Match Thread (Europa League) Aberdeen 6 - 0 Runavik

[Tord31]

14 minutes ago, Dons21 said:

Take it no home advantage guaranteed from being seeded? 

Equal chance of home/away. Could even yet be neutral grounds required if they dont fix the draw re travel corridors.

[Big Hat Logan]

1 hour ago, RUL said:

Is there anything really wrong with his comments? I saw folk on twitter saying Ferguson wouldn't have said this but that's because the format was different and we actually thought we could compete.

To get to the group stages would be a brilliant achievement. Financially it would cover a massive hole I imagine.

It makes me cringe to the very core when folk bang on about Ferguson like that, just leave it be ffs.

[Lencarl]

2 minutes ago, Tord31 said:

I'm not sure why folk are getting so excited about the comment from McInnes.

 

Getting to the europa group stages would be McInnes biggest achievement so far.

Bigger than League Cup

Bigger than finishing second

Bigger than splitting Old Firm*

I beg to differ.

Some folk would say by not having two leg ties it will be easier to get to the group stages.

Getting second place this season would guarantee European Cup football next season.

 

 

[Tord31]

I'm not sure why folk are getting so excited about the comment from McInnes.

 

Getting to the europa group stages would be McInnes biggest achievement so far.

Bigger than League Cup

Bigger than finishing second

Bigger than splitting Old Firm*

[slippers]

30 minutes ago, Parklife said:

Some very winnable ties there (Lincoln red imps, Bala town) but also some shockers (Maccabi Haifa, CSKA Sofia) that I cant see us winning away from home. 

Teams in name only! They have half the coefficient we do for a reason. We would handle them I think. 

[Tord31]

11 minutes ago, Lencarl said:

I beg to differ.

Some folk would say by not having two leg ties it will be easier to get to the group stages.

Getting second place this season would guarantee European Cup football next season.

 

 

Second place this season would be champions league qualifiers with only one tie requiring to be won to guarantee group stage football. Yes, that would be huge but I'm speaking about his achievements to date. 

[muttonhumper]

1 hour ago, Ramandu said:

A bit of an arsey point I admit, but we weren't the seeds in that round. Kairat were the seeded team, as they'd beaten Alashkent  the previous round.

?

Fit?

We were absolutely the seeds in that draw.

Did you not look at the graphic?

 

Kairat (2,575) were the seeded team as they beat Alashkert? ?

The same Alashkert who had the second lowest co-efficient (0,550) in the entire tournament?

Only some Gibraltar shite at 0,300 were worse.

https://www.footballseeding.com/european-cups/europa-league-seeding-15-16/

 

We were seeded as we took Rijeka's seeding.

The Draw was Kairat Almaty (2,575) or Alashkert (0,550) v Rijeka (13,700) or Aberdeen (4,580). I remember watching it on my phone, scoofing Ožujsko in sweltering heat in Croatia the midday-ish after the 3-0 in Rijeka.

Our match v Rijeka being in the seeded pot of the draw.

We 100%, unarguably, were the seeded team in that tie.

 

Sorry if that makes Derek less of a hero than you were trying to make out. ?

?

 

.

[Lencarl]

4 minutes ago, Tord31 said:

I like getting ahead of myself. It's entertaining.

 

Aye, it's funny.

I answered your post before you posted it.

[Tord31]

I'd like to see us draw the other Faroes team, Stavanger or Ventspils again.

It's a bit too boring to get a UK/Ireland team.

[slippers]

Think we have as good as squad as we have had for a while now. We shouldn’t be finishing 20-30 points off second this year.

4 minutes ago, Tord31 said:

Second place this season would be champions league qualifiers with only one tie requiring to be won to guarantee group stage football. Yes, that would be huge but I'm speaking about his achievements to date. 

 

[Ramandu]

2 minutes ago, muttonhumper said:

?

Fit?

We were absolutely the seeds in that draw.

Did you not look at the graphic?

 

Kairat (2,575) were the seeded team as they beat Alashkert? ?

The same Alashkert who had the second lowest co-efficient (0,550) in the entire tournament?

Only some Gibraltar shite at 0,300 were worse.

https://www.footballseeding.com/european-cups/europa-league-seeding-15-16/

 

We were seeded as we took Rijeka's seeding.

The Draw was Kairat Almaty (2,575) or Alashkert (0,550) v Rijeka (13,700) or Aberdeen (4,580). I remember watching it on my phone, scoofing Ožujsko in sweltering heat in Croatia the night after the 3-0 in Rijeka.

