Other games (2024/25)

[The Bonk]

5 minutes ago, ponsaelius said:

The previous format was imperfect. I even said on here I was definitely willing to give something new a go. But this has just been pish. It's bloated American style play-off system crap designed to allow big clubs to rotate their enormous squads and keep everybody happy.

 

Trying to imagine us in this competition or one of the others next season with our current squad depth makes me want to finish 8th.

 

 

 

 

Couldn't agree more. Other than money, I don't get what the outcome is other than to water down the stakes that were at play in the old format. 

[The Bonk]

Just now, The College Dropout said:

But it didn’t. Celtic go into the last game with a chance to qualify for the last 16 - already guaranteed for the play offs. Old format was shit for them. 

 

Fair and admittedly, over time this might be the better approach for a more competitive CL. 

[KaKa]

2 minutes ago, The Bonk said:

 

This all could have happened theoretically in the old format, @KaKa.  

 

There have been far more interesting matches in this format.

 

I don't know why this is so difficult to grasp 

[The Bonk]

2 minutes ago, KaKa said:

 

There have been far more interesting matches in this format.

 

I don't know why this is so difficult to grasp 

 

Haha guess I'm being stubborn. 

[Nobody]

20 minutes ago, The College Dropout said:

Definitely bloated.  But Real, Bayern, Juve, City, PSG, Dortmund will be going all out to win in the final group stage. That doesn’t usually happen. 

Without even looking at the rest of the table, PSG got basically no chance of finishing top8. 

City only need to win because they've had an absolute stinker of a season (both in PL and CL), normally, and whet UEFA hopes for, it's a much smaller club in City's position. 

[Nobody]

9 minutes ago, KaKa said:

 

There have been far more interesting matches in this format.

 

I don't know why this is so difficult to grasp 

It hasn't, as I've failed to give a single fuck about any of them from start to finish. Tonight's game between PSG and City would normally have, at best, been a battle to see who gets to play two games less. How fucking exciting. 

[KaKa]

8 minutes ago, Nobody said:

It hasn't, as I've failed to give a single fuck about any of them from start to finish. Tonight's game between PSG and City would normally have, at best, been a battle to see who gets to play two games less. How fucking exciting. 

 

That doesn't make what I said not true. 

 

If you can't be bothered to watch the matches then that's your choice really.

[Nobody]

1 minute ago, KaKa said:

 

That doesn't make what I said not true. 

 

If you can't be bothered to watch the matches then that's your choice really.

Well no, it's because the new format makes pretty much all games completely irrelevant

[Astroblack]

I thought the old format was the most beautifully designed tournament in the world of sport minus 3rd place going into Europa. Hate this. 

 

 

Edited 5 hours ago by Astroblack

[mighty__mag]

Although it's ridiculous to have a league with all those sides in it, it's proven that anything can happen. I'm liking the fact teams that would never have got to the knockouts have a chance, Celtic for example, not qualified for 12 years and they're through thanks to this format. 

[KaKa]

 

8 minutes ago, Nobody said:

Well no, it's because the new format makes pretty much all games completely irrelevant

 

 

Ha! All the games are completely irrelevant!

 

Sure, of course they are.

[KaKa]

3 minutes ago, mighty__mag said:

Although it's ridiculous to have a league with all those sides in it, it's proven that anything can happen. I'm liking the fact teams that would never have got to the knockouts have a chance, Celtic for example, not qualified for 12 years and they're through thanks to this format. 

 

It's all completely irrelevant to the thousands of Celtic supporters! 

[SteV]

13 minutes ago, mighty__mag said:

Although it's ridiculous to have a league with all those sides in it, it's proven that anything can happen. I'm liking the fact teams that would never have got to the knockouts have a chance, Celtic for example, not qualified for 12 years and they're through thanks to this format. 

They’ve just increased the number of teams that ‘qualify’ from 16 to 24, so there was always likely to be someone like Celtic, that don’t usually make it, manage it this time.

[Nobody]

9 minutes ago, KaKa said:

 

 

Ha! All the games are completely irrelevant!

 

Sure, of course they are.

Tonights game between PSG and City was the showstopper for the whole season, and boy did it deliver! 6 goal thriller, with the home team turning over a 0-2 deficit, what excitement we had in store for you tonight! 

Oh wait, the losing just need to win against the massively unfancied side next round st home to go through just the same as if they'd won tonight? Wow, that really got my blood pumping. 

