Europa League

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Originally Posted by geysir

I meant to refer to games in the EL only.

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Pld 6 W 2 D 3 L 1...... fairly bog standard stuff for a team that have reached the semi final I would think. Getting draws away to Napoli and Leverkusen were decent results but it hardly constitutes a very good away record overall, especially given the mediocre opposition in the group stage.

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Originally Posted by geysir

With an all Spanish CL final, Villarreal are already with 1.85 feet straight into next season's CL group stage, therefore this EL thingy is just bonus territory for them

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I'm sure Villarreal are just as desperate to win it, as all Spanish clubs have been long before there was a CL qualification carrot. They have won a grand total of two trophies in their history, the Intertoto Cup twice, so it's hardly mere bonus territory.

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Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

geysir exposed as a charlatan yet again.

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The yellow subs aren't doing much to help his cause so far either. :D

geysir's reputation in shreds here. He's taken a pummelling.

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Originally Posted by Charlie Darwin

geysir's reputation in shreds here. He's taken a pummelling.

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You always know the pioneers Charlie, they're the ones with all the arrows in the back.

Well done by Liverpool in the end, despite being bog standard by vintage Liverpool standards and well behind in the EPL, they have performed the best of the lot in Europe.
Perhaps they will do more than 'do a Fulham' as they will be meeting a Seville team who are not as good as previous incarnations.

A Sevilla team that have beaten Barcelona, Real Madrid and Juventus this season nevertheless (not to mention sticking four past the usually defensively sound Villarreal). They also drew away to Ateltico. I see Llorente and Konoplyanka didn't even make it off the bench for them last night, what's the story there I wonder? I wouldn't really know where Llorente's at right now but I thought Konoplyanka would have been an important player. Interesting final ahead anyway and for the second year running, two teams who won't qualify for the CL through their domestic league, which is a little surprising I think.

What's 'doing a Fulham' exactly? Making the final and losing?

Looking forward to the final now.

Giddy up!

I didn't see any of it but I think Sevilla must be decent to have beaten Donetsk so comprehensively.

Liverpool did what I expected to be frank, turned in a big high-tempo performance which overwhelmed Villarreal in the end. Makes you wonder why they can't do it week in, week out.

I suppose they're a bit of a work-in-progress and have prioritised the EL for a while now. Villarreal were awful in every way, the only slight positive was that they didn't cough up that many clear cut chances considering how dominated they were. They were ratty and petulant from an early stage, despite the tie being in the balance.

Soldado was one of the worst offenders, a guy you'd expect to show a bit of leadership/experience. Their goalkeeper was a bundle of nerves, he couldn't even catch the ball. Bruno only took centre stage momentarily when he put the ball into his own net (sorry Geysir, couldn't resist, it was Bruno you meant right, as opposed to Bravo?). They hadn't the temperament for the occasion at all and Liverpool, by contrast, were busy, economical and even turned on the style a bit when the time was right to do so.

Owen Hargreaves seems to love Emre Can, waxing lyrical all night. He was excellent and does have serious potential at just 22. Toure and Lovren is Liverpool's best centre back partnership I think, although they've only fallen upon it due to injuries and drug taking.

Hargreaves is clearly still hurting from some of the injury related insinuations made against him during his own (non) playing days, he repeatedly backed Daniel Sturridge's appetite for game time and talked of how insulting it is for a footballer to have that questioned. I like him as a pundit and co-commentator actually.

I thought Liverpool played really well last night. Hassled Villarreal at every opportunity and then kept the ball pretty well when they had it. Conversely I thought their general play against Dortmund in the previous round was brutal in the 2nd half - only some really poor defending from set pieces saw them through. I still can't get over how poor Dortmund were defensively - coughed up some amount of chances over the two legs.

AS much as I like Klopp. I really hope against hope that Sevilla knock the shoite out of these tonight.

How does Konoplyanka not start for this crowd? The game should be over already really, Sevilla starting to get panicked by the pressing, never a good sign.

Phew!!!

EDIT: Sevilla were 11/1 at HT. Why did I check it if I was not gonna put anything on them. GAH!

I can see why Konoplyanka struggles to get a start with this crowd.

Dare I say it....

Giddy up

Loved that game. First 3 goals were all superb. Nightmare second half for Liverpol. Great achievement.

First half bad, second half good :)
Sevilla learned from Villarreal's mistake and decided to play their first goalkeeper and not the boy scout.
TV3 live player coverage is easy to tune into outside Ireland, their coverage is very good and bandwidth is excellent.
Fans can generate a great atmosphere in that Basel ground even if it's small, better than many much bigger grounds.

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Originally Posted by geysir

Sevilla learned from Villarreal's mistake and decided to play their first goalkeeper and not the boy scout.

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Pretty sure Dave in commentary said the opposite. The guy tonight has only played a few cup games.

I've seen him in this EL competition.
At least he wasn't the boy scout while the nr 1 sat on the bench twiddling his toes.

That is precisely what happened though.

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Originally Posted by geysir

Fans can generate a great atmosphere in that Basel ground even if it's small, better than many much bigger grounds.

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totally agree.

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Originally Posted by DeLorean

Dare I say it....

Giddy up

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When's the second leg Del?