All right! A really important three points, putting us in third place with a game in hand over Liverpool still to play. Our season may be over, but we can still get a respectable finish yet.
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All right! A really important three points, putting us in third place with a game in hand over Liverpool still to play. Our season may be over, but we can still get a respectable finish yet.
For both Liverpool and Arsenal, I don't think third could be considered respectable. Second, maybe, but then again...
"If you are first you are first. If you are second you are nothing." - Bill Shankly.
Watched the FA Youth Cup semi (first leg) at the Emirates - have to say it was a quality match, both sides looked very organised and despite us going down 1-0, I was pleased with the performance. Full credit to Arsenal, they made better chances than we did.
1-0 down. Nooooo! We can't concede anymore or we're out. :(
edit: :(!!!!!!!!!!!
A mocking text: To send, or not to send, that is the question. :D
In other interesting (albeit two day old) news...
The new UEFA president, Michel Platini, is thinking of making teams from England, Spain and Italy play each other in order to qualify. I think it just applies to the third and fourth placed teams. I think I prefer Maccabi Haifa to Real Madrid.
The football league wants to abolish draws, replacing them with penalty shoot outs. While I daresay this might just be what we need to no longer fail at penalties, on the other hand, it would be just sickening to see teams like Everton come to the big teams, defend for 90 minutes, and then walk away with all three points after winning the shootout. Mind you, Liverpool have a fantastic shootout record so maybe I have nothing to fear...
And work has been stopped on the new Liverpool stadium because the new owners want it to hold 80,000 rather than 60,000. Good. I wasn't really sure if leaving Anfield for a 15,000 increase was worth it.
The ideal scenario as far as I'm concerned...
You win, you get 2 points, plus 1 point for every goal scored, to a maximum of 5 points (ie, 3-5 points possible).
You draw, you get 1 point provided goals were scored. No goals, no points.
You lose, you get nothing.
That's proper incentive.
...or maybe we just keep the system we have now. I doubt the shoot-out idea's going to be implemented anyway, with all the opposition it's drawing. Good job too, because it's pretty dumb. Maybe instead of screwing around with ridiculous experiments like this, the authorities should get around to fixing their incomprehensible offside rule, and introducing the video replays that the whole football community has been asking for years.
Platini's idea is a much better one. Not the play-off bit, but reducing the number of CL spots for the big leagues is a pretty good idea. Who knows, it might actually make the UEFA Cup worth winning. :D
Think that's an awful idea, personally. Looking forward to the G-14 Super League.
EDIT: Awful idea = Platini's one. I like the idea of video replays.
I think the Champions League is fine as it is, and I really don't understand the calls for the tournament to be champions only. Imagine watching Barca, Chelsea and Inter steamroller eastern european teams for a few months before finally getting to the semis and facing each other. Boring. As it stands, the big three countries only get two spots in the tournament proper, and the other two have to qualify like everybody else. In the past two years, I know at least one English, Spanish and Italian team has failed to get through the qualifiers. It works.
Eh, you're probably right. And at least the current system has the pleasant side-effect of practically guaranteeing us qualification every year. ;)
That's the way it was in the earlier years of the tournament which is why teams from many different countries managed to win it. It meant something back then, like the World Cup in a way. Somewhere among the mid-90s they lost the plot and the whole concept of what the tournament was about. I admit the games might not be as entertaining for us living in England but think of those living in these eastern european countries.Quote:
Originally Posted by Psychotic
And I don't know about champions of Spain, England and Italy consistently meeting in the latter stages of the tournament. I mean look at World Cup 02
But teams from lots of countries didn't win it, that was the whole point.
http://www.uefa.com/competitions/ucl/history/index.html
In 13 years of the Champions League, teams from 7 countries have won it, or therefore 1.8 wins per country.
In 37 years of the European Cup, teams from 10 countries won it, or therefore 3.7 wins per country.
Also I'd like to point out that the Champions League has yet to see a country picking up back-to-back titles, let alone a team, which you definitely can't say about the European Cup.
Why lessen their chances then? It's not very European.Quote:
But teams from lots of countries didn't win it, that was the whole point.
But their chances aren't being lessened. For example, Spartak Moscow, from Russia (a country that has never produced a winner of the European Cup or Champions League) would not normally have been given qualification because they finished second in the Russian league, got through to the group stages, something which they would not have been able to do under the old system.
Using the World Cup analogy, though, it's like giving Europe and Oceania equal qualifying spots.
I'd forgotten what winning felt like! It's quite satisfying.