According to Castrol EDGE Performance analysis 34% of Stoke City’s attempts on goal in the Europa League this season have been headers.

The English team have been put down for only posing a threat from set pieces and long balls, a view backed up by 14 of Stoke’s 41 shots in this season’s Europa League being headers. Only Ireland’s Shamrock Rovers have such a high percentage of headed attempts.

However, Stoke seem to have found considerable success with their direct tactics in European competition and go into the 5th matchday on top of their group requiring only a draw to qualify for the next round.

In this season’s Europa League, Stoke City are the team that have attempted the fewest passes (1161) and have also attempted the fewest in the opposition half (624).

On top of this the English team have had only 1888 touches of the ball in the 2011/12 Europa League group stages, by far the least of all the teams in the competition.

Yet, despite having an approach to football that requires little technique, Stoke’s other aspects of the game are well honed and quite possibly the key to their success in this year’s Europa League.

Tony Pulis’s side have launched more  successful long balls than any other team (70)  and also have the most precise long ball delivery (59.3%) in the 2011/12 Europa League.

To add to this, Stoke City also have the most precise crosses in the competition with 37.1% of them reaching team mates.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Stoke City continue to impress in their debut European season, as a 2-1 win over Maccabi Tel Aviv in Israel on Thursday night sees Tony Pulis’ side on the brink of qualification from Group E of the Europa League.

Second half goals from Dean Whitehead and Peter Crouch gave the visitors the three points, and one more positive result will see The Potters progress.

The introduction of Crouch for Jonathan Walters on the hour mark shows the strength in depth that Pulis now can call upon, and the England international got the all-decisive match winning goal. Soccer stats show the lanky hitman’s eye for goal in Europe; he is now the Britannia Stadium club’s top goalscorer in the tournament, and despite struggling domestically last season for Tottenham, scored some integral goals on the continent for Harry Redknapp’s men.

Stoke’s heroics are made all the more impressive by the group that they have been dealt, with Besiktas and Dynamo Kiev both seasoned European competitors. The fact that all three other pool sides are based in Eastern Europe means that Pulis’ men have had to overcome the travel aspect of the games, which so far has not been a problem.

The key to beating Tel Aviv in Israel was Stoke’s domination of the midfield, with the returning Wilson Palacios, Salif Diao and goalscorer Whitehead grasping the game by the scruff of the neck and foiling the home side’s attacks. Despite Tel Aviv being the weakest side in the group, travelling to play in Israel is never an easy feat, given the geography and atmosphere at the game.

The effort of the Stoke players showed exactly how much they wanted to win the tie, and this is refreshing given other clubs such as Spurs fielding weakened teams in the tournament.

Pulis told Sky Sports after the game:

“I thought the lads were brilliant tonight.

“The balance looked good. There was a bit of a lapse at the end but that’s a little bit of tiredness I think. I’m very pleased. They huffed and puffed a little bit but I thought we coped with it smashing.”

Stoke must now be careful not to let their European efforts hinder their English Premier League form, as after the previous four games in the Europa League, Tony Pulis’ men have lost the next domestic match and most recently this Sunday at the Reebok Stadium where they lost 5-0 to Bolton.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

The draw for the group stages of this season’s Europa League has thrown up a number of difficult and interesting challenges for England’s representatives, with qualification through to the knock-out stages far from assured. This term it will be up to Tottenham, Fulham, Stoke and Birmingham to do the nation proud, and test their wits against some cultured European opposition.

Tottenham were drawn in Group A, and have been given one opponent on their doorstep, and two on the other side of the continent. Shamrock Rovers, Rubin Kazan and PAOK FC will look to further frustrate Spurs fans after their slow start to the campaign, and will have taken comfort in Harry Redknapp’s men being outplayed and beaten by both Manchester clubs in the space of six days.

The Russians will provide the most difficult opponent, and were unlucky not to make the Champions League; Kurban Berdyev’s side lost out narrowly to Lyon in the qualifiers. The Tsentrainyi Stadion is a hostile environment to enter, and a host of Russian internationals and familiar face Obafemi Martins will make the away tie in particular increasingly difficult. PAOK are not the force of past decades, but, like the Russians will make the away leg uncomfortable. The Irish champions will be sure to put up a fight in the emerald isle, but may find similar treatment to that distributed to Hearts in the qualifying round forthcoming at White Hart Lane.

