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battle for 14th/15th

Author: cinebelu Date: 27-07-2013, 02:25 Edited by: cinebelu at: 27-07-2013, 03:04

after 1st&2nd QR 14 Austria 23.225 4/5 15 Romania 22.632 4/4 16 Israel. 22.500 4/4 17 Czech R 22.225 3/4 18 Cyprus. 20.875 2/4 already in a bad position: Austria - divide by 5 and lost 1 team in the 2nd qr Czech Rep - lost one of their main pts-collectors: Sparta Prague Cyprus - lost 2 teams and are ~1.800 below 15th but everything can change - 1 great season of APOEL, like 2 yrs ago and Cyprus could succeed at last I think the battle will be decided by the number of teams each country will have in the GS. Romania will have very probably only Steaua, while Israel could have minimum 2, Austria Wien have only to pass Hafnarfjardar + Rapid and Salzburg still in race, Czech Rep could have a 2nd team together with Viktoria Plzen 3rd QR CL Austria Wien - Hafnarfjardar FC Salzburg - Fenerbahçe Dinamo Tbilisi - Steaua (they have the opportunity to smash a Dinamo - their arch enemies ) FC Basel - Maccabi Tel-Aviv Kalju Nomme - Viktoria Plzen APOEL Nicosia - NK Maribor 3rd QR EL Pandurii Târgu Jiu - Hapoel Tel-Aviv Asteras Tripolis - Rapid Wien Petrolul Ploiesti - Vitesse Arnhem AS Trencín - Astra Giurgiu Ventspils - Maccabi Haifa Estoril Praia - Hapoel Ramat-Gan Jablonec - Strømsgodset Slovan Liberec - FC Zürich Pasching(Aut) and Apollon Limassol(Cyp) will start in the 4th QR

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: SirHenri Date: 02-08-2013, 00:49

Great battle, absolut unpredictable atm We are in the middle of the most important phase of the season, how many teams will reach group stages ?!? Romania looks strong so far, but if they loose two teams in ELQ3, this can change fast. Same for the Czechs and Israel. Austria looking worst of the 4 (Sturm lost vs. Breidlabik), but if they bring two teams into CL-GS, they earn massive points and are favorites again.

Re: battle for 14th/15th
Author: Philipp Date: 02-08-2013, 12:03	I think Austrias chances are not so bad if Rapid manages to get into the ELGS. If they pass Asteras they would be seeded in the playoff. Austria Wien should be able to pass FH and play at least ELGS too while Salzburg should be favorite against any opponent in ELPO if they fail against Fenerbahce.

Re: battle for 14th/15th
Author: Lorric Date: 02-08-2013, 19:58	It's a real surprise to me that Romania have surged into 15th already.

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: yanivbm88 Date: 02-08-2013, 22:27 Edited by: yanivbm88 at: 02-08-2013, 23:10

Romania and Czech Rep. are probably going down this year, because all their EL teams will be unseeded in the PO round. (Some of them will probably be eliminated in the third round). It will be a suprise if those countries will have another team in the GS other than their champion Prediction: One team in GS. Cyprus is having a terrible year, and have only unseeded apollon in the EL, and Apoel that meanwhile having trouble against Maribor in CL. Prediciton: One team in the GS (In best case). Israel has two seeded teams in the PO, and low-ranked champions Maccabi tel Aviv who are really strong this year, but got unlucky getting Fc Basel in CL, however if they get a reasonable draw in the Europa league PO, they might pass. Prediction: Two teams in GS. Austria is tough to predict. Austria wien will be in GS, and another 3 teams in EL playoffs. (two seeded and a third league team). However, their coefficent is divided by 5, and they don't seem to achieve more points than the usual. Prediciton: 2 or 3 teams in the GS, will keep 14/15 position, because of the weakness of other countries (Along with Romania, who have the best potential to suprise, and have Steaua that is the strongest team among all these countries)

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: cinebelu Date: 08-08-2013, 00:05

Steaua lost important points as they didnt defeat Tblisi yesterday. Now only Steaua (seeded), Viktoria (seeded) and Austria (unseeded) can reach CLGS. I dont know whats better: to get bonus points for reaching CL or to go ELGS and have better chances to win some games and qualify for Ko-stage 14 Austria 23.725 15 Romania 23.507 16 Czech Rep 23.225 17 Israel 23.000 I think Cyprus we can already write off, because they have only APOEL and Apollon (unseeded ELQ), would have to overtake 3 nations and are about 2.400 behind 15th. Direct battle tomorrow: Hapoel Tel Aviv - Pandurii Tg Jiu (1-1 1st leg)

Re: battle for 14th/15th
Author: mspm89 Date: 08-08-2013, 05:08	I think it'd be time for Israel to make the top 15. All the others have had their chance, and Israel have been around the spot for a lot of years now getting always decent results.

