Administrator Stan Posted December 9 Administrator Posted December 9 all kick-offs 20.00 (GMT) unless stated Tuesday 10th December, 2024 Dinamo Zagreb vs Celtic, 17.45 Girona vs Liverpool, 17.45 Atalanta vs Real Madrid Bayer Leverkusen vs Inter Milan Brest vs PSV Club Brugge vs Sporting Lisbon RB Leipzig vs Aston Villa RB Salzburg vs PSG Shakhtar Donetsk vs Bayern Munich Wednesday 11th December, 2024 Atletico Madrid vs Slovan Bratislava, 17.45 Lille vs Sturm Graz, 17.45 AC Milan vs Red Star Belgrade Arsenal vs Monaco Benfica vs Bologna Borussia Dortmund vs Barcelona Feyenoord vs Sparta Prague Juventus vs Man City Stuttgart vs Young Boys Quote
Subscriber Mel81x+ Posted December 10 Subscriber Posted December 10 Not the end of the world but also a bit frustrating that we aren't doing better in the first half here. I fully expect that to change as the game starts again though. Quote
Rick Posted December 10 Posted December 10 Girona is a team full of cheating little pricks. Oh, and Darwin is having another stinker but what else is new. Quote
Subscriber Mel81x+ Posted December 10 Subscriber Posted December 10 11 minutes ago, Rick said: Girona is a team full of cheating little pricks. Oh, and Darwin is having another stinker but what else is new. I sort of hope he finds his way but I am also not holding my breath for it. Quote
Subscriber Mel81x+ Posted December 10 Subscriber Posted December 10 Job done and we move on. Ali back in goal and made some great saves today. Quote
Administrator Stan Posted December 10 Author Administrator Posted December 10 Bad mistake from Martinez to allow RB Leipzig to equalise. Quote
Reluctant Striker Posted December 11 Posted December 11 3rd before Wednesday matches. 2 group games remaining. Monaco (a) & Celtic (h). Going as well as it could. Quote
LFCMike Posted December 11 Posted December 11 11 hours ago, Rick said: Girona is a team full of cheating little pricks. Oh, and Darwin is having another stinker but what else is new. I do think he'll be replaced in the summer. Last season I thought his all round game improved but he's gone backwards this season and I don't think he's ever going to suit a Slot team Quote
Administrator Stan Posted December 11 Author Administrator Posted December 11 7 hours ago, Reluctant Striker said: 3rd before Wednesday matches. 2 group games remaining. Monaco (a) & Celtic (h). Going as well as it could. Surely you've pretty much qualified automatically now? Quote
6666 Posted December 11 Posted December 11 Comfortable win for us. Probably should've scored more. Hopefully we start getting a few defenders back from injury now. As for Man City, 1 win in their last 10 games. The last time that happened to them must've been before their UAE days. Probably before their Shinawatra days as well. Quote
Subscriber RandoEFC+ Posted December 11 Subscriber Posted December 11 The fact that Man City and Real Madrid have been awful has saved this rubbish format. I was in two minds at first but the competition this year has honestly felt mostly like a bunch of friendlies as a warm up for the knockouts. There's no jeopardy when you can win less than half of your games and stay in the competition. Quote
Gunnersaurus Posted December 11 Posted December 11 @Happy Blue last time you were this shit you were a proper football club Quote
Rick Posted December 11 Posted December 11 Unless City bring in players early Jan, I can see PSG doing them as well. Quote
Happy Blue Posted December 11 Posted December 11 1 hour ago, Gunnersaurus said: @Happy Blue last time you were this shit you were a proper football club We are at the level of Crystal Palace right now paying big time for not recruiting properly. united at weekend in the EL Crapico, we getting cooked by Trashford, we cant defend Quote
LFCMike Posted December 12 Posted December 12 9 hours ago, RandoEFC said: The fact that Man City and Real Madrid have been awful has saved this rubbish format. I was in two minds at first but the competition this year has honestly felt mostly like a bunch of friendlies as a warm up for the knockouts. There's no jeopardy when you can win less than half of your games and stay in the competition. That's no different to the old format Quote
