UEFA Cup 2007/2008

[Alex de Large]

Ajax again out of the UEFA cup early...

Atletico has won 0-5 LOL

 

[Doctor]

With Italian league becoming only the 3rd best league in the eyes of many, I believe that whatever Inter does domesticly would be downgraded because Real Madrid or Man. Utd. titles in Spain or Britain would be worth more than Inter title in SeriaA.

With all do respect for Inter, last SeriaA was the weekest one ever played and Italian football is obviously in decline, which is highlighted by number of good Italian players deciding to play their football abroad. Keep in mind that something like this rearly happends with English or to the certain extent even Spanish players.

What is even more evident is the huge gap between big clubs who can alwayes buy what theyneed and the normal SerieA clubs who (to the certain extent) represent the true state of Italian football. Speaking of which, just look at how badly thay have done compared to medium size clubs of some other football leagues.

Only one Italian club, Fiorentina, made it to the group stage of the UEFA Cups. And it neaded penalties to beat avrage (7th in Duch standings) Groningen side. Palermo was defeated by Mlada Bolesav (have anyone ever heard of this guys? 5th in Czech league), Sampdoria lost to AaB (whoever they are, 3rd in Danish league) and finally, Empoli lost to Zurich (2nd in Switzerland).

Speaking of the other big leagues, they will be very well represented in group stage of the UEFA Cup. Germans have 4 while English, Spanish, French and even Russians have 3 representatives each. With all the facts in place, its easy to conclude that there is a certan decline in Italian football and that we need sucsess of Italian clubs in European Cups in order to retain our status and hopefully go back to being considered the best league in the world.

 

[shahz_nerazzurri]

This is seriously gonna hurt Italian co-efficient in Uefa rankings. Really abysmal day. Cant believe Palermo lost at home.
A few more of these, we will slip to 4th, and lost out on a CL spot.

 

[NimAraya]

What The Hell?!! Ironically Sampdoria and Palermo both won in their away matches but amazingly knocked out of the Uefa Cup!

 

[bennyblanco]

noone cares about the UEFA cup in Italy,getting yourself a top 4 finnish in the scudetto is more important>>>CL playoff spot

but its a shame how the UEFA cup is virtually ignored,same with Coppa Italia

i remember once upon a time when any game was worth winning,now it seems the arrogance of the top tier clubs is slowly getting replicated by the smaller ones

reminds me when SAF wanted to sitout the league cup as Man Utd had a tough run in the CL

then you have eastern european clubs willing to do anything to qualify for the Uefa cup let alone the CL

its all about $$$$$$$$$$$$$

thats why the stadiums are empty too

 

[Doctor]

While top Italian clubs do not care about UEFA Cupa, smaller clubs do care.
I remember Palermo players caring so much last season that the coach felt it was a distraction and was hurting their SeriaA preformences.
I have no reason to believe it was different this time around.
The fact that thay lost doesent mean that thay didnt care.
Just that they lost because they were not good enough.
Samo goes for Sampdoria and Empoli.

 

[Alex de Large]

Palermo lost cause they did want to, PLAying with bench players and all, they want to play CL, not uefa cup, same happened last year, and Empoli, normal thing that they beat them, they are not even a top10 team in SERIE A, udinese, napoli or atalanta are better.

btw it's obvious the uefa cup level is down every year, for play the 6 games of 1/32's of CL (even if u lose some of those 6), they give the club more money than if u play the final of the uefa cup or u win it. even medium clubs like zaragoza, newcastle or palermo are not interested in this competition.

Sevilla has actually get more money for play these 2 games in CL than for won uefa cup last season, it's a shame.

 

[Pajo]

Atletico has won 0-5 LOL

What's so funny?

I don't remember since when Atleti scored 5...

Now vs. barca will be 4, but...

 

[PSV]

Groningen _O_
A historic match yesterday for Groningen, unfortunately they lost against Fiorentina after penalties...
Groningen almost qualified for the CL two seasons ago, but in the 90th minute Sneijder scored for Ajax, they are a very hard team to beat and they have a fantastic coach.

But overal a black day for dutch football, only one team made it to the CL groupstage...

