Europa league playoff round.

[Inno17]

right, can somebody explain all this to me. i am really confused, what's all this 4 pots stuff? so the teams in each pot can only get drawn against each other? so the top 5 are the seeds and the bottom 5 aren't?

Pot 2

• Athletic (ESP)
• Salzburg (AUT)
• Braga (POR)
• Everton (ENG)
• Partizan (SRB)

• Viitorul (ROU)
• FH (ISL)
• Videoton (HUN)
• Apollon (CYP)
• Panathinaikos (GRE)

Correct... how they come to decide who goes in which pot I don't know though....!? Obviously one reason is that teams from the same country don't get drawn against each other but surely no need for 4 pots if only 2 teams from same country?....

 

[atrottel]

Correct... how they come to decide who goes in which pot I don't know though....!? Obviously one reason is that teams from the same country don't get drawn against each other but surely no need for 4 pots if only 2 teams from same country?....

I think it is meant to weight the draw so that all pots have a close co-efficient value in total. But OK...

 

[Inno17]

Something to consider is that the tie will come either side of an away trip to Man City, with an away trip to Chelsea coming after the second leg, so maybe a team as close as possible would be ideal.

Yeah agree, but that's Hajduk Split, Croatia, a good side.

What's best in these situations... a gruelling journey and an easier 90 minutes, or a easier journey and a tricky 90 minutes.

I'd suggest for the reward of qualification and the impact of non-qualification I'd prefer the crappier journey with the higher certainty of qualification.

This is exactly why we need more players and I'm surprised Dowell and co have gone on loan before we have them...

 

[Tree13]

Something to consider is that the tie will come either side of an away trip to Man City, with an away trip to Chelsea coming after the second leg, so maybe a team as close as possible would be ideal.

Plus the heatwave sweeping Southern Europe and the Med at the moment - still 30 degrees in many places at 10pm. Not useful at all.

So let's have FH Hafnarfjördur please.

 

[ToffeeDan]

More unfair play from the UEFA Cowboys..

And guess who draws the short straw..

Group Coefficient Total Rankings (where 1 equals top ranked in the seeded or unseeded sections and 22 the lowest ranked)

Group 1 Seeds 50 (5) vs Non-Seeds 61 (5)
Group 2 Seeds 58 (5) vs Non-Seeds 42 (5)
Group 3 Seeds 71 (6) vs Non-Seeds 73 (6)
Group 4 Seeds 74 (6) vs Non-Seeds 77 (6)

Bias
Group 1 Seeds +11 (+2.2 per team)
Group 2 Non-Seeds -16 (-3.2 per team)
Group 3 Seeds +2 (+0.33 per team)
Group 4 Seeds +3 (0.5 per team)

 

[barneygumble]

Correct... how they come to decide who goes in which pot I don't know though....!? Obviously one reason is that teams from the same country don't get drawn against each other but surely no need for 4 pots if only 2 teams from same country?....

I ran through it yesterday...

and it was very similar to the 1-2-3-4 system, and i think it's only a couple different to what I worked out.

Hajduk Split would be our biggest allocation. Stoke played them 5 years ago in europa and got 2,000, I imagine we'd push for a bit more.

 

[welshtoffee]

This is the dates for the upcoming matches,

17/08/17: Play-off round, first leg
24/08/17: Play-off round, second leg

 

[Inno17]

Plus the heatwave sweeping Southern Europe and the Med at the moment - still 30 degrees in many places at 10pm. Not useful at all.

So let's have FH Hafnarfjördur please.

I think this is the best option all-round.. High chance of a not too strenuous qualification, reasonable conditions and an okay journey... Fingers crossed for the Icelandic Clap.

Limassol or Panathinaikos would be a nightmare.... Viitorul and Hajduk are slightly more preferable.

 

[macdog]

I thought Vitorul was an ibuprofen gel.

It's the language we use when discussing the RS.

 

[barneygumble]

I think this is the best option all-round.. High chance of a not too strenuous qualification, reasonable conditions and an okay journey... Fingers crossed for the Icelandic Clap.

Limassol or Panathinaikos would be a nightmare.... Viitorul and Hajduk are slightly more preferable.

FH would just be a financial nightmare, which is my concern.

Hajduk would be my preference purely for allocation alone.

 

[Jeff Jones]

I wouldn't mind Panathinaikos because we have unfinished business with them. Well, us oldies do.

They're hard to beat at home, but I think we'd be OK.

 

[macdog]

I thought panathinikos were seeded?

Seedy.

 

[EFC78]

More unfair play from the UEFA Cowboys..

And guess who draws the short straw..

Group Coefficient Total Rankings (where 1 equals top ranked in the seeded or unseeded sections and 22 the lowest ranked)

Group 1 Seeds 50 (5) vs Non-Seeds 61 (5)
Group 2 Seeds 58 (5) vs Non-Seeds 42 (5)
Group 3 Seeds 71 (6) vs Non-Seeds 73 (6)
Group 4 Seeds 74 (6) vs Non-Seeds 77 (6)

Bias
Group 1 Seeds +11 (+2.2 per team)
Group 2 Non-Seeds -16 (-3.2 per team)
Group 3 Seeds +2 (+0.33 per team)
Group 4 Seeds +3 (0.5 per team)

I was thinking it seems like we always manage to get lumped in with potentially tough opponents but it is probably us feeling sorry for ourselves. Panathinaikos and Hajduk Split are well known teams though so to get both in the group of 5 seems a little unfair.

But to be fair, we got an easy team last round whilst there were some other fairly biggish teams (for these early stages) drawn against eachother:

Red Star Belgrade v Sparta Prague
Dinamo Bucharest v Athletic Bilbao
Sturm Graz v Fenerbache
Brondby v Hajduk Split

I imagine all of those 8 felt the same when those draws came out given the size of some of the sides in the competition.

We can't make too many excuses. If we are going to go far in this competition we need to be capable of beating any of the 5 teams we could get in this round. In the later stages we could be facing the likes of AC Milan or Arsenal should we proceed.

 

[tommytowne]

Yeah agree, but that's Hajduk Split, Croatia, a good side.

What's best in these situations... a gruelling journey and an easier 90 minutes, or a easier journey and a tricky 90 minutes.

I'd suggest for the reward of qualification and the impact of non-qualification I'd prefer the crappier journey with the higher certainty of qualification.

This is exactly why we need more players and I'm surprised Dowell and co have gone on loan before we have them...

Hadjuk Split will do me nicely. I will be a half hours drive away on holiday if the away leg is played there.

 

[evo1878]

Can anyone explain what the hell just happened there with the pre-draw and so suddenly how the other three groups of unseeded teams contain a maximum of one team with a coefficient above 10 whereas our potential opposition pot now has 3 teams with a coefficient above 10