Thoughts?
Pure Europa league group we've got
this post was submitted on 31 Aug 2023
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Poor group F is going to be absolutely brutal. Hope we rotate for our CL group stages so every gets game time.
Group F looks interesting
PSG going to finish bottom of the group. Lol
It's what I'm hoping for.
Not a bad group at all for us. City getting some matches to play their C team
I laughed lol
Group A looks interesting. Galatasaray home games could be tough for Bayern and MUFC.
Group E also looks fun. The top team in the group (Feyenoord) isn't too tough, but the bottom 2 aren't that weak. Atletico should progress but it will be a scramble for the other spot.
But, Arsenal really looks like it got lucky. Avoided FCB (Bayern) and FCB (Barcelona) and got 3 clubs that aren't the big ones in their respective leagues, ones that aren't too far away, ones without a vicious away atmosphere, and ones where the flights over and back will be easy.
Meh, I mean I underestimate them at my peril but Galatasaray will at best provide a hellish home atmosphere for Utd/Bayern, but that's about it, maybe snatching a point? Lol
Atleti will progress with Lazio imo, Arne Slot might be a good manager but don't think the squad is still CL calibre, while the less said of Brendao the better lmao
But damn we LUCKED OUT, we underestimate them all at our peril (again) but at the very least no trips to Eastern Europe
No trips to eastern Europe, far southern Europe, or far northern Europe. Every trip is a comfortable distance.
In addition, none of the opponents is the "big club" or part of a dominant pair from their respective league. That's one of the challenges when you face an opponent like Galatasaray / Besiktas, Celtic / (Rangers), Olympiacos, Shakhtar Donetsk, Red Bull Salzburg, etc. They know they're going to win their domestic league, or at worst come in 2nd behind their one rival, so they push really hard in Europe since that's the only challenging competition they're in.
It's better when the opponent has a split focus between doing well in their domestic league and doing well in Europe. Sometimes when dominant clubs play in Europe they treat group stage games like finals, and go flying into reckless tackles, and so on. Clubs like Sevilla, PSV, Lens, and also Young Boys, Porto, Benfica, Antwerp, etc. have to also focus on their domestic leagues, so they can't have players giving 110% in mid-week if that leaves them shattered for the weekend games.
If Arsenal could have picked its opponents, these are exactly the kind I would have chosen. Not only avoiding the big guns of FCB and FCB, but also avoiding the teams that don't have to worry about their domestic leagues like Shakhtar Donetsk, Olympiacos, Besiktas / Galatasaray, etc.
Tbf Turkey has been a bit more of a scramble these days for the title. Gala got like 13th not too long ago lol. Point still stands though
Lens 97/98 at Wembley was my first in person Arsenal game. 26 years later I am having awful PTSD.
Group C looks like a potential banana peel tbh, obviously it's no group F but there's definitely a chance that we see one of Napoli/Real Madrid get knocked out