Football (soccer) season 2008-2009

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It is kicking off again! The UEFA Cup last qualifiers start this week, the Champions League final qualifying round as well, and the coming weekends all leagues in Europe are kicking off again.

Let's make this the big WrongPlanet football topic where we discuss all the happenings and opinions on the beautiful game.

Maybe, while waiting for the kick-offs this week, let's say who our favourite teams are?



I am a fan of Rosenborg (in my dream country Norway) and Oostende (in my native Belgium).

I have teams I sympathise with in other countries without being a real fan:
Germany - Union Berlin, Türkiyemspor Berlin
England - Aston Villa, Barnet
Scotland - Queens Park, Inverness CT
Ireland - Shelbourne FC
Faroe Islands - HB Torshavn
Austria - RB Salzburg
Italy - Venezia Calcio
Turkey - Vanspor, Besiktas (mainly Vanspor though)
Israel - Maccabi Haifa




Looking forward to the European games this week. My beloved Rosenborg plays Djurgardens after having won the Intertoto and gotten into the UEFA Cup through the back door. I hope we win this game as it can save a bleak season in the Norwegian league.

I also look forward to Standard-Liverpool a lot. In my native country, I am glad Standard finally won the league again as I dislike their rivals Anderlecht a lot. Liverpool on the other hand: nothing against them but I dislike it that a nr 4 can qualify for a league intended for clubs that won their domestic league. Liverpool has not been English champions for over 15 years so they have no right to be in the CL. I hope Standard shocks them.

Another few games that I will follow with interest:
Aalborg-FB Kaunas : the battle of the underdogs with certainly one of the underdogs qualifying for the Ch.League
BATE Borisov-Levski Sofia : I am very thankful to BATE for kicking Anderlecht out of Europe so they can win this one as well!
Spartak Moscow-Dynamo Kyiv : Soviet times rivival when two of the old USSR's biggest rivals face each other
Barcelona-Wisla Krakow : I notoriously dislike Barca so I hope for a Polish victory here

I support Chelsea.

I love keeping up to date with European Football. Theres no one particular team that I fervently follow, but there are few teams around Europe that I have a tendency of allegiance towards.

Italy: Parma and Internazionale
Spain: Getafe and Real Madrid
U.K: Celtic, Liverpool and Newcastle
Germany: Bayern Munich
Others: PSV, Porto and Fenerbache

Dont really know much about Belgian or Scandanavian Football. One particular team I'm not very fond of is Man Utd. I suppose its got something to do with the fact that all the NT's around me think its cool to support them.

Will watch UCL qualifying rounds with interest

Man United is a bit of a gloryhunters club (but I guess to some lesser extend the same goes for Liverpool).

When I visited Manchester I went to a cup game between United and Barnet. Never felt like in a supermarket so much as in that stadium. I know clubs these days are basically run like a business, but somehow you expect a football club to have a more emotional approach to their "customers" because you expact a club to see their visitors as fans rather than customers. At Man Utd I had the opposite feeling, the way the staff (selling tickets, merchandise etc) behaved was like the average cashier in a supermarket. Also, the 4000 visiting fans from Barnet were encouraging their team all the game and singing out loud even when they were 3-0 behind, while the United fans were quiet as a mouse and only making a bit of noise when their team scored or when the referee gave a United player a yellow card. A very weird place, that Old Trafford stadium. It did not feel like a football atmosphere.

Liverpool also attracts some gloryhunters I guess, but at least you will see passionate fans there. In Manchester, the only passionate football fans I met supported City and not United.





I lived very close to Fenerbahce by the way when I lived in Turkey. The bus from home to work even passed the stadium. But the most fanatic fans are definitely the ones of Galatasaray, the atmosphere there is just more intense than anywhere else in Europe. I am not a Galatasaray fan but as a neutral spectator I really was impressed by the passion of the Galatasaray fans.

who's gonna win the premiership this year?

I think Chelsea will take it back this season. Man United has not gotten any weaker as they kept all their star players at Old Trafford, but they also did not really have any spectacular buy. Chelsea on the other hand drastically improved their squad (the purchase of Deco alone is improving the team drastically) and they got some of the better and more experienced coaches in the world as well. So Chelsea has obviously strengthened their squad while Man United showed a status-quo, it will be a narrow race again but Chelsea will this time finish ahead of United I think.

Arsenal is not good enough to compete with them right now, and although Liverpool has the talent for it they never really made it to compete for the championship title. I fear they will finish a bit below the two title contenders again, although I do think Liverpool may enter the top-3 ahead of Arsenal.

good, I hope chelsea win I do think Liverpool have a chance. Spurs will be in the top 5 i think

Liverpool have not strengthened their squad a lot, and they were quite a lot of points behind Chelsea and United last seasons.

