Europa League Fun

With a grand total of 48 teams, there's certainly not a lack of football clubs in the Europa League. I figure since there are 12 groups, somewhat unevenly sorted, I'd pick 6 clubs that I'm looking forward to watching (if possible), and why. Also, just a caveat, I despise the fact that third place Champions League teams drop down to this competition. It draws it out, adding an unnecessary "round of 32", and rewards mediocrity.

Hoffenheim: they have a new manager, Sebastian Hoeness (nephew of the Bayern legend), and a promising crop of young players. Most of the attention here will be on players 25 and under, but I must mention Kramaric. He's the most important player at the club, as he's the one who reliably scores goals, and goals win games. Going from back to front, two young CB's they have are Akpoguma and Posch. The way the team sets up, these two play either side of Kevin Vogt, who's the CB/DM hybrid in the back 3. Posch is the more "defensive" of the three, which I think could translate elsewhere, if/when another club comes in for him. Next are the wing backs, Ryan Sessegnon and Melayro Bogarde. I won't pretend to have seen much of the Dutchman, as he's only made two senior appearances. The Englishman is another case of hype at a young age. He broke into the Fulham side when they were crap, and still are tbf, and as is tradition, any half decent performance led to people thinking he was going to be "world class" in a few years. He had injuries to contend with at Spurs, but to me he's one that isn't going to work there. He's worse defensively, and honestly going forward, than Reguilon, and he's not close to any of the wingers in terms of ability. Just to illustrate the drop off, at least in numbers, even at Fulham, he went from 16 g 8 a in the Championship to 2 g 6 a in the Premier League. He made more apps in the first season, true, but the goal difference is staggering. It's a similar situation to Robert Skov, his current teammate, in fact. He had 29 g 9 a in 34 games in Denmark, moved to Hoffenheim, and racked up a whopping 4 g 7 a in his first season. Sessegnon is listed as a defender, so I assume he'll play LWB and Skov will either play higher up or be on the bench. Personally, I think it's a waste of both of their talents, because they've shown they can score goals at a decent level, but what do I know. Staying on the topic of left-footed wingers, we have Bruun Larsen, another Dane. Right in the middle of the prior two, age wise, I'll just say I don't see what the fuss is about this guy. He's a defensive winger who was at Dortmund and somehow played ahead of Pulisic. I still don't get that situation. Moving on, we have Geiger, Grillitsch and Samasseku in the center of the park. How this usually works is Grillitsch sits and does most of the progressive passing, Geiger creates chances and does the risky attacking work, and Samasseku dribbles past people while mopping everyhing up. I'll throw Baumgartner in with this trio, as he plays further forward, basically as a number 10, and occasionally on the wing. I'm not sure who he reminds me of, but he's the modern 10 in that he creates and scores often while contributing big time to the press. The other player I'll mention is Gacinovic, who was at Frankfurt last season. He'll do more or less what Baumgartner does, just safer and as a bit better at dribbling.

AZ/Napoli: These two are in the same group, so I'll cover bits and pieces from both sides. There's a gulf in terms of age, with AZ featuring numerous young stars who will eventually move on to "bigger" clubs. I'm referring to Boadu, Stengs, Koopmeiners, and Wijndal, specifically. Last season ended badly, obviously, with the tiebreaker going to Ajax in the cancelled Eredivisie, and AZ failed to qualify for the Champions League. I don't see them doing much here, maybe failing to qualify for the latter stages, but these guys are fun to watch. Now, for Napoli, there aren't really any "prospects" aside from Osimhen, who won't be leaving any time soon due to the fee paid to get him from Lille. It's a seasoned squad, with the next youngest players being Elmas and Meret, neither of whom are guaranteed minutes. I love Fabian Ruiz, and signing Bakayoko on loan can only help with depth. Lozano is finally featuring and enjoying his football, and the old guard is still around (other than Allan), including Koulibaly. I already realize I misjudged the quality and depth there in my Serie A preview, and they can definitely challenge for silverware in this competition.

Milan: This one is obvious, especially for those intrigued by football prospects. It's crazy how much experience Donnarumma has at such a young age. Around 200 appearances at 21 is mind-blowing. This summer's recruitment was about depth, with all of Brahim Diaz, JP Hauge, Tonali, Kalulu and Dalot coming in. None of them are starters yet, and that's great for a team looking to finish 4th or higher and make a run in the EL. I'm not a huge fan of loaning players, but Dalot and Diaz make the squad better this season, and that's what matters. I love the mix of youth, a few guys in their primes, and a few leaders in their 30's. AZ, taking an example from above, struggle due to a lack of leaders in the team, as evidenced by frequently losing leads in the latter stages of games. Ibra doesn't allow that, nor Kjaer, and even Romagnoli (currently injured) at 25 keeps the team in check as the captain. Bennacer and Kessie form a commanding midfield double pivot, so much so that Tonali comes off the bench, if he features at all. Theo Hernandez provides the spark from deep, bombing down the left flank and scoring the occasional goal. Hakan is still relatively young, and he's done well to finally show is ability. Part of that is Pioli playing him in his natural position, which is a number 10. Two positions I see potential issues are CB and LB. I mean, right now is a problem for CB with Romagnoli out, and Theo is the only real LB, seeing as Laxalt was loaned again. I suppose you could play one of Calabria, Conti and Dalot there.