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: SirHenri Date: 08-08-2013, 10:31

None of the team involved today has lost the 1st leg. But except Astra, everybody has to fear elemination anyway. So that's going to be intersting, so far we have : Austria 1xCL 2xELQ4 1x ELQ3 to play (Austira1-1) and 1x Sturm eleminated already Romania 1xCL and 3x ELQ3 to play (1-1 3-1 1-1) Czechs 1xCL 2x ELQ3 to play (2-1 2-1) 1xSparta eleminated already Israel 1xELQ4 3xELQ3 to play (1-1 1-1 0-0) So Austria doesn't look that bad, already 60% in round 4. 80% seems possible. Romania and Israel should both be happy with 75% of their teams in the 4th round but it could well end up with just 50% The Czechs could reach an optimum of 75 %, but it won't be easy to hold both short 2-1 wins. Disadvantage of Israel : They have no club yet in the GS, whereas all others have 1 assured.

Re: battle for 14th/15th
Author: Lorric Date: 08-08-2013, 16:26	I'd always want the CL over the EL. 4 bonus points guaranteed, plus the points for the victory in the final qualifier. And even if you don't make the last 16, you might get 3rd and drop to the EL anyway.

Re: battle for 14th/15th
Author: SirHenri Date: 08-08-2013, 16:55	I'm absolutely with Lorric there, you got 4 guaranteed points in CL and a huge amount of money which makes it easier to compete even the next season(s). Especially for smaller clubs.

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: cinebelu Date: 08-08-2013, 23:59

AUSTRIA WIEN - Hafnarfjardar 1-0 0-0 FC Salzburg - FENERBAHCE 1-1 1-3 Dinamo Tbilisi - STEAUA 0-2 1-1 FC BASEL - Maccabi Tel-Aviv 1-0 3-3 Kalju Nomme - VIKTORIA PLZEN 0-4 2-6 3rd QR EL PANDURII TG JIU - Hapoel Tel-Aviv 1-1 2-1 Asteras Tripolis - RAPID WIEN 1-1 1-3 PETROLUL PLOIESTI - Vitesse Arnhem 1-1 2-1 AS Trencín - ASTRA GIURGIU 1-3 2-2 Ventspils - MACCABI HAIFA 0-0 0-3 ESTORIL PRAIA - Hapoel Ramat-Gan 0-0 1-0 JABLONEC - Strømsgodset 2-1 3-1 SLOVAN LIBEREC - FC Zürich 2-1 2-1 Im very impressed by Pandurii and Petrolul who managed to qualify after 1-1 homegames against seeded and stronger velued teams. Petrolul deserve extra congratulations for wining the direct battle and eliminating a team which would have been seeded in PO. Czech Rep teams are also to praise, they got maximum of points! 14 Romania 24.132 4/4 15 Austria 23.925 4/5 16 Czech R 23.725 3/4 17 Israel 23.250 2/4 By losing Hapoel Tel Aviv, Israel have now a bad position because they have only Maccabi Haifa as seeded team for PO Salzburg, Rapid Wien (Aut) and Maccabi Haifa (Isr) are seeded tomorrow Maccabi Tel Aviv, Slovan Liberec, Jablonec, Pasching, Petrolul, Pandurii and Astra unseeded "It's a real surprise to me that Romania have surged into 15th already." Lorric Romania started earlier than the other (Astra 1st qr, the rest 2nd) and gained a lot of points (still undefeated after 18 games!), while the other competitors afterwards and lost already teams (Sturm Graz, Sparta Pr, both Hapoels), so fewer points

Re: battle for 14th/15th
Author: Lorric Date: 09-08-2013, 01:20	Yeah, they've surged into 14th now! The Q4 draw will be very important.

Re: battle for 14th/15th
Author: Philipp Date: 09-08-2013, 19:02 Edited by: Philipp at: 09-08-2013, 19:04	I think after the Q4-draw Austria has got very good chances to stay within the top-15. Salzburg and Rapid should make it to the GS, while the clubs from Romania, Israel and the Czech Republic got very hard opponents.

