Can we win our group?

[Dylan]

Can we win our group?

Yes, of course we can.

 

[tadpole]

In my book Everton are slight favourites. But all four teams are well capable of beating any of the others - it comes down to what happens on the day. What kind of teams will Martinez put out ? I'm expecting to see quite a few changes between Thursdays and Sundays. Robles, Stones, Alcaraz, Garbutt, Hibbert, Gibson, Besic, Osman, Oviedo, Kone - many of them will come into the equation, some of them will get starts. But Martinez knows how much these games mean, I'm sure he'll pick a team that can go out and do us justice. What about the other teams in the group ? They'll be under the same pressures from their own domestic competitions. They'll have the same questions to answer, how many squad players to use.

 

[Azzurri]

Of course we can.

Best team in the group IMO.

Why not?

 

[TGW89]

I saw both matches when a Hungarian team played against Krasnodar at the 2nd round of the qualifiers. They are very good, sharp, have a lot of quick and technically skilled players, a lot of Brasilians. Don't count on an easy game even at home but surely they can be beaten.

I can't begin to tell you how scared I am right now....

 

[vieri]

It's a really tough group we have been drawn into, and i read somewhere that Wolfsburg director Klaus Allofs called it a CHL worthy group. So to win this group we'll need to field our best team in every match which is a bit of a shame cause we all know that that's probably gone cost us points in the league if we do so. Imo Everton and Wolfsburg are the two best teams in that group and should go through Lille is a decent team, but it's a team we should be able to take at least 4 points from. FC Krasnodar is the dark horse here and i don't know much about them, but at team that can win 3-0 at home against Real Sociedad deserves a lot of respect . I reckon it's an advantage we play our away game in Krasnodar in early october before the cold Russian winter settles in.

 

[a bell maul]

I consider this competition equally (if not more) important than the League (as things currently stand in the Everton evolution/revolution). I suspect Martinez might be of similar persuasion.
What a season we have to look forward to...reminds me of the 80's!!!

 

[BBleck]

All 3 other teams are good teams. If Everton is serious about CL aspirations we need to beat good teams in pressure situations. Bring them on.

 

[Dozbik]

I like the optimism prevailing here, but I'd warn everyone that this is a really, really tough group, the toughest of all. On a good day, each team is capable of beating the other. It will come down to nuances, minor margins, it'll be no walk in the park. I'd be really happy if we made it through.
I think Wolfsburg are a tad stronger compared to us, but in the end it comes down to how seriously the teams will take this competition. A best starting 11 of Everton vs. a best starting 11 of Wolfsburg, the Germans have had a number of marquee signings in the last couple of years (Kevin de Bruyne, Luiz Gustavo, Ivan Perisic, heck, even Nicklas Bendtner is a good player if you ask me), they also have Ivica Olic, the defender Naldo, Ricardo Rodríguez is also a world-class left back. They have tons of quality, don't underestimate them lads, I watch a lot of Bundesliga and they are really good, almost on the same level as Bayern and Dortmund. So all things considered, I rate Wolfsburg a tiny bit higher than us at this very moment, but I believe we are more than capable of finishing up in front of Lille and Krasnodar, but once again, it will be very close.

 

[detroiturk15]

Some combination of us and Wolfsburg. I'd say we're just better against them at full strength, and Lille is alright but not a complete team. The Russians will be a difficult trip but must be won at home.

 

[Christiffa25]

The way I see it, if we had qualified for the CL this season we would be very happy with that group and semi-confident of making it through.

Therefore we are Everton, we are European champions, big club with big players and have goodison park as a weapon.....

Top spot thank you very much!!

 

[ilikecheese]

Of course we can...it's a dumb question.

Will we would be the far better question.

I'm not certain...I'd say we have a good shot, and should at a minimum finish second. Football is funny though...you never know. Costafreakin Rica won their group in the WC!

 

[alpha1]

Of course we can win it.
However, I am not as confident as most on here. I think it is a really tough group.
Lille are a team who regularly qualify for the European Cup so are obviously decent and Wolfsburg are a team/club I believe are very similar to us in size and ambition so they will be tough. Then we have Krasnodar who are unknown, but as I have noticed from watching years of European football, most teams seem to struggle when playing in Russia!
I would have preferred an easy group with teams we can brush aside but at least this group will be exciting. And if we do really have ambitions to be a top side again, these are the kind of teams we should be going up against and beating.
Who knows, it may even tempt the Board/Martinez to strengthen the squad even more!

 

[Simon Smith]

So long as we play our strongest team (that means Howard in goal) I don't see why we cant win our group.
We are EVERTON we fear NO ONE!!

 

[Coach]

Put it this way: there isn't one team in England that we are scared of.

Wolfsburg = German Spurs.

NEA.

 

[elf]

Of course we can...it's a dumb question.

Will we would be the far better question.

I'm not certain...I'd say we have a good shot, and should at a minimum finish second. Football is funny though...you never know. Costafreakin Rica won their group in the WC!

Quite clearly not a dumb question as you've back tracked straight away by saying. ... "im not certain"