Nice: I wanted to pick Leverkusen or PSV here, but I wanted to include a French team. Starting with forwards, the main guy I want to highlight is Amine Gouiri. He joined from Lyon, having missed most of last season with a knee injury. Still only 20, he should end up playing through the middle, but can certainly play out wide, which he seems to be doing currently. That leads me to Dolberg, who's still young as well. I have a theory about Ajax players, akin to the pattern with Atalanta players, that the older they are when you sign them, the more likely they are to "flop". There are also guys like Kluivert who simply get hyped due to their fathers or highlight videos, but that's another story. Next are two hyphenated names, Claude-Maurice and Reine-Adelaide. Both 22, they're meant to be the creativity in the team. I won't pretend to have watched much of the former, but JRA has been in the scouting sphere since his Arsenal days. Like Gouiri, he was also at Lyon and suffered a serious injury. After the injury, he threw a fit and agitated for a move, hence why he's now at Nice. 5 clubs at 22 is never a great look, but maybe he needs this to get minutes and a "fresh start", even if it's a loan. Three fullbacks in the U-25 range at the club are Atal, who's also had plenty of hype, as well as N'Soki and Lotomba. I'll throw in a Thuram as well, with Khephren rounding out the youth in the squad at age 19. Brother of Marcus and son of Lillian, he's a central midfielder, coming from Monaco for whatever reason. That club is a mess, and he's doing well, so I assume that's another coup for the club. Speaking of young players leaving bigger clubs, N'Soki is another in the long list of former PSG youth that have moved on. I'm not sure what's going on with this, but according to FotMob, all three fullbacks I mentioned are right footed, but two supposedly are left backs. I assume Atal was supposed to move on and the financial situation in football stopped that, hence why Lotomba came in from Switzerland. Either way, they have a wealth of young talent on the south coast.

Benfica: a bit of an outside pick. The club, much like Portuguese club football overall, is a joke at the moment. Failing to qualify for the Champions League is pathetic, and it led to Dias being sold to City. However, I'm keen to see how the brand new front three gets on. Everton has been hyped from his Gremio days, finally making the move to Europe. Waldschmidt is guy I've watched for a few seasons at Freiburg, though this is a step up. To be fair, Koch also stepped up to join Bielsa at Leeds, considering what Freiburg is as a club. Darwin Nunez rounds out the trio, and he's got the highest "ceiling", in my opinion. The rest of the team is mostly the same, with Vertonghen and Otamendi manning the center back spots. I'm not sure how good Rangers are, but Benfica should easily make it out of their group.

Spurs: I'd have picked Leicester here, with the wealth of young talent at the club, but I'm not keen on them with the injury situation, and their European campaign is yet to begin. Arsenal have better youth, but Arteta has them playing lethargic football, so I've gone with Spurs. That sentence itself is crazy, considering Mourinho's general style of play and what Wenger did in his reign. Anyways, for once, Spurs had an amazing transfer window. They brought in a backup striker (Carlos Vinicius), a DM (Hoy-be-air), a young CB (Rodon), a marauding LB (Reguilon), a second RB (Doherty), and the prodigal son (Bale) returned. Depth won't be a concern, even with regular midweek games. My main reason for picking them is Mourinho, and the fact that I want them to win a trophy. Depending on who drops down from the Champions, Spurs could have the best squad in the competition. They can't defend, in large part because Alderweireld is washed and Sanchez is braindead on the pitch. Also, Aurier has his mental lapses and Davies is slow, so if the new guys aren't playing it'll lead to the same defensive issues as in the past. The midfield is actually good now, as well, although I still don't get how Winks is playing at this level. I don't even mean to pick on him like that, but what is he supposed to be good at? Looking at the metrics, he apparently excels at progressive passing. That's not what this team needs in that role. They need, and found in the Danish guy I mentioned above, someone who runs around, can tackle, and protects the vulnerable defense. They already have Ndombele to dribble and create, and Lo Celso to run around wreaking havoc while also creating. In terms of numbers, Dier is even worse than Winks, at least as a DM.