Stoke have arguably got the most difficult task in front of them, with their fans looking for all inclusive holidays in the far-fetched lands of Israel, Turkey and Ukraine; Maccabi Tel Aviv, Besiktas and Dinamo Kiev lie in wait. Tony Pulis will be happy he has Wilson Palacios and Peter Crouch at his disposal, in what should be a tricky campaign. The Turks have European calibre and experience, and will look to capitalise on Tony Pullis’ outfit’s lack of past action in the continent. Stoke’s direct style of play will be countered by a technically gifted midfield trio of ex-Real Madrid playmaker Guti and Portugal international duo Ricardo Quaresma and Simao Sabrosa.

Kiev are top of the Ukranian Premier League currently have attacking options that could be the downfall of the side from the Britannia, with Andriy Shevchenko and international team-mate Andriy Yarmolenko sure to cause Ryan Shawcorss and company problems. Tel Aviv meanwhile will be the least threatening member of the trio, but the distance to the away leg will ensure a win is not guaranteed.

Fulham have a mixed group comprising Twente, OB Odense and Wisla Krakow. The Dutch side crashed out of the Champions League qualifiers at the hands of Benfica, but have a strong team; despite this a deadline day move saw Bryan Ruiz swap De Grolsch Veste for Craven Cottage, which could be the difference between the sides. OB were unlucky not to make the group stage of the top tournament, as they were eliminated by Spaniards Villarreal, despite winning the first leg. Krakow offer up an unpredictable element, but should not be underestimated as they are Poland’s current champions.

Birmingham may find the going tough especially with a squad depleted after relegation and will most likely focus on their domestic fixtures in an attempt to make it back to the English top flight, rather than a European adventure. Club Brugge and last year’s defeated finalists Braga should be too strong for The Championship side, who will target the fixtures against Slovenian outfit Maribor as winnable games.

The English sides will travel to the four corners of the continent in this year’s group stage, have drawn difficult opponents, and will have to be at the top of their game if they are to progress.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

When Tottenham stepped off the pitch at Tynecastle, having subjected a Hearts team who finished in 3rd place in the SPL last season – and briefly looked to challenge the Old Firm duopoly – the laments for the state of Scottish football were loud and numerous.

It’s not hard to see how this position came about, and as usual, it’s all about money. The club finishing top of the SPL can expect to gain around £2million from TV rights and prize money, whereas the club finishing bottom of the English Premier League will gain around £40million. And it’s as bad in all small nations: Ajax’s European record in recent years is worse than Celtic’s, and the Dutch league receives just 100m Euros a season, a twelfth of the Premier League. Rangers and Celtic are among Europe’s top twenty clubs for matchday income – these are clubs that have done nothing wrong besides being based in their own countries. So what can be done

There’s been much talking about the new Financial Fair Play laws about to be introduced to football. The idea, a direct response to the actions of Chelsea and Manchester City, has been ushered in with the purpose of preventing billionaires from artifically boosting clubs with unsustainable levels of spending. It’s not as cynical as the reigning powers burning the ladder that they ascended to the top – preventing clubs from racking up dangerous levels of debt is a noble goal. But when they come into power, the 518 million or so people who live in European countries outside the ‘big five’ of Spain, England, France, Italy and Germany will feel short-changed, for It will do nothing to address the slow decline that their clubs have suffered.

These clubs still compete in Europe, though only nominally. Since Porto’s triumph in 2004 – a feat for which the club was rewarded by seeing their team instantly dismantled by Europe’s giants – no team from outside the big five leagues has come close to winning the Champions League. Instead, they are often relegated to the dreaded Europa League ,where European has-beens scrap around for a competition that most see as a distraction. The rewards on offer barely register compared to the Champions League – a game between Ajax and Juventus in the group stages of the Champions League is worth many times more than if the two clubs met in a Europa League Semi-Final.

