representative.. oh well there is to better luck next year.

FIXED MATCH! I won about 50 Euros betting on a draw on this game

It wasn't fixed!

 

[Verjamem]

Yay, today is The New Saints - Legia Warsaw I'm really curious, how will be result

 

[Milos-BC]

Good luck to Legia I believe there will be no problems.


What to say about our match against Shirak today that wasn't said already........... we need a serious approach from the first minute, and we just need to play what we practiced on the trainings and in these friendly matches, and if we manage to develop our play, we will certainly get the result we want in this first match. We shouldn't pounce too much, as we are playing as guests and the climatic situation in Armenia at the time when the match is played (15:00 CET) is not that great.

Since Shirak is very weak in defense, we should force our high pressing all the time, and force them to create mistake in that field, which we can use. Also, we should close their main player Barikyan as well as the two attackers Diop and Fofana. If we manage to do that, 70% of job will be done. Everything is on our side, and we just have to prove on the field that we are a better team.



Any victory today is a good result. Maximum respect for Shirak, who are champions of their country, and a serious approach are what will bring us what we want.

 

[lucian-crusher]

Steaua - Vardar 3:0 (3:0)

Well it wasn't 5:0 and the result was too good at the end. First half was horrible for Vardar, as they played like Santa Coloma from Andorra. I can't believe what the coach said after the game "we managed to play our game at times". :shock: What game?? There was no game from Vardar, NOTHING! They weren't playing at all! Georgievski (from Steaua) was nice enough in the last minute to give a corner for Vardar, so it will count that Vardar had a corner in the game.
Anyway, I really expect an improvement in Skopje. This is a lost duel, as I expected. However, I want that win with 1-0 or 2-1, so that postponing of not winning a match (last time Rabotnicki won over Debreceni 4:1, 7 years ago) for so long will finally end!! Vardar could have probably had chance with Dinamo Tbilisi or Sheriff or the Finnish representative.. oh well there is to better luck next year.

Yeah! I was expecting a tough match but Vardar was really weak. It's either the fact tht we scored to fast or the atmosphere in the stadium.... I felt really bad for Pavlovic at the 3rd goal that we scored, it was a really foolish goal. On the other hand we missed to many chances in the second half, especially our new aquisition from Sampdoria, Piovaccari played rather bad. We really should wake up, because in the next rounds our defenders will be to busy to score goals and our strikers should find a way to do that.

UEFA Europa League, 2nd round:

Levadia Talinn - Pandurii Targu Jiu 0 - 0
I am not happy with this result as Pandurii had lots of chances, but I think they will win in Targu Jiu.

 

[Milos-BC]

Ivanov doesn't want to come out and play X-OIX-OI


I better keep the comments for myself...........


I understand him though.

 

[Milos-BC]

Shirak 1-1 Partizan


It is hard to explain what we played in Armenia, but this was a complete disaster, and my stomach was turning upside-down, while I was watching this "performance" of our team, as this play (if we can call it like that) isn't capable even for a team in the zone league and not the champion of one country. This was a horror movie from our side in today. We were lucky that the attackers of Shirak didn't have enough concentration in the endings of their actions, as they could've scored at least 2 more goals. Our defense is simply criminal, I stated that several times duiring the preparation matches. Fofana was making little children to our defenders, and almost every action of Shirak was a 100 %. Simply unbelievable. The keeper (Lukac) saved us today and is the only player who deserves a positive mark together with Volkov (not just because of the goal).


The players heavily underestimated Shirak, who was very motivated, just like I expected, and the fact that the main player in the defense didn't want to come out to play the match (Ivanov) ruined the atmosphere in the team. However, that is not an excuse, as for this terrible play there are no excuses at all, as not only was the defense terrible, but the middle as well, as they neither could bring the ball to the attackers, nor did they participate in the defensive tasks, so in the end we ended sending lame long balls to the attackers who were already cut off.

Shirak's play didn't surprise me at all, as it was just like I expected from what I found out while scouting them, but we were below every normal and acceptable level.

