with the CL draw almost upon us

[6one]

By my calculations, unless we perform really well, ie. winning it. (or Europa league as pts not dissimilar) we will not make it into Pot 1 until 2017/18 season.

 

[its a Barm]

The key is the split of the draw into two halves. So City/rags, Chelsea/Arse, Bayern/Dortmund/, Real/Barca and Porto/Benfica will all be in separate halves of the draw so their nearest domestic rivals don't have clashing TV dates. Based on the above likely seedings this means that one of City's pot 1 teams will be Chelsea or Arsenal. So that leaves City with either Bayern, Barca/Real or Porto/Benfica as their pot 1 team. If City draw Bayern or are in pot 3 we won't get Dortmund. If we draw Barca or Real we won't get Atletico Madrid. Any draw except AC Milan or Juventus from pot 2 can give us Napoli from pot 4. The one to avoid is PSG from pot 2 which City or any pot 1 team in the same half of the draw could get.

Don't forget it was this split halves of the draw that stitched us up last year. We got Dortmund as our pot 4 team simply because Bayern were in the other half of the draw and left Chelsea and the rags (who were in Bayern's half) with Norsdsjaelland and Cluj respectively. As far as Dortmund were concerned there was simply no other group left that they could be drawn in.

I don't hold with the "I don't care who we get. Bring 'em on" school of thought. That's what we got the last two seasons. I'd much prefer a winnable group than another group of death.

I'd happily settle for Porto, Olympiacos and Viktoria Plzen/Maribor. I'd hate to see us get the likes of Barca, PSG and Napoli.

Confused,just a bit, think i will just wait for the draw,but thanks for that anyway im sure someone understands it.

 

[Stretfordian_Blue]

Where two sides from the same association qualify, they are paired to split their matches between Tuesday and Wednesday, so one club will always play at home on one day and the other will play away on the other day. In the case of associations with three representatives, only two teams are paired in terms of their fixtures; in the case of associations with four representatives, two pairings are made based on the TV audience.

To ensure sides from the same country play on separate days, the eight groups are distinguished by colour: Groups A–D red and Groups E–H blue. When a paired club is drawn, for example, into one of the red groups, the other paired club – once it is drawn – is automatically assigned to one of the four blue groups.

 

[sergiokun]

Is the draw played on TV or is it just live stream or on UEFA website? Anyone know what time the draw starts?? Can't wait

Thanks

 

[Prestwich_Blue]

The point is that the more wins we have, the more coefficient points we get plus there's 5 just for getting to the last 16.

We're losing 20 points we got from the EL run in 2008/9 this season so we need to at least replace those. We've got about 7 just for being in the group stage (which includes the relevant percentage of the national coefficient) and would get 5 for qualifying for the knock-out stage. So 3 wins and a draw in the group would give us another 7 points and a win or even a draw would give us those 20 points.

That would mean being no worse off next season probably and then we'd start to move up the rankings.

 

[supercity88]

Basically by the time the Pot 1 teams have been gently placed into their groups of choice the rest are left with less and less option of where they can go. There is very little that is left to chance really. I think most teams in Europe would prefer Arsenal to us in their group but it is the way it is. It would be nice if we got an easier group on paper, but we were unlucky not to qualify from the group in our first season and I think Mancini just tried too hard last season and mixed things too much. If we keep things defensive away from home and use home advantage we are a good enough side to progress. A group of Barca, PSG and Napoli and we have as good a chance as any to progress. But lets make it easier this time please!

 

[Stretfordian_Blue]

Found the TV Pairings for those who are interested. Should PSV progress, Juventus and Napoli will be paired. If they don't , Ajax can go red or blue. I've put them both in to make it easier.

TV Pairings:
Manchester City x Manchester United -----> Chelsea x Arsenal
FC Bayern x Bor.Dortmund -----> Leverkusen x Schalke
FC Barcelona x Real Madrid -----> Atlético Madrid x Real Sociedad
AC Milan x Juventus -----> Napoli not paired
PSG x Marseille
FC Porto x S.L. Benfica
CSKA Moscow x FC Zenit
Ajax x PSV Eindhoven

Red or Blue:
Shakhtar Donetsk
Olympiacos
Galatasaray
Anderlecht
F.C. Kobenhavn
F.C. Basel
Austria Wien
Shakhter Karagandy
Steaua București
FC Viktoria Plzeň

 

[citytilidie85]

The point is that the more wins we have, the more coefficient points we get plus there's 5 just for getting to the last 16.

We're losing 20 points we got from the EL run in 2008/9 this season so we need to at least replace those. We've got about 7 just for being in the group stage (which includes the relevant percentage of the national coefficient) and would get 5 for qualifying for the knock-out stage. So 3 wins and a draw in the group would give us another 7 points and a win or even a draw would give us those 20 points.

That would mean being no worse off next season probably and then we'd start to move up the rankings.

There's also some teams above us losing points next season, Scousers are one of them, think they will be losing around 25, but then depends on what they gain this season. But more importantly there are also teams above us who arent in the CL this season. Inter and Valencia are two who, come next season might be back in it. I reckon we will still be in pot 3 next season, but like you said, will then start moving up, providing we actually start to win games!

 

[citytilidie85]

That speaks volumes... FFS. What's wrong with Pilzen getting to the semifinals? If they win football games then good luck to them.

*shakes head*

And if Pilzen win football games then they'll get to the semifinals but the odds are they won't because they're not good enough. So if you want to watch the best teams play each other then the co-efficient system is a good idea surely?

So the best teams always have the best "co-efficient" do they? How about Dortmund last season?

Admit it. The "co-efficient" system is there to protect the "big" clubs and to almost guarantee big TV audiences in the latter stages, not to ensure healthy competition.I wonder how good the "co-efficient" of, for instance, Arsenal, Porto and to some extent the rags would look if it had been an open draw for the last few years...?

This has been my big argument for the last couple of years, at the risk of opening another can of worms, Platini's been banging on about FFP but to truely implement this, competitions have to be fair as well. How can a team who have had to qualify like Arsenal be placed in pot 1? For me, the winners of the top 8 countries are placed in pots 1-8 then the rest are drawn at random with the exception of teams from the same country being in the same group. This way there is more of an incentive of winning your league rather than celebrating finishing 4th. I understand where people come from when going on about TV revenue but it will come to the point where people turn off as they are sick of seeing Barca or Bayern or whoever beating some team 4/5 - 0.

 

[GeekinGav]

fecking Arsenal seeded 6th after finishing 4th again in the league ..... UEFA is just fucking corrupted.

Its like saying "we know you havent won anything for 40 years, but you are world famous club, steeped in history .... that automatically ranks you over clubs that are better than you in today's game."

no one's co-efficence will ever improve or be truly refelected if this bollocks continues.

for Arsenal for finishing 4th in the PL and winning nothing for 8 years:
Best Case: Marseille, FC Copenhagen, Austria Vienna
Worst case: PSG, Borussia Dortmund, Napoli

for City for Winning PL, FA Cup and finishing 2nd in PL last year:
Best Case: Benfica, Marseille and Austria Vienna
Worst case: Bayern Munich, PSG and Napoli

UEFA rewards clubs for not having any ambition, success or quality. Its just an archaic 'old boys club' looking after each others interests and shutting out the competition.

I dont care if we are in the CL or not, rather we'd need take a stand and say, "if we arent Champions of our country, then we don't deserve to be in the Champions League."

UEFUCK YOURSELVES!!