SweeperDee Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Serious business. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zanetti Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Coefficient points for 14/15 so far: Spain 9.500 England 9.00 Germany 8.714 Italy 9.166 Just gonna leave that there. As far as I'm aware if things continue the way they have done so far this season Italy will probably take back the 4th CL spot in 2/3 years. Serie A is doing really well at the minute because of the success of Italian teams in the Europa League. I wonder just how furious that would make HB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigkillie Posted December 12, 2014 Share Posted December 12, 2014 Italy have earned fewer coefficient points than England, Spain or Germany so far this season, so I can't see how that would be the case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H_B Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 As far as I'm aware if things continue the way they have done so far this season Italy will probably take back the 4th CL spot in 2/3 years. Serie A is doing really well at the minute because of the success of Italian teams in the Europa League. I wonder just how furious that would make HB. The Europa League Italy is doing absolutely disasterously in the top European competition. Another terrible Champions League effort, with 3 entrants and one barely scraping into the last 16. In what way will Italy regain a 4th CL spot? Scabbing a few Europa League points has at least given them a little breathing space over Portugal, so I suppose that is success of sorts. Compared to the big 3 leagues though, they are a total irrelevance. Their only chance of getting a 4th CL place is if UEFA change the rules. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H_B Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 It does actually highlight a problem. A bit like Scotland have found when trying to qualify for a major tournament. Italy are in such a bad place, that it's really difficult to see how things can get better for them. Once you drop from the top tier, to the lower ranks, it's going to need something exceptional to change that downward trend. Every season now, the third Italian club is going to have to qualify, with a very good chance of drawing a better side, as has happened in 2 of the last 3 seasons, with Braga disposing of Udinese and Bilbao brushing aside Napoli. So the odds are on only 2 entrants, neither of which is going to be a top seed, so are in a dogfight for 2nd. Even if they do scrape through an entrant to the knockout stages, they will just be taken apart by a top side. It would take extraordinary levels of investment in Italian football to even make it semi-competitive in the Champions League. And that's not likely to be forthcoming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throbber Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Thats the draw about to start Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throbber Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Happy with draws so far! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afca32 Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 City v Barca and Chelsea v PSG. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lichtie23 Posted December 15, 2014 Author Share Posted December 15, 2014 Interesting draw that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lichtie23 Posted December 15, 2014 Author Share Posted December 15, 2014 Arsenal will be delighted with that draw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
craigkillie Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 It does actually highlight a problem. A bit like Scotland have found when trying to qualify for a major tournament. Italy are in such a bad place, that it's really difficult to see how things can get better for them. Once you drop from the top tier, to the lower ranks, it's going to need something exceptional to change that downward trend. Every season now, the third Italian club is going to have to qualify, with a very good chance of drawing a better side, as has happened in 2 of the last 3 seasons, with Braga disposing of Udinese and Bilbao brushing aside Napoli. So the odds are on only 2 entrants, neither of which is going to be a top seed, so are in a dogfight for 2nd. Even if they do scrape through an entrant to the knockout stages, they will just be taken apart by a top side. It would take extraordinary levels of investment in Italian football to even make it semi-competitive in the Champions League. And that's not likely to be forthcoming. They'll have a top seed from next season onwards, because the seeding system is changing to have the holders plus the champions of the top 7 leagues in Pot 1. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
throbber Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Barca will put City out Chelsea and Arsenal will go through IMO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Twinkle Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 The only tie that looks like it could go either way is Juve vs Dortmund. I reckon Chelsea, Barca, Atletico, Real Madrid, Bayern, Arsenal and Porto should be going through. Doesnt always happen like that right enough! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vikingTON Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 It normally does in this round: a complete waste of time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamamafegan Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Shite draw. Wanted PSG to get far, they'll be knocked out. City vs Barca, boring. Arsenal will be happy with that and really fancy their chances. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
forameus Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Not sure why, but I'm a bit meh about the draw. There isn't really one of those "big" games that jumps out for me. My picks below. They all seem pretty foregone - City/Barcelona could be a difficult one, but if Barcelona turn up in any shape or form, they're very likely to go through unless City are absolutely on it. Chelsea will very professionally get through. Both Madrid sides to win comfortably. Dortmund/Juve...went for Dortmund, but that's another that could go either way. Munich obviously to go through, as well as Arsenal - at least you'd hope they would. They've finally got a draw where they don't face a huge side, so if they don't get through it, they have no excuses. I went for Basel in the final game because it'd be nice to see them do it, but Porto are favourites. Paris St-Germain v Chelsea Manchester City v Barcelona Bayer Leverkusen v Atletico Madrid Juventus v Borussia Dortmund Schalke v Real Madrid Shakhtar Donetsk v Bayern Munich Arsenal v Monaco Basel v Porto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H_B Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 They'll have a top seed from next season onwards, because the seeding system is changing to have the holders plus the champions of the top 7 leagues in Pot 1. I think that's fair enough to be honest. I think the champions should be prioritised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAGer Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Arsenal got a good bit of luck here. Probably the draw they were hoping for. Arsenal have paid badly in the past for failing to get top spot. I may be corrected on this but I'm sure the one year they actually did get top spot, they were drawn against Barcelona anyway and lost again. Some really good ties in there but I think I'll go for: Paris St-Germain v Chelsea Manchester City v Barcelona Bayer Leverkusen v Atletico Madrid Juventus v Borussia Dortmund Schalke v Real Madrid Shakhtar Donetsk v Bayern Munich Arsenal v Monaco Basel v Porto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
H_B Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 Pretty meh draw to be honest. Same as LA Ger for me... Paris St-Germain v Chelsea Manchester City v Barcelona Bayer Leverkusen v Atletico Madrid Juventus v Borussia Dortmund Schalke v Real Madrid Shakhtar Donetsk v Bayern Munich Arsenal v Monaco Basel v Porto Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nsr Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 This is why seeding makes the competition boring. The group stage generally gets rid of the pot 3 and 4 teams. This round generally gets rid of the pot 2 teams. The pot 1 teams rarely face each other before the quarter final and it's the same old sides at the same stages each year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.