It's almost like there was a very similar scenario in the penultimate round last season with a northern English team away to PSG that lead to a much more exciting last round for everyone involved

[Nobody]

1 minute ago, SteV said:

They’ve just increased the number of teams that ‘qualify’ from 16 to 24, so there was always likely to be someone like Celtic, that don’t usually make it, manage it this time.

I'm sure Celtic would have gone through as the third placed team quite a few times in those 12 years

[Ginola14]

I was a little sceptical of the new format at the start but it's clearly miles better 

 

the groups were so tedious, with so many occasions where the likes of Bayern and Liverpool would smash smaller clubs 5-0 away and then they have to play a return game to do it all over again - so no more of that thank fuck

 

there's also a kind of randomness to the fixtures that makes this format far more interesting 

 

there's probably been less rotation as so many clubs are jostling for position, rather than having the group won after 4 games 

 

and obviously means loads to fans of historically massive clubs like Celtic, Brugge, Benfica, Feyenoord etc 

 

so many cracking games already and the final league round next week will no doubt be great fun

 

there were some interesting group stages previously to be fair, like ours last season, but generally found the whole thing was quite boring until the knockouts

 

 

 

 

Edited 5 hours ago by Ginola14

[KaKa]

2 minutes ago, Ginola14 said:

I was a little sceptical of the new format at the start but it's clearly miles better 

 

the groups were so tedious, with so many occasions where the likes of Bayern and Liverpool would smash smaller clubs 5-0 away and then they have to play a return game to do it all over again - so no more of that thank fuck

 

there's also a kind of randomness to the fixtures that makes this format far more interesting 

 

there's probably been less rotation as so many clubs are jostling for position, rather than having the group won after 4 games 

 

and obviously means loads to fans of historically massive clubs like Celtic, Brugge, Benfica, Feyenoord etc 

 

so many cracking games already and the final league round next week will no doubt be great fun

 

there were some interesting group stages previously to be fair, like ours last season, but generally found the whole thing was quite boring until the knockouts

 

 

 

 

 

 

Glad you could enjoy it too, and see past the irrelevance of all of the matches 

 

 

[The College Dropout]

15 minutes ago, Nobody said:

I'm sure Celtic would have gone through as the third placed team quite a few times in those 12 years

Did you even bother to look before posting this?

 

Theyve barely qualified for the group stage and then finished last in most of those. Theyve won like 2 group stage CL games in the last decade before this season. Matching that this season alone.  

 

 

Edited 5 hours ago by The College Dropout

[Nobody]

Just now, The College Dropout said:

Did you even both to look bother posting this?

 

Theyve barely qualified for the group stage and then finished last in most of those. Theyve won like 2 group stage CL games in the last decade before this season. Matching that this season alone.  

Good for them, winning a couple of watered down CL games, they've still pretty much equalled what they would have done in the EL. 

[The College Dropout]

I also think we would’ve done better In this format. 
 

It’s a killer for the league though. 

[BergenMagpie]

Should’ve just kept the old system without the seeding shit

[Pata]

4 minutes ago, KaKa said:

 

Glad you could enjoy it too, and see past the irrelevance of all of the matches 

 

 

 

Wish I had the right opinion on this like Kaka.

[Yorkie]

I was pretty open-minded about the new format because I thought the competition was pretty stale. A collection of fewer and fewer teams, from fewer and fewer nations, reaching the latter stages year on year. But I fear that no format change is going to address that. It's just rearranging the pieces but ultimately coming up with the same result.

 

It certainly seems less appealing from the point of view of a club like us because the group stage is less of a trudge for us; in fact it's iconic. Every time we've been there, the groups have taken on a character of their own, particularly the last two. Bobby's had the comeback; this one had that 'group of death' moniker. You don't get that story element with this arrangement.

 

It just feels (even more) like a token exercise to remove the no-hopers whilst facilitating as safe a

passage as possible for the big hitters. At least Brest have provided at least one surprise. 

 

I wonder if it's a bit more suited to the Europas where there's perhaps more teams knocking around a middle ground. 

 

Bin it all off and do an FA Cup knockout would be my shout but I know those days are long, long gone. In fact, there's more chance of them turning that into a Swiss ladder. 

[KaKa]

Just now, Pata said:

 

Wish I had the right opinion on this like Kaka.

 

All the matches are irrelevant is a shocking statement man. My goodness 

[KaKa]

21 minutes ago, Yorkie said:

It just feels (even more) like a token exercise to remove the no-hopers whilst facilitating as safe as passage a possible for the big hitters. At least Brest have provided at least one surprise. 

 

Brest, Lille, Monaco, Feyenoord, Celtic, and Club Brugge are all going to be in the next stage.