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2018-19 Club Soccer (UCL, EL, Libertadores, CCL & Domestic Leagues)

kella

Low IQ fat ass with depression and anxiety
Staff member
Administrator
Operations
Maitland-Niles is an amazing winger. Defender...um...well, he's a great winger.
 

DeadMan

aka spiker or DeadMong
So, Chelsea or Frankfurt?

I lean towards Frankfurt, personally. But I don't think there's much difference.
 

hayvis

Will-Gnome Member
So, Chelsea or Frankfurt?

I lean towards Frankfurt, personally. But I don't think there's much difference.

Frankfurt. Not much difference except I don't want a London derby final. Less animosity with Frankfurt.
 

Snorky's Shame

Well-Known Member


She passed concussion protocol I guess.

Yaya Toure retires. Will remember him for two things.

1) Playing as an emergency CB for Barcelona in the 2009 Champions' League Final
2) His chant which I will now have in my head for the rest of the day (damn you Manchester City and 2Unlimited)

He's aiming to be a manager. That could be real interesting, he could be as batshit insane as Bielsa.
 
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Snorky's Shame

Well-Known Member
Ajax has virtually won the Eredivisie. Up three on PSV with a +14 advantage on goal difference. Goal Difference is the first tiebreaker in the Eredivisie.
 

doh

THANK YOU Dermott McHeshi
Ajax has virtually won the Eredivisie. Up three on PSV with a +14 advantage on goal difference. Goal Difference is the first tiebreaker in the Eredivisie.
I don't know if I've ever enjoyed watching a team more. I'm sad this season is over. They were a special team. I don't know if we will ever see a team from outside the "Top 5" do the things they did again.
 

goblue96

Disney and Curling Expert
I don't know if I've ever enjoyed watching a team more. I'm sad this season is over. They were a special team. I don't know if we will ever see a team from outside the "Top 5" do the things they did again.

Maybe Ajax in another 10-15 years.
 

Snorky's Shame

Well-Known Member
Grasshoppers “win” the award for big club being relegated this season. Their “supporters” made the players hand over their shirts.

We have a winner-take-all in Turkey next Sunday between Galatasaray and Basaksehir. Basaksehir has led for most of the year but Galatasaray has overtaken in recent weeks. They’re tied at the top now and head-to-head is the first tiebreaker in Turkey. Since the first game ended 1-1, the winner gets the league title.
 

Snorky's Shame

Well-Known Member
Unpopular opinion but Lega Calcio should just find out who the 36-38 biggest clubs are in the country and just run a two division league with no relegation from Serie B. Serie A should not be 20 teams as well. The Dutch system had no relegation from the second division for a long time.

Copa Libertadores Draw in bracket order:

River Plate-Cruzeiro
San Lorenzo-Cerro Porteno
LDU Quito-Olimpia
Athletico Paranaense-Boca Juniors (Yes they were in the same group in the group stage)
Godoy Cruz-Palmeiras
Gremio-Libertad
Emelec-Flamengo
Nacional (Montevideo)-Internacional

Another unpopular opinion, I’d rather cut off relations with CONMEBOL from CONCACAF’s point of view than strengthen them. It just seems like a one sided relationship at this point that I don’t see CONCACAF getting much out of. I’d rather not give money to the organizational disaster that is CONMEBOL at this stage. I prefer just splitting CONCACAF between the Caribbean countries and the North and Central American countries.
 

kella

Low IQ fat ass with depression and anxiety
Staff member
Administrator
Operations
Just saw the other day that Juve have won 8 times in a row :laughing:
 

Snorky's Shame

Well-Known Member
Just saw the other day that Juve have won 8 times in a row :laughing:

I want to say that Paris, Bayern* and Juventus have won 20 out of the 21 league titles possible between them the past seven years. I just think the European Super League is inevitable at this point. Kind of wish they went with regional leagues first like a BeNeLux League or an Iberian League.

*Unless a miracle happens, Bayern will win the title on Saturday.
 

goblue96

Disney and Curling Expert
I want to say that Paris, Bayern and Juventus have won 20 out of the 21 league titles possible between them the past seven years. I just think the European Super League is inevitable at this point. Kind of wish they went with regional leagues first like a BeNeLux League or an Iberian League.

The Royal League

Scandinavia tried for three years before it failed.
 

Snorky's Shame

Well-Known Member
The Royal League

Scandinavia tried for three years before it failed.

That was more of a tournament than an actual league though.

If you are club outside the big five league and your make the Champions’ League on a semi-regular basis, you will absolutely dominate your league because the money from the Champions’ League will dwarf your rivals. Just look at the dominance of Celtic, BATE, Ludogorets, Olympiakos and Basel. The dynamics of European Soccer changed with the expansion of the Champions’ League in 1997 (first year second placed teams were added) and 1999 (expansion to 32 teams).
 