Our match v Rijeka being in the seeded pot of the draw.

We 100%, unarguably, were the seeded team in that tie.

 

Sorry if that makes Derek less of a hero than you were trying to make out. ?

?

Ah no, you're right. Miss remembered and can't read. 

[Tord31]

Just now, slippers said:

Think we have as good as squad as we have had for a while now. We shouldn’t be finishing 20-30 points off second this year.

 

I like getting ahead of myself. It's entertaining.

I think the game on Sunday is pivotal given how favourable our league fixtures are between Sep internationals and Oct internationals (Killie H, Well H, County A, St Mirren H).

Also depending on how we get on in europe we could get our two games v Hamilton (H & A) on the go and get some more points on the board (Hamilton is also the postponed game for Scottish Cup Semi in October).

[muttonhumper]

1 hour ago, Tord31 said:

POTENTIAL OPPONENTS QR2
FK Kukësi *	Alb	5.500
Servette FC Genève *	Sui	5.280
Aris Thessaloniki	Gre	5.260
OFI Heraklion	Gre	5.260
FK Ventspils *	Lat	5.250
Olimpija Ljubljana *	Slo	5.250
Lincoln Red Imps *p	Gib	5.250
TSC Backa Topola *	Srb	5.100
Kalju Nomme *	Est	5.000
NK Osijek	Cro	4.975
IFK Göteborg	Swe	4.550
Hammarby IF *	Swe	4.550
Bodø/Glimt *	Nor	4.350
Viking Stavanger	Nor	4.350
Progrès Niederkorn *	Lux	4.250
FK Riteriai *	Lit	4.250
CSKA Sofia *	Bul	4.000
Honvéd Budapest *	Hun	4.000
Maccabi Haifa *	Isr	3.925
Kaysar Kyzylorda	Kaz	3.850
Neftchi Baku *	Azb	3.750
Shamrock Rovers *	Irl	3.750
B36 Torshavn *p	Far	3.750
Lokomotiv Plovdiv	Bul	3.475
FC Botosani *	Rom	3.340
Piast Gliwice *	Pol	3.325
Hibernians FC *	Mlt	3.250
DAC Dunajska Streda *	Svk	3.175
KF Laçi *	Alb	2.750
Teuta Durrës *	Alb	1.475
Renova Dzepciste *	Mac	1.475
FK Borac Banja Luka *	Bos	1.375
Sfântul Gheorghe *	Mol	1.350
Coleraine *p	Nir	1.250
Bala Town *	Wal	1.250
Lokomotivi Tbilisi *	Geo	1.150

 

17th September eh, bit away that, don't suppose we'll be allowed into matches by then?

Thought not.

IF we were though, my list of preferables at a glance, followed by the determining factor for this preference, would be:
 

Servette FC Genève - Memories of Frank McDougall in the European Cup. Delectable cheese fondue. Direct flight Larnaca.

Aris Thessaloniki & OFI Heraklion - Greek language, & direct, short flights from Larnaca to Thessaloniki and Crete.

Olimpija Ljubljana - Love that city xxx

TSC Backa Topola - Never been to Serbia. Outrageous.

Kalju Nomme - Tallin is fantastic. Hesburger.

IFK Göteborg - Oh, for the memories.

CSKA Sofia - Direct flight, fancy Sofia as a city. Serious cheap beer.

Honvéd Budapest - Also direct flight. Renew old rivalries.

Maccabi Haifa - Cheap. 1 hr flights

Neftchi Baku - 45p a pint. Ace city. 

Hibernians FC - Short hop across Med. €60

Lokomotivi Tbilisi - Would like to spend a bit longer than the 15 oors there last year for Chikura game. V nice place.

 

All fantasy thanks to this covid pish.

Dinna knock me for dreaming...

[redstrummer]

15 minutes ago, muttonhumper said:

 

17th September eh, bit away that, don't suppose we'll be allowed into matches by then?

Thought not.

IF we were though, my list of preferables at a glance, followed by the determining factor for this preference, would be:
 

Servette FC Genève - Memories of Frank McDougall in the European Cup. Delectable cheese fondue. Direct flight Larnaca.

Aris Thessaloniki & OFI Heraklion - Greek language, & direct, short flights from Larnaca to Thessaloniki and Crete.

Olimpija Ljubljana - Love that city xxx

TSC Backa Topola - Never been to Serbia. Outrageous.

