New CL Format Thoughts

Axel Freed said:
Joke competition.

The irony won’t be lost on many people if, as is quite possible, we go on and win it this season - the first time in half a decade that we haven’t been demonstrably the best team in Europe
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this format is better than the grouo stages only the entitled elite clubs hate it as there is no dead cert as with before.

not as good as the old knock out european cup bit a lot better than the groups.

if we ain't good enough to go through then tough shit us, our fault not the formats.
 
urban genie said:
this format is better than the grouo stages only the entitled elite clubs hate it as there is no dead cert as with before.

not as good as the old knock out european cup bit a lot better than the groups.

if we ain't good enough to go through then tough shit us, our fault not the formats.
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Not sure that's necessarily true. Half the teams went out after 6 games last year. Milan, Benfica, Newcastle, United all succumbing.

This year a third go out after 8 games.

The jeopardy is far less this year and the narratives between teams isn't really there either.

We could lose tomorrow, be on 8 points after 7 games and maybe be sat 25th in the table and I still wouldn't be worried.
 
Axel Freed said:
Joke competition.

The irony won’t be lost on many people if, as is quite possible, we go on and win it this season - the first time in half a decade that we haven’t been demonstrably the best team in Europe
Click to expand...
To win it, we are going to have to beat some very good teams.
Every season before this, the league section is generally drab with very few surprises.
When the knockout starts is when it gets interesting and when you see the top teams spring into action.
 
Axel Freed said:
Joke competition.

The irony won’t be lost on many people if, as is quite possible, we go on and win it this season - the first time in half a decade that we haven’t been demonstrably the best team in Europe
Click to expand...
Haha. I’ve been making this point. We lost it to inferior teams for 4 of the last 5 years so there’s no reason we can’t steal it. If we can buy a holding midfielder there’s still a chance.

Going back to the format, it’s pathetic. I don’t even know the league table.
 
MCFC1993 said:
Not sure that's necessarily true. Half the teams went out after 6 games last year. Milan, Benfica, Newcastle, United all succumbing.

This year a third go out after 8 games.

The jeopardy is far less this year and the narratives between teams isn't really there either.

We could lose tomorrow, be on 8 points after 7 games and maybe be sat 25th in the table and I still wouldn't be worried.
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Even in our slump we would sail through the groups, playing 3 teams twice is much more easier than this and also more boring
 
lets be honest clubs wanted this format change. they wanted more money, Uefa said ok then you have more games, clubs said fine. top leagues also wanted more places which they got by the 5th places for two top leagues each year.

playing 5 home games to get to last 16 is more money than playing only 3 home group stage games in previous format.

some clubs including us even signed up for Super League at first. this new format is coming from that imo. its somewhat easier for top clubs not to get relegated and get more money in this format.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
Going back to the format, it’s pathetic. I don’t even know the league table.
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Its straightforward enough.
The old format of 4 teams was getting g a bit dated. You knew who was going through from this small group at the start of the competition.
The only big difference I see is that a team will know their path to the final as soon as the top 24 positions have been decided.
 
Xhavenjoe said:
Its straightforward enough.
The old format of 4 teams was getting g a bit dated. You knew who was going through from this small group at the start of the competition.
The only big difference I see is that a team will know their path to the final as soon as the top 24 positions have been decided.
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I understand the logic but the whole big table thing just doesn’t fire my imagination at all. I haven’t spoken to anyone who likes it. I know people don’t like change but it doesn’t feel engaging to me. And playing teams just once, not hone and away, adds to the feeling that it isn’t a logical format.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
I understand the logic but the whole big table thing just doesn’t fire my imagination at all. I haven’t spoken to anyone who likes it. I know people don’t like change but it doesn’t feel engaging to me. And playing teams just once, not hone and away, adds to the feeling that it isn’t a logical format.
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I mentioned earlier the lack or narratives and jeopardy makes it so dull. A least in a small group the narratives make the games more interesting.