Re: battle for 14th/15th
Author: acs4rover Date: 09-08-2013, 19:08 Edited by: acs4rover at: 09-08-2013, 19:16	Czech Republic is out of competition now :-( Jablonec vs Betis Sevilla , Udinesse - Liberec ..... and 1 team cannot hold it, compared to joke opponents of austrian teams, we have only chance for rank 16th against Israel but not 15th and I dont speak about Romania this year ...

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: SirHenri Date: 10-08-2013, 10:59

We see again what huge advantage it is to be seeded in Q4. If all seeded advance, we have 3 autrian teams and only 1 each of CZE, ROM and ISR. The Czechz need to produce at least one big surprise to compete with Austria. Hannover beat (the other) Sevilla recently in this round, so it's not impossible. For Romania the chance to get 2 teams are better, 1 surprise out of 3 seems fairly possible, especially Astra has a very important tie vs. Maccabi. But if the Maccabis beat PAOK and Astra, they have everything in their own hands again. Otherwise it seems to be over. So no superbad draws for them, still alive due to the tough opponents for ROM and CZE.

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: cinebelu Date: 11-08-2013, 07:41

" Petrolul deserve extra congratulations for wining the direct battle and eliminating a team which would have been seeded in PO. " I meant Pandurii, but was still affected by that last minute miracle of Petrolul and picked them out @Philipp sure, having 3 teams in GS Austria seem to be the main favourite to stay in top15. @SirHenri the crucial battle is between Maccabi Haifa and Astra. Haifa is the main collector of Israel and would be an advantage for Romania to eliminate them. Its also possible that Isr, Cze and Rom will have only 1 team each, fighting with equal chances for the last spot (perhaps some advantage for Rom and Cze if Steaua and Viktoria reach CLGS - then Haifa would need a very good campaign in EL, for recovering)

Re: battle for 14th/15th
Author: cinebelu Date: 21-08-2013, 22:44 Edited by: cinebelu at: 21-08-2013, 22:45	Viktoria Plzen - Maribor 3-1 Dinamo Zagreb - Austria Wien 0-2 Steaua - Legia Warsaw 1-1 Romania still 14th, but good forecast for Austria and Chech Rep

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: Philipp Date: 22-08-2013, 23:40

Austria should now be the favourites to take the 14th spot. I hope Rapid will make it to the GS but I am very confident, that will happen, because Dila Gori looked quite poor. I am just afraid that the UEFA will cancel Zalgiris - Salzburg because of the Fenerbahce case. Salzburg should also be able to win in Lithuania, because today the could have scored ten goals without problems. So we would miss those 0,2 points.

Re: battle for 14th/15th
Author: agepox Date: 23-08-2013, 10:12	What happens with Maccabi Tel-Aviv points for auto qualifiying? no points? it's pretty unfair, takes Israel far away from the race.

Re: battle for 14th/15th
Author: SirHenri Date: 23-08-2013, 12:30	I'd take such a Group-stage qualification in any case. Don't care about the max. 2 points you lose here. There's NO risk to be eleminated before, that's really worth much more .

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: cinebelu Date: 24-08-2013, 00:25 Edited by: cinebelu at: 24-08-2013, 00:32

I asked myself too, whats better: to be already qualifyed or to play against PAOK, having the opportunity to additional points (if qualify) but also to risk to be eliminated ? ... ELPO 1st leg was game over for the Romanian fairytale. After 19 games without defeat, followed 3 painful ones at Thu evening. Nevertheless, the crucial battle between Astra G and Maccabi H is still relatively open. Czech Rep will very probably have a 2nd team with Liberec, there is only between Romania and Israel, which country will have the 2nd team to fight against CzeR for 15th and put the other in a hanidicaped position. Romania needs a strong game of Astra next week at Piatra Neamt. Rapid Wien - Dila Gori 1-0 Salzburg - Zalgiris Vilnius 5-0 Estoril Praia - Pasching 2-0 Maccabi Haifa - Astra Giurgiu 2-0 Pandurii Tg Jiu - Sp Braga 0-1 Swansea - Petroul Pl 5-1 Jablonec - Betis Sevilla 1-2 Udinese - Slovan Liberec 1-3 Maccabi Tel Aviv already in ELGS 14 Austria 24.525 15 Romania 24.257 16 Czech R 24.225 17 Israel 23.500

