2015-2016 Europa League Part II

[Chimaera]

Sevilla will be a tough opponent and a reasonnable favourite in the final though.

Gameiro scored again. I still don't see why he's never an option for the NT.

Reasonable favorite? Maybe slight.

 

[Pouchkine]

I'll agree it was not a clear dive but the embellishment was too much AND about 5-10 minutes before he didn't call a similar one when a Villarreal defender slightly pushed Milner...This Suarez guy though was a big failure today, and it seems to me Villarreal lacked leadership on the field and were not ready for the game at all. And their fans as well they looked down and out at 0-1 down???

 

[Pouchkine]

Both finals are 50/50 for me.

 

[Chimaera]

I do think Villarreal went into this tie quite cocky and even more so after the first leg.

 

[Savant]

Liverpool wanted it more.

COME ON YOU REDMEN.

Very glad I took a half day today

 

[Savant]

So all in all Areola had a good game. He made a mistake on Liverpool's first goal (the ball was going out and he deflected it) but it was a tough decision to make.
He was terribly unlucky on the second goal (deflected shot went to Sturridge, Areola deflected the second shot, hit the post and barely in at the other post).
But he made great saves throughout the game.

Areola is a boss. Would gladly have him over Mignolet

 

[Power Man]

This is gonna be a must watch final tbh

 

[Live in the Now]

I do think Villarreal went into this tie quite cocky and even more so after the first leg.

I don't think the players were, but their manager set the team up to keep a clean sheet at Anfield and did not change his plans after Liverpool scored so early. That is very cocky. I think his players were extremely frustrated with how things were going and I don't think Soldado believed in the way they approached the game. The way Villarreal's forwards were dropping so deep played into Klopp's hands. It's easier for his teams to pile on pressure when the opponent can't get the ball past the midfield lines, and it's easier when defenders have to play lower percentage passes past the midfield up to those forwards. Villarreal deserved to lose because their tactics weren't appropriate for the situation, those were tactics you use in the first leg.

The Final is an even game as has already been said. The issue for Liverpool is that Toure and Lovren can be exposed against a smaller, more quick forward like Gameiro. On the other side of the coin for Sevilla, it is alarming that they were so porous defensively against a team like Shakhtar who has less offensive talent than Liverpool these days. Could be a wide open game in two weeks. Liverpool will need Milner and Can to have similar impacts as they did today, and it will be interesting to see what Origi can offer from the bench given he should be back by then. I think Liverpool will be far more cautious given that Sevilla is not going to approach the game in a similar way to Villarreal. Sevilla will also be more intelligent and put their best attacker (Konoplyanka) on the same side Moreno's on, not the side Clyne is on. Suarez switched to the other side late in the game today but that was too late.

Klopp does have an interesting job fixing what's wrong with Liverpool, and most of those things could actually be seen in this tie. Moreno tends to run much too far forward and forgets his duty in going backward, he also needs to take on defenders more when he's that far up the pitch. Lallana isn't really good enough despite how hard he runs and even though he scored a goal. He could have played Sturridge into great positions a few times and misplaced his passes. Goalkeeping's another. That being said, they're all one game away from being legends and it's a little difficult to not be emotional right now. This could ultimately be the most rewarding season in a decade when all's said and done.

 

[Panteras]

for some reason this was an even bigger accomplishment or shocker or whatever to me than knocking out Borussia. Congrats from a United fan.

 

[HajdukSplit]

Liverpool's run to the final was impressive, they were given difficult draws in the knockout stage for the most part. Important final for both sides who failed to qualify for the CL through the league positions

 

[Luigi Habs]

So just to confirm. Whether Sevilla or Liverpool win their domestic league will have 5 teams competing in the CL next season??

 

[Live in the Now]

Yep. Four in the group stage and the 4th place team in either Spain or England will be in the qualifiers.

 

[hatterson]

Technically Liverpool isn't mathematically eliminated from the top 4 yet

All they need to do is win out, have City lose out, have united and west ham draw and then lose out their other games....and also win each of their 3 league games left be 3 goals.

