Champions League

[Robbie Earle's Perm]

The Athleti keeper was dreadful, it was like he couldn't dive left.

 

Shame for them as I thought they played quite well and very much unlike that runt Simeone normally sets them up. In fact the most repulsive person on the pitch was Pepe - time now the authorities took action against his sort, Lineker nailed him with one tweet.

 

Thought Clattenberg had a great game after his nightmare last week and could well be in line for the final of Euro 2016 if he does well in the tournament.

[For Us All]

The Athleti keeper was dreadful, it was like he couldn't dive left.

 

Shame for them as I thought they played quite well and very much unlike that runt Simeone normally sets them up. In fact the most repulsive person on the pitch was Pepe - time now the authorities took action against his sort, Lineker nailed him with one tweet.

 

Thought Clattenberg had a great game after his nightmare last week and could well be in line for the final of Euro 2016 if he does well in the tournament.

 

Pepe and Marcello,what a disgrace,Clatto just stood there shaking his head.

[Andy Proctor]

Pepe should have been sent off either for play acting or he should have been booked for giving the penalty away which means he would have got sent off as he got booked later on. Also the champions league is a joke real madrid won it twice in the last 3 seasons despite not even winning there own league. They should for me only let the league winners in the competition or change the name of it as its not the champions league if you can finish 4th and be in it.

[Fosse69]

When only the Champions were in it, they called it the European Cup, which is what it should be called now or the European TV Cup.

[Paul6754]

His only chance was if the ball hit him if he did not jump out of the way, or Real missed the goal. I think Real sussed his lack of technique out from the first kick.

 

I sat opened mouthed watching his attempts to save the penalties, paradox is in normal time he looked an excellent keeper. If Simone knew he was that bad at saving penalty kicks I would have thought he would save a backup keeper to bring on as a sub towards the end of extra time, seen teams do this at the World Cup/Euros.

[Paul6754]

Bet griezmann is also feeling rotten now he missed that penalty, would of probably won the game if he had scored that penalty.

 

I'm sure he is but the Real keeper seemed to move before Griezman kicked the ball so I thought it should have been retaken. This seems to be happening more and more in football these days, sometimes the goalkeeper is a yard or so off his line before the ball is kicked, I looked to check the rule but couldn't find the info but from memory the keeper should be on his line 'til the ball is kicked.

[Paul6754]

Pepe and Marcello,what a disgrace,Clatto just stood there shaking his head.

 

This is why I don't enjoy watching Spanish football and to a lesser extent German and Italian, great skill and tactics but the falling over, writhing around on the ground, play acting and feigning injury detract from everything else. Starting to creep into the EPL more and more.

[davidatpreston]

There are serious problems with this competition, not the least being that it is fanatically driven by greed and profit above all else, above the welfare of any individual clubs, leagues, officials or nations, let alone players and managers.

 

The European Cup was a wonderful competition as part of 3 European club competitions (maybe more if you count the Intertoto and Anglo-Italian style things) - but it worked well, and the ECWC and what started as the Inter Cities Fairs Cup and later became the EUFA Cup were considered worthwhile and prestigious competitions in their own right.

 

Having discarded the ECWC and turned the EUFA Cup into a monstrosity that few relish and even fewer fully understand (if you include the qualifying and gaining of extra clubs halfway through), the powers-that-be created a hybrid competition that is neither a League or a Cup, and has little element of fairness or even common sense.

 

We now have the situation where teams finishing 8th, 9th or even lower may get an entry, where the champions of some countries enter early qualifying rounds that our sports channels barely report on, and other clubs that finish 2nd or 3rd in the 'big leagues' bypass these games and glide effortlessly and totally unfairly to later stages.

 

Deciding a competition of hundreds of games and billions of pounds on penalties, playing finals thousands of miles from where both teams reside (Chelsea v Man Utd in Moscow) and the insanely antique away goals rule all make the thing laughable if so much dirty money were not involved.

 

There is little point in proposing solutions, as if anything, the greed merchants will likely make it even worse, but I will just offer a couple of my persona proposals and changes that would at least reduce the unfairness:_

 

1. Don't decide the final venue a year in advance- 3 months is plenty, and allow for a change/backup venue should a situation arise like Chelsea v Man United in Moscow. The next seasons final could nave gone to Moscow with that match played at Wembley. Similarly this years Milan venue could have been put on hold until next season and the all-Madrid final played outside Madrid but in Spain.

 

2. The most important club game in the world (the final) should allow for one replay, go for a reasonable compromise of extra time in the first match followed by a replay if still level, and if the replay is a draw, extra time again and if still level the team with the better record in the Champions League (from group stage and any ko games already played) that season are winners - that way we know whose record is better going into the replay extra time and one team will have to 'go for it'.

 

3. The Group stages are unfair in that a team can qualify with 6pts wheras another team can go out with 8 or even 9 in another group. AFter all 6 games in the group, put the teams records into one big table with the top half qualifying, this table could be seen by all as the games go on as well. This could and should also be done for the World Cup and Euro groups.

If there are 8 groups of 4 teams each, then the top 16 in that 'big table' qualify. Possibly also make it that 1st plays 16th, 2nd playus 15th and so on, so that there are no 'meaningless' games when a team is already sure to go through, they would have an incentive to finish as high as possible.