Spurs are likely to battle with the likes of Aston Villa and Everton (and maybe Newcastle although I highly doubt that) for the UEFA Cup spots. Wouldn't be surprised if Villa made it through this year, Martin O'Neill is doing good work at Villa Park and is bringing them back to their old status step by step.

Tonight I will be watching Standard Liege -v- Liverpool in the qualifiers for the Champions League. Will give a bit of insight after the game in how I rate Liverpool. Supporting Standard tonight though, I just don't like the concept of a nr 4 in a league for champions...

I hope to see the second half of Barcelona-Wisla afterwards (starts an hour later than Standard-Liverpool so if the bar broadcasts the Barca game as well I should be able to see the entire second half)

OK, back from the Irish pub where I watched Standard Liege-Liverpool on giant TV screen.

Must say, not impressed by Liverpool at all. Standard outclassed them during much of the game, the Belgians had a lot of pressing and very fast attacks that regularly brought the Liverpudlian defense in troubles. In the end Standard only failed to score and that was due to Liverpool keeper Reina playing extraordinary. He stopped a penalty kick and made at least 3 other crucial saves. Without him Standard would have scored at least twice. Liverpool failed to cause any trouble to the Standard defense and seemed a bit uninterested sometimes ; maybe underestimated the opponent?

I really hope Standard makes it into the Ch.League but I fear it will be Liverpool. At home in England they will be a lot stronger, and with their passionate fans behind them they will be a lot more attacking and concentrated. Only a very early Belgian goal that makes them nervous can change the odds, but unless Standard scores early I predict a win for Liverpool. Based on what I saw today Standard deserved the win a lot more, but Liverpool will be a much stronger team at home within two weeks.



Arsenal won 0-2 in Twente and seem to be better prepared for the new Premiership season for sure.



Some remarkable results:

Barcelona-Wisla Krakow 4-0 (and that was without star player Messi... Barca could have easily won 6-0 with more luck)

Anorthosis - Olympiacos Piraeus 3-0 (Anorthosis to become the first ever Cypriot team in the Ch.League if they don't waste this in the return in Athens)

Spartak Moscow - Dynamo Kyiv 1-4 (USSR times revival, Kyiv really impressed in the hostile environment of their bitter rivals)

Levski Sofia - BATE Borisov 0-1 (is BATE making the impossible true by reaching the CL as first Belarusian team ever to do so?? Levski's coach resigned after the game out of huge disappointment...)

England: I think either Tottenham or Everton could knock Liverpool off the top four by the end of the season. Man U and Chelsea battle it out to the last couple of weeks for top place.

Scotland: I predict Celtic to get the four-in-a-row. Rangers might have a hard time with getting 2nd place after selling Cuellar, either Motherwell or Dundee Utd could give them a run for their money and possibly get 2nd spot - tight battle there.

Spain: Unfortunately, I can't see Barca getting top spot after selling Deco and Ronaldinho. I don't want Real Madrid to get the title so I won't predict that one!

Not at all surprised about Liverpool's performance last night, they always play that way in Europe - cautiously away from home, hoping the damage will be done at Anfield. A much improved performance will be seen in the 2nd leg I'm sure. The only real surprise result happened in Moscow.

As far as the Premiership is concerned it's to tight to call. I'm afraid I'm sitting on the fence for this one. I just hope Newcastle Utd. can challenge for fifth place. If Man Utd sign Berbatov from Spurs I think they will be making a big mistake. They wont be strengthening but weakening their side. I think it is a reaction to Ronaldo not wanting to play as a striker (if you believe reports which state that). Ronaldo will move deeper probably wide right, and Berba to the centre. Berba's a very good player but he will take at least one season to adjust to his new club.

Internazionale for Serie A, Real Madrid for La liga (Getafe for champions league spot -I hope), and Celtic for the league and cup double. Oh and Parma to become Serie B champs.

The ONLY surprise happened in Moscow?

What about Anorthosis-Olympiacos? The Greeks had played Champions League very often and made the last 16 last season, while never before a Cypriot team had qualified for the CL. Still, Anorthosis won 3-0. They still have survive the trip to Athens and it will be extremely hectic there with Olympiacos needing to attack from the first second on, but if Anorthosis does keep Olympiacos Piraeus out of the CL it'd be a huge shock.

And what about BATE Borisov? First Belarusian team in the Ch.League if they can defend their 0-1 victory in the return game...



So I'd say we saw quite a few surprises last night, I doubt however if those teams will survive the return game. Their opponents, who were heavy favourites last nights, will probably do whatever it takes to make the damage undone.
Same for Liverpool who were crap yesterday but will show an entirely different face at home.



As for predictions in other countries:

*Scotland: Celtic to win the double. I don't really like neither of both Glasgow teams but Celtic are too good to have competition I fear. Even with Rangers having no European duties to keep them busy, they will struggle to catch up with Celtic. I also think Hibernian could be a potential threat for the second spot, as indeed Motherwell could be also.

