Europa League Love – Previews and Predictions (Groups D, E and F)

Europa League Love – Previews and Predictions (Groups D, E and F) The Group Stage of the Europa League kicks-off on September 20th when 12 groups of 4 teams begin the round-robin phase of the most exciting tournament on planet earth (or at least, that’s how I see it). After last week’s preview and prediction of Groups A, B and C the critics begged me to forecast who will make the Round of 32 out of Groups D, E and F. So let’s get it on. Group D: Newcastle United FC (Eng), FC Girondins de Bordeaux (Fra), Club Brugge KV (Bel), CS Marítimo (Por) The oddsmakers have Newcastle (5/4) and Bordeaux (15/8) as the most likely to make it out of the group with Club Brugges (7/1) and Maritimo (10/1) marked as the dark horses. PREDICTION TO ADVANCE: Newcastle and Club Brugge It’s no wonder Vegas has Newcastle advancing through this group – Alan Pardew’s squad is stacked with fantastic footballers. But the Magpies haven’t been as dominant on the pitch as they look on paper – drawing with Aston Villa in the league and narrowly edging out Greek little guys, Atromitos, 2-1 in the Europa League play-off round. This, combined with Newcastle’s inexperience in Europe, could make advancing a bit difficult. But I still think they get it done. Bordeaux have looked sharp defensively this year, conceeding only one goal in three league matches, but have provided little in terms of firepower. Les Girondins biggest threat is 21 year old Henri Saivet, who’s netted twice in 4 appearances. Unfortunately, they have to compare with that tricky Belgian side, Club Brugge. I really like Club Brugge. The undefeated side currently sits atop the Belgian Jupiler League, four points clear of mighty Anderlecht (still alive in the Champions League). Keep your eye on Israeli attacking midfielder Lior Refaelov, who is on a tear this season with five goals, as well as Columbian striker Carlos Bacca (4 goals), who’s coming out party should be this very contest. Portugal’s Maritimo should provide little in terms of opposition. The tiny club hasn’t lost in their last nine competitive matches but provide little in terms of offense and would do well to secure a point in this group. Group E: Molde (Nor), VfB Stuttgart (Ger), Steaua Bucharest (Rom), FC Copenhagen (Den) VfB Stuttgart (8/11) and FC Copenhagen (21/5) are favored to make it out of Group E but Steaua Bucharest (15/2) and Molde (9/1) could both pose difficult challenges in this exciting group. PREDICTION TO ADVANCE: Stuttgart and Steaua Bucharest It’s been a tough start to the season for Stuttgart, losing its first two Bundesliga matches (0-1 to Wolfsburg and 1-6 to Bayern Munich) after skimping past Dinamo Moscow (2-1 aggregate) in the Europa League play-off round. But with Austrian international winger Martin Harnik (26 goals in 66 appearances) and the ageless German-Brazilian striker Cacau (78 goals in 278 appearances), the German outfit possesses the quality to take the group. Like Stuttgart, Copenhagen is one club that has not been particularly impressive of late. Despite cruising through the Danish Superliga, Copenhagen has only won two of its last five matches, part of which can be attributed to relying on 19 year old striker Andreas Cornelius to carry the goal-scoring weight. At the end of the day, I think this hurts them – and is the reason why they head home. Steaua Bucharest is an incredibly young and talented club that sits in second place in the surprisingly good Romanian league. With the emergence of Romanian winger Cristian Tănase – who loves to link up with striker Raul Rusescu (6 goals in 7 appearances) – Steau possesses the firepower to carry them through this group. Ole Gunnar Solskjær’s Molde currently sits in second place in the 2012 Norweigian Tippeligaen, even on points and 2 goals back of leader’s Strømsgodset. Molde will be an interesting squad to watch play and could have an outside chance at advancing with American Josh Gatt (6 goals; 15 appearances) and Ivorian Davy Agnan (12 goals; 21 appearances) leading the charge. I think they’ll snatch a win or two but advancing out of this group looks to be out of the cards. Group F: AIK Solna (Swe), FC Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk (Ukr), PSV Eindhoven (Hol), SSC Napoli (Ita) Not surprisingly, the experts have Napoli (5/4) and PSV Eindhoven (7/4) advancing with Dnipro (8/1) and AIK (12/1) as the longshots. PREDICTION TO ADVANCE: Napoli and PSV Football hipsters across the world will be calmly excited when Napoli dominates this group. With the likes of Edinson Cavani, Marek Hamšík and Goran Pandev, it’s not going to be a problem. PSV should be equally un-phased by the competition in Group F. Last week’s 5-1 demolition of AZ has the Dutch side undefeated in their last five of all contests. And if you’re interested in contributing to the next time your buddy brings up the omnipresent ‘Belgium is a sleeper football nation’ conversation (so hot right now), watch striker Dries Martens play – he’s quite nasty. Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk is currently third in the Ukrainian Premier League behind Shakhtar and Kiev but ahead of fellow Europa League studs, Metalist Kharkiv. Managed by Juande Ramos, Dnipro is an outside shot to surprise in this group but ultimately, the quality isn’t good enough to unseat the likes of Napoli and PSV. Tied with Malmo and Hacken atop the Swedish Allsvenskan, AIK have played some very good football of late. With a dramatic 2-0 second leg victory over CSKA Moscow, AIK took down the mighty Russian club indicating that as 12/1 longshots, they’re not a bad bet. But I still don’t like losing money.

Manchester City readies offers for Barcelona youngsters Posted: 14 Sep 2012 11:53 AM PDT Manchester City is planning to raid Barcelona’s famed La Masia academy for three young starlets. The Catalan club are constantly subjected to approaches from their European rivals, considering that Barcelona’s youth academy is arguably the best in the world. La Masia’s products have gone on to become world superstars and some of the more notable names include: Pep Guardiola, Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez, Cesc Fabregas, Gerard Pique, Carles Puyol, Pepe Reina, Victor Valdes, Mikel Arteta, Sergio Busquets, and of course, Lionel Messi. Certainly one can see the correlation between the players from La Masia and the current first team of FC Barcelona that has been touted as arguably the best club in the world. However, the level of competition in the academy mounts and could cause younger players that may not be confident in their future prospects with the Catalan club to explore other options. Cesc Fabregas and Gerard Pique made moves to the English Premier League to clubs Arsenal and Manchester United respectively. Fabregas excelled with the London club before making a move back to his original club, while Pique was never really given a fair shake at Man United and moved back to Barcelona where he has emerged as one of the world’s best center backs. Given the fact that Barcelona boasts a phenomenal squad with seasoned internationals on their bench, it’s quite difficult for youth players to break into the first team. With this kept in mind, top clubs constantly pepper Barcelona with offers that could cause the youth players’ resolves to be questioned. Sources in Spain are reporting that English Premier League champions Manchester City are ready to poach Cristian Tello, Sergi Roberto and Gerard Deulofeu. Tello is a forward/winger that has already been capped six times for the Spain U-23 squad at just 21 years of age. He’s appeared 17 times and scored three times for Barcelona and has already appeared twice this season. Some of Tello’s best attributes are his speed and explosiveness. He doesn’t possess the other-worldly passing ability that other Barcelona players do, but he’s able to change a game by terrorizing the left flank. He has an affinity to cut inside towards the penalty box and his pace can leave a host of defenders in his wake. He relies on his teammates to get his goals as he doesn’t possess the best shooting ability and has to be set up most of the time. However, the player is able to haunt opposing fullbacks much like Gareth Bale did to Maicon in his famous thrashing of the Brazilian. Sergi Roberto is unlike Tello because he is not a speed merchant but has the makings of becoming a pass master. He’s a versatile central midfielder that can play an advanced role or more defensive role, where he acts like a regista, or deep-lying play-maker. The 20 year old won’t score many goals but his vision and passing ability facilitates his teammates’ goal-scoring exploits. He’s only played twice for the Barcelona senior squad so it’s tough to extrapolate how he will fair against better competition but with the proper training, Roberto will at best be another Luka Modric and at worst be Riccardo Montolivo. Gerard Deulofeu is another pacy customer that uses his speed to burst past defenders. He boasts a better goal-scoring rate than fellow forward/winger Tello and at 18 years old, arguably has the best potential of the three players linked with Man City. The best comparison to Deulofeu is