bosox4283 said:
I think Group B (Man Utd, PSV, CSKA, Wolfsburg) is also kinda sneaky hard; I could see any two from four advancing from there, actually, although Man Utd would need to screw up to make that happen.
San Siro's Siren Call: 2015-16 UEFA Champions League
- Thread starter Titans Bastard
- Start date
I think Group B (Man Utd, PSV, CSKA, Wolfsburg) is also kinda sneaky hard; I could see any two from four advancing from there, actually, although Man Utd would need to screw up to make that happen.
Here's the final table with Elo rankings
As expected, group D is a nightmare, with the 3rd best team from pot A, 2nd best team from pot B, and best teams (and there is a huge differential here) from pots C & D. If that is what Juve get for winning the Seria A and coming in runners-up in the CL, they might want to change their strategy this year.
Group B has the worst team from pots A & B plus the 2nd worst team from pot C, though drawing Monchengladbach evens things out substantially. Still, every team in Group B is a lower Elo than any team from group D.
Group H is by far the easiest (and most boring) with all teams significantly below average pot Elo.
| A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | ||||||||
| PSG | 1862 | PSV Eindhoven | 1719 | Benfica | 1798 | Juventus | 1887 | Barca | 2089 | Bayern Munich | 1922 | Chelsea | 1854 | Zenit St. Petersburg | 1698 |
| Real Madrid | 1975 | Man United | 1778 | Atletico Madrid | 1851 | Man City | 1900 | Bayer Leverkusen | 1794 | Arsenal | 1820 | Porto | 1840 | Valencia | 1807 |
| Shakhtar Donetsk | 1745 | CSKA Moscow | 1678 | Galatasaray | 1617 | Sevilla | 1851 | Roma | 1701 | Olympiacos | 1699 | Dynamo Kiev | 1724 | Lyon | 1694 |
| Malmo | 1524 | Borussia Monchengladbach | 1746 | Astana | 1534 | Wolfsburg | 1805 | Bate Borisov | 1587 | GNK Dinamo | 1609 | Maccabi Tel Aviv | 1570 | KAA Gent | 1579 |
As expected, group D is a nightmare, with the 3rd best team from pot A, 2nd best team from pot B, and best teams (and there is a huge differential here) from pots C & D. If that is what Juve get for winning the Seria A and coming in runners-up in the CL, they might want to change their strategy this year.
Group B has the worst team from pots A & B plus the 2nd worst team from pot C, though drawing Monchengladbach evens things out substantially. Still, every team in Group B is a lower Elo than any team from group D.
Group H is by far the easiest (and most boring) with all teams significantly below average pot Elo.
Groups according to quality, IMHO:
1. D
2. A
3. G
4. E
5. F
6. B
7. C
8. H
My guesses for advancement:
A. 1. RM, 2. PSG
B. 1. Wolfsburg, 2. MANU
C. 1. Atleti, 2. Benfica
D. 1. MANC, Sevilla
E. 1. Barca, 2. Roma
F. 1. Bayern, 2. Arse
G. 1. Chelsea, 2. Porto
H. 1. Valencia, 2. Lyon
Biggest takeaways:
Every Group D match is going to MUST-WATCH. Honestly, you could put those teams in any order and I wouldn't call you crazy.
PSG-Real, Bayern-Arse, and Chelsea-Porto are other awesome matches.
Valencia, Barca, and MANU should be able to handle their groups.
PSG-Real and Bayern-Arse should coast into knockouts.
1. D
2. A
3. G
4. E
5. F
6. B
7. C
8. H
My guesses for advancement:
A. 1. RM, 2. PSG
B. 1. Wolfsburg, 2. MANU
C. 1. Atleti, 2. Benfica
D. 1. MANC, Sevilla
E. 1. Barca, 2. Roma
F. 1. Bayern, 2. Arse
G. 1. Chelsea, 2. Porto
H. 1. Valencia, 2. Lyon
Biggest takeaways:
Every Group D match is going to MUST-WATCH. Honestly, you could put those teams in any order and I wouldn't call you crazy.
PSG-Real, Bayern-Arse, and Chelsea-Porto are other awesome matches.
Valencia, Barca, and MANU should be able to handle their groups.
PSG-Real and Bayern-Arse should coast into knockouts.
Kiev seems in good form at the moment. (I haven't actually seen them play much, just going by results.) I wouldn't be surprised to see Chelsea or Porto kept out of the round of 16.
B is a shitty group, but also the group that seems the most wide open where you really can't even pick two favorites. Same with D, I guess, except on the flip side.
B is a shitty group, but also the group that seems the most wide open where you really can't even pick two favorites. Same with D, I guess, except on the flip side.
In honor of tomorrow's kickoff....name the 133 clubs that have played in the Champions League group stage.
Hector Moreno just crunched Luke Shaw's ankle on a heavy challenge in the penalty area. They've got the immobilizing boot, the stretcher, and everything else out. I'm a United hater but that's a pity as Shaw was really showing signs of elevating his game to new heights this year and this looks like an injury that might have him out until sometime in 2016.
Search twitter for pictures of that Luke Shaw injury at your own peril. This looks like its in the Ramsey/Eduardo class of bad leg breaks.
Meanwhile, Memphis scored a pretty awesome goal that was semi-similar to the one Martial had over the weekend. Then Moreno tied it up on a header.
