Slovan Bratislava (A) | CL | Post Match Thread

Dribble said:
Now tell me what happens to Arsenal, Liverpool, Villa & Spurs, not to mention the Rags? What about teams with aspirations like Newcastle, Brighton, WHU?

If the CL should be for Champions only, where do the aforementioned go? Are you beginning to see the problem here?
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I see the problem - but do you want Slovan Bratislava to disappear.
 
Cellarite said:
I see the problem - but do you want Slovan Bratislava to disappear.
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No, not at all. As I've stated before, there is an issue of sporting fairness over commercial sense. If the CL was to revert to Champions only, I'm pretty sure a seeded Bratislava vs City match would be less of a crowd puller than a Europa League fixture between Bayern & Liverpool. That's the stark reality.

How to resolve the issue? I honestly don't know, but mismatches like last night against a team who've only paid above €500k in single transfer fees 6 times in their history, against the World Champions won't improve the viewing experience for watching fans.

Bratislava have won their league three years on the bounce. With additional CL money, it'd make their league even less competitive. I don't have a viable & workable alternative to offer, mainly because even though the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal, ManUre & Spuds aren't Champions, I can't see them being happy in the Europa League, or City being happy playing two legged mismatched CL ties against the Champions of Slovakia or Slovenia etc.

I can see why the big clubs want a European Super League with fewer, but more high profile matches, but I can also see why fans don't want to see their lottery dreams evaporate because of an ESL & FFP to ensure the elite teams remain unchallenged by the also rans in Europe's top football competition, season after season.
 
Dribble said:
No, not at all. As I've stated before, there is an issue of sporting fairness over commercial sense. If the CL was to revert to Champions only, I'm pretty sure a seeded Bratislava vs City match would be less of a crowd puller than a Europa League fixture between Bayern & Liverpool.

That's the stark reality. How to resolve the issue? I honestly don't know, but mismatches like last night against a team who've only paid above €500k in single transfer fees in their history, against the World Champions won't improve the viewing experience for watching fans.

Bratislava have won their league three years on the bounce. With additional CL money, it'd make their league even less competitive. I don't have a viable & workable alternative to offer, mainly because even though the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal, ManUre & Spuds aren't Champions, I can't see them being happy in the Europa League, or City being happy playing two legged mismatched CL ties against the Champions of Slovakia or Slovenia etc.

I can see why the big clubs want a European Super League with fewer, but more high profile matches, but I can also see why fans don't want to see their lottery dreams evaporate because of an ESL & FFP to ensure the elite teams remain unchallenged by the also rans in Europe's top football competition, season after season.
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How do you think Liverpool won so many European Cups over 40 years ago?

By playing the Champions of Eire & Finland in front of p115 poor crowds winning 10-0 on aggregate. Suddenly they were in the QF's after barely breaking sweat.
 
Dribble said:
No, not at all. As I've stated before, there is an issue of sporting fairness over commercial sense. If the CL was to revert to Champions only, I'm pretty sure a seeded Bratislava vs City match would be less of a crowd puller than a Europa League fixture between Bayern & Liverpool. That's the stark reality.

How to resolve the issue? I honestly don't know, but mismatches like last night against a team who've only paid above €500k in single transfer fees 6 times in their history, against the World Champions won't improve the viewing experience for watching fans.

Bratislava have won their league three years on the bounce. With additional CL money, it'd make their league even less competitive. I don't have a viable & workable alternative to offer, mainly because even though the likes of Liverpool, Arsenal, ManUre & Spuds aren't Champions, I can't see them being happy in the Europa League, or City being happy playing two legged mismatched CL ties against the Champions of Slovakia or Slovenia etc.

I can see why the big clubs want a European Super League with fewer, but more high profile matches, but I can also see why fans don't want to see their lottery dreams evaporate because of an ESL & FFP to ensure the elite teams remain unchallenged by the also rans in Europe's top football competition, season after season.
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I'm lost with your replies. Are you agreeing or disagreeing with me that Slovan should be given a fair crack of the whip?
 
The Norfolk Blue said:
How do you think Liverpool won so many European Cups over 40 years ago?

By playing the Champions of Eire & Finland in front of p115 poor crowds winning 10-0 on aggregate. Suddenly they were in the QF's after barely breaking sweat.
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Agreed, hence why I stated that we barely hear about many European competition regulars from the 70s & 80s anymore.

This is the conundrum between the sporting fairness of the CL being for Champions only, & the commercial reality of Bayern vs Liverpool in the Europa League being a bigger crowd puller than Bratislava vs City.

I don’t know what to suggest to make European football fairer & more exciting at the sane time. What I do know is matches like last night won't do the competition any favours. Entertainment, it was not.
 
Cellarite said:
I'm lost with your replies. Are you agreeing or disagreeing with me that Slovan should be given a fair crack of the whip?
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I'm both agreeing & disagreeing. Bratislava are Champions of their league & deserve the opportunity to compete. However, teams like Liverpool, Arsenal, ManUre, Chelsea, Spurs etc would offer stiffer competition & entice more viewers & match goers than Bratislava.