Totally possible

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

Moreno clearly pushed him with both hands. I wouldn't have given a penalty (too much embelishment), but it was no dive (which would mean no foul) and was a good shout at a pen.

That wasn't a penalty but Gimenez's was? Martinez embellished just as much has Suarez. It was a penalty.

Not sure who to cheer for in the final, Sevilla have had success in Europa would really like to see a new winner.

The best thing UEFA did was give a CL spot to the Europa winners. Made this tourney a lot more interesting.

 

[YNWA14]

Sevilla will be a tough opponent and a reasonnable favourite in the final though.

Gameiro scored again. I still don't see why he's never an option for the NT.

What makes Sevilla "reasonable favourites"? Liverpool has a better team, they have Klopp and they've already faced Dortmund and Villareal who are both better than Sevilla this year.

It's going to be a tough game for both teams. Both of the European finals this year should be really close, cagey games.

 

[Live in the Now]

They have won two European finals in a row.

Klopp will heavily push the underdog label to his team and point out what happened the last time they played in a final and did not push hard from the start.

 

[Cassano]

What makes Sevilla "reasonable favourites"? Liverpool has a better team, they have Klopp and they've already faced Dortmund and Villareal who are both better than Sevilla this year.

It's going to be a tough game for both teams. Both of the European finals this year should be really close, cagey games.

EPL getting underrated as usual on this forum.

 

[Evilo]

Reasonable favorite? Maybe slight.

Reasonnable as "choice of reason".

 

[Evilo]

What makes Sevilla "reasonable favourites"? Liverpool has a better team

There you go.... First argument, first failure.

Your ignorance and lack of respect for any non EPL team is ridiculous.
Sevilla has a very good team, has won it twice now, has experience, etc, etc, etc...

It's think it's reasonnable to say Sevilla is the favourite but that it's going to be a tight game.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

Liverpool wanted it more.

COME ON YOU REDMEN.

Very glad I took a half day today

You nailed it.
Villarral didn't seem to be prepared for this game.
Liverpool.crushed them and deserved to win.

The final will be very entertaining, either team can win it but I give the edge to the team that has already won it several times in recent years

 

[maclean]

Sevilla will not be as ill-prepared as Villarreal and should play with more confidence and fewer breakdowns. It would be folly not to consider them paper favourites. But Liverpool has played well with the underdog label and their fans shouldn't take that as a slap in the face, but rather relish it. Liverpool has the advantage of momentum and heart, the Klopp factor and I'd even say better recent form.

 

[Prntscrn]

Marcelino is a funny guy complaining about Klopps celebration after this

https://youtu.be/I4In5BtCnZk?t=285

 

[Chimaera]

There you go.... First argument, first failure.

Your ignorance and lack of respect for any non EPL team is ridiculous.
Sevilla has a very good team, has won it twice now, has experience, etc, etc, etc...

It's think it's reasonnable to say Sevilla is the favourite but that it's going to be a tight game.

I agree they're the favorites, but more from the stance that they've won it twice than that they're a clearly better side. Their experience in playing in the competition and having a lot of experience on their books is going to serve them very well.

Both teams have their flaws, and both have played pretty well to get here.

For what it's worth, Liverpool's biggest advantage, Anfield, won't come into play in this one. For all Marcelino's talk of having been to Barca or Real, and Dortmund's playing in big matches, it was obvious to me that the atmosphere definitely played into it. In the Villarreal match especially, the players looked nervous and a bit bothered by the hum and drive from players in Red who fed off the crowd's energy. I also think that the whole bus drive in bit is nuts, but you don't really see that in English football.

 

[Halladay]

The one that makes me a bit optimistic is that Sevilla are not good away from home this year.

 

[YNWA14]

Sevilla have a better team, have played better this year, have faced better competition, have a better coach and are massive favorites for this match. Don't know how I didn't see it before.