Meanwhile, Memphis scored a pretty awesome goal that was semi-similar to the one Martial had over the weekend. Then Moreno tied it up on a header.
Real/Ronaldo got a nice penalty on a handball, when Srna´s hand was seemingly on his back and it´s 2-0 for Real against 10 men.
Sevilla got 2 penalties in 5 minutes (one against the crossbar) and it´s 1-0 vs. Gladbach.
Kompany just made it 1-0 vs. Juve, could have been a foul.
Sevilla got 2 penalties in 5 minutes (one against the crossbar) and it´s 1-0 vs. Gladbach.
Kompany just made it 1-0 vs. Juve, could have been a foul.
Great shot by Morata after a misbounce and it's now 1-2 at the Etihad. England's coefficient not doing well today.
Inch perfect by Morata out of nothing.
I was terrified of this fixture given the respective form of each team. A draw seemed a bridge too far...
I was terrified of this fixture given the respective form of each team. A draw seemed a bridge too far...
Buffon is quietly playing hero as usual.
Of course, stopping Sterling 1v1 would be expected of an amateur league keeper at this point.
Of course, stopping Sterling 1v1 would be expected of an amateur league keeper at this point.
Luis Taint said:
Seriously. You need to try and hold the ball. Clearing it repetitively gains you like 15 seconds each time and you're constantly under siege that way.
It's always nice seeing the Manchesters lose (especially United). Only downside is the effect on the Premier League's EUFA coefficient.
ManU is down a game and a left back after one match.
dirtynine's EPL prediction is off to a strong start.
dirtynine's EPL prediction is off to a strong start.
blueguitar322 said:
Italy would need another season like year before slipping to 4th even became plausible. Having a team make a run in the Europa league wouldn't hurt.
Luis Taint said:
The tiebreakers are h-2-h record, h-2-h goal differential, h-2-h goals scored (only applicable if 3 teams tied), h-2-h away goals, and only then overall goal differential. It can matter but very rarely does.
So one implication is that it will be extremely hard for City to overtake Juventus unless they can win the rematch in Italy. With a draw City will automatically lose the tiebreaker and therefore need to be at least four points better than Juventus in the matches against Sevilla and Gladbach. United face the same situation but it will be much easier for them to beat PSV at Old Trafford.
It can definitely matter. The year Liverpool won the whole thing it came down to scoring one more goal on Matchday 6. A 2-1 win over Olympiacos would have meant a drop into the UEFA Cup, but Gerrard's late goal to make it 3-1 sent them into the round of 16 and ultimately on their way to the trophy.Morgan's Magic Snowplow said:
SoxFanInCali said:
Yeah, but they advanced on h-2-h goal differential, not overall goal differential. That's basically my point. You only get to overall goal differential if you have mirroring h-2-h scores between the tied teams (a 2-1 win and a 2-1 loss for example) and that doesn't happen all that often.
https://twitter.com/guardian_sport/status/644190643166814208
What we really need is to revive the Intertoto Cup! ...said no one ever.
Maybe clubs from smaller countries would like a second-tier competition that only involves other small countries, like the way the AFC Cup is run vs. the AFC Champions League? I'm not so sure and there'd be no money in that anyway, so I don't know why anyone would bother.
What we really need is to revive the Intertoto Cup! ...said no one ever.
Maybe clubs from smaller countries would like a second-tier competition that only involves other small countries, like the way the AFC Cup is run vs. the AFC Champions League? I'm not so sure and there'd be no money in that anyway, so I don't know why anyone would bother.
https://twitter.com/guardian_sport/status/644190643166814208Titans Bastard said:
link to tweet
What we really need is to revive the Intertoto Cup! ...said no one ever.
Maybe clubs from smaller countries would like a second-tier competition that only involves other small countries, like the way the AFC Cup is run vs. the AFC Champions League? I'm not so sure and there'd be no money in that anyway, so I don't know why anyone would bother.
Maybe they bring back the Cup Winners Cup? That was always fun. (I do actually realize that's what the Europa League was originally .. I think )
BCsMightyJoeYoung said:
The Europa League is the rebranding of the UEFA Cup. The UEFA Cup absorbed the Cup Winners Cup after 1999. But what really killed the Cup Winners Cup was the creation and expansion of the Champions League. Once top countries started getting 2, 3, or 4 clubs in the CL (instead of the one nation, one club format of the old European Cup), there were too many redundancies between CL qualifiers and Cup winners. The joke had become that it was the "Cup Losers Cup" because the loser of the national cup would qualify if the winner also qualified for the CL.
Ox and Theo both just blew pretty good chances for Arsenal. That seems to happen in the first 10-15 minutes of every match this season.
2-0 Bayern, gift from Dinamo.
0-1 for Leverkusen, Papadopoulus after a corner. Suarez and ter Stegen are discussing who was responsible. Let´s say ter Stegen isn´t without responsibility.
...and 3-0 Bayern 25th minute (another gift from Eduardo).
4-0 Bayern, Lewandowski, Wembley-goal (but it was in, really
)
0-1 for Leverkusen, Papadopoulus after a corner. Suarez and ter Stegen are discussing who was responsible. Let´s say ter Stegen isn´t without responsibility.
...and 3-0 Bayern 25th minute (another gift from Eduardo).
4-0 Bayern, Lewandowski, Wembley-goal (but it was in, really
)