Champions League Draw - 29th August '24 | Opponents (pg69) | Fixtures (pg128)

[citizen_maine]

I tend to agree. No chance of straight knockouts ever coming back. But this new format is likely to be much more taxing and looking at pots 1 and 2, we are likely to have 4 games in which we are going to have to play well to win.
It’s also difficult to know how many points would make top 8 - I’m guessing 17/18 perhaps?
Finally, in the old format, if you play well for first 3 games you’re almost guaranteed to qualify but in this new format you have to do well over a much longer period. Despite how good we are, it’s not going to be easy.

It's not going to be easy for anyone else either though, and that's the point. There should be no/few dead rubber games as everyone needs to keep winning

 

[Gray]

The Champions League was designed to ensure that big-revenue generators would go deep in the competition, and not be knocked out early by some sucker-puncher like Steaua Bucharest. The champions of Spain, so went the logic, should not be knocked out early by the champions of Finland. It’d be bad for business.

The last few versions of the Champions League however have produced an awful lot of very dull football in the group stages: some shock results, but rarely derailing a good team out of the competition. Teams who finished bottom of their group almost invariably deserved to, whether they were Dinamo Vladivostok or Barcelona.

This year, though, we have a league-like situation from the off. As @kippaxwarrior helpfully explains, there are clear advantages to finishing top of the league stage, but as teams don’t play everyone it’s not controllable. To avoid still more pointless games, and to increase the possibility in the early league-stage that Istree Club FC will play FC Club Histórico, early jeopardy is reintroduced, meaning that the final stages are harder to engineer.

I’m tentatively optimistic this will be an improvement. I may alter this view when I see the draw, of course.

There is the same amount of cannon fodder in this version of the draw as there was in the previous one.

You could put money now on those 12 that will fill the bottom places, I am going with:-

• Feyenoord
• PSV
• Lille
• Young Boys
• Celtic
• Slovan B.
• Sparta P.
• Bologna
• Girona
• Stuttgart
• Sturm Graz
• Brest

 

[kippaxwarrior]

I tend to agree. No chance of straight knockouts ever coming back. But this new format is likely to be much more taxing and looking at pots 1 and 2, we are likely to have 4 games in which we are going to have to play well to win.
It’s also difficult to know how many points would make top 8 - I’m guessing 17/18 perhaps?
Finally, in the old format, if you play well for first 3 games you’re almost guaranteed to qualify but in this new format you have to do well over a much longer period. Despite how good we are, it’s not going to be easy.

I did a few simulations on Football Manager (sad I know!!) and the 8th place team always got between 14-17 points so your estimate is pretty spot on.

It really does incentivse that teams have to keep winning and apart from if 2 teams play each other with no chance of getting to at least 25th place in the league there will be hardly any dead rubbers

 

[Gray]

In the league phase, teams cannot face opponents from their own country and can face a maximum of two sides from the same country.

How the feck does that work then if we were to play 2 spainsh teams how can 2 spainsh teams play each other?​

But those two Spanish teams will be playing 7 other teams and will not play each other.

 

[ProofMCFC]

As I understand this new draw, there is no benefit to winning your domestic league, as you have to play 2 cat A teams regardless. That’s a bit shit.

 

[ninjamonkey]

Could be the surprise package of the tournament.

I can see the the piss boiling If they got to play us in the semis/final.

Don't think there's much chance of that, girona have had a god awful summer, lost the majority of their key players, unable to utilise the cfg loan system and replaced them with the likes of Romeu, van de beek and Bryan Gil. They'll take the cash injection bow out early and concentrate on staying up.

The FA Cup starts in July and even third and fourth tier clubs don't enter until November, so hardly a wide open draw.
The Champions League has always been about protecting the old G14 and their mates which generates more money. Or possibly it's about generating more money which is done by protecting the old guard.
Fans who believe you can support a team solely via the medium of television are the root of the problem, and UEFA (and the Premier League) take full advantage of this.

It is a wide open draw, teams enter at different stages because of the sheer number of participants but every single draw is wide open. there is no restrictions on who can draw who, that's why we get city v Chelsea in the third round or a team like Coventry getting to the semi's playing only 1 premier league side.

Champions league has always been about money but it didn't start off as restrictive, you used to get the odd genuinely exciting group that you couldn't immediately predict the final outcome and the knockout were anybodies call. They've progressively added more and more restrictions to the point where only the first handful of names are actually drawn and then it's all computer simulated because all the restrictions mean there's only 1 viable outcome after that and you have commentators even saying the competition doesn't really start until the quarter finals.

 

[kippaxwarrior]

As I understand this new draw, there is no benefit to winning your domestic league, as you have to play 2 cat A teams regardless. That’s a bit shit.

I disagree. You're playing higher quality opposition.

How many times over the last few years in the group stage we have already qualified after 4 games with the last 2 meaningless.

That wont happen in the new league phase. Plus the round of 16 is seeded so if we finish top we will play the 16th seed which should give us an easier tie

 

[ProofMCFC]

I disagree. You're playing higher quality opposition.

How many times over the last few years in the group stage we have already qualified after 4 games with the last 2 meaningless.

That wont happen in the new league phase. Plus the round of 16 is seeded so if we finish top we will play the 16th seed which should give us an easier tie

I suppose your correct in that respect, although I don’t think there will be any meaningless games with this new format other than if two teams guaranteed to not qualify come up against eachother.

I just feel if you won your domestic league you should only have to play 1 cat A and replace it with another cat D team for example.

 

[MadchesterCity]

Predicted draw

MAN CITY
madrid (away)
bayern (away)
Bayer Leverkusen (away)
A. Madrid (away)
Feyenoord (Home)
celtic (home)
AC Milan (home)
Monaco (Home)

is that even possible?

 

[kippaxwarrior]

Predicted draw

MAN CITY
madrid (away)
bayern (away)
Juventus (away)
A. Madrid (away)
Feyenoord (Home)
celtic (home)
AC Milan (home)
Monaco (Home)

That can't happen as there's 3 teams from pot 2 in that draw

Juventus
AC Milan
At Madrid