Whats with the start times? All over the place and not even playing in Russia.
UEFA Champions League Matchday 1 fixtures (18th - 19th Sep 2018) | Kick off @ 17:55 and 20:00 BST
- Thread starter Sandyman
- Start date
I think they could all be brilliant in a Klopp system. Cavani runs his arse off and has fantastic movement and Mbappe is one of the world's best on the counter attack. Neymar is the one with the biggest question mark, but even then his attitude problems are overstated and he's a ridiculous talent.
Why wouldn’t they?
A Spurs fan would say this.
That's why qualifiers exist. If Denmark's champions can beat out Scotland's champions to make it to the group stage then fair enough.
And god bless them, but the clubs wouldn't exist without the fans that attend the matches and have supported the club through thick and thin. Your mentality is the fast lane to football becoming a game dominated by a few franchises, as exists in America today. You really don't want that.
UEFA shouldn't be concerned about what high profile options are available for fans to watch on TV in Shanghai. They should be concerned about raising the quality of the game in their jurisdiction. Besides, if APOEL vs Krakow are playing, probably everyone in Cyprus and affiliated countries would watch. Everyone east of the Iron Curtain would watch. I would probably watch. You and some people in Vancouver may not watch, because, ew, "shit football", but apart from the financial hit in the short run, no big loss.
Such teams should be in the EL, no question there. They shouldn't start in the CL though.
The other thing is that Neymar and Mbappe (who I can see going to the very top) ought to move to bigger clubs if they want to be considered among the world's bests.
Cavani does not run his arse off. Put simply he goal hangs like a well oiled Lee Chapman. Mbappe is a reasonable prospect, ok. I'll grant you that. But Neymar? Neymar would get laughed out of the PL. Not immediately, but certainly in a longer time frame.
What does me being a Spurs fan have to do with anything? APOEL won the Cypriot league last season, we beat them 6-0 over both games whilst barely getting out of third gear. We would win their league without losing a single game easily, we just happen to play in a far more difficult, more competitive league, we are clearly the better football side.
OK .. but beating Celtic in a qualifier isn't as difficult as getting top four in the Premier League, is it? Where do you think Denmark's champions would finish in the Prem?
I agree with you, I have massive respect for match going fans who love the game, I just don't like people who shove it in others faces and act like you're not a true football fan if you aren't at your local ground every week. My mentality is accepting the modern reality of football rather than trying to revert to a system which would simply never function in the current climate, and would be horrendous in the short term if you tried to force it.
I'm .. from England. I watch my local team most weeks, I play football every week, I love grass roots football. But if you actually think APOEL vs Krakow would get more viewing figures than Spurs vs Inter will tonight, then you're kidding yourself. I have no issue with watching 'low quality' football, I love lower league football, but I have zero interest in watching low quality teams consistently getting battered against the top sides. Which is exactly what would happen if you only let in league winners. Bayern could play their third string and still beat the winners of the Danish, Polish, Cypriot leagues 5-0.
Mbappe a 'reasonable prospect' ? He's the best young talent in the world.
Neymar would piss all over the Premier League in a Klopp system where he would get tons of space and support. I can't even imagine what he would have done to us the other day with the amount of space and time we were providing on the break, it would have been embarrassing. He's a world class player who would instantly be the best in our league.
Agreed with the Bosman ruling. Fans also severely underrate the bolded. The most watched leagues in Europe are in countries with fairly large populations. Additionally, if you factor in the mother tounge of the these nations it's obvious they have an even larger addressable market than just their population (e.g. The Premier League can easily sell rights in the USA/Canada/Australia/Nigeria etc, La Liga can sell rights in South America, Germany can sell rights in Austria and Switzerland, etc.). The economics was never on the side of these smaller clubs (even historic clubs like Ajax) and this consolidation of elite clubs was inevitable.
No mention of Cavani? I'll take that as a win. Neymar is very arguably past his peak, like Madonna during her Justify my Love period. As for Mbappe, like I said he's a reasonable prospect. All you did was build on that verbally. Basically we are in agreement.
A bit of early team news.
Apart from Barcelona, Juventus , Psg, Manchester City, Bayern, you wouldnt have much of a competition If you didn't include Spain, England's , Germans, Italians, French etc top 3 or 4 teams, unless you wanted to see TNS from Wales lose 12-0 to Barcalona tonight, or Helsinki lose to Bayern Munich.
I don't understand how people would want to make the CL for Champions only again.
Replacing Atletico, Liverpool, Tottenham, United, Roma, Inter with Salzburg, BATE Borisov, MOL Vidi, Dinamo Zagreb, Astana, Qarabag? Ehh.... I prefer to watch quality football thanks.
Replacing Atletico, Liverpool, Tottenham, United, Roma, Inter with Salzburg, BATE Borisov, MOL Vidi, Dinamo Zagreb, Astana, Qarabag? Ehh.... I prefer to watch quality football thanks.
Reasonable prospect...
I thought you were gonna lose to City as well last season, so what do I know. It's gonna be an interesting match!
This...a million times. Was always going to post this on a more offensive manner.
