Stuart Posted August 23, 2011 Posted August 23, 2011 Genk in the Champions League group stage after beating Haifa on penalties. Seriously, what is the point?
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Hughesy Posted August 24, 2011 Posted August 24, 2011 I just hope Arsenal fail to get in tonight - that will hurt them!
SouthAussieRover Posted August 24, 2011 Posted August 24, 2011 I just hope Arsenal fail to get in tonight - that will hurt them! Which will speed up their signing of Samba...and hurt us even more!
Eddie Posted August 25, 2011 Posted August 25, 2011 Manchester United look like they'll breeze into the second round. Manchester City will have a reasonably tough test. Arsenal will be quite pleased, could certainly be worse. Chelsea have a reasonably tough draw for a top seed, but all 4 English teams should feel like they have a good chance and you'd certainly expect 3/4 of them to get through and, quite possibly, all 4 (if Manchester City can handle the European tests).
RibbleValleyRover Posted August 25, 2011 Posted August 25, 2011 Final Group Stage Draw: A: Bayern Munich, Villareal, Man City, Napoli B: Inter Milan, CSKA Moscow, Lille, Trabzonspor C: Manchester United, Benfica, FC Basel, Otelul Galati D: Real Madrid, Lyon, Ajax, Dinamo Zagreb E: Chelsea, Valencia, Bayer Leverkusen, Genk F: Arsenal, Marseille, Olympiakos, Dortmund G: FC Porto, Shakhtar Donetsk, Zenit St Petersburg, Apoel H: Barcelona, AC Milan, Bate, Viktoria Plzen City have a pretty tough group, Napoli, Bayern and Villareal won't be easy. United should easily breeze through that group. Chelsea should progress and Arsenal have some tough games, Dortmund won't be easy.
Stuart Posted August 25, 2011 Author Posted August 25, 2011 The daft thing is give or take one or two teams, we could all probably pick out the last 16 now and save months of pointless additional fixtures. The same pointless additional fixtures which have rendered the League Cup a reserve competition and is threatening to do the same to the FA cup. Oh, and these same pointless fixtures are also adding to fixture congestion (which impacts everyone) and tiring out the precious England darlings in time for International tournaments. Bring back the old European cup, with the winner of the League and FA Cup, and have pre-tournament qualifiers for the likes of Genk, Bate, Otelul Galati, and Arsenal. Did I mention the pointlessness?
ABBEY Posted August 25, 2011 Posted August 25, 2011 anyone else bored with the champions down to 4th league?
Baz Posted August 25, 2011 Posted August 25, 2011 I find it completely boring until the knock-out stages. I too agree the 4th best English team should not be able to enter the competition. I think 1st and 2nd place is just about bearable. If the top teams were less likely to get in the competition then the likelihood is they wouldnt be able to gamble so much on being there - making the EPL more competitive. Teams like Genk have far more right to be there than Man City.
BiggusLaddus Posted August 25, 2011 Posted August 25, 2011 Get rid of the 'europa league' and combine them both together with a longer, knock-out, qualifying stage for lower placed sides.
Baz Posted August 25, 2011 Posted August 25, 2011 Shamrock Rovers beat Partizan Belgrade and reach group stages of Europa League! Amazing Goal
American Rover12 Posted August 26, 2011 Posted August 26, 2011 I can't tell you how many time I shake my head when someone shoots like that and it flies into the third tier. But then that happens, so I guess they're worth it!
Eddie Posted August 26, 2011 Posted August 26, 2011 anyone else bored with the champions down to 4th league? It's always going to be more boring if you don't have a direct interest in it. It's a fairly good competition that always produces some good games (although, like the World Cup, the semi-finals and final are often fairly dull). The Europea League is the big problem. Absolutely no reason to watch a game unless your team is in it and half of the teams don't even care. I still say that there is an easy fix for that: automatic qualification for the champions league for the winners. It won't make the cup any more interesting for neutrals, but it will certainly mean that any side involved takes it seriously as for most of them it would be their best chance to qualify for the Champions League. It would also make clubs take domestic cups more seriously and make the final few days of the season far more interesting for all sides who are 5-10. I'd certainly tune in to watch the final with that much at stake, it would be like having to watch the championship play-off final every year.
Iceman Posted August 26, 2011 Posted August 26, 2011 Its called the Champions league. 2nd, 3rd and 4th shouldn’t be in it. if there are 16 leagues around Europe, you get 16 champions . split them up into 2 groups of 8 and and then top 4 of each group to quarter finals.
Eddie Posted August 26, 2011 Posted August 26, 2011 That would be as dull as anything. Realistically it would almost always be Spain v England in the final, with the slight possibility of a German or Italy side being in it. Most teams in the group stages would be spanked. That also then destroys the domestic leagues because it kills off any chance of a smaller side making the champions league and progressing from there. It would also see a significant drop in revenue for the champions league. It's easy to sell the rights for the games knowing that even the group stages are going to throw up a dozen or so matches between top quality sides, but that format would see only 3-5 teams capable of finishing in the top 4 in England or Spain.
Stuart Posted August 26, 2011 Author Posted August 26, 2011 That also then destroys the domestic leagues because it kills off any chance of a smaller side making the champions league and progressing from there. I think that ship has sailed!
Amo Posted August 26, 2011 Posted August 26, 2011 I remember when the UEFA CUP was actually a prestigious competition. I still remember watching our games against Lyon in 1998, and Celtic in 2002 on BBC 1. I guess nowadays it would be relegated to ITV4 or some other non-channel.
Mattyblue Posted August 26, 2011 Posted August 26, 2011 Change it's name back to the European Cup for one thing, total misnomer. And come off it Eddie, the group stages are just a money making procession, minnows get spanked and a good payday, your top teams stroll through, three months that are a complete waste of time. In fact, I hate it all, it has ruined the domestic game.
RibbleValleyRover Posted September 14, 2011 Posted September 14, 2011 Cardozo with a cracking finish puts Benfica 1-0 up against United. Even better goal by Giggs, 1-1.
Amo Posted September 14, 2011 Posted September 14, 2011 United sloppy in the attacking turd, according to Roy Keane.
bazza Posted September 28, 2011 Posted September 28, 2011 Valencia v Chelsea First chelsea attack after 3 mins and Torres is fouled in the penalty area. Commentator said "The referee would have had second thoughts about giving a penalty because HE WOULD HAVE HAD TO RED CARD the defender who committed the foul". This is what is wrong with the game; where refs are instructed to do this and that in the event of this and that. The simple laws of the game should be applied and the ref should be allowed to use his discretion. I would have given a penalty kick and NO CARD.
den Posted November 15, 2011 Posted November 15, 2011 Barcelona want the English Premier league to throw out four clubs. So that they can play Manchester United on a Saturday afternoon.
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