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goblue96

Disney and Curling Expert
That was more of a tournament than an actual league though.

If you are club outside the big five league and your make the Champions’ League on a semi-regular basis, you will absolutely dominate your league because the money from the Champions’ League will dwarf your rivals. Just look at the dominance of Celtic, BATE, Ludogorets, Olympiakos and Basel. The dynamics of European Soccer changed with the expansion of the Champions’ League in 1997 (first year second placed teams were added) and 1999 (expansion to 32 teams).

15 million euros of Group Stage prize money goes a long way in Greece.
 

bruin

Well-Known Member
What a man. See his chillren on the pitch after the winner v Leicester?
Super captain indeed.

here’s to you Vincent Kompany, City love you more than you will know..ohhh
 

doh

THANK YOU Dermott McHeshi
That was more of a tournament than an actual league though.

If you are club outside the big five league and your make the Champions’ League on a semi-regular basis, you will absolutely dominate your league because the money from the Champions’ League will dwarf your rivals. Just look at the dominance of Celtic, BATE, Ludogorets, Olympiakos and Basel. The dynamics of European Soccer changed with the expansion of the Champions’ League in 1997 (first year second placed teams were added) and 1999 (expansion to 32 teams).
The main problem I have now is half the teams are from the big 4 leagues. So a team like Leverkusen can lose 12 matches and gets into the CL Group stage over Ajax who goes to CL Semis and wins domestic double.

It's just a joke too how far PSG, Juve, Bayern are from the rest of their leagues. I've seen charts where Juve spends 2x anyone else in Italy, same with PSG.

I do think for instance Belgium/the Netherlands should combine their league. Could work for other countries as well.

I wonder if the EL2 will help even out some of the lower leagues to give teams that never had a chance to get some European money... I'm not sure. But everywhere the divide between top clubs and bottom clubs is widening massively... even the PL.
 

DeadMan

aka spiker or DeadMong
I'm conflicted about the whole automatic qualification to the group stage for the bigger leagues. It sucked to have teams like Roma, Lazio, and Udinese not make the group stage, but that's probably better than the hot garbage that's come out of that spot recently. Valencia is not a good team and they finished 4th again this year. Italy will probably send Atalanta and Inter to next year's CL. Atalanta lost in EL qualifying last year, and Inter was a clown show in Europe this year. Hoffenheim this past year was entertaining, but still finished last in their group with no wins. Leverkusen gave up 52 (!) goals in the league this year. Wouldn't be the worst thing to make these teams qualify again.
 

doh

THANK YOU Dermott McHeshi
They changed it from 3+1 to 4 in this latest cycle as the latest thing to appease the top leagues. The non-PL teams weren't winning playoff rounds so they had to continue to screw all other leagues.

Quick glance of the last few years, Italian teams really struggled in the playoff round.
 

NML

Well-Known Member
Inter was a clown show in Europe this year.

This seems harsh - they finished even on points with a team in the final. Their group had two semi finalists, and they probably go through if the fixture list was different and Barca was playing for something against Spurs.

The reality is UEFA has massive financial incentive to have more clubs from the major leagues. And yeah it stinks that Ajax has to go through qualifying, but Dutch clubs have been terrible in Europe lately - take away this year, and Ajax themselves haven’t got out of the Champions League group stage since 2006! They have their best team in probably decades and they were a minute away from the finals - seems like a fair result. They’re going to sell probably 5ish of their best players and will drop down quite a bit.

I also guess I don’t understand why it’s “they should prove it on the field!” for teams who finished 4th or whatever in leagues that have a ton of recent positive history, but a team from a country whose coefficient is lower than the Czech Republic should get automatic entry. Shouldn’t they have the same standard to prove it?
 

whiteyc_77

The Skeleton Debator
Mod Alumni
It is bonkers to think about Tottenham being in the CL final. The sheer number of things that had to break their way just to get out of the group stage...

-1 point in the first 3 matches
-Required a nearly full-time goal in the match against PSV to get 3 points
-Eriksen's 80th minute winner to beat Inter
-PSV somehow getting a result in Milan
-Barcelona starting their B-side
-Coutinho hitting the post twice in that match
-Late equalizer at Camp Nou

And then you think about the knockout stages...
-Kane and Dele not playing first leg against Dortmund
-Kane getting hurt in first leg against City
-The Hip of God by Llorente
-V-A-R, my Lord.....V-A-R
-Down 3-0 on aggregate at half-time to Ajax (and it should have been more)
-Ziyech hitting the post in the 79th minute
-Still going out of CL with seconds to go
-If Magallan doesn't slip on the last ball, he closes down Dele and the pass to Moura probably doesn't make it through

I'm sure Spurs will lose to Liverpool, as they're definitely the better side. But what a freaking run it's been. Incredible luck the whole way through.

