stevegrant

We can't.

Game over, 4-2 Partizan.

It's a 50:50 split, one seeded team gets paired against an unseeded team.

Partizan equalise... still half an hour left.

Partizan have just missed a penalty against Steaua, need two to turn that one around with extra time no longer possible.

Back on at 20:25, so that's probably another 5 or 6 overs lost.

Malmo 3-0 against Salzburg now At least they can't blame Mané this time... same opponent as last season as well, won the home leg, got stuffed away!

Steaua 2-1 up

"If" Tbf, you'd make it a handy squad of 14, which works nicely as a) it gives us enough players to rotate people off as and when they're knackered, but b) isn't too many that we're having to make loads of subs to make sure everyone gets enough of a game.

Would have been a biological miracle, tbf

Not much, I'd have thought, and the amount we get for games televised from the group stage onwards depends on how far we progress and how far other English teams progress, so even if we're shown more than, say, West Ham, if they got further than us in the competition, they'd get a bigger slice of the TV pie (as well as the additional prize money for going further). No particular problem with the West Ham game being their main one, it's all to play for in the second leg of that one whereas in theory ours should be more or less done and dusted.

Their backup strikers cost a combined £40m, tbf

Mainly the council and tourist board, if they're even separate entities, I'd have thought. Maybe a sponsor if there's only one brand of beer on sale or something like that?

I'd describe it as "moderate" Played 3 games last season, lost 4-1 to West Brom, 1-0 to Watford and beat Kidderminster 10-3.

That'll be handy, let me know about the usual suspects

That'll do

Just had a DM from them after I had a bit of a whinge in response to that, assuming that we were all going to be herded into the fanzone without the ability to go where we want. Essentially, that's not the case, we can do what we want

Morning all, We've got a game against Watford's fans team on the morning of our game at Vicarage Road (Sunday 23rd August). The game is likely to be in Bushey, just outside Watford. We're looking for players for this one - can probably sort out match tickets for the afternoon if anyone needs them as well. It's a "normal" game, i.e. 11-a-side 90 minutes, albeit with rolling subs if we've got enough players! If you fancy a game - there's no real requirement of any sort of standard (ask anyone who's seen us play before ) - please get in touch. We're also aiming to get a team up to West Brom in September as well, so keep that one in mind...

I think that's what'll most likely happen. If we go one up, that means Vitesse need to score 5 in the remainder of the game. Get a first half lead, then we can bring Reed on for Wanyama, Ward-Prowse on for Mané and give the pair of them a rest. Maybe even Fonte if Caulker is available - one thing to note is that Caulker is listed among our squad on the UEFA website.

I think considering the lack of intensity this afternoon against Espanyol, which Koeman seemed to be pretty ****ed off with, I wouldn't be taking too many chances with team selection for Thursday. One or two changes, perhaps, but nothing wholesale. Long to start instead of Mané, perhaps, maybe Ward-Prowse instead of Davis, but get the tie sealed, make any necessary changes in the second half. We can take Pellè and Wanyama off at half-time on Thursday if we're one up on the night.

Don't think Caulker's available. Pretty sure players have to be registered by the deadline for the round itself, which was last Saturday.

Unsurprisingly, hospitality has different rules to the rest of us plebs. Even the Champions League final was the same, I went to the Bayern Munich v Borussia Dortmund game at Wembley a few years ago and you couldn't get a beer in the ground except for the corporate bars on Club Level. Even the "normal" bars on that level weren't selling alcohol!

Not heard of Pantic, but Nathan is a new Chelsea signing sent to Vitesse in order to strengthen his work permit eligibility. Heard of Brown, he's the one Chelsea pinched from West Brom's academy, they gave him a game at the Hawthorns where he got a volley of abuse from the locals

Indeed. Same for the Champions League, despite Heineken being a headline sponsor of that competition.

I think the map features all the teams Vitesse have played in European competitions.