Today marks the first games in our Europa League group and what a quality group we got. Atletico Madrid, Stade Rennes and Udinese represent three teams from the top five ranked leagues in Europe, so every game is going to be a struggle.
I would even go as far as saying this is the toughest group we have ever been in, but maybe that is more to do with the fact we are not as strong as we were five or six years ago. Still they are games to get excited over and these are the games players want to be part of.
After reviewing our three opponents game footage and learning as much as I could from different sources, here is how I think the group will finish.
1. Atletico Madrid, 2. Stade Rennes, 3. Udinese, 4. Celtic.Â
I think we will get 4-6 points at home and nothing away. All of these teams are better than FC Sion and therefore better than us.
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Atletico are not only favourites for the group but one of the favourites to win the whole competition.
There is world class talent in every position on this team and they would go far in the Champions League. Stade Rennes held onto Yann M’Vila over the summer and in doing so kept their best defensive protection, they have also significantly improved in attack and could make a run at a Champions League qualification place in Ligue 1.
If this group was drawn on the very last day of last season, I would have Udinese the favourites to win. Unfortunately for them they lost three of their four best players and have not had suitable replacements. Still they are excellent and return the nucleus of the team that finished 4th in Serie A.
It is not all doom and gloom though. There is not as much pressure now as there was with the FC Sion games. Having six games to qualify and not being favourites should free us to play our normal style of football.
I doubt Lennon will change tactics tonight, I would be very surprised and also disappointed if Georgios Samaras played. We still have a few injuries but only Emilio Izzaguirre is difficult to replace. Kelvin Wilson, Biram Kayal and Gary Hooper have overcome their knocks and started a couple of games in a row.
We are also well into our season and have a settled team, Atletico are only two games into their league season and have yet to score and Udinese only started their domestic season last weekend due to strikes.
I believe if we can recreate our performance against Motherwell, we will cause lots of problems for these teams and the chances of us giving away a penalty and have a man sent off inside a minute are very slim.
So enjoy these games, they will give us a bit more European experience and set us up domestically as you can only improve playing against this kind of opposition. Here are my predictions for tonight.
Atletico Madrid 2-0 Celtic, Udinese 1-1 Stade Rennes
We might actually have the worse away record in European football and I don’t think it will change tonight, if we get any positive result it will be a huge bonus.
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In relative terms this is definitely the hardest group we have been in because, as you say, this is the poorest squad and imo management team we’ve had in the group stages of either european comp.
Not quite. You’ll struggle to find a tougher group than Barcelona, AC Milan and Shakhtar Donetsk in 2004/05.
Although we had beaten Barcelona the previous season, they now had “oor Henrik”. AC Milan went on to the final where they stupidly binned a 3-0 lead against Liverpool. Shakhtar had spent around 40 million to get to where they were.
It’s no real wonder then that we finished bottom of that group, but still managed to get 5 points thanks to a home win against Shakhtar, a home draw against AC Milan and our solitary non-defeat away from home in the Champions League – a 1-1 draw at the Camp Nou.
This group is difficult, and probably the hardest group in the Europa League this season. But hey, I like a challenge and it would have been easier if we’d just beaten Sion like we should have.
Si si qui
I agree with most of your article Paul. I only hope Neil Lennon DOES change tactics.
If Stokes was fit, then play him and Hooper. However, with him injured I believe Samaras is a better option as the lone striker. He can be painful to watch, but these are the game he was born for.
He probably won’t have any support, so nobody to disappoint.
As you touched on, the players should be excited about these games. Travel-wise, there are easy to reach destinations. Stoke City are playing in Ukraine, Israel and Turkey!!
Difficult to get excited about that, also huge amount of time travelling.
I would love a guaranteed 10 points, but for us to have that we would be in a group we would learn nothing from.
4-8 points, bring it on!