The prestigous Europa League thread 2012/ 2013

Sport
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I think its well in time to get this thread going now that Europe’s biggest and foremost football competition is in full swing.
It’s a pretty bad reflection of this forum and society in general that there is more commentary surrounding the demise of some club in Scotland and the travails of another no mark club from the same country playing pre season friendlies against the likes of Norwich City than there has been about the exploits of our own clubs names St.Pats and to a lesser extent Sligo and to an even lesser extent against Bohs in this completion so far.

Pats have pulled off 2 very decent results so, last night’s extra time win over Siroki Brijeg ( sp.) who finished third in the Bosnian league last year was a tremendous achievement and they are well rewarded with a pretty daunting but hopefully financially rewarding trip to Hannover in the next round, the strength of the Bosnian league should not be underestimated, last night NK Sarajevo who finished above Siroki put Levski Sofia out of the competition, Pats have a seriously decent side , the real people who follow football on this forum, namely me, Thrawneen, Sid waddell and TASE will note that I have always praised Greg Bolger highly during his days at UCD in the 2010 season and from reading reports on the game he was instrumental in their success last night, Pat Dolan’s 16 million euro rated winger Chris Forrester also was impressive, hopefully people get off their holes and head out to Tallaght stadium on 2 august to give these boys the support they deserve but based on the west brit attitudes displayed here I would imagine the eyes of most will be on the fortunes of Dundee united and Liverpool to see how their respective league representatives are doing …

I was disappointed to see Sligo come a cropper against Spartak Trnava from Slovakia, by all accounts they were pretty comprehensively outplayed by the opposition over 2 legs, last Wednesday I watched Slovakian champions FC Zenica ( remember chelsea’s group in the 2010-11 CL) get completely outplayed by Ironi Kiryat Shmona* of Israel in the CL qualifiers with the Israelis winning 2-0 on the night ( 2-1 agg), Zenica were a really poor side and using that as a benchmark for the standard of Slovakian football I was really hopeful of a result last night in front of a packed Showgrounds but it was not to be.

Last week I had the pleasure of attending the Bloomfield stadium in Jaffa to watch a Pedro Galvan inspired Beni Yeduda Tel Aviv beat Shirak from Armenia to set up a nice tie next Thursday night against PAOK Salonika, Rovers fans will have happy memories of Beni Yehuda and tommy Stewart’s winner in august 2010, this is a much different side however, former Hap TA and Israel manager Dror Kashtan is assembling a nice side and Tel Aviv’s third team are dark horses for this season’s ligat Ha’al

Some cracking ties next week:

Ill be having a punt on APOEL Nicosia, Beni Yehuda +1, Steau , Omonia Nicosia and Dinamo Moscow
Thursday 2nd August 2012

This table charts the fixtures during Thursday 2nd August 2012
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Anzhi Makhachkala V Vitesse
16:00
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Arsenal Kiev V Mura
17:00
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Dila Gori V Ano’s Famagusta
17:00
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AC Horsens V Elfsborg
18:00
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AIK Solna V Lech Poznan
18:00
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Apoel Nicosia V Aalesunds FK
18:00
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Bnei Yehuda V Paok Salonika
18:00
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Kalmar V Young Boys
18:00
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Ruch Chorzow V Plzen
18:00
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SV Ried V Legia Warsaw
18:00
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Tromso V Metallurg Donetsk
18:00
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Heerenveen V Rapid Bucharest
18:30
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FC Twente V Mlada Boleslav
18:45
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Servette V Rosenborg
18:45
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Asteras Tripoli V Maritimo
19:00
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Genk V FC Aktobe
19:00
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Gomel V Liverpool
19:00
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Steaua Buch’t V FC Spartak Trnava
19:00
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Hajduk Split V Inter Milan
19:30
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Red Star Belgrade V Omonia Nicosia
19:30
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Video Fehervar V AA Gent
19:30
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Dundee Utd V Dinamo Moscow
19:45
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St Patrick’s V Hannover 96
19:45
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Athletic Bilbao V Slaven Belupo Koprivnica
20:00
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FK Sarajevo V Zeta Golubovci
20:00
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Vojvodina V Rapid Vienna
20:00
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FC Trenkwalder Admira V Sparta Prague
20:05
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Eskisehirspor V Marseille
Kick-off TBC