And it’s not just the big clubs that have felt this. Rangers and Celtic have visibly declined over the years, but the gap between the Old Firm and the rest of the league has not diminished. The ‘trickle-down effect’ of money being poured in at the top may be as dubious as it’s supposed social equivalent, but there’s no doubting the impact in prestige. If up-and-coming players don’t want to go to Celtic, they certainly don’t want to go to Kilmarnock.

If there is some hope to be had, it’s that things cannot continue this way forever. Even with the vast TV deals of the big nations, the levels of spending being seen by some clubs are unsustainable. Wages are increasing at a phenomenal rate, and basic economics will tell you that the bubble will burst at some point. Whether it’ll be a slow shuffling decline or a cataclysmic financial apocalypse, we don’t know. But it will happen.

Anyone investing in a football club now is like a property investor of a few years back – making the mistake of assuming that prices will continue to go up and up. Yet football, like all markets, fluctuates. This has been masked by new income sources, but it cannot keep going forever. The limit appears to already have been reached with ticket prices, and when the decline does begin, European football will have to reorder itself on more sustainable terms. But until then, clubs from smaller nations will find themselves like their fans – priced out of the game. We cannot know the future, but when the present is bleak certainty, change can’t come soon enough.

Written by Callum Hamilton from Surreal Football.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Braga v Porto
Europa League Final
Dublin Arena
Wednesday 18 May 2011
Kickoff: 1945 BST

Portuguese duo Braga and Porto are set to take over Dublin in an all-Portuguese Europa League final on Wednesday night, with domestic champions Porto the clear favourites, as much for their dominant domestic performances as their free-scoring attacking performances in Europe and their young hotshot manager, Andre Villas-Boas.

Porto finished 38 points ahead of Braga (4th) in the Primeira Liga and go into the final as only the second Portuguese club to finish a league season unbeaten – after Benfica’s 1972-73 team. And with Porto playing Guimaraes in the Portuguese Cup final on Sunday, Villas-Boas could easily lead Porto to a remarkable treble in his first season at the club.

And yet this focus on Porto will suit Braga just fine, who have thrived in previous seasons on their underdog status. They have a tough task ahead of them having not beaten Porto in almost two seasons but as Braga have kept saying in the build-up to this game, it’s a one-off game where for 90 minutes, Braga are fully capable of springing a surprise.

Anything Braga do will invariably be predicated on stopping Porto from scoring – Porto have scored more than 130 goals this season, including 36 in the Europa League. Strikers Hulk and Radamel Falcao have contributed 63 of those goals, and they’ll be leading the line on Wednesday night. And if they can keep a clean sheet, their next challenge will be to find a goal, and looking at their performances in Europe this season it’s likely to come from a set-piece.

Braga Relying On Set-Pieces

Sporting Braga’s last four goals in the competition have all been scored from dead-ball situations.

Braga have scored only six goals in eight Europa League games this season but have nevertheless managed to make it to their first ever European final. Their last four strikes, all vital, have come from set-pieces (see table below), which means Porto will have to be wary of conceding any fouls or corners. Ex-Newcastle Utd midfielder Hugo Viana has been the most potent threat for Braga, with six attempts from set-pieces, but he has yet to find the net.

The downturn is that Braga have failed to score from open play in their last 594 minutes of play, a worrying stat for Domingo Paciencia’s men but which will prove irrelevant if they can manage to capitalise on their ability from dead balls.

Sporting Braga’s last four goals – Europa League 2010/11

Sporting Braga’s most prolific players from set-pieces – Europa League 2010/11

Porto’s Falcao Makes European Football History

Falcao has surpassed Jurgen Klinsmann’s single season record in a European campaign.

The Colombian striker has netted an incredible 16 times in 13 games in the Europa League this season, a total which includes three hat-tricks. A flair player whose skill lies in being in the right position at the right time, he’s touched the ball more times than any other player in the opposition box (79).

Unsurprisingly, none of his 16 strikes have come from distance, all of them being scored from inside the penalty area. Comfortable with the ball in the air or at his feet, he’s scored six headed goals, seven with his right foot and three with his left. Half of his 16 strikes have also been scored from set-pieces, symbolic of his threat in any phase of play. Meanwhile, he is far more potent after the half-time break, which could prove timely given Braga’s expected defensive approach and the likelihood of Porto needing to secure the trophy late on.

