UEFA Europa League Qualifying Rounds 2020-21

[Venkman]

Milan were the better team and deserved at least a draw. United were poor and got lucky with Kessie's goal. Improved a little at the beginning of the 2nd half, great ball by Bruno and header by Diallo. Maguire should score, James should do better with his chance and Henderson should do better with the equaliser.

 

[AB13]

Happy with the win. An okay performance, but I want us to create a little more. We won on some moments of brilliance from unusual players.

 

[S E P H]

It is has to be finalised at this point that Ceballos will never wear an Arsenal kit again. The amount of goals we cause because of our own fault is ridiculous, has to be the top in all of Europe easily. Arsenal would be in the CL if it wasn't for all these self inflected mistakes.

Great goal by Odegaard (though absolutely horrendous goalkeeping), but El Neny had to challenge with a cracker of his own and IMHO a superior goal. Not sure how El Neny learned to score like that using the outside of his football, but brilliant. Three away goals puts Arsenal in a good spot.

Also LOL at Man United needing VAR help to ovecome the draw against lonely Milan. They played them off the pitch and were unfortunate to not go back to Milan with a 3-1 series lead.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

It is has to be finalised at this point that Ceballos will never wear an Arsenal kit again. The amount of goals we cause because of our own fault is ridiculous, has to be the top in all of Europe easily. Arsenal would be in the CL if it wasn't for all these self inflected mistakes.

Great goal by Odegaard (though absolutely horrendous goalkeeping), but El Neny had to challenge with a cracker of his own and IMHO a superior goal. Not sure how El Neny learned to score like that using the outside of his football, but brilliant. Three away goals puts Arsenal in a good spot.

Also LOL at Man United needing VAR help to ovecome the draw against lonely Milan. They played them off the pitch and were unfortunate to not go back to Milan with a 3-1 series lead.

Maybe not in a CL spot, but at least competing for it.

The amount of self-inflected wounds is incredible. I think a part of it as to do with coaching. They ALWAYS try to play the ball out of their area by passing it. Multiple players, including Leno. Teams know it and press high, yet, we still try to keep control of the ball instead of kicking it forward and winning races for it. I mean, I am not advocating for kick and run, but you have to recognize the situation you are in and make the smart play. How many times have they tried to keep control of the ball low in their half against a high press? When multiple players do it game after game after game and you do not see an adjustment, you have to start blaming the system/manager. They lose MANY balls deep in their own half every single game. They are LUCKY not to conceed more goals.

That being said, no excuses for Ceballos. It is like 3 times in a row.

 

[Jussi]

According to Ole, Pogba, VDB, Cavani and De Gea (depending on a negative Covid test) could all be available for the second leg.

 

[HajdukSplit]

Dinamo’s manager has been given a prison sentence (4 years and 8 months) days before the Spurs match Technically he can still manage against Spurs but by law he will have to be fired within a week. My guess he joins his brother in exodus in Bosnia

 

[Pouchkine]

So the guy lives freely in Bosnia enjoying his millions while still operating the club and nothing is done to get him to serve his sentence???

 

[Savi]

is this the Mamic Brothers were talking about?

 

[HajdukSplit]

is this the Mamic Brothers were talking about?

Yes, Zdravko is in “hiding” in Bosnia while his brother Zoran is basically manager and sporting director. However today he resigned, my guess is he tries to go to Bosnia too now. Funny thing is Zoran wasn’t terrible manager, he managed in the Asian CL final and had Dinamo competitive in Europe

 

[Islay1989]

So the guy lives freely in Bosnia enjoying his millions while still operating the club and nothing is done to get him to serve his sentence???

What can they do? Send someone to illegally capture him and bring him into Croatia? He has dual-citizenship and Bosnia is refusing to extradite him.

As for Zoran, can't stand the guy, but he is obviously a very good manager. Dinamo is playing very well under him and he did well in his other stops as well. Too bad for them that he is a crook.

 

[Havre]

Only watched the team once when they played Spurs in the 1st leg, but I was impressed by how well organized they were. Definitely well coached based on that game. Not that Spurs will hammer you anyway, but Spurs have played quite a few PL teams less well drilled than Zagreb.

 

[Pouchkine]

What can they do? Send someone to illegally capture him and bring him into Croatia? He has dual-citizenship and Bosnia is refusing to extradite him.

As for Zoran, can't stand the guy, but he is obviously a very good manager. Dinamo is playing very well under him and he did well in his other stops as well. Too bad for them that he is a crook.

So will they let him go to Bosnia?

 

[Islay1989]

So will they let him go to Bosnia?

Well they most certainly should not, will they is another thing altogether.

 

[Jussi]

According to Ole, Pogba, VDB, Cavani and De Gea (depending on a negative Covid test) could all be available for the second leg.

All trained today.

 

[Jussi]

Cavani didn't make the trip after all. Picked up something in the final training session.

 

[Pouchkine]

Really quiet so far, probably the most boring time in CL-Europa play in recent memory.

 

[TJ21]

Haven't been too many juicy matchups or huge upsets other than Juve, that might have something to do with it. Even the PSG Barca fixture isn't what it once was, so no real surprises. Hoping that the draws for the quarters give us some fun matchups.

As for Europa, its funny because United v Milan is as big a tie as you can hope for, but even that's been a pretty tame affair. Milan were better than us in large stretches and honestly deserved the tie, which sucks, but forces United to be a bit more attack minded today. Hoping for a more complete game, some much needed creativity possibly coming back after that string of injuries.

 

[Scandale du Jour]

David Luis is so bad.

 

[Islay1989]

Dinamo controlling the play, but can't break through.

 

[Islay1989]

Orsic breaks through

 

[Havre]

Good thing Spurs aren't playing in the Croatian league. Would get absolutely trashed week in and week out.

This team is beyond frustrating to watch. I get that you can't always be at your best, but the kind of performances you get when the team is off is just embarrassing.

 

[Havre]

Not that Zagreb are a bad team. Again they show they are very well coached. And they scored a brilliant goal.

 

[Islay1989]

Not that Zagreb are a bad team. Again they show they are very well coached. And they scored a brilliant goal.

Dinamo, not Zagreb. Zagreb is a one time Croatian champ that currently plays in the 4th division.

 

[Islay1989]

Good thing Spurs aren't playing in the Croatian league. Would get absolutely trashed week in and week out.

This team is beyond frustrating to watch. I get that you can't always be at your best, but the kind of performances you get when the team is off is just embarrassing.

Dinamo trashed Krasnodar, CSKA, Feynoor and Wolfsberger to get this far. They also got scored on once in the 6 group games. This isn't just Spurs playing below standards, Dinamo are a pretty good team.

 

[Havre]

I don't think one excludes the other.

Not suggesting Spurs should just trash Zagreb, but they should be capable of at least keeping the ball occasionally.

Too many Dynamos.