This result is excellent compared to what our play looked like, but if we keep this approach in the second match as well, we could easily get eliminated, as not that far go, Shamrock also came with 1-1 from the first match, and the final outcome was known.....

This musn't happen again. Never.

 

[aletem]

Don't get yourself down Milos. I had a hunch that Partizan might not win today, mainly because I heard that the bus that your players were driving from Yerevan, ended up in a car-accident. And that the bus driver was hospitalized. I am sure you'll win 5-0 in Belgrade.

Yeah! I was expecting a tough match but Vardar was really weak. It's either the fact tht we scored to fast or the atmosphere in the stadium.... I felt really bad for Pavlovic at the 3rd goal that we scored, it was a really foolish goal. On the other hand we missed to many chances in the second half, especially our new aquisition from Sampdoria, Piovacarri played rather bad. We really should wake up, because in the next rounds our defenders will be to busy to score goals and our strikers should find a way to do that.

Well, Vardar sold couple of their good players, including their best midfielder - Stjepanovic, who is also part of the Mk NT, during the summer. That was pretty much the reason and yeah they were weak. On the other hand Steaua played like they would against any European team.

 

[Verjamem]

The New Saints 1-3 Legia Warsaw
What can I say ? Legia didn't played very good in first half (to put it mildly), and we even conceded goal, so then situation wasn't very positive.
In second half, Legia improved their game and scored 3 goals. Finally, we won and we could think about rematch. Of course, Wales's champion can't be underestimated. Today, they showed our that it could have very bad consequences.
In short, we should play with concentration and don't disregard the rival. If Legia will do it, we can't be afraid about being in next qualifying round. That's all.

 

[Milos-BC]

Don't get yourself down Milos. I had a hunch that Partizan might not win today, mainly because I heard that the bus that your players were driving from Yerevan, ended up in a car-accident. And that the bus driver was hospitalized. I am sure you'll win 5-0 in Belgrade.

It is true, sadly............however, that happened before he got to pick them up, so they were going to Gyumri in a van instead of that bus.


Many bad things happened prior to this match in Armenia, but I don't think that this accident didn't that much of an impact of them (as no one mentioned it and they were not in it), but I think we underestimated them, as we were completely without any aggression and were walking around the field in the style "this will be a piece of cake", but when Shirak showed that they will not mess with us, then we looked confused and shocked...........and also, Ivanov's refusal to come out and play because he wants to go to Basel was very unprofessional and that psychologically killed the team as he said that just before the match began. He was the commander of the defense and the only good defender, and these players that we now have there are catasprophic, to say the least. They should've found him a replacement as they promised him they will let him go on summer, and now since they can't find the proper replacement, this happens............I am on his side, but this is completely unprofessional and he did a huge damage to the club yesterday. When such things happen and when the play is based on him, then everything can be thrown into the water what was practiced on the trainings and in the control matches....


Seems like they are the only ones who were shocked with this, and I don't know how could they, as everyone who analyzed the play of Shirak and who knows what kind of things happen in these duels knows that an outsider will play above their objective quality when they are motivated, and they are certainly motivated to eliminate someone who is stronger than them (by lot, at least on the paper). And nothing in their play was surprising for me, but we were below every normal and acceptable level and there wasn't a single trace of our play on the preparation matches that was very good.


I think this was one of the worst matches of Partizan in euro-qualifications in the history! I never saw a worse Partizan than yesterday, and I remember all kinds of things. The defense line is certainly the worst in the history. Stankovic is someone with who even the attackers in our league are mocking with, Ostojic is a complete disaster (yesterday, Fofana and Diop from Shirak are exchanging double-passes and he just stands there and watches them doing it), Aksentijevic was good in offense before, but weak in defense, now he is a complete disaster in both offense and defense (he didn't play in Apolon for a year, and the consequences are clear....).

The only one who played well not just in defense but overall is Volkov, and not just because of the goal (the keeper was also great, so it can be said that Lukac is more than a great replacement for Stojkovic). We looked like amateurs yesterday, and that is what hurts, and not this result, it is good, no matter how funny it sounds. Shirak had absolutely no problems to come to our 16 m with just 3 contacts with the ball, and again over here, nobody was marking the players, or try to block their shots, we were in a complete apathy...........