Top scorers in a single season – European competition

Top scorers – Europa League 2010/11

Falcao’s 16 goals this season – Europa League 2010/11

Who do you think will win the Europa League tonight? Let us know on Facebook or Twitter.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

Three games. Fifteen goals. Even after a sloppy start in which they allowed Villareal to go in 1-0 up at half-time, FC Porto insisted on being brilliant. Having scored five in each leg against Spartak Moscow, Andre Villas Boas’ all-conquering cohort decided to repeat the trick in just one half against Villareal to set up a final against either Benfica or Braga.

For once this season, Porto fans were forced to suffer a little as a surprisingly abject first-half display, during which centre-backs Rolando and Otamendi went for an evening stroll which allowed Cani the space to put Villareal in front, meant the newly-crowned Portuguese champions went in 1-0 down at the break. Normal service was resumed in the second-half, however; Radamel Falcao scored from the spot to level the score before Freddy Guarin made a characteristic run into the box, shot from an angle and headed home the rebound from Diego Lopez’s save. Falcao then sandwhiched a predatory finish, after some excellent play down the right from Hulk, in between two bullet headers to give himself fourteen goals overall in the competition.

The other Semi-Final, an all-Portuguese affair, was much tighter. Having hit the post in the first-half, Benfica went ahead through centre-back Jardel, before Braga captain Vandinho levelled the score three minutes later. Oscar Cardozo then struck a beautiful free-kick to win the game for Benfica, but the tie looks delicately balanced. Braga’s away goal, coupled with Benfica’s struggles on their travels in the Europa League this season and their poor recent record at Braga, would suggest that this one is far from over.

Whoever Porto are dealt in the final, however, Villas Boas will fancy his chances of emulating Jose Mourinho by winning Europe’s ‘other’ major competition in his first full season, given his team’s utter dominance of domestic football this year. Having hammered Benfica 5-0 (what other scoreline could it have been?) at the Estadio do Dragao earlier in the season, they then beat  Benfica on their own patch twice in two weeks to guarantee the league title and turn around a 2-0 deficit in the domestic cup Semi-Final. This being the Benfica who are already guaranteed to finish second ahead of Braga.

In the meantime, Portuguese football can celebrate one of its greatest successes. Although Portuguese teams have reached fifteen major European finals at club level, this will be the first all-Portuguese affair in the final of a major tournament. It is, ultimately, the expression of the fact that the Portuguese, after decades of occasional highs amid years of disappointment, can finally lay claim to being one of football’s major forces for the first time since the 1960s. Since 2000, the country has hosted a European Championship and reached the final, appeared in a further semi-final and quarter-final of the same competition, and reached the World Cup Semi-Final. Luis Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo have each been voted the best player in the world, Jose Mourinho is almost unanimously viewed as the wold’s best manager and, excluding this year, Portuguese clubs have appeared in three major finals.

Whether the likes of Radamael Falcao, Hulk and Rolando decide to stay together to mount a Champions’ League campaign next year remains to be seen. Given that Portuguese football has lost the likes of David Luiz, Ramires, Angel di Maria, Raul Meireles and Bruno Alves in the past year alone, one would imagine that the three Europa League adventurers will probably need to rebuild their teams once more in time for next season. In the meantime, there’s a major trophy to play for.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

With Birmingham City already securing one of the Europa League places and another going to either Bolton Wanderers or Stoke City, finishing 5th place in the Premier League is the only remaining method to bag yourself a place in Europe this season.

After Liverpool’s 3-0 win over Manchester City on Monday night, it would seem they have made a late surge for this position. However, would it do Liverpool any harm if they fail to qualify?

Current Squad

With the current lack of depth to Liverpool’s squad, do they really need an additional 18 games? Is one transfer window enough to strengthen a squad that could be capable of challenging for a Champions League spot whilst having a successful run in the Europa League?

WIthout having to trek to old Soviet countries and through Eastern Europe, it would certainly allow Dalglish, the potential full-time Liverpool Manager, the capacity to field his strongest and fittest starting eleven every week.

