Paullow

Was just about to ask if MNF kick offs are changing to 7.45pm going forward, or just specific for this match?

It's weird. Anyone under 30 and Champions League football for Newcastle will feel surreal, but at the same time, if you said to those over 30 that when Aaron Hughes missed that decisive penalty against Partizan that there would be no Champions League football for another 20 years, despite finishing 3rd, 6th, 2nd, 2nd, 4th and 3rd in 6 of the previous 10 seasons at the time, they'd have thought you were mad, but a lot has obviously happened in the meantime.

Mistakes galore in this Southampton Leicester match. 1-2, Saints back in it.

Watching Netherlands vs Greece on the free Viaplay channel and the Dutch national anthem sounds so much like a typical Christmas carol.

Sam Johnstone is actually 30 and less than a year younger than Pope.

Newcastle, Sunderland, Carlisle, Gateshead, Sheff Wed, Man Utd, Spennymoor, Gretna, Barcelona, Sparta Prague, LA Galaxy, Nice, Lyon, St Etienne, PSG

I used to quite like the international breaks during the Ashley era, and especially when Sky had all the other games. Shite how they are all on Viaplay now and usually have the least anticipated match on their free channel Xtra. I did sign up for ut around the Nations League time, bit it was so hard to cancel so won't be signing up to it again.

Dr Blue Pop.

Joined 3 months ago, 8 posts, 7 of them today, pretty much all negative...

Na, if you go back to my longer post a couple of posts up, Chelsea did get 2 early matches last year and Zagreb and Salzburg are on the same time zone as Dortmund and Milan, but can't really see many neutrals opting for those matches when you have 5 alternatives. I'd fully expect us to have been 5.45pm if we got Copenhagen in Pot 3.

Just looking at it last year: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022–23_UEFA_Champions_League_group_stage#Groups We're obviously not Liverpool, but all their matches were 8pm, including one in Italy, and vs Ajax. Ajax vs Rangers was 5.45pm. Plzen in Group B had 4 of their 6 matches at 5.45pm, which kind of tells you about that slot. Chelsea did get two 5.45pm kick offs to be fair, but those opponents were Zagreb and Salzburg. Celtic got all 3 aways at 5.45pm, which again kind of says something - you won't often get a proper must-see match at 5.45pm. Our two matches are the only ones at 5.45pm in our group. Dortmund vs Milan / PSG, Milan vs Dortmund / PSG etc. all at 8pm. I guess if they had to have a match at that time, then we are the Plzen compared to the others, and would naturally go there, but it's a bit disappointing. In some ways, there could be more general eyes on our match on the continent with it being 6.45pm in CET and only clashing with 1 match at that time, as opposed to 5 at 8pm, but it does kind of feel like get them out of the way, and there will be loads of Newcastle fans in the UK either missing the start, working through lunch hours, or even taking a holiday just to be safe. Once is fair enough, but twice is poor, especially when it's against such glamorous opposition, unlike Chelsea last year. In terms of profile, experience, co-efficient, IG followers etc. we are clearly one of the proper minnows, so more chance to be lumped there, but at the same time, we play in the PL, have £40-50m players all over the pitch (and on the bench), were like 8th favourites pre draw, favourites to get out of the group, and we're one of the main reasons why there were gasps and so much talk of group of depth. Probably looking into this too much, but I was disappointed when I saw 2 5.45pm kick offs. 6 Champions League nights has quickly turned into 4 nights and 2 late afternoons.

Having two matches at 5.45pm (albeit one hour later local time) is a bit shit? They usually do 2 at that time and 6 at 8pm, but it's not often the better looking matches on early iirc.

Dortmund - Milan combo for me, but will keep tabs on the Prem match.

I mentioned on the CL thread last night that Dortmund play at home on Sky Sports Football tonight at 7.30pm (vs Heidenheim) and Roma are at home to Milan at 7.45pm on TNT Sports. Normally I'd always watch a Premier League match over any overseas league, and Luton vs West Ham has a little bit of intrigue with it being at Kenilworth Road, but I'll definitely be watching our CL opponents tonight. Milan looks the better game so the timings work out well - see the Dortmund stadium and display first, watch the first 10 mins or so and then turn over to Serie A.

I think it's actually 3 top 12 finishes since 1955. The two successive 7th places under Peeta Reid and 10th under Brucie, which they jumped about 4 places on the final day (including passing us due to that WBA Pardew catastrophe).

