2018/19 Soccer Thread

I think I just head Fed celebrating, even here in Wisconsin.

IMAGE(https://media1.tenor.com/images/d05cbf1ce07f185b145f23731a5b20a9/tenor.gif?itemid=9584457)

It's a funny old game.

whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

Football, bloody hell.

I still haven't watched the first leg of this tie. Think I'll do a double-header tonight so I can see today's leg too.

Talk about nightmare fuel for every other Prem club supporter.

Double English final? Nahhhh Arsenal will muck it up.

Right. So, the lesson, for the CL final is, do not take a multiple-goal lead, as those are apparently just a death sentence now.

Wow last second goal to advance to the finals by Spurs. That was nuts...

Wow! Congrats to Tottenham fans! What an amazing week.

I wonder what Tottenham’s second half goals for/goals against is compared to their first half ratio. Seems like Pochettino always adjusts in positive ways at the half.

Prederick wrote:

Right. So, the lesson, for the CL final is, do not take a multiple-goal lead, as those are apparently just a death sentence now.

Also, try to get your best forwards injured.

Dimmerswitch wrote:

I think I just head Fed celebrating, even here in Wisconsin. :)

False. I couldn't make it to the Spurs pub today, so I was maintaining a professional demeanor while watching at my desk...

...until the hat trick. Then, you might have heard me.

Goddamn, that was awesome.
Go Spurs!
Make me a baby, Lucas!

Mr Bismarck wrote:
Prederick wrote:

Right. So, the lesson, for the CL final is, do not take a multiple-goal lead, as those are apparently just a death sentence now.

Also, try to get your best forwards injured.

I am not rooting for the funniest outcome, which would be a CL final featuring two teams defending as hard as they possibly can for 90 minutes because both are convinced if they actually take a lead they'll end up losing.

Holy Crap, football eh? Going to be one hell of a final hopefully. I don't think I could call it. Gotta feel for Ajax losing like that though

Edit: I've got a feeling that if Arsenal win the Europa Cup, and Liverpool beat Spurs in the CL final, that only the top 3 teams would get a CL spot in the Premier League, and in that scenario, and assuming Spurs come 4th, they'd be playing the Europa cup next season.

Arsenal looking at their 3-1 second leg lead like

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Sorbicol wrote:

Holy Crap, football eh? Going to be one hell of a final hopefully. I don't think I could call it. Gotta feel for Ajax losing like that though

Edit: I've got a feeling that if Arsenal win the Europa Cup, and Liverpool beat Spurs in the CL final, that only the top 3 teams would get a CL spot in the Premier League, and in that scenario, and assuming Spurs come 4th, they'd be playing the Europa cup next season.

That's not correct. You can have 5 EPL teams in that scenario. You only lose the 4th league slot if both winners are outside the top four.

I mean, I was emphatically of the belief that City would roll to the title this weekend, but based on this evidence, who knows?

Then again, this particular strain of insanity seems to be limited to just the Champions League this season.

I watched this already knowing the result, but still...

Spoiler:

Even forgetting the final goal, all the massive saves and shots off the woodwork guaranteed that one side would go home with a lot of regrets.

Too bad, the rich kids won again. For Ajax it was the one and only shot at a European Cup, as they'll be leeched dry by next season.

So now a 'Champions' League final between a team that hasn't won an actual domestic title since 1990 and 1961.

dejanzie wrote:

So now a 'Champions' League final between a team that hasn't won an actual domestic title since 1990 and 1961.

And what does that say of the teams that are champions of their leagues?

This is Liverpool’s 4th Champions League final since they last won the league. City have never been there. Neither had Spurs until last night.

Sorbicol wrote:
dejanzie wrote:

So now a 'Champions' League final between a team that hasn't won an actual domestic title since 1990 and 1961.

And what does that say of the teams that are champions of their leagues?

This is Liverpool’s 4th Champions League final since they last won the league. City have never been there. Neither had Spurs until last night.

That they have less money? The current Belgian champion's entire budget (Club Brugge) is 1/4th of what the last one in the Premier League gets in tv-money alone. Allowing four or even five participants of the rich leagues hugely distorts the field.

This is by design of course, and on demand of the 'elite' clubs and UEFA. And it's not all bad: the Champions League undoubtedly has the highest level of football play in history right now, and surprisingly even a lot of drama and tension the last few seasons. For the neutral supporter, and for football execs looking to line their pockets, this setup is perfect.

For a supporter of any team in the have-not leagues... not so much.

Congratulations! You finished last! Have £100M, plus another £100M over the next few seasons!

dejanzie wrote:

That they have less money? The current Belgian champion's entire budget (Club Brugge) is 1/4th of what the last one in the Premier League gets in tv-money alone. Allowing four or even five participants of the rich leagues hugely distorts the field.

This is by design of course, and on demand of the 'elite' clubs and UEFA. And it's not all bad: the Champions League undoubtedly has the highest level of football play in history right now, and surprisingly even a lot of drama and tension the last few seasons. For the neutral supporter, and for football execs looking to line their pockets, this setup is perfect.

For a supporter of any team in the have-not leagues... not so much.

