Odds and Sods

Liverpool

English club Liverpool finished 3rd in the Premier League last season, and lost the Champions League Final to AC Milan.  The Reds have rolled so far this season, thrashing Toulouse 5-0 in the qualifying stages and earning 10 pts from 4 matches in the Premier League (tied for 1st with a game in hand).  Liverpool are a strong club, in good form, with a lot of Champions League experience.  Peter Crouch is a menace to mediocre continental defenses.  Liverpool should cruise through this group easily.

Porto

Porto finished 1st in the Portugese League last season, and made it to the knockout stages of the Champions League before being eliminated by Chelsea.   They sold a couple big players (Anderson to Man U, and Pepe to Real Madrid), but have also brought in a usual crew of talented South Americans to replace them.  They are currently tide with surprise Maritimo with 9 pts out of 3 games in the league.  They won’t be a particularly brilliant side, but, like last year, good enough in the group to qualify.

Olympique Marseilles

L’OM are perhaps the most beloved club in French football, though that hasn’t exactly helped them of late.  They finished 2nd last season, to earn a Champions League place, but gave little or no challenge to Lyon.  Despite losing superstar Franck Ribery to Bayern Munich, they were still expected to make a serious run at the Ligue Un title, but that hasn’t exactly been the case this season.  Marseilles sit on 7 pts from 7 matches in 15th place in Ligue Un.  Captain Habib Beye was scapegoated and shipped off to Newcastle.  They have some Big Cup experience with fellow former Reds Cisse and Zenden, but they are in such a dire state it is hard to see them contending.

Besiktas

Besiktas are the oldest club in Turkey, dating back to the Ottoman period in 1903.  They were runner-up in the league and won the Turkish cup and the Turkish Super Cup last season.  They have a talented Brazilian youngster in Bobo, but it is hard to see them having the quality to compete with the other three clubs in this group.  They will have to look to grind out a result or two at home and try to pip l’OM for the UEFA Cup spot.