Subscriber RandoEFC+ Posted December 12 Subscriber Posted December 12 3 hours ago, LFCMike said: That's no different to the old format Disagree. You can afford to finish in the bottom half of 36 teams and still go on to win the tournament. Would anyone be surprised if Real Madrid came alive in the Knockout Stage and won the tournament after finishing 18th or something in the Round Robin? I just think it's a bit daft. It should be the top 16 into the Knockout Stage and the rest are out. Playing 144 matches in the Group Stage just to eliminate 12 of the 36 teams is absolutely ridiculous. It's crap. If Man City had lost a couple of games in the old format they'd have probably been eliminated. Under this format they've lost 3 or 4 and all they have to do is pull it out of the bag in the last couple of fixtures to scrape through in the top 24. Which is why I say the whole group stage just feels like a series of friendlies and all that gets decided is which 8 teams get a Bye in the next round. Maybe the last set of fixtures will be more interesting when push really comes to shove but as a neutral, I've never felt less interested in popping a Champions League group match on in the background at this time of year. Could just be me of course. Quote
Administrator Stan Posted December 12 Author Administrator Posted December 12 5 hours ago, RandoEFC said: Disagree. You can afford to finish in the bottom half of 36 teams and still go on to win the tournament. Would anyone be surprised if Real Madrid came alive in the Knockout Stage and won the tournament after finishing 18th or something in the Round Robin? I just think it's a bit daft. It should be the top 16 into the Knockout Stage and the rest are out. Playing 144 matches in the Group Stage just to eliminate 12 of the 36 teams is absolutely ridiculous. It's crap. If Man City had lost a couple of games in the old format they'd have probably been eliminated. Under this format they've lost 3 or 4 and all they have to do is pull it out of the bag in the last couple of fixtures to scrape through in the top 24. Which is why I say the whole group stage just feels like a series of friendlies and all that gets decided is which 8 teams get a Bye in the next round. Maybe the last set of fixtures will be more interesting when push really comes to shove but as a neutral, I've never felt less interested in popping a Champions League group match on in the background at this time of year. Could just be me of course. I wasn't sure how this new format would go so tried to keep an open mind, instead of write it off. But we're now two rounds away from the end and it already feels like too much going into the new year. Perhaps it's just change and everyone in our generation is just used to the group stage finishing around this part of the season. I agree about the amount of matches and that someone low down could still win it. People talked about rewarding failure for dropping into the Europa League and winning that, or finishing 4th in the league and being awarded a European spot. This format could still reward 'failure' as you mention. I think there's also too much of a good thing - I used to tune into BT/TNT Goals Show and watch the CL games, but now it just seems like too much effort with too much going on. Almost too much jeopardy going into the rounds. Quote
LFCMike Posted December 12 Posted December 12 6 hours ago, RandoEFC said: Disagree. You can afford to finish in the bottom half of 36 teams and still go on to win the tournament. Would anyone be surprised if Real Madrid came alive in the Knockout Stage and won the tournament after finishing 18th or something in the Round Robin? I just think it's a bit daft. It should be the top 16 into the Knockout Stage and the rest are out. Playing 144 matches in the Group Stage just to eliminate 12 of the 36 teams is absolutely ridiculous. It's crap. If Man City had lost a couple of games in the old format they'd have probably been eliminated. Under this format they've lost 3 or 4 and all they have to do is pull it out of the bag in the last couple of fixtures to scrape through in the top 24. Which is why I say the whole group stage just feels like a series of friendlies and all that gets decided is which 8 teams get a Bye in the next round. Maybe the last set of fixtures will be more interesting when push really comes to shove but as a neutral, I've never felt less interested in popping a Champions League group match on in the background at this time of year. Could just be me of course. My point was that you could win less than half your games in the old groups and still go through. Depending on the group, teams could win two and draw one or two and still go through. I agree I think the last set of fixtures will be more as you'll have teams changing positions throughout the night Quote
Dr. Gonzo Posted December 12 Posted December 12 On 11/12/2024 at 14:14, RandoEFC said: The fact that Man City and Real Madrid have been awful has saved this rubbish format. I was in two minds at first but the competition this year has honestly felt mostly like a bunch of friendlies as a warm up for the knockouts. There's no jeopardy when you can win less than half of your games and stay in the competition. I hate the new format for this reason. But UEFA wanted more money and more matches, so we have to deal with this shite. Quote
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