2019/20 Europa League - Qualifying Rounds

[Michael]

1 minute ago, ...Dan said:

A penalty missed and two goals scored in 5 minutes

Yes Espanyol are a  very good LaLiga team. Zorya have very limited resources unlike Shakhtar and Dynamo. Viktor Skripnik has done relatively well with Zorya considering the circumstances.

[nudge]

Just now, Michael said:

Yes Espanyol are a  very good LaLiga team. Zorya have very limited resources unlike Shakhtar and Dynamo. Viktor Skripnik has done relatively well with Zorya considering the circumstances.

Oh Skripnik is now coaching Luhansk? Didn't even know that.

[Michael]

3 minutes ago, nudge said:

Oh Skripnik is now coaching Luhansk? Didn't even know that.

Yes, he is now Zorya Luhansk's manager. He wasn't that bad at Werder Bremen as manager or as a player either was he. 

[...Dan]

Torino get a 2nd from the penalty spot.

[nudge]

4 minutes ago, Michael said:

Yes, he is now Zorya Luhansk's manager. He wasn't that bad at Werder Bremen as manager or as a player either was he. 

Very good as a player and youth coach/manager; not so good as the first team manager... Just looked like it all was a bit too much for him and he couldn't deal with the scope of it. Felt sorry for him but was relieved to see him go.

[Michael]

1 hour ago, nudge said:

Very good as a player and youth coach/manager; not so good as the first team manager... Just looked like it all was a bit too much for him and he couldn't deal with the scope of it. Felt sorry for him but was relieved to see him go.

He actually did quite well as manager of Werder Bremen in his first year. He was hired as Werder manager on the 25th of October 2014 when Werder were last in the table and had not won a single league match in their first 9 league games before Skrypnik was hired as manager. Skrypnik came in and Werder won their next 2 games with him in charge. Eventually Werder would finish the season in 10th place. Skrypnik did well as their manager considering Werder's terrible start to the season under Dutt, where they didn't win once. Werder even beat Dortmund 2-1 that season in the league.

Skrypnik's second season wasn't so succesful as Werder finished the season in 13th place, but they did reach the semi finals of the DFB Cup, where they lost to Bayern Munich2-0. Overall I don't think he did too bad with the Werder team that he had in the two seasons he was their manager. He at least had a positive effect in his first season as their manager. As a player, he was Mr.Reliable for Werder.

[nudge]

10 minutes ago, Michael said:

He actually did quite well as manager of Werder Bremen in his first year. He was hired as Werder manager on the 25th of October 2014 when Werder were last in the table and had not won a single league match in their first 9 league games before Skrypnik was hired as manager. Skrypnik came in and Werder won their next 2 games with him in charge. Eventually Werder would finish the season in 10th place. Skrypnik did well as their manager considering Werder's terrible start to the season under Dutt, where they didn't win once. Werder even beat Dortmund 2-1 that season in the league.

Skrypnik's second season wasn't so succesful as Werder finished the season in 13th place, but they did reach the semi finals of the DFB Cup, where they lost to Bayern Munich2-0. Overall I don't think he did too bad with the Werder team that he had in the two seasons he was their manager. He at least had a positive effect in his first season as their manager. As a player, he was Mr.Reliable for Werder.

Stats and final table position are just one side of the story though and give quite a skewed view. His first season was good (not sure how much of that was due to the new manager effect) but then we went back to being a pathetic joke of a team and it got worse and worse with every matchday; during his second season in charge we were actually in relegation battle until the very end of the season with Djilobodji saving our arses by scoring a winning goal against Frankfurt and sending them into relegation spot instead of us late in the game; we only finished 13th because other results on the final matchday went our way but if we lost that last match we would have faced relegation. Fans were calling for his head, Eichin (our sporting director at the time) didn't want to work with him anymore, the board decided to side with Skripnik due to his previous Werder history and sacked Eichin instead which led to fan outrage  - then Baumann was appointed and gave Skripnik a new contract which he later admitted was his biggest mistake. The tactics and formations were all over the place, he struggled to communicate with the team and the media, clearly lacked ideas and in the end his own players and the board didn't trust him anymore. Some of the worst matches I've witnessed were played under his command - in fact only Dutt beats him in that aspect in recent times. It was clear that he's not a bad coach given his youth coaching record but he was very obviously overwhelmed by the challenges at this level and completely lost the plot in the end. 