This season’s Europa League campaign saw Liverpool travel to Rabotnički (Macedonia), Trabzonspor (Turkey), Napoli (Italy) , Steaua Bucureşti (Romania), Utrecht (Holland), Sparta Prague (Czech Republic) and Braga (Portugal). Although various youth players have gained experience, it has taken a toll on the senior players who have had to cope with playing the following weekend. For what it was worth, the stress of travelling and the strain of playing on a Thursday night prior to a weekend fixture has not been beneficial to the squad Liverpool currently has. It has been duly noted that as a consequence of mid-week fixtures, Liverpool have suffered losses such as 3-0 to Manchester City, 3-2 against Manchester United, 1-2 home to Blackpool and 3-1 away to West Ham.

Facing the Reality

Having no European football would be a dent to Liverpool’s pride as it would be the first time they have failed to qualify in Europe since the 1999-2000 season. However besides the added incentive of the financial gain, the Europa League brings no excitement, no prestige and no care. Do Liverpool fans really get excited at the prospect of playing a home tie against Sporting Braga or an away trip to Sparta Prague? Furthermore, since the reform to the Europa League, which is essentially a watered down version of the Champions League, big clubs have lost all their competitive nature for the second rate European competition.

The Future

Liverpool need to be playing in the Champions League; for the good of the club and for the good of the country. With Andy Carroll signing for Liverpool, it is essential he grows as a player through the experience provided from the Champions League. He is more than likely to be the future spearhead to England’s attack with Wayne Rooney in the coming years and the best way in ending England’s wait for a second World Cup is to be seeing many homegrown players competing in the Champions League.

The only concern Liverpool should have if they fail to qualify is the future of Pepe Reina. He is arguably the most consistent goalkeeper in the Premiership and with Manchester United on the prowl looking to find a replacement for Van der Saar, if Liverpool are to succeed next season, it is vital that Reina remains their number one. Pepe is an ambitious player. He has dreams of returning to the big stage and there will be only so much he can take of Europa League football.

I’m not advocating that it would be disastrous and pointless for Liverpool if they qualify, I am simply saying it won’t be the end of the world.

You can follow the author on Twitter.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

These are unchartered waters for Portuguese football. With the national economy in tatters (and crippling international loans looking ever more likely), its football clubs are putting on a remarkable show in the Europa league, in which three Portuguese clubs are all in a strong position to advance to the Semi-Finals.

‘Can We Pay in Goals?’, asked sports daily A Bola after the dazzling displays from Porto and Benfica last night yielded nine goals between them. No bailouts required (though Benfica could do with finding a buy for hapless goalkeeper Roberto, whose gaffes are becoming as ritualistic as the eagle which is flown around the stadium before every home game) on another comfortable night for Portuguese sides in Europe.

The Portuguese are finding that there are some perks to their unwanted relegation in the UEFA league rankings. Porto, who a couple of years ago might have been in the Champions’ League having finished third in the domestic championship, instead qualified for a tournament which many would argue is beneath Andre Villas Boas’ all-conquering team; Benfica, on the other hand, made the Champions’ League but have found that a financial policy of mining Latin America for fresh talent, developing and then selling it and replacing it with fresh recruits means it may take a few months to settle into the gruelling rhythms of elite European competition every season. Their disappointing third place at the group stage saw them drop into the Europa League along with Braga.

So, Portugal have three top-class sides in a competition supposedly designed for European football’s nearly men. It certainly showed last night as Porto made light work of Spartak Moscow (who themselves were in the Champions’ League earlier this season), a Radamel Falcao hat-trick helping them to a 5-1 win. Benfica, meanwhile, made mincemeat of PSV Eindhoven, providing a packed Estadio da Luz with a festival of football during their 4-1 victory. Braga, who surprised many by overcoming Liverpool in the previous round, took a 1-1 draw from Dynamo Kiev which gives them an advantage going into the second leg.

The ties are by no means over, particularly for Braga. Dynamo Kiev, arguably the strongest of the three who played against Portuguese opposition last night, will feel that they can go to Portugal and take a result in the way that fellow countrymen Shakhtar Donetsk did earlier in the season – especially given that unlike Benfica and Porto, Braga’s league position is not guaranteed.