 

[Doctor]

Palermo lost cause they did want to, PLAying with bench players and all, they want to play CL, not uefa cup, same happened last year, and Empoli, normal thing that they beat them, they are not even a top10 team in SERIE A, udinese, napoli or atalanta are better.

btw it's obvious the uefa cup level is down every year, for play the 6 games of 1/32's of CL (even if u lose some of those 6), they give the club more money than if u play the final of the uefa cup or u win it. even medium clubs like zaragoza, newcastle or palermo are not interested in this competition.

Sevilla has actually get more money for play these 2 games in CL than for won uefa cup last season, it's a shame.

Its only normal because Champions League is the NBA of football.
But I can not agree that Palermo wanted to loose the mach.
Coach maybe felt that he neaded to rest some players, but I feel that they played hard.

 

[sergiu.inter]

noone cares about the UEFA cup in Italy,getting yourself a top 4 finnish in the scudetto is more important>>>CL playoff spot

but its a shame how the UEFA cup is virtually ignored,same with Coppa Italia

i remember once upon a time when any game was worth winning,now it seems the arrogance of the top tier clubs is slowly getting replicated by the smaller ones

reminds me when SAF wanted to sitout the league cup as Man Utd had a tough run in the CL

then you have eastern european clubs willing to do anything to qualify for the Uefa cup let alone the CL

its all about $$$$$$$$$$$$$

thats why the stadiums are empty too

True dude,you're absolutely f*** right.It's a pitty though,but this is the way things are

 

[INTER]

I just made an instant passion for Dinamo Zagreb so I hope they will win Uefa Cup! They really deserve it.

 

[Wittmann]

I just made an instant passion for Dinamo Zagreb so I hope they will win Uefa Cup! They really deserve it.

Hehe, why's that? Did you watch the match?

@Benny, totally agreed and I too don't like it..Sports nowdays is almost all about money.. :|

 

[Doctor]

I was hoping for local AIK to do well, but thay were eliminated by Hapoel Tel Aviv 1-0 on agregate. Conseading that one goal in the second half of the second game at home.

 

[Gasparroni]

noone cares about the UEFA cup in Italy,getting yourself a top 4 finnish in the scudetto is more important>>>CL playoff spot

but its a shame how the UEFA cup is virtually ignored,same with Coppa Italia

i remember once upon a time when any game was worth winning,now it seems the arrogance of the top tier clubs is slowly getting replicated by the smaller ones

its all about $$$$$$$$$$$$$

thats why the stadiums are empty too

Somewhere your right, i agree but..........

Teams like (with all respect) Sampdoria, Palermo and Empoli cant really fight for CL places in the Serie A. It might be their dream, but for them its almost impossible, so why wouldnt they care about UEFA Cup? They dont rest their players just to try to get at least fourth. Fiorentina is the only team fighting for CL, and they even played with their strongest squad. So its a bit 2 sided....same for the Coppa Italia, Inter, Milan, Roma ecc could let their youngsters and subs play the begin matches, this is to give players rest and a bit of arrogance. But when they reach the semi final, you will see them playing with strong teams, so they really want to win it.
When your out because you lost its always easy to say it isnt a important competition, but if the team is big like Inter, Milan, Juve, Roma you should play for the Coppa, Scudetto and on European level.

To get more on topic, im not sure but i thought you cant win much money in the UEFA Cup, only by winning it or finish very high, but if your results are good here, the teams gets selftrust and could also play well in Serie A, just as long the program isnt too busy.....so i think they really want to win it, but they are affraid for what? Is Sampdoria, Empoli or Palermo affraid to lose CL places in the Serie A 2007/08? Well they even wont stand a chance to reach them, so how it can be their goal? They should aim on the UEFA trophy, they would get beated in the CL easily.......and i think nothing is wrong by winning the UEFA Cup.

And about the empty stadion.........well, how many fans visited us against PSV? It doenst matter, in every Italian match the stadions are empty unless its REALLY an important game, and this is very sad and must change!!

 

[INTER]

Hehe, why's that? Did you watch the match?

I've watched like 4-5 games both in the Uefa Cup and the HNL Liga and I simply think they deserve a lot this season!

 

[Alex de Large]

 

[Adriano@10]

DAm zürich got a very hard group i mean they are quite clearly the weakest team in group E. Anyway with a bit of luck we still might qualify:

 

[INTER]

What's with the Greece domination?

[This year's Uefa Cup sucks big time ]

 

[Michal]

What's with the Greece domination?

Because there is only 1 team that can reach CL group phase and it's Olympiacos.