Seagulls around the continent - Europa League 2023-24

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

That's a cracking draw for Brighton fans, in sightseeing terms. Amsterdam, Marseilles and Athens. I bet you can fly to all three pretty cheaply from Gatwick, too.

Liverpool get a more "off the beaten track" offer in Linz, Brussels and Toulouse.

[Snake Plissken]

Damn, I couldn't think of a good enough pun to start the thread.

Will away fans be allowed at AEK?

[Duncan Gardner]

Tourism in Linz- Hitler's childhood home

He was at school w8th Wittgenstein

[imp]

Linz is... quiet. I once interviewed people there at a company that made emergency fire engines for airports. And got a tour of the factory. I'm sure that will be on Liverpool fans' to-see list before they visit the Schicklgruber childhood home.

I've a feeling I've told this story before on OTF, but who knows how many decades ago that was. Anyway, it was an odd company. At the interview, they presented me with the text - in English - that they wanted my (trade) magazine to print. I said it didn't quite work like that. They insisted. I glanced at the text, and the translation was abysmal, so I told them. What was wrong with it, they demanded to know? We commissioned that from someone who went to Oxford University! I said: we can either do the interview and I write it up, or we can forget it, so we did the interview.

Weeks later, I got a call from a posh bloke in Oxford, very aggrieved that I'd been dissing his translation skills. What was wrong with it? As I still had the text, I faxed him an annotated critique, and that was the end of our exchange, and the end of my fascinating connection with Linz.

Ooh, they're still going - look at these hose-toting beauties! You can even get the t-shirt. To all Liverpool/fire-engine obsessives - this is your dream trip.

[MarkF]

Always wanted to visit Marseilles…

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Klopp's experimental tactic of giving every team a one-goal start is getting a little tiresome, in all honesty

[Toby Gymshorts]

The penalty for Liverpool's equaliser was... soft. We'll leave it at that.

[Ray de Galles]

https://twitter.com/smnllyd5/status/1704939769917059549?s=61&t=AGYaHxwtRU_HNs0TqPMaJg

[Third rate Leszno]

I love the Europa league. Cracking day out in Linz. Friendly locals, totally relaxed attitude to street drinking and how we should make our way to and from the ground, no holdback and cans on the train back to Vienna. Wunderbar. Toulouse will probably be shit though because the French Police are involved.

[MarkF]

Well, that was interesting.

First off, the header for their opener was magnificent. Poor defending certainly but, wow.

We were poor and disjointed. A little surprised that RdZ didn’t utilise the experience we have, think Welbeck might have kept them occupied more and Veltman or Webster would have been a better option in defence.

Think we were a little overawed by the occasion and AEK were quite streetwise, glad their captain made a miraculous recovery. Terrific penalties by Joao Pedro.

Hope Dunk is back for round two…

Onwards and upwards.

[Toby Gymshorts]

That's the first time in a while Brighton have looked less-than-impressive. AEK definitely played the game the way they'd have wanted to, though.

[Satchmo Distel]

Runners-up in the group have to play an extra play-off round so it's bad news on more than one front for them. And their already low coefficient gets lower, if they care about that.

[MyPieBurntMyMouth]

Despite the plucky fairytale narrative, that's a dreadful result for Brighton. Like Celtic losing at home to Motherwell.

I imagine they'll recover, but that's a shocker.

[ad hoc]

Backa Topola who eventually lost to West Ham yesterday after going 1-0 up, are one of Orban's pet Hungarian-minority-in-other-country projects. Like Sepsi and FK Csikszereda in Romania and Dunajska Streda in Slovakia. (Despite that I'd still have liked to them to beat West Ham, because, you know, West Ham).

Annoyingly the approach that Orban and his minions have taken to these teams is much more thoughtful and well-planned than I'd have liked. Rather than the throw money at stuff approach as beloved of the Gulf regimes it's all about infrastructure and youth programmes. Csikszereda punch way above their weight in the age-limited competitions in Romania and the womens and girls treams are also really good. There appears to be no rush (at least here) for the Csikszereda men's team to compete with the elite (such as they are in Romania). Just a patient building programme, which is a bit more difficult for me to instantly loathe.

[AMMS]

Rangers beat a Spanish side (Real Betis) 1-0 last night. It's the first victory over a Spanish side at Ibrox since we beat Osasuna in 1985. It was so wet that night the Clyde Tunnel was closed due to flooding, it's funny the things you remember. It didn't rain last night for the first time this week but the outlook was still gloomy around Govan pre match. It was an even match but Rangers edged it I felt. Jack Butland earned his salary and I was again left wondering why he's playing in Scotland and not at a higher level. It was a scrappy goal in the end but we'd hit the post and the bar beforehand. We won't make the final this year (to the relief of almost everyone in Dublin), but this tournament is our level. We can compete rather than get horsed every match.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Dunno amms, the thing we're most afraid of is a Liverpool vs Man utd final. Your lot would-be like being invaded by barbarians at the fall of Rome. Not great but we'll survive. The other thing would be more akin to an invasion of zombies, or the white walkers and the army of the dead from game of thrones.

[hobbes]

Looking again as Linz's goal, it's an excellent example of a training ground move done really, really well.
Four attackers form a square just inside the box with the scorer behind them by 5 yards or so. As the ball goes out to him, three of the attackers rush in and obstruct any defensive runners from getting out to the ball.
Not long enough for it to be a given as a foul, but long enough to give the scorer time to control the ball and pick his spot.
It most reminded me of a blitz play in American Football. Worked a treat, too.

It's here on about 30 seconds.

[AMMS]

Dunno amms, the thing we're most afraid of is a Liverpool vs Man utd final. Your lot would-be like being invaded by barbarians at the fall of Rome. Not great but we'll survive. The other thing would be more akin to an invasion of zombies, or the white walkers and the army of the dead from game of thrones.

Interesting. I thought all Man Utd and Liverpool fans already lived in Dublin.

[Lang Spoon]

Yeah it's prob the game that would have the least effect re rammed hotels/airport. It would be wanker central though.

[Toby Gymshorts]

Everyone's favourite enigma, Darwin Nunez, has missed yet another sitter. I still love him though. There's time for an outrageous 35 yard screamer yet (even if it means bringing Szoboszlai off the bench to score it).

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Order restored.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Do the group winners at this stage play the drop-outs from the Champions League? Just asking.

[Southport Zeb]

Group winners go straight to the last 16. Runners up play CL dropouts.

[elguapo4]

West Ham won't win two in a row with defending like that.

[ursus arctos]

Not the greatest early window for forner holders of the Cup with Big Ears