*kiryat shmona were the first team outside the traditional big four of beitar, mac TA, Hap TA, Mac Haifa to win the Israeli leagues since Maccabi Netanya back in the 70’s, kiryat shmona is a city on the Syrian border with a population of <30k, the man who led them to the title Ran ben Shimon quit at the end of the season to take up a job at AEK Larnaca that was created after previous manager Yordi Cruyff moved to Maccabi Tel Aviv, despite winning last years league many people think kiryat shmona haven’t a hope of even competing this time round, they have managed to sign no one of note in the close season and lost a couple of their main players to Mac TA, they are up against Azeri opposition Neftchi Baku who beat Zestafoni from tblisi in the next round and if they win that are guaranteed at least group stage participation in the Europa league, they have to play all their games in Haifa given that their own stadium took a hammering from Hisbollah in 2006 and is only a 5k capacity

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:o

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:clap:

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pats biggest problem this season has been finishing the amount of chances they create…they have dominated teams and still managed to draw or even worse lose…

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http://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/europa-league/2012/0802/331699-st-pats-athletic-team-news-v-hannover/

St Patrick’s Athletic will be without the services of Stephen O’Flynn after breaking a rib for their Europa League third round qualifying clash with Hannover at Tallaght Stadium.
The striker is expected to be out for up to a month.
Dean Kelly is also on the casualty list with a groin injury, while Mark Rossiter is a long term absentee with a knee injury.
Manager Buckley however is hoping to have new signing Vinny Faherty registered in time for the clash.
Looking forward to the game, Buckley said: "We have to make sure we play our way. When we get the ball, we’ve got to be even more patient in terms of keeping possession – our supporters have been great in understanding that and supporting us this season.
"We’ve a tough game Thursday night, but we’ll rely on what we’ve been working on for the past few months, and if we retain the ball, they’re not going to score.
“We cannot afford to give the ball away cheaply which we have done at times this season - if we can avoid doing that, we’ll give ourselves a chance.”

All the best to Pats tonight, i hope that Buckley’s tactic of striving to retain possession of the ball at al costs wont prevent them from playing some of the football they are capable of…
i dont know much about Hannover96 as i dont watch Bundesliga at all except for the odd kaiserlautern game as they are shown every saturday out here due to the fact that itai Shecter plays for them.
hopefuly the foruim wil be represented out in tallaght tonight

Im going to head over to Beni yehuda tel Aviv and PAOK later on tonite,
PAOK are capatained by ex uruguayian international and former real madrid defender pablo Garcia, the also have Salpingidis who i think got the goal against Poland in the euro’s this year ans spurs last year…
no one else of note plays for either team unfortunatly
im not expecting much

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Welcome home Mickee.

I hope Liverpool use this to develop some of the younger fringe players and not burning the likes of Suarez out.

Be great to see Lucas back tonight tho.

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Confirmed #LFC team: Reina, Robinson, Carragher, Agger, Kelly, Henderson, Spearing, Adam, Shelvey, Sterling, Borini

Liverpool FC @LFC Subs: Jones, Coates, Downing, Lucas, Allen, Flanagan, Morgan

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Is this on TV?

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ITV 4 and setanta I believe. I’ll miss it, but I hope the younger lads do well tonight.

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Anyone watch this, how did the young lads go?

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I watched wee bits of it. Poor enough game - Hearts the better side for large spells. Kelly and Sterling played well. Henderson is a joke of a footballer.

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Barring injuries, he won’t see much time in the premiership this year I’d imagine.

Delighted young Raheem played well, hopefully he is used throughout the UEFA cup run. What about Robinson behind him at left back?

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I can’t really comment with great authority as I wasn’t really watching the game with my full attention but he seem solid enough without leaving any lasting impression.

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Cheers mate. I hope Tase didn’t pile on Liverpool in the end.

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Saw most of the 2nd half. Sterling was decent enough if a little green. It’s great to see a Liverpool winger take on the full back for a change. Kelly was solid as usual and set up the goal with a very good cross.

Liverpool on the whole were average but there were times when the influence of Rodgers’ philosophy was showing, especially when Allen came on. Adam will not last under Rodgers. Isn’t mobile enough and disciplined enough to stick to the game plan. Should try and offload him ASAP

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I’m hoping himself and Cole are getting game time to put them in the shop window. I see Adam Morgan came on for a few minutes, again it would be great if he got some experience in this competition so we can see where he is at. We are badly stuck for goal scorers

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Luis Suarez really misses too many chances. Two absolutely gilt-edged ones inside a minute there now - one off the post and one flashed past the post. Downing playing fairly averagely at left back and Jordan Henderson has been pretty invisible.

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Hearts are battling away here.

Im going to predict that Sterling will score his first competitive goal here, or if not tonight, in the next ten games.

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HOWLER

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Yurt