[Michael]

48 minutes ago, nudge said:

Stats and final table position are just one side of the story though and give quite a skewed view. His first season was good (not sure how much of that was due to the new manager effect) but then we went back to being a pathetic joke of a team and it got worse and worse with every matchday; during his second season in charge we were actually in relegation battle until the very end of the season with Djilobodji saving our arses by scoring a winning goal against Frankfurt and sending them into relegation spot instead of us late in the game; we only finished 13th because other results on the final matchday went our way but if we lost that last match we would have faced relegation. Fans were calling for his head, Eichin (our sporting director at the time) didn't want to work with him anymore, the board decided to side with Skripnik due to his previous Werder history and sacked Eichin instead which led to fan outrage  - then Baumann was appointed and gave Skripnik a new contract which he later admitted was his biggest mistake. The tactics and formations were all over the place, he struggled to communicate with the team and the media, clearly lacked ideas and in the end his own players and the board didn't trust him anymore. Some of the worst matches I've witnessed were played under his command - in fact only Dutt beats him in that aspect in recent times. It was clear that he's not a bad coach given his youth coaching record but he was very obviously overwhelmed by the challenges at this level and completely lost the plot in the end. 

Well I think that judging managers by results, is a relatively fair way of assessing them. What you say about his 2nd season as manager is true and maybe he did lack ideas in the end like you suggest. But to be honest, the players that he had at his disposal, weren't the best in my humble opinion. In terms of personnel, that squad wasn't as good as the current squad for example, it was significantly weaker. If you compare it to the other squads in the Bundesliga at the time, it was a mid-table squad at best. Our Eintracht squad at the time was probably stronger than Werder in that sense, but we finished below Werder when Veh managed us. Even moneybags Hoffenheim, with a good team under Huub Stevens finished below Werder that season and so did Stuttgart. So I think that we should put things into perspective.

I'm not saying that Skrypnik was great, but for a young manager, he did an ok job over the 2 years that he was there, under the circumstances. Remember, in his 1st season, despite Werder's hopeless first 9 games under Dutt, Skrypnik's Werder finished the season level on points with Frankfurt and only 3 points behind the mighty Dortmund. 

After he left Werder, he went to manage Riga in Latvia and he won both the league title and the Latvian Cup there in his only season, before he decided to leave the club. His record as manager of Riga was won 16, drew 3 and lost 1. Not that bad considering that Riga finished 3rd in the league the season before he arrived and they finished 5th the season before that. Now at Zorya, he's had a decent start. All in all he is still a relatively young manager, who seems to be improving. Maybe the Werder job came too soon for him and maybe he was overawed at the task at hand in the end at Bremen. But I still think that he still has a lot of potential as a manager and I wouldn't be too surprised to see him manage in a major league again.

[Eco]

4 hours ago, Michael said:

Strasbourg 1-0 Frankfurt final score..well done to Strasbourg, but Frankfurt were lacklustre tonight. I expect a much better performance in the return. I think Frankfurt will go through, but if there is a repeat performance like tonight's display, then Frankfurt can forget progress.

Odd game for me, as I want all French teams to do well in Europe, but also like Frankfurt. 

1-0 isn't the end of the road for Frankfurt, as they at home are an entirely different beast. I'll also mention that's it's an absolute pleasure having you on the forum mate!

[nudge]

1 hour ago, Michael said:

Well I think that judging managers by results, is a relatively fair way of assessing them. What you say about his 2nd season as manager is true and maybe he did lack ideas in the end like you suggest. But to be honest, the players that he had at his disposal, weren't the best in my humble opinion. In terms of personnel, that squad wasn't as good as the current squad for example, it was significantly weaker. If you compare it to the other squads in the Bundesliga at the time, it was a mid-table squad at best. Our Eintracht squad at the time was probably stronger than Werder in that sense, but we finished below Werder when Veh managed us. Even moneybags Hoffenheim, with a good team under Huub Stevens finished below Werder that season and so did Stuttgart. So I think that we should put things into perspective.

I'm not saying that Skrypnik was great, but for a young manager, he did an ok job over the 2 years that he was there, under the circumstances. Remember, in his 1st season, despite Werder's hopeless first 9 games under Dutt, Skrypnik's Werder finished the season level on points with Frankfurt and only 3 points behind the mighty Dortmund. 

