My thoughts (you're getting them whether you want them or not
)
GROUP A: Winnable by Spurs, although Rubin could prove tough. Spurs could get away with dressing more youngsters against PAOK and Shamrock Rovers, but they aren't
complete writeoffs by any means.
GROUP B: Aside from Vorskla Poltava, who I think are out of their league, this group could prove to be a Group of Death - not because of any massive amount of skill on the part of the remaining three clubs, but because they are relatively evenly-matched on paper. That said, the game's not played on paper, eh?
GROUP C: How this group turns out depends on all the teams NOT called PSV Eindhoven. PSV has already proven to be a consistent if not mind-blowing middle-power in football from a club point of view, plus I'll be following them with great interest given how they have Canada's best player on thir team.
That said, Hapoel Tel Aviv has proven in the past that they are full of surprises and therefore not to be underestimated. Rapid Bucuresti and Legia Warszawa aren't giants by any means, but they too can be a bit hard to gauge, so I wouldn't bet against them by any means (if I betted, which I don't
).
GROUP D: Zurich and Vaslui are both drop-downs from the Champions League, but the former has more of a shot than the latter and that ain't saying much. I would expect either Sporting or Lazio to be a fave in this one, although I'll be rooting hard for the former since I
ABHOR EVERYTHING LAZIO STANDS FOR
Seriously, I hate them about ten times as much as I hate Ars*nal. That in itself speaks volumes.
GROUP E:
This group could prove interesting. While Dynamo Kyiv is a traditional power both in Ukraine and in Europe, they only beat Litex Lovech 3-1 in prelims, winning both matches by a goal. Given the gap in talent there, this could be cause for concern. But who knows? Besiktas is probably a bit unnerved by the fact that they nearly blew a 3-0 lead from their first-half victory over Alania Vladikavkaz, and whether this makes them play better or worse remains to be seen.
Stoke, on the other hand, laid a thumping on Thun, but it remains to be seen if they can butt heads with a team of a higher calibre than the Hearts side Spurs faced.
I have to wonder how far Maccabi Tel-Aviv is gonna go. Like their cross-town rivals, they're good for a few surprises, and have actually come up with one already by knocking Panathinaikos - a better team on paper - out of the competition (after Pana had been knocked out of the CL by OB Odense, no less), after a concerning tie against Xäzär Länkäran gave way to an 8-0 murdering of Bosniac side Željezničar.
GROUP F:
A clear divide between traditionally strong teams and traditionally lesser teams here. PSG and Bilbao are better known teams internationally than Red Bull Salzburg or Slovan Bratislava. However, the two "traditional" powers are somewhat disadvantaged going into the group stage. PSG had a ridiculously easy outing against Differdange from Luxembourg, who are basically the cup-winners from one of Europe's lowest-ranking league systems. Differdange only made the opening playoff stage because Olympiakos Volou, who drilled them 6-0 in the third qual round, were yanked from the tournament due to match-fixing. Rather than just giving PSG the win, they basically sentenced the Luxembourgish side to
another 6-0 thwomping.
Then there's Bilbao. This situation gave me a bit of a giggle to be honest. It isn't every day that a tie-cancellation results in both teams benefitting short-term, but it happened here, and because of something neither club in the playoff round had anything to do with. Fenerbahçe, part of the great Istanbul Trivalry, was charged with match-fixing, and UEFA strong-armed the TFF into pulling them out of the Champions League. This proved to be Trabzonspor's lucky day, as they had been dropped down from the same earlier by losing to Benfica. Not only that, but the fact that they were put back into Champions League led to the then-still-scoreless tie being thrown and Bilbao being given the Europa League group slot.
Slovan, on the other hand, was a drop-down team from Champions League, having lost to likely the biggest surprise team in the CL this year, that is, APOEL Lefkosia, and their opening round against Tobol Qostanay was nothing special for a tie against a Kazakh team, so I wonder if they'll peter out eventually.
