with the CL draw almost upon us

[squirtyflower]

and that's where some slight rigging occurs
they should split it after the draw and not before it
it's possible for City/United and Bayern/Dortmund to play on different nights

I agree, but would it be possible given all the they can't play them and they can't play on the same night as them permutations? And do UEFA want to make it more fair?

last season Cluj were pulled out into our group and were moved into United's so they didn't get Dortmund

So the groups could have been
Tuesday night
United
xxxxx
xxxxx
Dortmund

Wednesday night
Real
City
Ajax
Cluj

Wednesday night
Bayern
xxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxx

UEFA get Bayern/United on different nights, one rule for some reason, suppose you can't have rags on the same night whichever country they are from
City/United on different nights and Dortmund/Bayern on different nights

it was a fix

 

[raininspain]

Anyone know what the TV pairings are? It really skews the odds after the seeds have been picked.

There is a 76% chance that we will get a Spanish team in our group. Odds: 2/5 (Real or Barca from pot 1) + 1/6 from pot 2 (Athletico Madrid) + 1/5 from pot 4 (Real Sociadad).
Faily high (41%) of an Italian team too. Odds: 2/8 (AC Milan or Juventus) + 1/6 from Pot 4 (Napolli).
Next their is a (40%) a Portuguese team. Odds: 2/5 (Porto or Benfica).

As I'm living in Spain, I like the 76% odds on a Spanish team or the 40% chance of a Portuguese team.

Nearest teams to me, in order of distance: Madrid (two teams), Porto, Lisbon, Real Sociedad, Barcelona. I'll be there wherever we get drawn.

 

[BlueAnorak]

The UK TV pairings will be interesting and make all the difference. That is the reason why Dortmund were PUT (not drawn) into our group last season - They had to play on a different night to Byern Munich for German TV. It can be assumed that Barcelona and Real Madrid are paired as are Byern Munich & Borrussia Dortmund. I would guess AC Millan and Juventus are paired as well as are PSG and Olympic Marseilles. Not that the last two pairings matter much as they are in the same Seed Pots.

 

[squirtyflower]

The UK TV pairings will be interesting and make all the difference. That is the reason why Dortmund were PUT (not drawn) into our group last season - They had to play on a different night to Byern Munich for German TV. It can be assumed that Barcelona and Real Madrid are paired as are Byern Munich & Borrussia Dortmund. I would guess AC Millan and Juventus are paired as well as are PSG and Olympic Marseilles. Not that the last two pairings matter much as they are in the same Seed Pots.

and that could happen with Dortmund in United's group
United's group just have to play on a different night to ours, and play Bayern same night as us

 

[supercity88]

Because of the seedings and then the fact you cannot play a team from the same country and then the tv clashes/ fact City cannot play at home same night as the rags it is pretty limited in terms of the "randomness" of the draw. Surely there aren't many options for groups. It looks like we will be Pot 3, which I feel would actually be better as Pot 2 is slightly weaker overall. If we avoid Bayern, Barca or Real then our group will be manageable. It feels about time we got Barca though doesn't it!

 

[raininspain]

The UK TV pairings will be interesting and make all the difference. That is the reason why Dortmund were PUT (not drawn) into our group last season - They had to play on a different night to Byern Munich for German TV. It can be assumed that Barcelona and Real Madrid are paired as are Byern Munich & Borrussia Dortmund. I would guess AC Millan and Juventus are paired as well as are PSG and Olympic Marseilles. Not that the last two pairings matter much as they are in the same Seed Pots.

As there are 4 German teams (Bayern Munich, Dortmund, Schalke and Bayer Leverkusen), why exactly do they need to pair off Bayern with Dortmund? Surely it would also be possible to pair off deadly rivals Dortmund and Schalke.

I suppose that they will pair off City with the rags, and Arsenal with Chelsea: the Manchester/London divide. But, once again, why does this have to happen?

FIX!

 

[bayern-flo2]

Why do you automatically assume a fairer more open draw would result in that group? What about a group with Bayern, Madrd, Barca and PSG?

At least there is a chance for such group.

Real, Barca and PSG?
I would love this group! If you want to win the trophy you have to beat top-teams. Doesn't matter whether in the group stage or final.

I would appreciate a strong group like Bayern, Paris, City and Napoli. But I hope that we draw some new teams. Maybe Bayern, Atlético, Piraeus and Copenhagen.

In 98/99 we were in a group with Barca, United and Bröndby. We finished first although we lost our first game at Bröndby... Ok we were lucky that United and Barca stole their points with 2 fantastic 3:3-draws.
Ok unfortunatly we kicked the wrong team out of the tournament :-)

 

[raininspain]

Because of the seedings and then the fact you cannot play a team from the same country and then the tv clashes/ fact City cannot play at home same night as the rags it is pretty limited in terms of the "randomness" of the draw. Surely there aren't many options for groups. It looks like we will be Pot 3, which I feel would actually be better as Pot 2 is slightly weaker overall. If we avoid Bayern, Barca or Real then our group will be manageable. It feels about time we got Barca though doesn't it!

Barca? Easy! Stuffed them last time at their place in their trophy, with Petrov's goal. Even though we only had one more shot on goal in the whole game: seem to remember it was Bellamy in the last minute.

Still, a great day out - especially down at the beach!

 

[BlueAnorak]

The UK TV pairings will be interesting and make all the difference. That is the reason why Dortmund were PUT (not drawn) into our group last season - They had to play on a different night to Byern Munich for German TV. It can be assumed that Barcelona and Real Madrid are paired as are Byern Munich & Borrussia Dortmund. I would guess AC Millan and Juventus are paired as well as are PSG and Olympic Marseilles. Not that the last two pairings matter much as they are in the same Seed Pots.

As there are 4 German teams (Bayern Munich, Dortmund, Schalke and Bayer Leverkusen), why exactly do they need to pair off Bayern with Dortmund? Surely it would also be possible to pair off deadly rivals Dortmund and Schalke.

I suppose that they will pair off City with the rags, and Arsenal with Chelsea: the Manchester/London divide. But, once again, why does this have to happen?

FIX!

Because German TV wants the two best German clubs to play on alternate nights.
Spanish TV wants Barca and Real to play on alternate nights and Italian TV will want AC Millan and Juventus to play on alternate nights.
The choice of the UK TV pairs vary though. We were paired with Utd last season but not the season before (Arsenal? off the top of my head). I suspect they will pair Utd with Chelsea this season due to the Jose effect.

 

[supercity88]

It's TV companies having too much involvement and say in things. Real and Atletico is surely the same as City and the Rags in terms of policing. They don't play at home on the same night to avoid policing issues. Not sure if that still goes in Europe but it certainly still does in the league. Could be that Schalke play the same night as Bayern then and Dortmund as Leverkusen. We all know it is going to be a tough group, there will be at least one major name. Would be nice to have a draw that is a bit more favourable. Arsenal and the rags always seem to get easy groups.