After he left Werder, he went to manage Riga in Latvia and he won both the league title and the Latvian Cup there in his only season, before he decided to leave the club. His record as manager of Riga was won 16, drew 3 and lost 1. Not that bad considering that Riga finished 3rd in the league the season before he arrived and they finished 5th the season before that. Now at Zorya, he's had a decent start. All in all he is still a relatively young manager, who seems to be improving. Maybe the Werder job came too soon for him and maybe he was overawed at the task at hand in the end at Bremen. But I still think that he still has a lot of potential as a manager and I wouldn't be too surprised to see him manage in a major league again.

Well just because a few other managers did an even worse job that season doesn't make Skripnik any better... The squad was in a transitional period and lacked resources, that's true - but then he also had players like (younger) Pizarro, Junuzovic, Ujah, Vestergaard, Garcia, Gebre Selassie, Bartels, Bargfrede, Fritz, Grilitsch, Öztunali in his disposal so it's not as if he had no quality to rely on. His first season was good, but after that it all went completely downhill. His results speak for themselves and in the end that's the main reason why he was sacked - and rightly so as we were going absolutely nowhere.
As I said, he was always a good youth coach and so I'm not surprised he's doing well with lower profile clubs in lower profile leagues. All the best for him in the future - I personally think he doesn't have what it takes to manage in a major league; especially in terms of dealing with pressure. 

Anyway this has gotten waaaay off topic.

[Michael]

16 minutes ago, nudge said:

Well just because a few other managers did an even worse job that season doesn't make Skripnik any better... The squad was in a transitional period and lacked resources, that's true - but then he also had players like (younger) Pizarro, Junuzovic, Ujah, Vestergaard, Garcia, Gebre Selassie, Bartels, Bargfrede, Fritz, Grilitsch, Öztunali in his disposal so it's not as if he had no quality to rely on. His first season was good, but after that it all went completely downhill. His results speak for themselves and in the end that's the main reason why he was sacked - and rightly so as we were going absolutely nowhere.
As I said, he was always a good youth coach and so I'm not surprised he's doing well with lower profile clubs in lower profile leagues. All the best for him in the future - I personally think he doesn't have what it takes to manage in a major league; especially in terms of dealing with pressure. 

Anyway this has gotten waaaay off topic.

Yeah, well my point was that managing a Bundesliga side is not easy and that was his first ever job as a professional manager. The fact that other more older and experienced managers did worse than him, with arguably better squads is evidence for that. Of course that doesn't necessarily mean that Skripnik is any better, but it does demonstrate how hard of a challenge it is to manage a Bundesliga club.

Maybe he won't ever have what it takes to manage in a major league again, maybe he will. He certainly has time on his side and he isn't doing too badly in lesser leagues. Anyway, time will tell.

Right now I am sure that you are happy with the young Florian Kohfeldt, who has shown a lot of promise as a manager. Hopefully Werder will become a top 6 or top 5 Bundesliga club again in the near future.

[Michael]

42 minutes ago, Eco said:

Odd game for me, as I want all French teams to do well in Europe, but also like Frankfurt. 

1-0 isn't the end of the road for Frankfurt, as they at home are an entirely different beast. I'll also mention that's it's an absolute pleasure having you on the forum mate!

Well if Strasbourg go through, it will be well deserved. They played some plucky football tonight and you could tell that the crowd helped to inspire their performance. 

I personally think that Frankfurt will have too much for them at home. But 1-0 to Strasbourg is a decent home win, they didn't concede an away goal. So if Strasbourg score in Frankfurt, then of course Frankfurt will have to score at least 3 goals. Anything is possible, but I still highly fancy Frankfurt and I am not saying that just because I support them.

Thanks for your compliment, it's a pleasure engaging with other passionate fans such as yourself, nudge and others. All the best mate. 

[nudge]

4 minutes ago, Michael said:

Yeah, well my point was that managing a Bundesliga side is not easy and that was his first ever job as a professional manager. The fact that other more older and experienced managers did worse than him, with arguably better squads is evidence for that. Of course that doesn't necessarily mean that Skripnik is any better, but it does demonstrate how hard of a challenge it is to manage a Bundesliga club.