This defense of ours would make any attacker a Batistuta. I believe that we will find a way to eliminate them in Belgrade, but if nothing changes, we will not have a good result when a stronger team catches us in the next round. I don't know how will we manage not to get a goal from Shirak in Belgrade as well with these defenders.......

 

[Milos-BC]

Out of the 3 matches of clubs today I have decided to (mostly) watch definetly the most interesting duel and that is:


Jagodina - Rubin Kazan



I expect a great atmosphere on the stadium in Jagodina as they are playing against a very attractive rival. Obviously, they are huge outsiders in this duel, but they musn't come out with the goal not to receive any hits in their net, as Rubin is the most dangerous when their rival doesn't have any desire to attack them. Jagodina has to try to stop their attacks via the flanks and score at least one goal.

They shouldn't be scared of the names like Rondon, Karadeniz and Yeremenko (who will be in the lineup certainly) but they should play for themselves, the city of Jagodina and the Serbian football.

Too bad that Jagodina's best attacker Miloš Stojanović left the club, his presence would be crucial here, but hopefully Sead Hadžibulić will replace him properly.

 

[Morty]

I haven't seen any of the matches here, but I figured I'd give my views on them anyway.

Champions League :
Sligo Rovers 0-1 Molde FK

This actually surprised me. Even tho Molde won the Norwegian league two years in a row after Ole Gunnar Solskjær took over as manager, they've struggled a lot this season. They were last for quite a while, but in the last 6 matches, they're unbeaten, so they're climbing. Currently 3 points behind my team (who also had a pretty bad start of their 100th anniversary season), but still on the bottom half of the table. So with that in mind, I didn't really think they would win the away match against Sligo Rovers, but apparently they did. They haven't qualified yet tho, but I think there's definitely hope now. For them anyway, I don't like Molde, but I do want to see Solskjær have success... The reason why I don't like Molde? Well, I'm from the same county as them (Møre og Romsdal). This county is divided into 3 parts, Nordmøre up north, Romsdal in the middle, and Sunnmøre in the south. And even tho it's not a very serious matter, people from each part don't generally like people from the other parts. I'm from Nordmøre (and so is Solskjær), Molde is from Romsdal.

Europa League:
IL Hødd 1-0 FC Aktobe
Rosenborg BK 0-1 St. Johnstone FC
Strømsgodset IF 2-2 Debreceni VSC
Tromsø IL 2-0 Inter Baku PIK

All 4 Norwegian teams started at home.

Hødd is actually losing money on this, as the trip to Kazakhstan for the away match costs quite a bit. For a club that doesn't even play in the top division in Norway, Aktobe wasn't the dream opponent. Exotic tho, and probably something the players will remember for the rest of their lives. Qualifying to the next stage means more money from UEFA, and if they do, and draw a team that's not as far away as Kazakhstan, then this would mean welcome money for them. A win at home is a good start, but I wonder if 1-0 is enough... By the way, Hødd is also from Møre og Romsdal, the Sunnmøre part, where Aalesund is the biggest team. And since I'm at it: Kristiansund is the biggest team in Nordmøre, got promoted to the same division as Hødd for this season, and is currently fighting for promotion to the top division.

Rosenborg surprised me a bit. I was pretty sure they'd win at home, but it looks like it's gonna be difficult now. They have done wonders in Europe before tho, and I never rule Rosenborg out of anything, so it's not like all hope is gone for them, but they will definitely have to show their best side to advance.

Strømsgodset is also in a bit of trouble I think. 2-2 is better than 1-2, but I still think it's gonna be too hard for them in Hungary. I also think Debrecen is more experienced in European cups, so I think they got this under control.

Tromsø is probably the team with the highest hopes of advancing. 2-0 at home is pretty good, and even tho Baku is far from Tromsø, I don't think it's impossible to get a draw, or even win.

So to sum this all up: I think Molde and Tromsø will advance, I'd say Hødd is a maybe plus, Rosenborg is a maybe minus, and Godset is out.

