Europa Play Off Round (WHU v Astra Giurgiu - Away Leg, 18 August* EARLY KO 7.15 UK*)

IronHerb

These are the teams (unseeded) that we will be drawn against in the Play Off round.

Group 3:
Seeded
1 Anderlecht* (BEL)
2 West Ham United (ENG)
3 Krasnodar (RUS)
4 Maribor (SVN)
5 Fenerbahçe* (TUR)
6 Panathinaikos (GRE)

Unseeded
7 Qarabağ* (AZE)
8 Slavia Praha (CZE)
9 Brøndby (DEN)
10 Grasshoppers (SUI)
11 Astra Giurgiu* (ROU)
12 Partizani Tirana* (ALB)

Yeoldhammer

Astra again ;lol

Yeoldhammer

travelling for Partizani and Qarabag would be bad the rest would be okay though !

MrsGrey

Albania's not too far - 3hrs, same as Bucharest, give or take 5 minutes. ;ok

Qarabag though. 5 and a half hours.

MrsGrey

Games 18th and 25th August.

Either side of the Bournemouth game, with the 2nd leg before we are away to Man City.

SuzanneClaret

Draw takes pace for Europa today at 12pm.

Who could West Ham United face?

West Ham's comfortable 3-0 win over Domzale secured a 4-2 aggregate win and sent them a step close to the Europa League group stages.

With a UEFA co-efficient of 16.256, the Hammers are one of the seeded teams in the draw for the next round.

Placed in Group 3 they are due to face one of Qabala, Slavia Prague, Brondby, Grasshoppers, Astra Giurgiu, Partizani Tirana.

When will the ties take place? The ties are played on 18 and 25 August.


[this is not my own work but has been stolen from FaceBook].

MunichHammer

Astra it is then. We owe them one.

MrsGrey

Herb, just amended your thread title to make it clearer and help other users find it ;ok

IronHerb

;ok

ASLEFshrugged

Dodged a trip to Azerbaijan

ASLEFshrugged

Prague gone

ASLEFshrugged

We got Astra! Revenge!!!!!!!!!!

MrsGrey

Astra ;doh

ASLEFshrugged

Home game should be 25 August unless we switch

jay_in_cpt

It just had to be them again....
This time lets hope it's a better ending

Hamstew

ASLEFshrugged said:

We got Astra! Revenge!!!!!!!!!!

Is that a new model? I remember having an SXi

MunichHammer

I called that yesterday. ;weep ;doh

MrsGrey

ASLEF, don't see any reason why the legs would be reversed. Astra's home ground is suitable, so there's no clash of fixtures like we had with fC Lusitans ;hmm

Better for us to have the away leg 1st, I feel.

Just hope Slav picks a strong team this time. I just looked back and in the 2nd leg (away)
was:
Randolph
Jenkinson Page Knoyle Henry
Poyet Nolan Cullen
Maiga Lanzini Lee

and all kids on the bench.

I wish I hadn't looked. ;weep

ASLEFshrugged

We play Chelsea on Monday and away to Astra on Thursday.

Hamstew

That seems fair ;doh

Moore_than_a_nick

Astra may even be stronger than last year, having gone on to win their league after dumping us out of the Europa. I was a bit confused at first as to how we were playing Astra, Romanian League I winners, and Man City were playing Steaua Bucharest, the domestic runners-up. But now I see that both teams qualified for Champions' League 3rd round qualifier, but while Astra lost 4-1 on aggregate to Copenhagen, Steaua Bucharest beat Sparta Prague. Nonetheless, looks like we got a tougher game than Man City...

Definitely not a game to take lightly.

Looks like Collins and Ogbonna could play if fit (i.e. are registered in squad for qualifying rounds), but Payet cannot (not registered for qualifying rounds). Is that how others understand it?

Yeoldhammer

With a strong side we can beat Astra. Play the kids again and we will get knocked out.

IronHerb

Astra have 1 point from 2 league games and got thumped by Copenhagen in the CL Qualifier.

Nothing to be afraid of.

MrsGrey

Moore-than, we can add 1 player to our A squad list before the next round, I think. (And one must drop out.)

MrsGrey

OK, not what I said above.

Here are the rules from the UEFA handbook ;ok

List A has to be submitted by the following fixed deadlines:
a. 22 June 2015 (24.00CET) for all matches in the first qualifying round;
b. 10 July 2015 (24.00CET) for all matches in the second qualifying round;
c. 24 July 2015 (24.00CET) for all matches in the third qualifying round;
d. 10 August 2015 (24.00CET) for all matches in the play-offs;
e. 1 September 2015 (24.00CET) for all further matches from the first match in
the group stage up to and including the final.
42.08 For the three qualifying rounds and the play-offs, a club may register a maximum
of one new eligible player on List A after the above-mentioned deadlines,
provided the quota of locally trained players is respected. Such registration must
be completed by 24.00CET on the day before the relevant first-leg match and the
club’s association must confirm in writing that the new player is eligible to play at
domestic level at this time.

Moore_than_a_nick

Thanks, Mrs G. Got it! So we can submit new squad for play-off match by next Wednesday, and still add one more player after that up until the day before the first leg. Great. Nice to get a LB in by next Wednesday anyway.

Moore_than_a_nick

IronHerb said:

Astra have 1 point from 2 league games and got thumped by Copenhagen in the CL Qualifier.

Nothing to be afraid of.

Yep, agree we can win with strong team and nothing to be afraid of. But still not a match to take lightly. What do I mean by this? Well I guess I mean I'd like to see us play a decent left back at left back and a decent right back at right back. Other than that, I'd be happy with what we put out yesterday. Think Fletcher could be a more than useful sub striker at this level.

Yeoldhammer

the biggest problem is we have Chelsea and City before both games. Legs will be an issue after these two.

MrsGrey

;hmm

City is after?

grey_til_I_dye

Think we should definitely prioritise qualifying for the group stages ; that way we have six competitive games where we can, if we choose, play some of the kids.

MrsGrey

It will provide some nice competitive matches for a pre-season for our late-returning players from the Euros ... and maybe even for Sakho's, if he sorts himself out.