The Official Club of Europa League > Champions League Gathering 2015/16

It's a really shaky start for Bilic, barely through on penalties in the previous round and drawing at home...

rwo power wrote:The guys from Wolfsberg are getting stronger with the minute. Impressive!

Is their club for physical exercises as well?

"Wolfsberger AC" translates to "Athletic Club of Wolfsberg", so it sounds a bit like "Athletic Club of Bilbao"

Roman Bürki

Shane Long makes it 3-0 for Southampton. No idea what the Vitesse keeper was doing chasing the ball outside of his box.

Hm. In Austria they have not only a shirt sponsor, but also a shorts sposor. Although I really wonder if it isn't actually embarassing to have your ads sticking on the butt of someone...


Wolfsberger AC with butt sponsor XD

3-0 Long

What happened to Sampdoria lol

Did anyone see the Schwab tackle against Ajax? Damn that's career ending stuff right there.

Nishy wrote:Did anyone see the Schwab tackle against Ajax? Damn that's career ending stuff right there.

https://twitter.com/Jackel_Ramzilla/status/626487897437376512

criminal

FK Kukesi - Legia Warsav

Legia Warsaw match abandoned after midfielder Ondrej Duda is hit with a stone thrown from the crowd  



We were very very close to sign this guy   , but atm the negotiation is stopped.
I hope he's okay.

linetty wrote:What happened to Sampdoria lol

Zenga
He was a GOAT GK but the bench is not his job . He testified  it further


and what about West Ham ?  Bilic began badly and his words were even worse

"The majority of players who play against Astra next week will not start against Arsenal. The Premier League is the priority.

West Ham (!) to snubb the EL Ridicolous mentality

Even if I want Romanian teams to succeed in Europe, I dislike the fact that I saw an English team struggling against Astra Giurgiu, a Romanian team. Why?

Because I am fan of English football and Premier League and this match just showed how low are the standards of play at the moment regarding the football teams coming from this country, England.

Though they are ambitious, Romanian teams are poorly prepared in many ways. Firstly because they come from a low quality championship. In the last two years it greatly decreased, largely with Steaua's decay. Secondly, both physically and mentally, our championship players are very poorly trained. And last but not least, tactical level is almost nonexistent, teams lacking an identity or any idea of the game.

Since when I started watching football, English teams have an outstanding record against Romanian teams, with the exception of CFR against Manchester United (when Man United was already qualified in the KO stages of UCL) and I do not remember any Romanian team to beat an English team. Ok, I remember prime Dinamo Bucharest beating Everton with 5-1.

Even if the performance of EPL teams in European competitions have dropped significantly in recent years, I think with the difference in value between the two leagues, and between the two teams, there shouldn't be such a turnaround of the situation in an official match between West Ham and Astra Giurgiu. The budget of English teams, in this case West Ham's budget, allows them to pay for much better physical coaches, for a better trained staff, for training camps with much better training conditions. Qualification is not played, I'm pretty sure that West Ham will qualify, but there is no excuse for the outcome of last night, not even the use of reserve players.

I put some questions to myself. Is the level of English football that low at the moment? Because Astra is a weaker team than ASA Targu Mures and Saint-Ettiene defeated in an away game ASA, runners up last year in Liga 1 from Romania, with 3-0 while West Ham did a draw at home.

West Ham failing doesn't mean the overall level of English football is low. On the same night, Southampton comfortably beat Vitesse 3-0, and Vitesse are a better side than Astra Girgiu.

I don't know what West Ham and Bilic are thinking. They've been in qualification since round one and have such a good chance at bringing European football to Upton Park. "Premier League is the priority" - what are they going to do in the league? Is a 10th place finish really better than a deep run in a European competition?

RealGunner wrote:lol just noticed the name. Wolfsberg

Are they sponsored by Pro evolution soccer?

BVB can return from Castle Wolfsberg with a victory, even though they were missing B.J. Blazkcowicz.

They got the spot through fairplay, They can't do any better with that squad imo.

Bilic is making excuses, Their first priority would be Europe.

Kukesi vs Legia Warsaw Europa League match abandoned after player hit by stone from crowd.
Ondrej Duda was struck on the head by the object during the second half of the Europa League third qualifying round first leg match in Albania.
The Kukesi fans raised a transparent which said: "The end of the game will mean the end of your life, I'm not Slavic, I'm Albanian."

In other news, Vojvodina beat Sampdoria 4-0

GoonerJay29 wrote:West Ham failing doesn't mean the overall level of English football is low. On the same night, Southampton comfortably beat Vitesse 3-0, and Vitesse are a better side than Astra Girgiu.

West Ham represent England in Europe. They must win as many points as England won't lose its place in the UEFA Country Ranking. West Ham is part of English football in European competitions this season. Their failure doesn't help at all the English football, it even make things worse. So the level of their football is shown to some extent by West Ham's performances or at least it affects it on long term.

Anyway, I still believe West Ham will qualify. If not...

It's a bit sad that Dortmund have to play from the third round. I thought they will be in the play-off round. Those Albanian fans

Vlad the Impaler wrote:West Ham represent England in Europe. They must win as many points as England won't lose its place in the UEFA Country Ranking. West Ham is part of English football in European competitions this season. Their failure doesn't help at all the English football, it even make things worse. So the level of their football is shown to some extent by West Ham's performances or at least it affects it on long term.

Anyway, I still believe West Ham will qualify. If not...

Still doesn't mean the overall level is low. West Ham were crap, but Southampton was very good, so can we conclude that the overall level is low at the moment? Not to mention there are six other teams from the Premier League in Europe.

Ok, perhaps I was too harsh.

West Ham got through via luck of Fairplay lol. I am not even sure if they want to be in EL or not.

Still think they will qualify but they wont last long

Neither will Billic IMO. He is too impulsive.

West Ham team to play Astra:

Randolph, Knoyle, Jenkinson, Henry, Page, Poyet, Cullen, Nolan, Lanzini, Lee, Maiga

Wow, they really don't give a shit

GoonerJay29 wrote:West Ham team to play Astra:

Randolph, Knoyle, Jenkinson, Henry, Page, Poyet, Cullen, Nolan, Lanzini, Lee, Maiga

Wow, they really don't give a shit

They have bigger ambitions like ....finishing 10th in the EPL .

LeBéninois wrote:

GoonerJay29 wrote:West Ham team to play Astra:

Randolph, Knoyle, Jenkinson, Henry, Page, Poyet, Cullen, Nolan, Lanzini, Lee, Maiga

Wow, they really don't give a shit

They have bigger ambitions like ....finishing 10th in the EPL .

I hope you are being sarcastic lol.