Is this the worst rendition of CL since its inception?

The CL is filled with so much fodder in recent years, if i hadn't known any better i would've thought i was watching EL with clubs like Zagreb, Sporting, Ludogorets, Kobenhaven, Leicester, Besiktas, CSKA, Rostov etc. I for one, welcome the new +4 format for all leagues, people want to watch teams they know, teams that can upset, not squash matches.

It's been crap for years lol, only ever gets interesting semis onwards.

Sometimes there's the odd Quarter final match up etc but that's about it.

would rather watch the small clubs instead of good for nothing washed up Milfs living on past glory.

Instead who? 4th place has been scrub from some has been league?

So much jealousy and hate from the hopeless has beens of AC Milan

Who said anything about Milan?

This was always going to happen once the super rich clubs started to pull away so clearly from the rest. I've had this feeling for years about the CL that you're just waiting for the last-8 or last-4 matches between Barca, Real, Juve, Bayern, PSG and a couple of the best English clubs, whoever they are at the time. Maybe throw in a couple of clubs who are doing well at the time, like Dortmund or Atletico.

Anyway, yeah, the group stage is uninteresting. Not that I think any rule changes are going to improve it, either.

People have just selective memory. Groups with 4 teams, of course there will be weaker or more uninteresting match days. But for every Real-Warsaw pairing there was a Real-BVB game last MD.
Tottenham-Leverkusen was an interesting game.

But most of all it's not like CL groups used to have 4 elite teams duking it out from day one.

Will never get why people always have to complain.

Especially fans from teams who can't even make CL should stfu. For example those of AC Milan or Liverpool FC.

Hapless_Hans wrote:People have just selective memory. Groups with 4 teams, of course there will be weaker or more uninteresting match days. But for every Real-Warsaw pairing there was a Real-BVB game last MD.
Tottenham-Leverkusen was an interesting game.

But most of all it's not like CL groups used to have 4 elite teams duking it out from day one.

Will never get why people always have to complain.

Especially fans from teams who can't even make CL should stfu. For example those of AC Milan or Liverpool FC.

It's a fact that there used to be more variation in the clubs that reached the knock-out stages. I don't need lots of great games in the group stage, but it gets boring when it's always the same clubs facing each other in the last-8 or so.

Liverpool will be in CL next season, no worries.

And we will actually be strong in CL for the first time since 08/09.

That embarassing David Brent season just

Interesting. I remember RedO actually made one of the most precise predictions I've seen on GL when he said Liverpool would have been fighting for Ludo(?) and Basel tooth and nail (he said something along those lines) for 2nd place.

The two who were very much in disagreements, one of which proclaimed a win vs Madrid at Anfield: Sepi and McAgger. You can guess who was proclaiming the win.

Being sidetracked aside, nothing out of the ordinary for this edition of the UCL than any other editions. I guess that can make it a bit predictable but I wouldn't say worst of the bunch. And if I must say, only a few of us would remember the UCL from its inception till now.

Doc wrote:Interesting. I remember RedO actually made one of the most precise predictions I've seen on GL when he said Liverpool would have been fighting for Ludo(?) and Basel tooth and nail (he said something along those lines) for 2nd place.

The two who were very much in disagreements, one of which proclaimed a win vs Madrid at Anfield: Sepi and McAgger. You can guess who was proclaiming the win.

Loooooooooooool I remember that. RO saying they need to be worried about if they can get 2nd while everyone else was confident they will top the group

The most realistic and sensible Liverpool fan by far. No wonder he gave up on the Liverpool section.

lol RO was afraid of his own shadow. Always so cautious. Afraid to make a leap and see the positive side of things. What's the point of being a football fan if you don't dare to dream from time to time.

There is a difference between dreaming and being delusional

Honestly i'm not against the format changes.

I get the 'if you can't qualify you shouldn't be there' argument but at the end of the day the teams benefiting from this would walk the shitty eastern european leagues and the likes with 120 points + the difference is that an upper mid-table club from a top league has actual competition for CL places. The likes of Zagreb are a piss poor pro team playing against farmers.

Don't call me James wrote:Liverpool will be in CL next season, no worries.

And we will actually be strong in CL for the first time since 08/09.

That embarassing David Brent season just

Origi will be topscorer in the CL next season

#daretodream

#notdeluded

honestly, EPL, Serie A, Bundesliga, La Liga, Ligue 1 (maybe) should all have 5 spots guaranteed IMO

leagues like Portuguese, Dutch - 1

The problem is the Champions route and League route seeding systems for the playoffs. You get rid of those and the problem is solved. Put all of those in the same pot and seed by club coefficient instead of splitting it up to favor smaller leagues.

Isn't the champions route for smaller teams going to be reduced from 10 to 5? Because according to my Swedish friend Copenhagen is pretty pissed about that.

I hate the re-shuffle but I understand its about money.

Of course what I'd prefer is to make it a pure champions knockout cup, 2 legs per tie open draw.

Or as it is in terms of seeding but open draw straight from the group stage.

But once again this would cause big teams to lose money and as a result, never be accepted.

Dem jelly no-life has beens

The Vanquisher wrote:Isn't the champions route for smaller teams going to be reduced from 10 to 5? Because according to my Swedish friend Copenhagen is pretty pissed about that.

For the play-offs to qualify to the group stage, the teams from the Champions route (champions of their respective leagues) and the League route (not-champions of bigger leagues) are split. The play-offs are drawn so a teams don't mix, in that way, the champions of smaller leagues don't have to play higher seeded teams from the bigger leagues.

This was it this season:



If it wasn't split, then most of the unseeded in the league route would have been seeded (maybe except Rostov). City-Steaua, Porto-Roma, Villareal-Monaco, etc. would have been avoided.

If a group like this can be drawn under the current regulations, then I am all for the change in format. I don't remember a weaker group, ever.

Leicester City
FC Copenhagen
FC Porto
Club Brugge

breva wrote:If a group like this can be drawn under the current regulations, then I am all for the change in format. I don't remember a weaker group, ever.

Leicester City
FC Copenhagen
FC Porto
Club Brugge

It's because of Leicester. Normally if City or Chelsea win the league then no one bats an eye at this group because one of them will be here.