Kalju Nomme - Tallin is fantastic. Hesburger.

IFK Göteborg - Oh, for the memories.

CSKA Sofia - Direct flight, fancy Sofia as a city. Serious cheap beer.

Honvéd Budapest - Also direct flight. Renew old rivalries.

Maccabi Haifa - Cheap. 1 hr flights

Neftchi Baku - 45p a pint. Ace city. 

Hibernians FC - Short hop across Med. €60

Lokomotivi Tbilisi - Would like to spend a bit longer than the 15 oors there last year for Chikura game. V nice place.

 

All fantasy thanks to this covid pish.

Dinna knock me for dreaming...

Could maybe still go over if it's a country that has no quaratine rules and a direct flight . Watch in a bar . Budapest would be ace

[muttonhumper]

29 minutes ago, Ramandu said:

Ah no, you're right. Miss remembered and can't read. 

 

LOL.

That's normally my forté. ?

[muttonhumper]

12 minutes ago, redstrummer said:

Could maybe still go over if it's a country that has no quaratine rules and a direct flight . Watch in a bar . Budapest would be ace

Ha. Stop teasing.

Aye would be nice, bit at the pricier end for beer like.

Even pricier if you get accosted and de-cashed in a strip club.

As is customary. Apparently.

[NEM]

1 hour ago, Big Hat Logan said:

He gets asked questions by the media, nothing wrong with that reply.

Unless you think he should be saying we are going to win the Europa league? Why stop there, might as well say we are going to win the treble.

Nobody "expects" us to win anything.  I expect us to try to win trophies though, not concede before a ball is kicked

[DD1903]

4 hours ago, Lencarl said:

After the great performance yesterday McInnes said to Sky:

"We know we are not going to win the tournament but getting to the group stage would feel like a win all round."

I do wish he would stop with these comments.

Better to say nothing at all.

What's the issue? We're not going to win it, are we. There is some massive teams in this tournament after all

[Ten Caat]

2 hours ago, Tord31 said:

I can certainly see them trying to fix the draw again for local matches which would be a boost for us.

I thought it was fixed for the last round, but in what way is Slovenia local to Northern Ireland? FWIW I hope we do get a Welsh or Irish team in the next round. Less than an hour travelling if we get an away draw and a nice easy route into the 3rd round, bumping up our co-efficient and prize money. 

We can start looking at more glamourous ties from then on, by which time hopefully fans will be back in the grounds across Europe.

[aberdeen1970]

Wright and Hedges finding form is an unexpected bonus as I thought they'd end up being on the fringe of things before the season started. 

 

[Big Hat Logan]

55 minutes ago, NEM said:

Nobody "expects" us to win anything.  I expect us to try to win trophies though, not concede before a ball is kicked

No matter what McInnes said I’m sure you would have an issue with it. 
 

 

[daytripping]

We should play that same formation against the diddy teams in the league, no reason why we couldn't blow them away as well, we looked good enough.

[Oregon Red]

59 minutes ago, Ten Caat said:

I thought it was fixed for the last round, but in what way is Slovenia local to Northern Ireland? FWIW I hope we do get a Welsh or Irish team in the next round. Less than an hour travelling if we get an away draw and a nice easy route into the 3rd round, bumping up our co-efficient and prize money. 

We can start looking at more glamourous ties from then on, by which time hopefully fans will be back in the grounds across Europe.

I would take that or the other Faroese team!

 

[DelMonte]

1 hour ago, NEM said:

Nobody "expects" us to win anything.  I expect us to try to win trophies though, not concede before a ball is kicked

Making a deal out of nothing. We obviously won't win the fucking thing, nothing wrong with saying it 

[afc1903mad]

4 hours ago, Ramandu said:

Bit more perspective. In the last 7 seasons we've progressed through every round we've been seeded (8/8) - no slip ups.

Good stat, suggesting that we have never failed to progress through the rounds as we were expected to achieve.

That said, although technically Kairat Alamaty took the place of a seeded team, they were and still do have a lower co-efficient status than us, so maybe the 8/8 is debateable

 

  

4 hours ago, Ramandu said:

We're 2/8 for rounds where we're unseeded though.

Again, a stat worth bearing in mind.

A couple more where we were unlucky not to progress i.e. Maribor and I also think we were extremely unlucky in the Burnley game.

There was a time when Ben Mee took out our player who would have been through to be 1 on 1 with the goalkeeper. That could have seen us get a second away goal.