4 groups of 9 would have been better but I'm assuming they couldn't fit in the extra week that they'd need. I think they'll revert back eventually, probably 8 groups of 5 though, squeeze another 4 teams in.
 
Bad scores so far for us tonight. However, if Brugge don't win against Juve tonight then I think a win against them will see us through no matter what happens tomorrow.

Stuttgart play PSG last game so we'd be guaranteed to finish above at least one of those (possibly both if a draw) with 11 points.
 
MCFC1993 said:
I mentioned earlier the lack or narratives and jeopardy makes it so dull. A least in a small group the narratives make the games more interesting.

4 groups of 9 would have been better but I'm assuming they couldn't fit in the extra week that they'd need. I think they'll revert back eventually, probably 8 groups of 5 though, squeeze another 4 teams in.
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Look at the table, I’d say plenty of jeopardy, think PSG fans might agree too.
 
blueparrot said:
Look at the table, I’d say plenty of jeopardy, think PSG fans might agree too.
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Nah, they could lose tomorrow and still have a good chance going into the final week against Stuttgart.

You need 9 points (roughly) from 8 games, don't see how there is jeopardy.

More big sides went out last year.
 
Brugge now can rightly think a draw at the Etihad gets them through

so fucking angry at that Feyenoord game, 3-0 up and we could hold onto it. that extra 2 points now would be vital.

with how close clubs are on the league and will be the same when finished on 15, 14,13, 12 points, we can get absolutely anyone in the play off draw, could be Real Madrid or Brest etc.

get 3 points tomorrow somehow and leave PSG in the dirt, I dont think they can make it through if they lose to us even by beating Stuttgart in the end.
 
Through if we beat Brugge next week now
If we’re sat here in 8 days time and we’re not through we would only have ourselves to blame

Fully expect us to beat Brugge and finish 20/21st
 
Good night for us. Tonight's results means PSG isn't a must win now and just a win against brugge will guarantee us a play off spot.

We are now in the final play off place, only 2 teams currently below us can surpass us if we were to get 3 more points and finish on 11. 1 is psg the other is zagreb. Zagreb have arsenal tomorrow and ac milan. Seems unlikely they'll win either of those in truth but it's not impossible. Psg have us then stuttgart, stuttgart are on 10 points themselves with 1 remaining game which means theres no sceanrio where both psg and stuttgart can finish above us as long as we get 3 points against brugge. Then theres brugge currenrly on 11 with an inferior goal difference so unless we get beat 8-0 tomorrow and only manage a 1 goal victory in the last game, we'll be guaranteed to finish above them too if we beat them regardless of any other result.

It also means if we win tomorrow night, we'll be guaranteed a play off spot tomorrow if zagreb lose to Arsenal.

We can finish on 14 points with 2 wins, that points tally will almost certainly see us finish in the upper half of the play off spots and should ensure a much more favourable draw but who knows how other results will go. Two wins could result in a decent chance we will actually get a team we've played already this season given feyenoord, sporting and Brugge are all around the lower half of the play off spots.

Away from City specifically, unless there's some big upsets tomorrow, there's probably going to be just 1, perhaps 2 play off spots still unsecured going into the last round of games. They'll be plenty still in with a shout of a top 8 finish but it will ultimately be out of the hands of most teams involved. Jostling for position within the play off positions won't really matter as 1 goal from anywhere changes it too much so there's going to be more dead rubber games on the last fixture than there is games that matter.
 
Ben123 said:
Through if we beat Brugge next week now
If we’re sat here in 8 days time and we’re not through we would only have ourselves to blame

Fully expect us to beat Brugge and finish 20/21st
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Are you absolutely certain about that?

We would have 11pts, Dinamo Zagreb can get 14pts.

However they are at the Emirates tomorrow so we will have to support the sworn enemy.

Also we would need a fuck up from one of the teams currently on 9, 10 & 11 pts.

We should bust a gut to get a result in Paris if we want to be in the play-offs.
 
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