Prem top 6 fight to stop new Champs League format....

[city saint]

I was more interested in the link on that page about Real Madrid deciding not to sign Spanish Dave from Valencia because he was a heavy drinking party animal! Maybe their spies were tracking David Villa.

fuck me is that a we didnt want him anyway article

 

[simon23]

14 extra games woul kill not just the domestic cups but the domestic league as well - unless they remove the restriction on squad size etc......but you would end up having two completely different teams!!! - most clubs just wouldnt be able to manage this financilly so what would the insentive for the likes of Norwich, Southampton etc to try and get top 6 etc

 

[Manchester33]

The Champions League is fine in its current format. A few tweaks wouldn't hurt, but no need to change the setup now.

Same faces every year creates repetition. Repetition is boring and boredom leads to less viewers, less viewers means less money.

Now we all know UEFA love a bit of money. So just leave it as it is and let football change organically.

 

[chesterbells]

The Champions League is fine in its current format. A few tweaks wouldn't hurt, but no need to change the setup now.

Same faces every year creates repetition. Repetition is boring and boredom leads to less viewers, less viewers means less money.

Now we all know UEFA love a bit of money. So just leave it as it is and let football change organically.

We get repetition every year in the big match-ups in the Premier League, and tbh, if the only cost here was a loss of the League Cup, I could live with that.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

Just an idea by other country’s leagues to damage the Prem.

They’ll want weekend Champions League games and midweek domestic games.

I’d leave football if this happened.

Can we not Brexit from UEFA?

I’d rather stay in the Prem and both domestic cups than ever play in a European competition again.

 

[Aja]

The Champions League is fine in its current format. A few tweaks wouldn't hurt, but no need to change the setup now.

Now we all know UEFA love a bit of money. So just leave it as it is and let football change organically.

It's some of Europe biggest clubs like Juventus or PSG who want this new league to happen and UEFA wants to be involved, not the other way around.

 

[BlueAnorak]

fuck me is that a we didnt want him anyway article

Yep.

 

[smevchenko]

The Champions League is fine in its current format. A few tweaks wouldn't hurt, but no need to change the setup now.

Same faces every year creates repetition. Repetition is boring and boredom leads to less viewers, less viewers means less money.

Now we all know UEFA love a bit of money. So just leave it as it is and let football change organically.

Repetition is fairly common in this format though, especially having 4 automatic qualifiers from England, Germany, Spain and Italy. Holland have to have both eligible sides go through qualifying, its ridiculous. Now i'm not quite suggesting that the Champions of every league get a place in the group stages, but for a country like Holland to potentially get no team in the group stages whilst the aforementioned other leagues get 4, its crazy. I also know this can change with the coefficient structure, but i'm not convinced in its current guise, that is a fair way to allocate places.

And the argument is always, well the Dutch league is fairly weak, and Scotland only has 2 teams etc, but if those clubs don't get access to champions league funds, then the teams in the leagues are less attractive and will get further behind.

It is already geared to give the 'big' teams a much bigger chance, so they continue to get all the rewards. The system in unfair.

Unfortunately, the TV companies will not pay as much for a Champions League with a risk of only 2 English teams, or 2 Spanish teams, so this is never going to change.

I remember back in the 90's when 3 European competitions were each in their own right considered worth winning, yet you now have a secondary competition that is considered a joke.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

The Champions League is fine in its current format. A few tweaks wouldn't hurt, but no need to change the setup now.

I don’t like the current format at all. In fact I think the current format makes most of the teams who enter unworthy of being there and makes a mockery of it when one of those teams wins it.

Currently, winning the Champions League and calling yourself the best team in Europe is like winning the FA Cup and calling yourself the best team in England. Neither are proof of being the best of much if they are the only trophies you win in isolation.

I don’t think clubs who finish fourth third or even second should be playing in it, that just rewards mediocrity - it’s called the CHAMPIONS League!

What it also does when you invite four teams from certain select leagues, is, keep those leagues richer than other leagues, keeps a status quo, and stops the Hungarian league (for example) ever being as good as it was back in the 1940s ever again.

I think the league format should be made more important and be longer than just the group stage before Christmas - you qualify for it in a league format and it’s called the Champions LEAGUE!

When a non-champion wins it in its current knock-out format it just shows that in knock-out formats any old **** can win a cup. Whereas a league format shows true consistency throughout a whole campaign.

Also you can currently win the Champions League by drawing every game 0-0 from the group stages to the final and win the knock out games on penalties.

Let’s say the hypothetical group is:
City Dortmund Valencia Atalanta

1. Atalanta P6 W4 D2 L0 F8 A4 Pts14
2. City P6 W0 D6 L0 F0 A0 Pts6
3. Dortmund P6 W0 D4 L2 F4 A6 Pts4
4. Valencia P6 W0 D4 L2 F2 A6 Pts4

Ro16
City v Barça 0-0 + 0-0, City win on penalties

1/4 final
City v Chelsea 0-0 + 0-0, City win on penalties

1/2 final
City v Liverpool 0-0 + 0-0, City win on penalties

Final
City v Atalanta 0-0, City win on penalties.

That would probably see you relegated in a 38 game domestic league season but shows how mediocrity can triumph in the current format of the Champions League.

The current group stage again rewards mediocrity by allowing teams who don’t win their group qualify for the knock-out stages.

And you only currently play a randomly selected 7 teams (if you get to the final) - 6 if you play a final against a team from your group stage group - out of 32 that enter.

There should be a greater emphasis on a league format, larger groups, with only the group winner qualifying for the semi final.

So; firstly, end this “Top 4” nonsense, get rid of second, third and fourth placed teams from leagues being allowed to enter the competition and invite a few more actual Champions from smaller leagues so they can earn more money and drive their leagues forward (long term these smaller leagues will be better and make for a stronger competition throughout).

Then the format; Four groups of 7 teams (home and away format) with the four group WINNERS qualifying for the semi finals.

That way you’re rewarding consistency and quality rather than mediocre teams who might have lost numerous games or drawn every game qualifying for the knock-out stages.

With this format there are more good ties in the group stage as well as more good teams will be banded together rather than the current UEFA mockery of seeding the same teams and keeping them apart for the group stages so that similar teams always qualify for the knock-out rounds and earn the most money. (The current group stage is dull as fuck!)

Also you’re playing 8 teams out of 28 (rather than a possible 6/7 of 32) in a league format showing more consistency is required than knock-out cup runs, no chance of mediocrity reaching the semis as it’s only group winners and no chance of a repeat of a group stage game in the final.

 

[mat]

VAR, more and more hospitality and tourists, now this....You'd be forgiven for thinking that they are trying to kill the game off.

Giving it the US tv style sanitised audience it craves. They don't want us singing fuck you UEFA as it taints 'The Brand'.