 

Looking forward to Monday now and seeing who we have drawn

 

 

[Tord31]

19 minutes ago, afc1903mad said:

Good stat, suggesting that we have never failed to progress through the rounds as we were expected to achieve.

That said, although technically Kairat Alamaty took the place of a seeded team, they were and still do have a lower co-efficient status than us, so maybe the 8/8 is debateable

 

  

Again, a stat worth bearing in mind.

A couple more where we were unlucky not to progress i.e. Maribor and I also think we were extremely unlucky in the Burnley game.

There was a time when Ben Mee took out our player who would have been through to be 1 on 1 with the goalkeeper. That could have seen us get a second away goal.

 

Looking forward to Monday now and seeing who we have drawn

 

 

Burnley was unlucky. Any goal in the last 30 half an hour of regulation time would have killed the tie off. Unlucky.

Maribor was unlucky with the goal/missed pen/no red card. Unlucky.

Kairat we blew it conceding an away goal at the time in the tie. Blew it.

Apollon we just completely didn't turn up in the away tie. Bottled it.

Sociedad were too good but we ran them closer than expected given the got two of their goals in the last period of the second tie. Write it off to experience.

Rijeka were good but we blew it with that stupid stupid penalty conceded in the first leg. Bottled it.

 

The common theme throughout is conceding away goals at Pittodrie. Something that wont be a problem this year because of the strange format. So you never know.

[Scotty_Toronto]

3 hours ago, Tord31 said:

I think we can be quietly confident of doing something in the europa this year. I think half our problem with the second leg of Qr3 the last few years has been the mental and physical fatigue of it being a sixth thursday in a row of these games.

If we get another gimmee in round 2 then i'd be hopeful we could be ready to spring a surprise in round 3. Then you just never know.

Yep, less games with a bigger squad this time round.

2 hours ago, Tord31 said:

Second place this season would be champions league qualifiers with only one tie requiring to be won to guarantee group stage football. Yes, that would be huge but I'm speaking about his achievements to date. 

The powers winna be happy unless it's Celtic and Sevco in the CL.

Would love to upset the applecart. 

[afc1903mad]

4 hours ago, Ten Caat said:

No we didn't. We were playing part time footballers at home. Coleraine knocking out Maribor in Slovenia.....a part time team knocking out a full time side away from home.....is a far bigger achievement.

That said it was good to see us keep on attacking after we went 2-0 up. 

Aye fair point, I had meant just purely on the scoreline, but you're right Coleraine putting out Maribor is a better result. Probably the same with the team that put out Dinamo Minsk

[afc1903mad]

4 hours ago, Ramandu said:

A bit of an arsey point I admit, but we weren't the seeds in that round. Kairat were the seeded team, as they'd beaten Alashkent  the previous round.

That's my recollection.

we had a higher seeding than Kairat, but the draw was made beforehand and we were down as the unseeded side.

technically though, we were higher seeds that lost to a lower seeded side

[afc1903mad]

4 hours ago, Tord31 said:

i'd be hopeful we could be ready to spring a surprise in round 3. Then you just never know.

Let's see what the draws bring on Monday and Tuesday.

QR3 has some tough teams.

 

Here's the likely seeded sides for QR3: -

Tottenham Hotspur **     Eng  85.000              
FC Basel **              Sui  58.500              
Besiktas @2              Tur  54.000              
Sporting CP Lisbon       Por  50.000              
FC København **          Den  42.000              
PSV Eindhoven            Ned  37.000              
VfL Wolfsburg **         Ger  36.000              
Viktoria Plzen @2        Cze  34.000              
APOEL Nicosia *          Cyp  27.500              
BATE Borisov **          Bls  24.000              
Galatasaray **           Tur  23.500              
Malmö FF *               Swe  22.000              
Partizan Belgrade *      Srb  22.000              
Standard Liège **        Bel  20.500              
FCSB *                   Rom  20.500              
Granada CF **            Esp  20.456              
AC Milan **              Ita  19.000              
AEK Athens               Gre  16.500              
Glasgow Rangers **       Sco  16.250              
LASK                     Aut  14.000              
Hapoel Beer-Sheva *      Isr  14.000              
Rosenborg BK *           Nor  13.500              
Apollon Limassol *       Cyp  12.500              
FK Rostov                Rus  12.000              
Stade de Reims **        Fra  11.849              
NK Rijeka                Cro  11.000