America has an entirely different view about sports than Europe. In America, sports teams are almost treated as a public good rather than a private enterprise. The major leagues in the US are essentially cartels with anti-trust exemptions, designed to ensure the survival of each team in that said league (that's one of the reasons you will NEVER see promotion and relegation in the US sports). As a result there is generally less at stake and a team's survival is more assured than in Europe (Consequently that's also part of the reason why American teams are valued so high. The success is linked to league rather than the team it self).
In short, football has very little chance of becoming like sports in America.
This is extremely short-sighted thinking. UEFA caters to a global audience. This is probably obvious to you but, TV stations pay for contracts based on the amount of viewers they anticipate they will receive, which in turn allows them to charge advertisers more for ad placements. It's safe to assume the draw of the 1 million people in Cyprus is dwarfed by the draw of Spurs. Your essentially saying "UEFA shouldn't be concerned with growing their audience and making more money" and that isn't realistic.
Lastly, restricting non-champions from the competition doesn't necessarily correlate with raising the quality of the game in Europe. It's still European teams playing in the competition at the end of the day. The effects, in terms of "raising the quality" of the game are most likely zero sum.
The Champions League isn't perfect, but UEFA is doing something right if viewership keeps increasing every year.
UCL should be for the champions only with runners up going through a qualifier. Those who would lose the qualifier would drop to the Europa league along all other 3rd placed teams in their respective leagues. 4th place would also give access to an Europa league qualifier and I'd also bring back Cup Winners Cup while we are at it or merge it with the Europa league.
Yes, I'd rather watch quality teams too. However, I detest the fact that my team as champions have to play 4 qualifiers while teams who finish 4th in England, Spain, Italy and Germany don't play any. That's just nonsense.
So you should. CL atmosphere at games can completely change a tie. Just look at Celtic over the years. It's why Mourinho setting up conservatively against Sevilla last year was so infuriating.
It has the potential to be a real classic. So 0-0, probably.
I like Robertson but he isn't a very good defender and Mbappe is going to be a real test for him tonight. Likewise TAA on the other side with Neymar.
If Buffon is in goals (I don't think he will be) then you'll win easily.
We straight up disagree about Cavani, I don't view him as a goal hanger at all.
How is Neymar past his peak? He's 26 years old. He was having a very good season until he got a bad injury and has been good this season.
I just think calling Mbappe 'reasonable' is an understatement. He's incredible, already a better player than Mane who is in his prime.
Champions of the Scottish League. Quite honestly if you can't get past AEK Athens you don't deserve to be there. You play in a league which simply is nowhere near good enough to justify automatic qualification, whereas teams who finish fourth in the top leagues do.
Liverpool were fourth in the Premier League yet reached the final, something Celtic could never achieve. How is it nonsense that they get a spot and you don't? They play PSG tonight and have a legitimate chance of beating them, what happened when you faced PSG last year? 12-1 over both games.
Hopefully, there is a strong ref for Liverpool's game, to ensure the serial cheater Neymar doesn't get away with his cheating.
Hmm Inter vs Spurs and Barca spanking Eindhoven the early games, guess ima watch the Spurs game.
I hope he pure cheats.
I fully expect it to be the one game where he gets two yellows for diving within 30 mins though.
No, football would have been better off with allowing 2th-4th place teams from strong leagues playing in the same cup back in the 60s - 90s too. Not even close to as big as it is now, but the disparity was still there. Look at the foreigners in the Italian league in the 80s/early 90s. We were robbed off some classics with the quality teams being spread out over 3 competitions.
Think i am gonna make a mix of games tonight at once, Red Star vs Napoli for proper atmosphere on sound, while shifting more focus on something else.
Does ITV still have rights to show the highlights on Wed evenings?
I couldn't see it in the tv planner.
I couldn't see it in the tv planner.
So is it at 19:00 or 20:00 current U.K. time? The change in title has confused me.
Not really a surprise, Bernat is not ready and is crap anyway.
Yeah, it's almost like there's an obscene financial gulf between Celtic, Liverpool and PSG which might play a slight role in that.
What happened when we played Man City over both games? Undefeated. What happened when your lot last played them? Pumped 7-2 over both games.
FFS! I made it GMT so everyone could calculate with their time zones. Think UK time would be 17:55 and 20:00
I thought ITV lost the rights years ago
I think it will be chances galore for each team so a 3-0 either way or a 3-3 isn't out of the question. It's very difficult to call.
I have Liverpool in my acca tonight purely on the basis that yous always seem to do it on big European nights at Anfield.
Call it something else then. That would be my suggestion.
Is that the show where Roy Keane wears his specs alongside Lee Dixon and calls everyone a diving cnut?
Nope, theres no rights for terrestrial tv.
CL football will become a clear second priority behind the EPL for English fans within the next decade imo.
Salut to my fellow romantics.
If nothing, they should at least remove country restrictions and seeding, and go with random draw. I calculate 1,784% more interest after that.
If nothing, they should at least remove country restrictions and seeding, and go with random draw. I calculate 1,784% more interest after that.
Aye, was thinking the same, even I want to see a bit of atmosphere from Marakana tonight (the colleagues from the work did watch me weirdly when I said it though). But, can't beat a proper Balkan atmosphere imo.