Yeah, just checking and they finished 15th of 18th in the Bundesliga that season, with only 40 points from 34 games. They had a Franca or someone who wasn't particularly good either. That was actually the 2nd group stage when we played them, so technically the last 16 as well, rather than last 32, so you'd expect tougher sides. Leverkusen were in an initial group with Man Utd (lost twice) Olympiacos and M Haifa, and lost 6-2 in Greece - they were pretty much a gift, lost every match in our group with a -10 GD. There will surely be no whipping boys this time around.

https://www.oddschecker.com/football/champions-league/group-f/winner PSG generally 11/10 Newcastle generally 9/4 Milan generally 5/1 Dortmund generally 11/2 Obviously UK bookies to consider, but it's probably not too far off. It's not as daunting as it first appeared, it's just the names and prestige that stand out. It's obviously 3 massively high profile clubs, and Milan and Dortmund are particularly amazing, historic clubs with iconic stadiums, and Milan (like us) were clearly to team to avoid from their pot (from a progression POV), but those bottom 2 don't have the resources that we have. Would we have been happy to have sold Bruno this summer and bought RLC or Pulisic? You'd kind of expect RLC to go to a Palace or a Fulham or someone. It's such a glamorous group and it's got so much publicity as being the 'Group of Death' and the one everyone is talking about, but, while best to keep it on the downlow, we do have a really good chance of getting out of the group. We certainly wouldn't be 9/4 to top the group if the top 2 were Bayern and Real. I'd still have preferred one weaker team just in terms of schedule and using the squad and more chance of picking up easier points, or at least finishing 3rd, but in a way it's kind of perfect - massive names, high profile, no shame if we do finish 3rd or 4th, but we are absolutely a live dog in it.

We've obviously had a few European runs before 1992, most notably 1969, but in the Premier League era we have faced the following teams in various European competitions, and these 3 would obviously be right up there at the top of the list. PSG maybe not so much as the other two, but I kind of look at them differently to some. Paris is a huge city, they are and for a long time have been the only serious team in the city, so I've always thought that they should be right at the top of the French league and beyond, so was fine with it when they were targeted for serious investment and, like Man City (before they won it), their titles and runs in Europe does make them a significant side, and one of the biggest names around, especially for those under 25. Kind of a ranking of my perception of the club although it is tough because some of their respective statures may have changed, for better or worse, after we played them, but these 3 would certainly all fit into the top 10 IMO. Probably Milan 2nd, Dortmund 4th or 5th, and PSG around 7th (factoring in the other 2). I'm very pleased that it's more new teams to add to the list. I kind of got sick of doing this halfway through, but here we are : Barcelona x 2 Juventus Inter Milan Benfica Roma Marseille Leverkusen Feyenoord Sporting Lisbon x 2 PSV Eindhoven x 2 Monaco Dynamo Kyiv x 2 Olympiacos Fenerbahce Basel Eintracht Frankfurt Deportivo La Coruna (IC) Bilbao Mallorca Celta Vigo Palermo Antwerp Club Brugge Metz Dinamo Zagreb (Croatia Zagreb) Partizan Belgrade x 2 CSKA Sofia Ferencvaros Zurich Bordeaux Heerenveen AZ Metalist Kharkiv Anzhi NAC Breda Panionios Zeljeznicar Dinamo Tbilisi Levadia Talinn 1860 Munich (IC) Maritimo Sochaux Atromitos Zulte Waregam Lillestrom (IC) Valerenga Dubnica (IC) Troyes (IC) Lokeren (IC) Bnei Sakhnin Halmstadt

Normally I'd definitely watch the Premier League over any foreign league, but instead of Luton vs West Ham on Friday night, I think I'll tune in to Dortmund vs Heidenheim on Sky at 7.30pm, see the wall and the displays, and then switch to Rome vs Milan at 7.45pm on TNT. Lyon vs PSG on TNT on Sunday at 7.45pm would have been quite tasty anyway, but will definitely be tuning into that one now as well.

I'm going to be reading so many random forums tonight - probably look for a Schalke one, our sister city, for their BVB reaction (big rivals) . It's definitely done no harm for the old profile this draw.

Hopefully it automatically translates, but this is funny reading Bayern's reactions from a Dortmund perspective : https://forum.fcbayern.com/index.php?thread/8986-uefa-champions-league-allgemeiner-thread/&pageNo=853

I've often had a bit of a look on that forum over the years, but it's always been one big mess, but did actually see 'table view' this time, but thanks for that, works much better!

Is there an easy way to get this forum into actual topics and not set out the way it is. There usually is when displayed like this, but can't find it. https://www.bvb-forum.de/index.php?id=2460651

I'm actually coming round to it the more I think of it - 3 cracking cities, we haven't played any of them before, whereas we have played a fair few of the other 31 teams in my time. The only thing is with the Liverpool result and the fact it was a 6 point swing out of nowhere against a direct rival, tough League Cup draw, and obviously no easy CL matches, there (shouldn't be but) could be a bit of pressure on Howe if we do find the coming months tough, whereas wins vs Copenhagen / Red Star / Feyenoord would have given us more chance to build instant momentum / and use the squad more. Exciting times though. 6 eagerly anticipated matches and probably as much chance of getting out of the group as Dortmund and Milan have, and PSG probably aren't as daunting as they used to be, and a good chance to raise the clubs profile if we were to do well. It's definitely not Real and Bayern levels of toughness, where we would very likely be playing for 3rd from the off. Bring it on!

It's obviously not Bayern / Real from Pots 1 and 2. We'll have as much chance of getting out of the group as Dortmund or MIlan, possibly more, it's just that every match is going to be a battle / occasion.