UEFA Cup - Group Draw

[all_funkt_up]

I dont imagine there's a great deal of interest in the UEFA cup these days, even for those involved with it.

I know Phil Gartside (he in charge at Bolton) said that clubs have to reach the Semi Finals just to break even in this competition.

Anyway, today has thrown up some interesting groups I think. Bolton have a real humdinger, drawing Bayern & Everton seem to have a tough one there. Aberdeen look funkt I'd say, very tough draw for them.


UEFA CUP DRAW
Group A
AZ Alkmaar
Zenit St Petersburg
EVERTON
Nuremburg
Larissa

Group B
Panathinaikos
Lokomotiv Moscow
Atletico Madrid
Copenhagen
ABERDEEN


Group C
Villarreal
AEK Athens
Fiorentina
Mlada Boleslav
Elfsborg

Group D
Basle
Hamburg
Stade Rennais
Dinamo Zagreb
Brann

Group E
Bayer Leverkusen
Sparta Prague
Spartak Moscow
Toulouse
FC Zurich

Group F
Bayern Munich
BOLTON
Braga
Red Star Belgrade
Aris Thessaloniki


Group G
Anderlecht
TOTTENHAM
Getafe
Hapoel Tel-Aviv
Aalborg

Group H
Bordeaux
Austria Vienna
Galatasaray
Panionios
Helsingsborgs

[mrmuzeman]

I think Evertons draw is pretty good. AZ are quite good arent they? But other than that, im guessing the other 3 sides are just fairly solid teams but nothing to be worried about. I have zero clue how good Petersburg and Nuremburg are. Did anyone see how good Larissa looked when they knocked out Blackburn?

I think youd find theres quite a lot of interest in the competition for those sides actually involved AFU. But I agree fans of teams not involved arent bothered about it (unlike the Champions league which generates interest from all).

[all_funkt_up]

Originally Posted by mrmuzeman

I

I think youd find theres quite a lot of interest in the competition for those sides actually involved AFU. But I agree fans of teams not involved arent bothered about it (unlike the Champions league which generates interest from all).

I reckon you'd struggle to find 5 grounds that sell out on any given UEFA match day. Fans will stay away in their droves.

[crowie]

Originally Posted by mrmuzeman

I think Evertons draw is pretty good. AZ are quite good arent they? But other than that, im guessing the other 3 sides are just fairly solid teams but nothing to be worried about. I have zero clue how good Petersburg and Nuremburg are. Did anyone see how good Larissa looked when they knocked out Blackburn?

I think youd find theres quite a lot of interest in the competition for those sides actually involved AFU. But I agree fans of teams not involved arent bothered about it (unlike the Champions league which generates interest from all).

AZ lost their two main strikers from last season, Koervermans (?sp) to PSV and Arveladze to Levante. Still supposed to be a decent side though but I would say Everton could handle them.

Zenit are the richest club in Russian football now apparently.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FC_Zenit_Saint_Petersburg


Have to agree with AFU on the attendances though, most teams tend to find these games don't sell well.

[igor5]

I don`t follow Dutch Eredivisie this season but from i could see from the results so far AZ without Koervermans and Arveladze is completely difrent team, last couple of season AZ was goal machine(last season they scored 83 goals if I’m not wrong and becouse they war one goal short they lost the title from Ajax) and now they are having problems with teams that last season would be crushed, but still they could make some problems in this group.
I don`t believe they have quality to go in to the next stage.

[GaNgStA kEeKs]

Yeah AZ are a shadow of the side they have been the last couple of seasons.

Zenit will be the biggest test imo. Lots of money being pumped into Russian football at the moment and Zenit top the league ahead of Spartak. Anyone who saw Celtic against this mob in the CL will agree they are a very very good team.

If Zenit are topping this group then they are going to be a tough nut to crack for sure.

WTF are all the local media up here and Aberdeen players/manager saying they have got a good draw and it could have been 10 times harder?

Looks a bloody awful group to me. Everyone making Copenhagen out to be the worst of the lot. They managed to beat Celtic and Man Utd last season in the CL.

Madness...The odds willl be interesting.

[mrmuzeman]

I reckon you'd struggle to find 5 grounds that sell out on any given UEFA match day. Fans will stay away in their droves.

Isnt it more to do with a lot of the games being on tele and them being Thursday night kickoffs though? I find it hard to believe that thered be less interest in a UEFA game than your standard premiership fixture.

[all_funkt_up]

Everton v most Prem teams will sell out, whether its on the telly or not.

Everton v Spartak Vladikavkaz in the UEFA wouldnt sell out in a million years.

[mrmuzeman]

Why do you hate the Uefa Cup AFU I was only making a point that the teams involved in the cup themselves are pretty damn interested in doing well in it and I think im right. I can only fully speak for Everton fans but I dont see why any other club (bar a 'big 4' team who expect Champs Lg) would be any different.

As for attendances, heres our home game attendances rounded to the nearest thou so far

Wigan 39,000
Blackburn 34,000
Man Utd 39,000
Metalist 37,000
Boro 32,000

The 3 that were on tele were Blackburn, Metalist and Boro. Metalist had the highest attendance out of the 3 of the tele games so I guess well have to agree to disagree perhaps despite the stats there.

The odds are out for group winners btw now Kiko. Aberdeen are 20/1 to win their group Everton are 9/4 favourites to win theirs, I wouldnt punt on that in a million years after the well dodgy Metalist showings.

[all_funkt_up]

Listen Muze, I have nothing against the UEFA cup as such. But one decent attendance against Mentalist Ukraineski counts for very little. Probably reduced ticket prices or something drove the numbers in. It certainly wasnt massive away support that's for sure.

If the UEFA cup is so good, why did Pompey and Reading turn down the chance to enter it via the intertoto this year?

[all_funkt_up]

The competition's been rubbish since 2001.

However, it could be an Everton/Liverpool final next year in Manchester as when we get knocked out of the CL in Dec, we go into the UEFA pot.