I just don't know how to bridge the divide between fair sporting participation based on merit, & the commercial reality of Bayern vs Liverpool in the Europa League being a bigger crowd puller than Bratislava vs City in the CL.

It's obvious the one in the lesser competition is a far more attractive sporting proposition, BUT if Bratislava are Champions of Solvakia, that's who should be represented in a fair Champions only CL. However, the latter doesn't exactly whet the appetite for global football fans or advertisers on whom the success or failure of the competition relies upon.
 
The Norfolk Blue said:
How do you think Liverpool won so many European Cups over 40 years ago?

By playing the Champions of Eire & Finland in front of p115 poor crowds winning 10-0 on aggregate. Suddenly they were in the QF's after barely breaking sweat.
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115? Sniff sniff...
 
East Level 2 said:
As I said, it could have been any pot 4 v pot 1 game. Two of the additional places went to teams from the top two nations so they'd have been a decent standard, and Slovan were champions and got through three qualifying rounds.
We could easily have played them had UEFA stuck to a champions only format.
We've won several away CL goals by four goals or more including against Sevilla and Feyenoord. Neither caused us significant problems.
Perhaps a European Super League would help us avoid such opponents.
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City beat Bayern Munich 3-0 and Real Madrid 4-0 the season before last.

Loads of people are moaning about the low standard of the opposition. Perhapse they want a Super League format?

These are probably not the same people who have been whining for years for a return to a Champions only format like the old European Cup.

Can you imagine what the response would be if City were drawn against the likes of Vikingur Reykjavik, Lincoln Red Imps, Larne, Shamrock Rovers, The New Saints, Dinamo Batumi, etc,?

The format change this season doesn't make that much difference with two of the extra four teams in the Group Stages coming from Germany and Italy.

City have some easier ties at home this season but did face Inter who were finalists not long back! The remaining away matches including PSG, Juventus, and Sporting should provide decent competition.

City will certainly qualify, probably for the top eight, as they have done since Mancini departed.
 
It was obviously a party for the Slovakian fans, but apart from giving Phil, Ortega, Nunez and McAtee game time, what do games like this do for football? It would be better if there was a league format for the top teams with promotion/ relegation for weaker European teams. Oops, just re-invented the ESL…….
 
Bournemouth Blue said:
It was obviously a party for the Slovakian fans, but apart from giving Phil, Ortega, Nunez and McAtee game time, what do games like this do for football? It would be better if there was a league format for the top teams with promotion/ relegation for weaker European teams. Oops, just re-invented the ESL…….
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I kind of agree. But actually I also quite liked watching a game where we could attack at will and not have two banks of five players just trying to stifle our team. Which I have to say has become a little bit boring to watch at times. Even if I did scream out loud when Johnny stones did finally get the equaliser against boring boring Arsenal. It was a very odd game yesterday and I found I had to keep stopping myself getting greedy and expecting us to score every time we attacked. But as the chant goes, it should’ve been 10!
 
mancboy said:
i understand your little tantrum to me not agreeing with you perfectly so ive no need to go back and re read it, at no point did i say it was an easy group i actually said they were tough games if you go back and re read it and if you do the point i was making was that while all games are tough we should not be disrespectful of how good we are and have been and that those teams will not want to face us as much as we dont them, so yes i understand your insults and strop and why but its okay mate you dont have to throw your toys and insult people just because they disagree with you, its just as easy to put together a cogent disagreement but like i say i will take your fantastic points and insults on board.
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Ouch!
 
laserblue said:
OK. I didn't hear it on the TNT feed though despite them mentioning several times that Weiss was ex-City and won the Youth Cup.
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I don't remember hearing it during the commentary but they did mention it when the teams were shown just before the match started. They said about Weiss and about Mak being from ex-City.
I loved the pictures of Pep talking to Weiss.
 
Eccles Blue said:
I don't remember hearing it during the commentary but they did mention it when the teams were shown just before the match started. They said about Weiss and about Mak being from ex-City.
I loved the pictures of Pep talking to Weiss.
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Fair enough Eccles. I only switch matches on in time for the kick off so missed it. I just found it odd that they mentioned the Weiss connection several times including when he was subbed but not the Mak connection when he came on.
 
laserblue said:
Fair enough Eccles. I only switch matches on in time for the kick off so missed it. I just found it odd that they mentioned the Weiss connection several times including when he was subbed but not the Mak connection when he came on.
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Oh I agree it was weird that they didn’t mention it again. Especially as they said such a lot about Weiss. :-)
 
M23 Citizen said:
When the draw was made they were ranked 154th in the world.

36 teams is too many. All part of what Rodri and Bernardo have been talking about with too many games and pointless games that no player asked for or were consulted about.
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So take out all the teams who came second , third,and fourth in their domestic leagues , then we get less games simples ;-)
 
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