Maybe he won't ever have what it takes to manage in a major league again, maybe he will. He certainly has time on his side and he isn't doing too badly in lesser leagues. Anyway, time will tell.

Right now I am sure that you are happy with the young Florian Kohfeldt, who has shown a lot of promise as a manager. Hopefully Werder will become a top 6 or top 5 Bundesliga club again in the near future.

Oh absolutely, that's actually more the club's fault because they put him there (potentially too early) and put pressure on him to deliver. The same thing happened with Alex Nouri afterwards, and that's also the reason why I was skeptical when the board chose Kohfeldt; I honestly thought we were making the same mistake for the third time, burning out three talented young managers with potential in the process. Happy to be proven wrong by Kohfeldt; for me he's the best thing that happened to us after Schaaf haha.

[Michael]

2 minutes ago, nudge said:

Oh absolutely, that's actually more the club's fault because they put him there (potentially too early) and put pressure on him to deliver. The same thing happened with Alex Nouri afterwards, and that's also the reason why I was skeptical when the board chose Kohfeldt; I honestly thought we were making the same mistake for the third time, burning out three talented young managers with potential in the process. Happy to be proven wrong by Kohfeldt; for me he's the best thing that happened to us after Schaaf haha.

Haha, yeah, Thomas Schaaf is no doubt a legend in Bremen. He didn't do too badly for us either in the one season he managed us. But yeah, Kohfeldt looks like he is real management material. He will also only get better with the more experience he gets, well that's how it usually works in theory anyway, lol.

[RandoEFC+]

Wolves were really impressive against Torino in the first leg but they still need to be wise in the second leg. Could easily get done over by smart European gamesmanship but wouldn't expect that to happen.

[Stan]

First leg scores in brackets

Thursday 29th:
Hapoel (0) vs (3) Feyenoord
Riga (1) vs (3) Copenhagen
Rangers (0) vs (0) Legia Warsaw
Antwerp (1) vs (1) AZ Alkmaar
Apollon (0) vs (3) PSV
AIK (0) vs (2) Celtic
Spartak Moscow (0) vs (1) Sporting Braga
Zorya (1) vs (3) Espanyol
Wolves (3) vs (2) Torino

[...Dan]

Espanyol 2-1 up at Zorya. The home side need to score 4 times in 16 minutes to go through.

Frankfurt v Strasbourg just kicking off now.

[Stan]

So annoying that none of these qualifiers are on BT Sport to watch. 

[Michael]

1 minute ago, ...Dan said:

Espanyol 2-1 up at Zorya. The home side need to score 4 times in 16 minutes to go through.

Frankfurt v Strasbourg just kicking off now.

Come on Frankfurt, I want a good display tonight.

[tlr]

Will say well done to Belfast's Linfield for the hell of a fight they put up against Qarabag, managed a legendary 3-2 home win last week but went down 2-1 tonight to drop out on away goals. Seldom any team from Northern Ireland (or even the Republic) get beyond the first round of qualifiers so to get within one goal of the group stage is a huge achievement. They have done both themselves and Irish football proud and hopefully they can kick on off the back of the financial reward and experience.

[Stan]

Celtic & PSV making light work of their opponents. Both have scored 4 against AIK and Apollon Limassol respectively.

Espanyol ended up drawing 2-2 but still go through on aggregate.

Copenhagen lost 1-0 but still go through, just about.

 

[Michael]

6 minutes ago, Stan said:

Celtic & PSV making light work of their opponents. Both have scored 4 against AIK and Apollon Limassol respectively.

Espanyol ended up drawing 2-2 but still go through on aggregate.

Copenhagen lost 1-0 but still go through, just about.

 

Celtic and PSV looked very convincing tonoght.

Frankfurt 1-0 up, the goal was a little fortunate, but still deserved. We need to go for the second now.

[Michael]

Frankfurt are really putting the pressure on Strasbourg, I like what I have seen so far. I feel that the second goal is not too far away going by their performance so far.

[Michael]

Great save from the Strasbourg keeper from Paciencia's header. Frankfurt need to carry on with this offensive strategy.

[nudge]

3 minutes ago, Michael said:

Great save from the Strasbourg keeper from Paciencia's header. Frankfurt need to carry on with this offensive strategy.

Just turned the game on - how the fuck is  that a red for Rebic???