Which leaves Salzburg, who've unquestionably played the most football up to this point, but they didn't really have any problem with their opponents until the opening playoff round, when Omonia Lefkosias gave them a
huge scare, leading 2-1 after the first leg. (Man, what have they been putting in the water in Cyprus? It seems their teams are doing unusually well this year - APOEL in the CL group stage, Omonia very nearly making the EL group stage, while AEK Larnaka did exactly that...)
Anyway, this group could go any which way, depending on whether it's better to be rested and maybe a little cold, or well-played out and a little pooped.
GROUP G:
Well, you've got it all in this group. You have a drop-down team that pulled a sizable upset in CL only to lose in embarrassing fashion in the next round (Malmö, who beat Rangers only to go down 4-1 against Dinamo Zagreb before pulling two back at home to make it look closer than it actually was
), a consistent club who bollocked their only preliminary opponent, who was actually from a relatively reputable league (Metalist Kharkiv, who flattened Sochaux from France 4-scratch, and have finished third in Ukraine five years running), a team who lost the opening round of their tie against a far inferior opponent only to murder them in the closer (AZ Alkmaar, who lost 2-1 to Aalesund in Norway only to tag them for half a dozen at home and win the tie 7-2 on aggregate), and a team that has had to fight for most of its wins (Austria Wien - after an easy opening against Rudar Pljevlja from Montenegro, they had back-to-back one-goal ties against Olimpija Ljubljana and Gaz Metan Medias). Going on pure form I'd actually favour Metalist in this group. Not one of the teams is
too far ahead of the other three, though.
GROUP H:
Braga, Brugge, and Brum. Try saying THAT ten times fast
Anyway, Birmingham's chances are pretty good in this group, although Braga and Brugge can't be written off either. Maribor is a drop-down team, having lost a heartbreaker to Maccabi Haifa in the third qual round before dusting off 'Gers 3-2 in the opening playoff round. Methinks the Rags need to give some thought to some transfers, and maybe a new managerial staff
GROUP I:
I would strongly favour Atletico Madrid to win this group. They've been on fire of late, beating Vitoria Guimarães 6-0 in the opening playoff round after a slight hiccup against Strømsgodset in the third qual round (they allowed a goal in a 4-1 tie win. Whee. What a predicament.
) This isn't to say that Udinese, Sion, and Rennes don't have talent (even though Udinese lost 3-1 to the Abominations in CL). Ask Celtic whether or not Sion have talent. They probably think so after losing 3-1 to them. Rennes might be the closest thing to a challenge Atletico will have. They too have scored highly, beating Metalurgist Rustavi 7-2 and Red Star Belgrade 6-1, but have had a lower calibre of opponent and weaker defensive play overall.
GROUP J:
As much as it pains me to say this, Schalke should be the faves, as they are a ways ahead of the other three teams. Maccabi Haifa would be my early pick for second because of the fact that they
barely missed the group stage of the CL, being dropped on a penalty shoutout result against Genk. Steaua has less playing time under their belt, which could be a blessing or a curse being how they haven't faced quite the calibre of opposition that Maccabi has. AEK Larnaka? No one expected them to be here, or any other Cypriot team for that matter. They have done well under Jordi Cruyff, though, making Mladá Boleslav from the higher-ranked Czech league system look like fools (5-2) and taking advantage of sloppy play by Rosenborg to beat them 2-1. Who knows where they'll end up?
GROUP K:
FC Twente and OB Odense both lost their ties by two - Twente 5-3 to Benfica, and Odense 3-1 to Villarreal. But not all was doom and gloom in the Champs League for these two, as the former blanked Vaslui 2-0 and the latter stunned Panathinaikos 5-4 after leaving home with the score even at 1. Wisla Krakow are also drop-downs, but their first opponent, Litex Lovech, was kind of inferior to that of the other two drop-downs.
Fulham are, to my knowledge, the only team at this stage of Europa having come all the way from round 1 - they came in on Fair Play alongside Häcken from Sweden and Aalesund from Norway. They had a slow start against Runavik (that said, Faeroese teams know jack about offence, so they still won that tie 3-0) but then thundered past Crusaders 7-1 and blanked RNK Split 2-0. Then they really proved they belonged by beating Dnipro from Ukraine, 3-1. I wouldn't rule them out by any means.
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