However, it would appear that the biggest threat to Portuguese hegemony in Europe’s ‘other’ major competition will come from across the border. Villareal, who matched Porto’s achievement last night with a 5-1 win over Twente Enschede (completing a wretched evening for Holland’s top two sides, by the way), are in great form in La Liga and look more than able to hold their own against anything coming out of Portugal this season. The Spanish club’s meteoric rise from obscurity over the past decade has been nothing short of outstanding, and whilst the current crop are not quite a match for the side which came within a penalty miss of the Champions’ league Final in 2006, they boast an array of quality players in their own right. A team which can claim a front pair of Nilmar and Giuseppe Rossi, with backed up by Spanish internationals like Cazorla, Marchena and Capdevilla will always be in with a shout at this stage of the competition.

Whatever happens, though, this has been an historic year for Portuguese football. Although Benfica disappointed in the Champions’ League, this was the first year in which three Portuguese teams were present in the quarter-finals of a major European competition. They have come close to an all-Portuguese final before, of course; in 2003, Jose Mourinho had been hoping that Porto’s city rivals Boavista would overcome Celtic in their Semi-Final, but it was not to be. This time around, with rife unemployment, inflation and falling salaries, a country in which ‘Did you see the game last night?’ is as commonplace an icebreaker as the state of the weather is in England would receive an enormous morale boost should their clubs meet in the latter stages of a major European competition.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

The final eight for the Europa League has been assembled, and surprisingly no club from England or Italy will feature in the quarter-finals. Meanwhile, for the first time in their history, Portugal will be represented by three sides in the final eight of the same UEFA competition, with Porto, Benfica and Braga all in with a chance of advancing.

Here is the quarter-final schedule:

7 April and 14 April

Porto v Spartak Moscow
Benfica v PSV Eindhoven
Villarreal v Twente
Braga v Dynamo Kiev

And the semi-final draw:

Here’s a look at the four mouth-watering quarter-final ties, and how they will be won and lost next month.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News

After beating Manchester United comfortably, Liverpool should surely beat Braga over two legs shouldn’t they? If only football was so simple. Liverpool were knocked out of the UEFA Europa League by S.C Braga on Thursday night, after they could only manage a drab draw in the second leg at Anfield, after losing the first 1-0.  The Europa League is the Mickey Mouse cup in comparison to its more glamorous counterpart, the Champions League. This season however, the Europa League was a chance for Liverpool to prove to the world that they are capable of competing for honors, as was the case for Arsenal with the Carling Cup. In that sense, this was Liverpool’s biggest game of the season.

The problem for Liverpool this season has been consistency. This is not the first instance where they have been brought back to the ground after a big result. The reason for this is the squad strength. While the first team is capable of matching any of the top teams in Europe, the bench is sometimes comparable with teams in the bottom half of the Premier League table. Comparing the substitutes bench of Liverpool against Braga with those of United against Marseille or Chelsea against Copenhagen, tells us the real story. While United have Hernandez or Berbatov and Chelsea have Torres or Drogba and Kalou to call upon, Liverpool have David N’gog to bring on when up against it.

Liverpool signed Joe Cole in the Summer on a free transfer, their marquee signing for the new season. He was supposed to be the missing piece in their jigsaw, but he has had a poor season so far. Liverpool have found their creative attacking player in Luis Suarez, and Cole is expected to come on when needed and change the game. The problem, however is that Joe Cole no longer strikes fear among the opposition defenders, as he did in his days with Chelsea and seems unable to come off the bench to add impetus to the game. This has rendered him a waste of space, especially for the wages Liverpool pay him.

The other option off the bench is Dani Pacheco. He is similar to Luis Suarez, a skillful forward. The situation with this talented youngster however is, quite strange. All the fans are raving about him, but there has to be something wrong with him, as the Liverpool managers have been reluctant to put him on the field.

The game against Braga, shows the magnitude of the task at the hands of Kenny Dalglish. the Liverpool squad is weak and missing a couple of players makes the team look mediocre. The team needs a couple of really talented youngsters, who can have an impact on the game coming off the bench and prove their worth when given the chance. the NESV, with their youth policy will identify the right players for Liverpool and as they have already shown, will go to any extent to get them in. First things first, they have to sign Kenny on permanently. If anyone can bring back the glory days at Anfield, it is the King.

From Soccerlens.com - Football News