Andres Iniesta as his combination of pace, dribbling and passing is reminiscent of the World Cup Winner. The three aforementioned players are arguably Barcelona’s three best youth talents. It’s highly unlikely that Manchester City would be able to pry all three from the Catalan club. Especially after signing Scott Sinclair in the summer it’s surprising to see that the Eastlands club would be targeting both Tello and Deulofeu, because Sinclair also boasts considerable promise. Sergi Roberto would probably be the most likely to move on given the plethora of midfield talent that the Blaugrana possess. With that being said, Man City doesn’t really have need for a regista, as David Silva does the vast majority of the play-making for the club. It’s bothersome when clubs buy up young players just so other clubs can’t make use of their talents and, in my opinion, that’s what Manchester City is doing. The players would likely be sent on loan after loan to gain experience, much like Gael Kakuta at Chelsea, before realizing that it’s later rather than sooner before they will see actual playing time. Being targeted by one of Europe’s best clubs is flattering, but when it’s Manchester City who have one of the deepest squads in Europe, steer clear unless one is content with sitting on the bench more often than playing. I would implore Tello, Roberto and Deulofeu to spurn interest from the English giants and stay with a club that has produced some of the best talent in the world today, including the world’s best player- Lionel Messi.

Black Cats Seek to Pounce on Jubilant Liverpool Posted: 14 Sep 2012 11:33 AM PDT Adam Johnson of Sunderland Photo via: Ghetty Images Following on from what was a very significant victory for the entire city, Liverpool will look to cap an emotional week in football with a win against Sunderland on Saturday. The Reds fraternity was handed clarity over the Hillsborough tragedy, and the "Justice For The 96" campaign finally achieved their long sought-after closure of the horrific event that occurred over 23 years ago. Sunderland will be the first opposition to taste the steel of what should be an invigorated Liverpool side; although it may not be an easy trip for the Premier league giants. Martin O'Neill's side is unbeaten so far this season, having pulled off two impressive draws away at the Emirates and Liberty Stadiums, neither of which are easy to take points away from. After seeing their fixture against Reading called off a fortnight ago, this match will also be Sunderland's home debut in the Premier league this season, if not just a tad late. As a result, the hosts will certainly have a certain fire in their bellies as well, giving both parties a substantial reason to walk away with the points in hand. Brendan Rodgers has spoken of his pride at being Liverpool's manager following this week's revelations, but still needs to improve when it comes to matters on the pitch. While a draw against Manchester City is no small feat, the Northern Irishman's side have lost two of their three league games this campaign, and have struggled to score goals. The Stadium of Light may not be the simplest place to break that duct either, Sunderland having finished the 2011-12 season with the fourth best home defense in the league. That said, Rodgers will be pleased to welcome Joe Allen back into his squad after the Welshman struggled with illness during the international break. Jose Enriqué is still fighting for fitness and could be a touch-and-go selection due to a niggling knee injury. Meanwhile, Martin O'Neill has a few quandaries of his own and it remains a doubt as to whether or not Adam Johnson—who missed out England's World Cup qualifiers—will recover from a thigh injury in time to feature. David Vaugha, Phil Bardsley, Lee Cattermole and Wes Brown are also carrying knocks and will be assessed prior to kickoff. Danny Rose could also make his debut for the Black Cats after joining the club on loan from Tottenham. Despite the fact that the home team have played a game less, Sunderland are above Liverpool as far as the table is concerned and while it's still early doors, losing this encounter could see the visitors sink even further into the relegation places. O'Neill will be counting on Steven Fletcher in particular to build on the two-goal haul he bagged in his Swansea debut. If Liverpool lose this game, it will be the club's worst start to a season since the 1903-04 campaign; a season in which they finished 17th and were relegated, making for huge pressure on the shoulders of Brendan Rodgers.

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