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: yanivbm88 Date: 26-08-2013, 01:29

I read once in the Israeli media that Maccabi will get 2 points for the playoff round. However, nothing official. Anybody knows what happend with Bilbao two seasons ago, did they get the points or not? (after matches cancellatiion against Trabzonspor) BTW, it will be interesting to see what will happen with PAOK points for the matces against Metalist. So far it remained unchanged (also Metalist still have 1.5 points for the matches against PAOK). In my opinion, both solutions for the Maccabi case are acceptable, because its not their fault the game was cancelled, so maybe they should get the points, however it is not a technical win and there wasn't an actual match. Also, they have already earned much more from the situation

Re: battle for 14th/15th
Author: executor Date: 26-08-2013, 08:41	@yanivbm88 I think those 2 points are the minimum guaranteed that are awarded to teams in GS that don't make 2 pts on pitch.

Re: battle for 14th/15th
Author: germanyfrance33 Date: 26-08-2013, 13:15	@yanivbm88 UEFA never award points for matches that haven't been played.

Re: battle for 14th/15th
Author: Forza-AZ Date: 26-08-2013, 13:27	Indeed only points are awarded for matches that have been played. So Israel doesn't get any points for the matches Maccabi Tel Aviv didn't have to play in EL-Q4. Maccabi Tel Aviv does of course get the 2 bonuspoints (minimum guarentee if they don't get a least 1 win or 2 draws) for reaching the EL-GS like every team gets.

Re: battle for 14th/15th
Author: paul7 Date: 26-08-2013, 21:27	Forza,so,first win in the group stage( europa league) or the first 2 draws does not count for club coefficient,i understand right?what about champions league ?

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: executor Date: 26-08-2013, 22:04 Edited by: executor at: 26-08-2013, 22:15

@paul7 No, EVERY point gained on pitch from GS on counts for both country and team coefficient. Those "bonus points" are set only to ensure each team eliminated in GS has at least 2 pts added to their team coefficient. If the team gained them on pitch,nothing extra is added to its team coefficient. If the team got 0 pts, then 2 pts are added to its team coefficient, but not to the country coeficient. If the team gains 1 pt, then only 1 pt is added as above. Hope it's clear.

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: Forza-AZ Date: 26-08-2013, 23:17 Edited by: Forza-AZ at: 26-08-2013, 23:18

@paul7 When teams start the EL-GS they already have the 2 points for the club coefficient. So the first win or first 2 draws doesn't get them extra points for the club coefficient. However these win/draws do count for the country coefficient. For the CL-GS the 4 points are extra, so the first win/draw gets the teams points for the club coefficient also. And as executor said, this is done in EL-GS to make sure teams eliminated in the GS get more points then teams eliminated in EL-Q4 (1,5 point) even if they lose all 6 matches or draw 1 and lose 5.

Re: battle for 14th/15th
Author: paul7 Date: 27-08-2013, 00:04	Forza-AZ,thank you very much for explanation.

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: cinebelu Date: 29-08-2013, 00:45

Austria Wien was very close to produce a shocker after 2-0 away, but Kienast saved them in the 82nd min. Viktoria Plzen is able to keep a 1-0 lead from 3rd min, Steaua cant do the same with a 2-0 after 10 min. With that efficiency the Czech are favourite together with Austria. ELPO games will bring probably a preliminary decision in that battle AUSTRIA WIEN - Dinamo Zagreb 2-3 Legia Warsaw - STEAUA BUC 2-2 Maribor - VIKTORIA PLZEN 0-1 14 Cze 25.475 15 Rom 25.382 16 Aut 25.325 17 Isr 23.500

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: yanivbm88 Date: 29-08-2013, 00:53

Austria will probably have 3 teams in GS, so I think they for sure will end in 14/15. Israel need a good success in EL GS. Two teams in the 32 round should be enough. Suppose Steaua and Plzen will finish with a two points or less in CL GS (unlike Cluj last season), and Liberec will fail also in EL GS( if they will succeed to keep their 3-1 away win against Udinese- not sure at all, they had some loser moments in the past- were eliminated after a technical 3-0 away win in first leg against Dinamo Bucharest)

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: bossake1 Date: 30-08-2013, 00:25

Oh my god, how nice and impredictible is football. Last week nobody still believe Romania will count in this battle but now, only 1 week later, things are completely different. Steaua qualified into CLGS (too bad for 94min goal we conceded in Poland), Pandurii into ELGS and Petrolul and Astra get a win and a draw. Steaua getted an incredibile good draw comparing with Viktoria Plzn and Austria Wien. Now let's see tomorow ELGS draw but in this competition I think Salzburg and both israeli teams will be tough teams and have all the chances to bring a lot of points.