-YTC
 

DeadMan

aka spiker or DeadMong
This seems harsh - they finished even on points with a team in the final. Their group had two semi finalists, and they probably go through if the fixture list was different and Barca was playing for something against Spurs.

The reality is UEFA has massive financial incentive to have more clubs from the major leagues. And yeah it stinks that Ajax has to go through qualifying, but Dutch clubs have been terrible in Europe lately - take away this year, and Ajax themselves haven’t got out of the Champions League group stage since 2006! They have their best team in probably decades and they were a minute away from the finals - seems like a fair result. They’re going to sell probably 5ish of their best players and will drop down quite a bit.

I also guess I don’t understand why it’s “they should prove it on the field!” for teams who finished 4th or whatever in leagues that have a ton of recent positive history, but a team from a country whose coefficient is lower than the Czech Republic should get automatic entry. Shouldn’t they have the same standard to prove it?

Clown show is harsh, but let's not forget that Inter needed a win against PSV, in Milan, to go through, and they couldn't do that. They didn't score a goal in two legs against Eintracht, and went out by losing 1-0 at home. Plus, during all this, you had Icardi and his wife going crazy and undermining everything. It was not a good campaign from a team that was supposed to be challenging for the Serie A title at the beginning of the year.

That said, I see your point here. That's why I'm conflicted. Would I rather have a shitty 4th place Italian/Spanish/German team in the CL or like Goteborg? I think probably Goteborg, personally, but I totally get wanting teams like Inter there instead.
 

DeadMan

aka spiker or DeadMong
It's also a pretty awful week for soccer administrative bodies.



A team not being able to take a player to a European final because of the political situation is fucking ridiculous. The final should be stripped from Azerbaijan, honestly, and they shouldn't be allowed to host any more finals until that's fixed. This, plus the fact that no fans will be able to get to Baku, is insane. How the fuck is this country hosting a final?

And then, FIFA tops them with this:



Fuck you, fans, you don't get to sit together.

Not sure these bodies do could more to tell fans to fuck off, honestly.
 

NML

Well-Known Member
I tend to lean bigger club myself, because while we are on the back of Ajax making a run, the vast majority of the time these small clubs get demolished and it makes for terrible viewing. It’s cool that Watford made the FA Cup final - I turned it off after half an hour. Remember when Basel made the knockout round last year? Wasn’t it like 6-0 after the first leg? (As an aside, the coach of that team is now the US U-17 coach). They made it a few years earlier against Bayern and were destroyed too. Or when APOEL beat Lyon and then got stomped like 9-1 on aggregate.
 

DeadMan

aka spiker or DeadMong
Yeah, I don't think there's really a right answer. While you have those examples, you also have things like Liverpool losing to Red Star Belgrade and CSKA Moscow beating Real Madrid twice. A third or so of the first round of knockouts tend to be pretty non-competitive either way. I think that's more of a consequence of imbalanced economics than anything else.
 

Yankee151

Hot Girl Summer
I also guess I don’t understand why it’s “they should prove it on the field!” for teams who finished 4th or whatever in leagues that have a ton of recent positive history, but a team from a country whose coefficient is lower than the Czech Republic should get automatic entry. Shouldn’t they have the same standard to prove it?

That's fair. Wouldn't mind more qualification spots in general
 

kella

Low IQ fat ass with depression and anxiety
Staff member
Administrator
Operations
On the other hand, Mikh has been pretty invisible the past few months of EL games so...
 

doh

THANK YOU Dermott McHeshi
Clown show is harsh, but let's not forget that Inter needed a win against PSV, in Milan, to go through, and they couldn't do that. They didn't score a goal in two legs against Eintracht, and went out by losing 1-0 at home. Plus, during all this, you had Icardi and his wife going crazy and undermining everything. It was not a good campaign from a team that was supposed to be challenging for the Serie A title at the beginning of the year.

That said, I see your point here. That's why I'm conflicted. Would I rather have a shitty 4th place Italian/Spanish/German team in the CL or like Goteborg? I think probably Goteborg, personally, but I totally get wanting teams like Inter there instead.
I'd just like to see the 4th place team be forced to play teams from other associations vs. just make the group stage. It used to be just one round of a two-legged playoff. But for instance in 16/17, Spain + Italy didn't win in that round. Then again, that side of the qualification wasn't any champions... all 2nd/3rd place teams from lesser associates.

There were some very one-sided ties in that "league" playoff round, but I think the lesser of the top 4 leagues whined to get rid of it.

The underlying question is does a 4th place team in Italy deserve to be in the CL group stage more than champions of associations 12-14 (or so)? Those champions can play themselves into the CL via playoff but their route is a obviously more tricky than just getting automatically into the group stages.

The qualification rounds are very, very weird. They start late July, lots of teams are without guys who played in international competitions. Most teams are still sorting through transfers (and can have guys who just refuse to play). You just don't have a full squad in matches that are massively important.
 
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