*Spain: Barca looks ready and set to freewheel through their games, and once Messi is back they will be even more impressing. But Real Madrid also look very strong, so I expect a classic two-horse race between the two giants. Narrowly won by Real. The other teams will finish far behind the two giants, but I expect Valencia to grab a top-5 position again after last season's disappointment.

* Italy: Juventus may manage to form a real threat to Inter Milan this season, but I expect Inter to win the league again. Mourinho in charge may even take them to the final stages of the Champions League this season for the first time. AC Milan will not come close to winning the league, despite buying Ronaldinho. I expect them 3rd or 4th.

* Germany: I hate to say this, but Bayern will probably finish ahead of all the rest again. They are also the ONLY German team to be able to make an impact in Europe this season.

* Turkey: Fenerbahce did some great transfers and got a great coach in charge who advocates attacking football. They have a few great targetmen to easily score goals. I think they will get far in Europe again and, with Galatasaray not strengthened at all, Fener will also win the league. Besiktas and Trabzonspor to battle for the 3rd spot. Last season's surprise Sivasspor seems weakened and will finish mid-table.




Tonight I am watching Man City versus Midtjylland in the UEFA Cup.

And Rosenborg lost against Djurgardens who won their first important game in almost half a year. What an embarrasment for us, total embarrasment The only upside is that we lost 2-1 which means a vital away goal has been scored and we only need to overcome a very narrow loss at home. Guess we can qualify as we can simply beat them in theory in the second leg, but with our inconsistency this season I don't even dare to really be optimistic about this game anymore. If we do win the home game and qualify on aggregate, it will be a victory without any pride because yesterday's loss was simply embarrassing.

Man City lost 0-1 to Midtjylland

In my home league,I think Rangers might surprise everyone now that they've just signed
Pedro Mendes and Steve Davis.I'm not a fan of either of the Old Firm,I support my local team St Mirren although in Europe I'll be backing Celtic,Motherwell and Queen Of The South (the
only football team to be mentioned in the Bible)

In the Premiership I'd like to see Aston Villa and/or Tottenham breaking into the top 4.
I was disappointed to see Man City dispensing with Sven-Goran Eriksson because he had
them playing well last season.That was a shock result losing 0-1 to Midtjylland but they
might still turn it around.I also hope Newcastle can improve as I have links with the area.

In the English Division 2 can Luton perform a miracle and avoid relegation despite starting
with a penalty of Minus 30 points !

In Germany I'll be interested to see how the village team Hoffenheim gets on.Their story
is very similar to that of our own ill-fated Gretna in Scotland (both villages with a population
of about 3200)

You cannot compare Hoffenheim to Gretna. Yes, both are village teams playing teams from gigantic cities suddenly, but there the comparison more or less stops. Hoffenheim are a healthy club while Gretna was an unborn child waiting for its abortion.

Hoffenheim has been funded by a rich German businessman as well but he has paid it all with own money without making it a sort of loan, and he has attracted a nice variety of sponsors who somewhat invest in the team as well. The team has been built up step by step and they are now expanding their stadium while actively promoting the club in the whole region in order to become a regional-based club rather than a local club serving only the tiny village. So they seem to be a healthy club with chances to survive.

Gretna was a different story. Their owner spent millions on them but apparently has spent even larger sums on players. When you spend money you don't have then you get in troubles sooner or later. It has been revealed Gretna was making financial losses from when they were still a division 2 team. Still the guy spent more and more money, knowing he in fact would not be able to recover that money without using his personal funds. So you just knew this club was ready to collapse the day their owner would either ask his money back or no longer be able to spend money on the club. Gretna was never financially healthy (unlike Hoffenheim) as their owner had to use personal savings all the time to compensate the financial losses of the club. The moment he was no longer there to do that, nobody else stepped up to compensate the losses and pay off the debts of the club. They depended on 1 single person and knew it would be a short term dream, the bubble was due to burst the day their investor was no longer available.

Hoffenheim are a healthy club more or less, and don't completely depend on their rich investor. Sure, without his money they would still be a 5th division team, but they never made serious debts on their way up. Gretna did make those debts and knew that they would not be able to pay them off once their rich investor stopped paying money to the club.




But good luck to St Mirren and QoS. I like it when people refrain from gloryhunting and back their own team rather than the politically-polluted Old Firm. And the name Love Street is just fantastic for a stadium, for that reason alone St Mirren got my respect.

Actually, the Celtic fans now sing songs about Rangers involving the line "you're out of Europe sooner than Queen of the South"

Thanks for that info,Crackedpleasures.I noticed that Hoffenheim have started the league
impressively but their spokesman says they are going to keep their feet on the ground so
good luck to them.