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: cinebelu Date: 30-08-2013, 00:42 Edited by: cinebelu at: 30-08-2013, 00:45

Sp Braga - PANDURII 0-2 Petrolul - SWANSEA 2-1 Astra - MACCABI H 1-1 Dila Gori - RAPID WIEN 0-3 Zalgiris - SALZBURG 0-2 ESTORIL - Pasching 2-1 SEVILLA - Jablonec 6-0 SLOVAN LIBEREC - Udinese 1-1 14 Rom 26.007 2/4 15 Aut 25.725 3/5 16 Cze 25.600 2/4 17 Isr 23.625 2/4 Israel needs already a miracle to recover it. Their teams play both in EL, but Maccabi Tel Aviv is pot4 and Haifa pot3. Pandurii and Slovan Lib are also pot4, Rapid Wien pot3 and Salzburg pot2. Austria has 3 teams but they divide by 5. CLGS D: Bayern; CSKA Moscow; Man City; Viktoria Plzen E: Chelsea; Schalke; Basel; Steaua G: Porto; Atletico M; Zenit; Austria Wien I would say Steaua has a weaker group because of Schalke and they already played Chelsea in EL last season, being able to defeat them in Bucharest. Bayern&ManCity looks as tough as Porto&Atletico, then the Russian teams are stronger than Basel imo. Preview at start of GS: good chances for Romania, very bad position for Israel, it looks like Austria and Czech Rep will fight for the last spot

Re: battle for 14th/15th
Author: kurt Date: 30-08-2013, 08:55	5.6 points for romenia through only qualifying rounds that is too many for being fair. Romenia is a yoyo-country. They will fall back when they have 5 teams and less qualifying rounds to play

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: Heikki Date: 30-08-2013, 12:06

Looking ahead, I guess Austria and Romania are the only remaining teams that will battle for 14th/15th. In spite of the current 0,3 pts deficit vs Romania and the 5-divisor I see Austria with a slight advantage, because Salzburg currently has an incredible strong team and will most likely survive the group stage and collect quite a few points. I dare to say that they will make as many points as Pandurii and Steaua together, so they alone might counterfeit Romanias points. Austria Vienna won't make (m)any points in the CL, I think 0-0-6 or 0-1-5 is quite realistic for them. Any point here would be a huge bonus for Austria. Rapid will make a few points, not much, but as third team they might be the deciding club to close the current 0,3pts gap and finishing the current season ahead of Romania. Between those two nations, it will be very close in the end. I think that the Czech Republic will take the unlucky 16th place this season. Plzen's group is insanely strong and I'm unsure if they can make at least the 3rd place to advance to EL-Ro32. They will make some points, though, but I don't think they can hold up with Romania and Austria. Liberec might also add one or another point, but I think it will not be enough to pass the other two nations. Israel, for me, is too far behind and even with 2 teams in the group stage they won't catch up anymore in this season. They will get rank 17 at the end. And Cyprus - former competitor for 14th/15th - will not catch Israel and will stay at 18, even after the reinstatement of APOEL.

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: hapoel_tel_aviv Date: 30-08-2013, 14:15

ELGS: Fiorentina (ITA) / Dinpro (UKR) / Zulte Waregem (BEL) Panduri (Rom) - Panduri should win Zulte and Dinpro in home, and possibly win/draw vs Fiorenitina. panduri can finish in second place. ELGS: Standard Liege (BEL) / Elsfborg (Swe)/Esbjerg (Den) Zalburg (AUT) >>> Should qualify ,maybe in the first place. ELGS: Dinamo Kiev (UKR)/Genk (Bel)/Thun (Sui) Rapid Wien (Aut) >> Should qualify. ELGS: Selivia (ESP) / Feirbug (Ger) / Estoril (Por) Libric (Cze) - can win Estoril and go to 3rd place. ELGS: Lazio (ITA) / Trabzonspor (Tur) / Legia (Pol) Limasol (Cyp) - maybe can to win/draw legia in home. ELGS: AZ (Ned) / Paok (Gre) / Shaktahr (Kaz) Maccabai Haifa >> must to win Shaktahr in home, can win AZ and paok in home, can draw Shaktahr and paok in away. need to qualify. ELGS: Bordeaux (Fra) / Frankfurt (Gre) maccabai Tel Aviv >>> need to win APOEL in home and away. maybe can to get draw vs bordeaux in home. APOEL - maybe get draw vs maccabai in home and away.

