No I don’t think you are, all it means is that you are considered to be one of the best nine teams that have qualified.Sorry if this has been covered earlier in the thread, but is there any advantage to having a high coefficient and being in pot 1? If we play 2 teams from pot 1 anyway, it looks to me like we've spent years building the best coefficient in Europe only for them to change the rules to make it irrelevant. Or am I missing something?
So why have the best teams in Europe, who regularly feature in pot 1 like us, RM and BM not challenged these changes. We are at the top of the table now and should not be having to play two games against other top teams.No I don’t think you are, all it means is that you are considered to be one of the best nine teams that have qualified.
There are 81 teams taking part of which 29 are already into the league stage. That leaves 52 teams fighting for the remaining 7 places, don’t think many people will be watching all those matches on their TV’s.
The cynic in me thinks its because they can charge the fans more money against the pot 1 teams.So why have the best teams in Europe, who regularly feature in pot 1 like us, RM and BM not challenged these changes. We are at the top of the table now and should not be having to play two games against other top teams.
So why have the best teams in Europe, who regularly feature in pot 1 like us, RM and BM not challenged these changes. We are at the top of the table now and should not be having to play two games against other top teams.
Its rather like Hearts losing the Scottish League on goal average to Kilmarnock in 1964-65 when they would have won on goal difference and subsequently lost to Celtic in 1985-86 on goal difference when they would have won on goal average.When we won the league in 2012 we were placed in Pot 2, they then changed it to Champions automatically went in Pot 1.
Then we went out on away goals to Monaco and Spuds, rule changed and we go out to Real Madrid last season.
It's not been kind to us
If I had to take a test as to from what country these clubs play, I doubt I would get over 50%!!Ist Qualifying Round 9/10 & 16/17 July.
- Slovan Bratislava v Struga
- New Saints v Decic
- Borac Banja v Egnatia
- Hamrun v Lincoln Red Imps
- Balikani v Santa Coloma
- Frora v Celje
- Ki v Differdange
- Panevezys v HJK
- RFS v Larne
- Vikingur v Shamrock Rovers
- Virtus v FCSB
- Ludogorets v D. Batumi
- Ordabasy v Petrocub
- D. Minsk v Pyunik
Touch of sour grapes there. Yeah we should have beaten them both those times but they dug deep and showed character to get the job done. If they were in the PL next season I would not expect them to be outside the top four.Real have been very lucky over the last three seasons , knocking us out twice whilst being totally outplayed , cant wait until next season when we play them again there luck is gonna run out.
They might be Champions of europe now but ourselves and Leverkusen are better football teams , even Mbappe isnt going to make a difference , they are fine going forward but defensively they are shocking , if they played in the Premier league they wouldnt qualify for the conference league.
Totally agree. Only way would be to introduce a new knock out competition. Perhaps the leading clubs opting out of the league Cup or reducing the PL to 18 teams might open up space for this but personally cant see it happening.The huge TV money would disappear overnight so consequently neither UEFA nor the participating clubs would be remotely interested.
There was a spate of early round ties in the late 80s when leading contenders were drawn against each other. The most famous was when Maradona's Napoli met Real Madrid in the 1987-88 first round. The broadcasters pretty much demanded a format change as they felt they weren't getting anything close to value for money from the competition and that's how the Champions League first took shape.
Not taking sides - just pointing out the realities of modern football.
Fuck that reducing the PL to 18 teams, UEFA would increase the CL to 10 initial games from next season's eight, give then an inch.Totally agree. Only way would be to introduce a new knock out competition. Perhaps the leading clubs opting out of the league Cup or reducing the PL to 18 teams might open up space for this but personally cant see it happening.