The European Thread

[Bundesliga Offside]

In case anyone wants to talk Champions League and/or UEFA Cup, here's your chance...

[diana]

First post!

The UEFA Cup group stage draw has already been done. And wow, the Bundesliga clubs are getting interesting sides. Fred Rutten facing his former club FC Twente, Wolfsburg getting AC Milan, VfB Stuttgart getting two-time UEFA Cup winners Sevilla, Martion Jol facing another of his compatriots in the form of Marco van Basten's Ajax, Hertha Berlin getting Michael Skibbe's Galatasaray.

Group A: Schalke, Paris St. Germain, Manchester City, Racing Santander, FC Twente
Group B: Benfica, Olympiacos, Galatasaray, Hertha Berlin, Metalist Kharkiv
Group C: Sevilla, VfB Stuttgart, Sampdoria, Partizan Belgrade, Standard de Liège
Group E: AC Milan, Heerenveen, Braga, Portsmouth, Wolfsburg
Group F: Hamburg, Ajax, Slavia Prague, Aston Villa, MŠK Žilina

Full details of the UEFA Cup group stages: http://www.uefa.com/competitions/uefacup/news/kind=1/newsid=759113.html

[diana]

My impressions of the draw, at least for now.

Group A: Do I need to say more about Manchester City? Apart from Dietmar Hamann and Vincent Kompany there, that is. A reunion for Fred Rutten with Twente.
Group B: I had read before that Dieter Hoeness wanted Hertha to face AC Milan but not the case this time. At least there's Skibbe's Galatasaray. Hertha's last opponents are from Ukraine, by the way. I can't edit my previous post for some reason.
Group C: As a VfB Stuttgart supporter, I was like 'Ooo!' when I was following the UEFA Cup group stage draw from the UEFA website. Stuttgart facing the two-time UEFA Cup winners. And I was actually half-expecting Aston Villa to be drawn into the same group with Stuttgart actually. I was actually fancying Hitzlsperger facing his former club. Anyhow, Standard de Liège...they almost caused a scare with Liverpool during the Champions League qualifying rounds before being drawn to face Everton, Liverpool's Merseyside rivals, in the UEFA Cup qualifying rounds.
Group E: Need I say more about AC Milan? Then there's Michael Bradley's former club in Heerenveen. Portsmouth's playing in Europe for the first time. Entering the UEFA Cup as winners of the FA Cup (Germany's equivalent of the DFB Pokal). Felix Magath back in England again, after when he was still Stuttgart coach, famously beating Manchester United in the Champions League.
Group F: Martin Jol back to England again. Then there's Ajax.

Off-topic...suddenly now what is Jol doing at Hamburg is getting attention in the media here in my country. I was reading the papers yesterday and there was one article which took stock of what happened at Tottenham Hotspur of late and it even wrote about how Jol is doing well in Germany with Hamburg and how he had dealt in the transfer market (singling out despite losing Rafael van der Vaart to Real Madrid and Kompany to Manchester City, managed to act quickly in the transfer market), compared to his successor Juande Ramos at Tottenham. And mentioning Jol managed well with his German, compared to Ramos's English still not very good when comparing how both men deal with the media. The last thing I expect the papers here to write about...the Bundesliga. But really, a good way to advertise about the league. I had never really like the way how Martin Jol was dismissed at Tottenham actually. At least good to see that he is getting a new lease of life in Germany.

If the HSV continue their current form in the Bundesliga, one can expect the English press is viewing Jol's time in Germany with more envy. I stumbled upon a report from The Independent website yesterday on a round-up of European football action and apart from Jol's success, it even noted how Tottenham old boy Klinsmann is doing at Bayern.

[DoublePivot]

Diana, you wouldn't believe the number of people demanding Jol back at Spurs. He was always beloved, but now he's taken on a stature closer to Ghandi for us. I remember doubting him because of his tactics, but now realize that he was doing a great job with a crap squad. I miss him. He's such a nice guy. And I hope we face HSV at some point in the cup and they crush us right in front of Comolli and Levy. Seriously if HSV came to WHL, it would be a home game for them. Everyone there would sing Jol's name all night.

[diana]

Stop making me emotional, DP. Really, I had always like Jol when he was at Spurs. A jolly good fellow. I had always never like the way he got sacked. It still made me furious whenever I think about it.

Yes, it did also crossed my mind after I looked at the results of the UEFA Cup group stage draw, there is a possibility HSV may meet Spurs. It will be definitely a nice 'homecoming' for Jol. That is both clubs advanced beyond the group stages. It will be strange for me if both face each other actually. HSV is the club I have a soft spot in the Bundesliga (I mean, being a VfB Stuttgart supporter myself), while Spurs is the club I have a soft spot in the Premier League. I like what Jol said in an interview with The Times (it's in Jan's latest Weekly Dose, maybe you may have seen it).

“Even after I was sacked I still got a great feeling from Spurs fans and hopefully I’ll get the same here. But the sort of connection I had with Spurs fans . . . maybe you get that just once in your life.”