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: bossake1 Date: 30-08-2013, 16:59

Pandurii are in group with Fiorentina, Dnepr and Pacos de Ferreira. Comparative to general level of this year competition this group is somehow hard . I would prefered a easy pot3 team, like Maribor, Elfsborg or Sheriff. In this conditions I will be happy if Pandurii will do 5-6 points, but I will also woulndt be surprised if they will finish with only 2-3. Salzburg had an incredible easy draw and they have real chances to make 12-14 points in this group. Rapid Wien had a normal draw and even they dont have a lot of chances to progress they will make for sure at least 5-6 points. Both israelian teams had a normal draw and both of them will make decent performances also. Liberec I dont think will get points from Sevilla or Frankfurt but they have Estoril and here everything is possible. I see Austria clear favourite for 14spot because of the easy draw of Salzburg.

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: cinebelu Date: 30-08-2013, 19:08 Edited by: cinebelu at: 30-08-2013, 19:14

The group of Liberec is looking weaker than Pandurii's one Fiorentina about the same level with Sevilla, but I see Dnipro stronger than Freiburg and Pacos Ferreira also better than Estoril. But Pandurii eliminated Braga, why shouldnt be able to defeat Pacos too? If Freiburg will have problems in the chship, I think they will focus on Bundesliga and if Liberec play their best, they would have a realistic chance to qualify. "(...)Salzburg currently has an incredible strong team and will most likely survive the group stage and collect quite a few points. I dare to say that they will make as many points as Pandurii and Steaua together, so they alone might counterfeit Romanias points." lets see...at 6-0-0 they will collect 12p/5 = 2.400. Romania needs about 5 wins for that. But Standard Liege isnt that weak, I dont think it will be easy for Salzburg to win away, rather I see there a defeat for them. Esbjerg and Elfsborg look on paper as weak opponents, but is Salzburg strong enough to get 4 wins against them? I dont know how Salzburg played generally against Nordic teams in the past... Then, if Schalke doesnt get out of that bad form, Steaua has a realistic chance to qualify for KO-stage and if they succeed, then Romania gets 5 additional points... Pandurii should be able to get 1 win and 2 draws. "5.6 points for romenia through only qualifying rounds that is too many for being fair." If you are low ranked, you start earlier in the competition, so you have more games (in the 1st and 2nd round against weak opponents). Then, its their merit, because they all passed 3rd QR as unseeded and without defeat, Pandurii reached even GS. 1.000 is only because of additional 4p for CLGS

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: Philipp Date: 30-08-2013, 19:14

I do not want to sound arrogant, but I really would not be surprised if Salzburg would trash Elfsborg and Esbjerg. As Heikki mentioned they have an unbelieveable strong team right now a have dominated Fenerbahce in both legs but just have missed too many chances infront of the goal. I do not think that Standard is better than Salzburg so to be honest I would be a little bit surprised if the should lose in Belgium, but of course anything can happen.

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: cinebelu Date: 30-08-2013, 19:24

You say "right now", but a lot can change until December... Being better than Standard doesnt mean to get automatically maximum of points against them. If you really believe Salzburg will get a 6-0-0, then they should be like a monster, a top team from CL which got lost in EL. Salzburg and Standard will very probably qualify from that group, but I think every will win their home games in the direct battle

Re: battle for 14th/15th

Author: Philipp Date: 30-08-2013, 19:35 Edited by: Philipp at: 30-08-2013, 19:35

No, I do not think that Salzburg will get a 6-0-0, that would be too optimistic. But I also do not think that is impossible and they have achieved that already four years ago . Well, Salzburg is playing now since months - I would say since March - really good football, thanks to Ralf Rangnicks transfers, who lured some great players to Salzburg like Kevin Kampl (Salzburg refused an offer from Galatasaray about 7m), Sadio Mane or Valon Berisha. And of course Jonathan Soriano who came from Barcelona. To be honest in my opinion there are currently only six or seven teams in the EL which I would rate higher than Salzburg.