And Ajax have just spent this seasons CL proving that money isn’t the be all and end all of success. Also, the Dutch league is basically won these days by Ajax or PSV Eindhoven (with the occasional appearance by Feyenoord) I’m sure all the other teams in the Dutch league would have identical grumbles about their dominance of their leagues and the disproportionate amount of money those teams get compared to everyone else.

I do sympathise but at the end of the day football is as much a business as anything else these days. The CL needs to include those teams that’ll generate them revenue. It is unbalanced I agree but until the dominance of teams in their domestic leagues is similarly addressed, I don’t really see this is a particular problem with how the CL currently operates. It’s also - just about - preventing the formation of a European Super League that would suck the money out of everywhere else to the point that domestic leagues might well not survive at all. I sort of see it currently as the lesser of two evils.

I've mostly resigned to reality, no worries. An occasional bitter complaint on a gamer forum is about the extent of my rebellion

Just for clarity: I'm not asking for complete parity. It stands to reason that a big city club will always out-budget smaller ones due to attendance rates, merchandising income, bigger pool to draw youth players from etc. That was also the case before tv money and oligarchs with something to compensate started skewing the game. The gap has simply become artificially inflated beyond reason, but that's just the way it is I guess.

Last thing: saying that money isn't the be-all end-all of football with Ajax and/or Leicester as examples... that's like saying privilege is overrated because that one woman made it to CEO.

I remember reading an article a year or so ago about how domestic leagues have become less competitive over the past decade. It analyzed average points per game for some of the league winners, and how domestic leagues are more and more defined by their champions and then everyone else. It was an interesting take on the ramifications of the impact of Champions League money on the domestic competitiveness. England is somewhat of an exception to the rule, and arguably that's what makes it so interesting from a fan standpoint.

I do think the sport on the whole loses in a lot of ways when most European domestic leagues are defined by the same one or two champions year in and year out.

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

Don't ask me why I was looking way back in the beginning of the thread for this year, but I stumbled onto this post. Damn, Roke, that's some impressive work! It's not done yet, but you might get the top six in perfect order, and two of the three relegation teams.

I meant to reply (but forgot) just to say I got lucky with the order. I believe I said that if Man City had any other coach I'd pick Liverpool to win it. City have boatloads of cash and an incredible manager and Liverpool are the best-run club in the league (if not thew world) with a brilliant manager of their own to boot so those two being on their own tier separated from the rest of the "big 6" seemed reasonable to me. Chelsea and Spurs ahead of Man Utd and Arsenal was just down to thinking their squads had fewer holes. Another big summer ahead for Arsenal this year.

I'm pretty pleased I got the clubs in the 7-9 tier right, assuming Leicester don't get leapfrogged on the last day, though not the right order. Been really impressed with how Leicester's basically built a new, young squad with some potential and Wolves are really interesting.

The two things that do stand out to me are Fulham (poor Fulham, I thought they'd be decent enough defensively) and Newcastle (I was so fearful with Rondon's track record at West Brom, all the Rafa turmoil, and the difficult fixture list to kick off the season). And I guess I thought Mark Hughes would get too much rope at Southampton, thankfully for them that wasn't the case.

Godzilla Blitz wrote:

I remember reading an article a year or so ago about how domestic leagues have become less competitive over the past decade. It analyzed average points per game for some of the league winners, and how domestic leagues are more and more defined by their champions and then everyone else. It was an interesting take on the ramifications of the impact of Champions League money on the domestic competitiveness. England is somewhat of an exception to the rule, and arguably that's what makes it so interesting from a fan standpoint.

I do think the sport on the whole loses in a lot of ways when most European domestic leagues are defined by the same one or two champions year in and year out.

100%. Big European leagues are mainly boring, and could do with some spending limits like American salary caps to achieve greater parity, but Champions League means a country would be handicapping its clubs' chances in Europe if they adopted spending reforms. Also, as much as people love pro/rel, it's very much a force that keeps any big clubs and their supporters from ever wanting to open themselves to risk by agreeing to spending limits.

Could UEFA somehow prescribe limits for the entire region? That's the only way I could see something working, but I think its doubtful.

For better or worse (worse, imho) the proposed super league was an attempt to present top teams with a relatively level playing field. The teams that were supposedly for it were unsurprisingly teams from leagues that basically don't matter anymore (in the sense that we know the winner before the season even starts, and they aren't thrilled to win it), and the big roadblock was the one league that's actually pretty interesting (even though it isn't as competitive as American sporting leagues are).

Again, the super league was an attempt to improve upon the current situation, but I think it was the opposite of what is needed.

Italy, Germany, and France desperately need to do something to increase competition.

Arsenal Valencia is already 1-1 and back and forth.

Buckle up!

There is an impact of the CL on smaller leagues, in the sense that 15 million Euro entrance fee to a 30 million fee in a good year for a Belgian team basically means (almost) doubling your budget for that year. If only one team qualifies, it can lead to a Mattheus effect.

Cracking game in Valencia. Chelsea letting the side down a little bit I suspect most other European nations are rooting for Eintracht.

In other news, getting to Madrid is going to be hideously expensive for Spurs/Liverpool fans - flights to Madrid have jumped to about £1500 a head since the result last night. The price last week was about £100.