 

[lucian-crusher]

UEFA Europa League, 2nd round:

Petrolul Ploiesti - Vikingur 3 - 0
And a missed penalty for Petrolul! They re sure qulifieres, but Vikingur hve a very very weak squad. In the next round it will be harder for Petrolul.

Astra Giurgiu - Omonia Nicossia 1 - 1
Damn! Astra had a lot of chances to win it but the lack of European experience showed in the end. It will be really hard in Nicossia but I really hope they go trough, as they are the only Romanian team that will be in the first pot for the 3rd round draw, so if they pass Omonia they will be 90 % in the Play-Off!

 

[Farahim]

Champions League :

Neftchi (Baku) 0:0 Skenderbeu

Europa League:

Karabagh (Agdam) 2:1 Piast

Inter (Baku) 0:2 Tromse

khazar (Lankaran) 0:2 Makkabi Hayfa

 

[lucian-crusher]

UEFA Champions League, 3rd round:

Dinamo Tbilisi/ EB/Streymur - Steaua Bucharest /Vardar Skopje
It's a good draw I would say! I prefer Dinamo Tbilisi than Gyor or Molde. It will be an interesting match because we play against DINAMO and that will give us a boost.


UEFA Europa League, 3rd round:

Levadia Talinn/ Pandurii Targu Jiu - Beroe Stara Zagora /Hapoel Tel Aviv
It will be very hard for Pandurii. Hapoel is a great team and I think this will be the end of the road for Pandurii in Europe.

Petrolul Ploiesti/ Vikingur - Vitesse Arnhem
It will be hard but I think Petrolul might have a chance.

Goteborg/ Trencin - Astra Giurgiu /Omonia Nicossia
As I said! If Astra manages to pass Omonia tan the Play-Off awaits them!

 

[Milos-BC]

Before I comment on the yesteday's matches of teams, I will analyze the draw for the 3rd round:


UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUALIFICATIONS

Slovan Bratislava / Ludogorets Razgrad - Shirak / Partizan


This was almost the worst possible outcome for Partizan. Maccabi Tel Aviv was the worst possible option by far, but after that this one that we got. Both of these teams will be favorites against us (if we pass Shirak). And both of these are great teams.

Slovan Bratislava is a huge name in Slovakia and a club with a huge tradition. Their team has European experience and is nicely covered on all positions. They have two Serbian players (Marko Milinkovic, an attacker and the left back Milos Josimov who came to Slovan from Donji Srem) and a couple more very good players such as the right back Bagayoko.

On the other hand, Ludogorets is a team that everyone wants to avoid as their manager is full of money and has a created a real legion of foreign players in this team. They play an extremely offensive football and their style is something we traditionally can't bear. They were barely eliminated by Dinamo last year, and imo, this is a worse option than Slovan for us.

But before thinking about both of these rivals, we must finish the job with Shirak, as nothing is over in that duel, and we certainly must show a much better play and approach, as if we continue with what we have shown in Armenia, we better not travel to Slovakia/Bulgaria.


UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE QUALIFICATIONS

Chernomorets Odesa - Crvena Zvezda

Zvezda had a luck in the draw in the way of avoding teams like Udinese or Club Brugge, but Chernomorets is a quite a good, dangerous and stable team. Physically very well prepared and full of experienced Ukranian players (like Gay from Shaktar Donetsk). I am not sure Zvezda is a favorite here, especially not with the play like against IBV from last night.


Bursaspor - Vojvodina

Vojvodina has slim chances to eliminate Bursaspor. They showed a lot against Honved last night but Bursaspor is a different class completely. Maybe in Novi Sad they can get a tie or something, but in Turkey, they are certainly losing.

Jagodina/ Rubin Kazan - Randers


Jagodina will probably not get the chance to play against the Danish team, as Rubin will eliminate them (even though they lost from Rubin with 3:2 last night), but this was a good draw for them.

 

[QwaarJet]

Have to say how proud I am of St. Johnstone pulling off a major upset against Rosenborg. I worry for them in the home leg though.

Congrats to Celtic for demolishing Cliftonville.