 

4. Get rid of away goals and penalties, they are a rubbish anachronism. If a knockout stages tie is level after 2 legs, extra time but then also as above if still level the team with the best group stage onwards record in this seasons competition from the goes through. That way teams go into the extra time knowing what they have to do, and who wins if it is still level. Penalties and away goals are hysterical nonsense, and unfair on players, fans and clubs alike.

[davidatpreston]

There are serious problems with this competition, not the least being that it is fanatically driven by greed and profit above all else, above the welfare of any individual clubs, leagues, officials or nations, let alone players and managers.

 

The European Cup was a wonderful competition as part of 3 European club competitions (maybe more if you count the Intertoto and Anglo-Italian style things) - but it worked well, and the ECWC and what started as the Inter Cities Fairs Cup and later became the EUFA Cup were considered worthwhile and prestigious competitions in their own right.

 

Having discarded the ECWC and turned the EUFA Cup into a monstrosity that few relish and even fewer fully understand (if you include the qualifying and gaining of extra clubs halfway through), the powers-that-be created a hybrid competition that is neither a League or a Cup, and has little element of fairness or even common sense.

 

We now have the situation where teams finishing 8th, 9th or even lower may get an entry, where the champions of some countries enter early qualifying rounds that our sports channels barely report on, and other clubs that finish 2nd or 3rd in the 'big leagues' bypass these games and glide effortlessly and totally unfairly to later stages.

 

Deciding a competition of hundreds of games and billions of pounds on penalties, playing finals thousands of miles from where both teams reside (Chelsea v Man Utd in Moscow) and the insanely antique away goals rule all make the thing laughable if so much dirty money were not involved.

 

There is little point in proposing solutions, as if anything, the greed merchants will likely make it even worse, but I will just offer a couple of my persona proposals and changes that would at least reduce the unfairness:_

 

1. Don't decide the final venue a year in advance- 3 months is plenty, and allow for a change/backup venue should a situation arise like Chelsea v Man United in Moscow. The next seasons final could nave gone to Moscow with that match played at Wembley. Similarly this years Milan venue could have been put on hold until next season and the all-Madrid final played outside Madrid but in Spain.

 

2. The most important club game in the world (the final) should allow for one replay, go for a reasonable compromise of extra time in the first match followed by a replay if still level, and if the replay is a draw, extra time again and if still level the team with the better record in the Champions League (from group stage and any ko games already played) that season are winners - that way we know whose record is better going into the replay extra time and one team will have to 'go for it'.

 

3. The Group stages are unfair in that a team can qualify with 6pts wheras another team can go out with 8 or even 9 in another group. AFter all 6 games in the group, put the teams records into one big table with the top half qualifying, this table could be seen by all as the games go on as well. This could and should also be done for the World Cup and Euro groups.

If there are 8 groups of 4 teams each, then the top 16 in that 'big table' qualify. Possibly also make it that 1st plays 16th, 2nd playus 15th and so on, so that there are no 'meaningless' games when a team is already sure to go through, they would have an incentive to finish as high as possible.

 

4. Get rid of away goals and penalties, they are a rubbish anachronism. If a knockout stages tie is level after 2 legs, extra time but then also as above if still level the team with the best group stage onwards record in this seasons competition from the goes through. That way teams go into the extra time knowing what they have to do, and who wins if it is still level. Penalties and away goals are hysterical nonsense, and unfair on players, fans and clubs alike.

 

Anyone else got any ides on improving it ?

[Fosse69]

Anyone else got any ides on improving it ?

I believe that a revamp of the Champions League is being discussed on the lines of increasing the number of qualifying rounds and fewer groups so that there are more "big" matches so that the likes of ManU don't have "low view" games against "small clubs". They do not have to qualify to sit round the table making the TV agreements. Once you are in the top earners in the World you crack the whip. It is no longer a sport on merit, the big clubs in Europe get the shirt and ground sponsorship to take them way above other teams in the same league. The fair play rules thus prevent smaller clubs from competing even if they have the money to do so.

[davidatpreston]

I believe that a revamp of the Champions League is being discussed on the lines of increasing the number of qualifying rounds and fewer groups so that there are more "big" matches so that the likes of ManU don't have "low view" games against "small clubs". They do not have to qualify to sit round the table making the TV agreements. Once you are in the top earners in the World you crack the whip. It is no longer a sport on merit, the big clubs in Europe get the shirt and ground sponsorship to take them way above other teams in the same league. The fair play rules thus prevent smaller clubs from competing even if they have the money to do so.

 

 

That has made me even more depressed about the future of this once-great competition, which in turn filters down and ruins the rest oif football administration and finances. Ghastly ideas, I hope they all choke on their greed.

[Fosse69]

That has made me even more depressed about the future of this once-great competition, which in turn filters down and ruins the rest oif football administration and finances. Ghastly ideas, I hope they all choke on their greed.

We are probably on the same level, I suppose watching football in 50 years time will be like choosing which soap to watch, or not. But no doubt kids will still kick a ball about.

[bookworm]

Chelsea have reached agreement with dr Carneiro over her dismissal tribunal to save I presume all the clubs dirty linen being washed in public, must be a large wedge as she turned down 1.2 million to take the club to court, well done doctor.

[For Us All]

To all the Celtic fans who gave me all that stick in Greece during the Euro's,I give you Lincoln Red Imps.

Well done Brendan,great start.

[Twitters]

Bodgers at his best! Even says it wasn't an embarrassment!