Football Season 2009/2010

[Ramar]

No talk on this Premier League Play-off idea?

 

In my opinion it's a ridiculous idea, and I fully expect a "thats because you always finish 4th" retort. But I base my thoughts on the league as a whole, a team who finish 7th should not be rewarded with the chance of playing in Europe's top competition, in fact I find it a mockery that we get 4 spots of a competition called The Champions League whilst other countries get one spot in the first qualifying round.

 

Obviously the mid table nearly men are going to want this, why not, it's a chance for extra cash. But if that's the case why not give the Champions League 4th spot to the winner of the FA Cup. Not only would it vary the entrant (most of the time) it would increase the importance of the competition which has been reported as "losing its magic".

 

Another thought regarding the FA Cup, if they do this play-off it'll be typically around the time of the FA Cup. It will destract and probably destroy the importance of the final even more. Especially now that all the Premier League chiefs care about is increasing 'the product' abroad.

 

Shame I'm busy tonight, would have liked to watch AC Milan vs Man Utd, I'm calling a draw.

[Fierce_LiNk]

If you talk about that, then you should also look at how things are structured in the Championship at the moment. Leicester City are 14 points off top spot, but they could very well be playing the Premier League next season if they finish 6th (the position they currently lie in), and win the Play-offs. There's both positives and negatives to that. Every game in those Play-offs would feel like a Cup Final. So, it still retains that magic. But, if you step back and look at the fact that the 6th best team (according to points) in the Championship could be playing Premier League football in place of the 3rd, 4th and 5th placed teams, then I think that is equally worth discussing.

 

The Chiefs are just trying their best to break up this "monopoly of a top 4" in England. Partly why people want to see Man City do well, to make things more interesting. How shit would it feel to be a Tottenham fan to achieve the promised land, that fourth place, and then be told you need to go through a play-off to get into the Champions League anyway?

 

As for the game against Milan tonight, I think it'll be a close one, but I reckon United will edge it. Can't believe Vidic isn't playing again, though. There's talk that he has a serious calf injury, and there's still talk that his wife wants to move away from Manchester. His situation is pretty similar to that of Anderson, where the fans just do not know if they'll be at the club next season.

[Retro_Link]

Why the fuck isn't the United game on regular TV?... I'm guessing Sky have it?

[Ramar]

Why the fuck isn't the United game on regular TV?... I'm guessing Sky have it?

 

ITV showing Wednesday games this year, Sky have Tuesdays.

 

All part of UEFA's fantastic restructuring of the Champions League fixtures, so that they get even more television money.

[Eddage]

Why the fuck isn't the United game on regular TV?... I'm guessing Sky have it?

 

Yeah its on Sky. ITV have the rights to the Wednesday Champions League games this season so I'm presuming the second leg will be live. Then they'll be able to make a massive thing out of Beckham's return to Old Trafford, rather than just his first game (if he even plays) against United.

 

With regards to the play off's proposition... Whilst it would be nice to mix it up a bit it would seem unfair if the team that finishes 4th then loses out to the team that finishes 7th. Also if you know that 7th place will get you the same chance of Champs League football as 4th place then it could see competition over the last few weeks of the season drop as the teams "settle" for their current position.

Edited February 16, 2010 by Eddage

[Fierce_LiNk]

Teams for tonight:

 

AC Milan

 

Dida, Bonera, Nesta, Thiago Silva, Antonini, Beckham, Pirlo, Ambrosini, Ronaldinho, Alexandre Pato, Huntelaar.

 

Man United

 

Van der Sar, Rafael Da Silva, Ferdinand, Jonathan Evans, Evra, Nani, Carrick, Scholes, Fletcher, Park, Rooney

 

A big game for Rafael at right back. Hopefully Nani carries on his good form, and hoping he's learned his lesson from the Villa game. Should be a great midfield battle. But, no Gattuso versus Scholes. :p

 

Eddage, your point about teams settling for 5th or 6th place before the end of the season is also something else I was thinking about. What would happen with Europa League places, if this Playoff does come into place? Would the teams in the right positions still go through to the Europa League?

What happens to the team who finishes fourth, but doesn't get into the Champions League? Do they go into Europa?

[darksnowman]

I didn't see any of the game but thank fook for Seedorf. I couldn't believe United were 3-1 up at one point. Milan are, as ever, an ageing side (and are even on a poor run of form domestically, just squeaking a 3-2 in their last game) but I still confidently backed them to beat Man U at the San Siro. On the plus side, it means Milan aren't coming to defend at Old Trafford. They need to get things together between now and the next leg.

[Fierce_LiNk]

I didn't see any of the game but thank fook for Seedorf. I couldn't believe United were 3-1 up at one point. Milan are, as ever, an ageing side (and are even on a poor run of form domestically, just squeaking a 3-2 in their last game) but I still confidently backed them to beat Man U at the San Siro. On the plus side, it means Milan aren't coming to defend at Old Trafford. They need to get things together between now and the next leg.

 

We were totally outplayed for the first 20 or 30 minutes. If you had told me that United would win 3-2 at the end, I'd have laughed. AC should have been 6 or 7 up before half time. Ronaldinho ran the show and dominated the game.

 

Second half was a different story. Rooney got more into the game, Valencia replaced Nani and provided some great service into the box, and the midfield three of Fletcher, Scholes and Carrick were more up to speed. Fletcher, Rooney and Ronaldinho were the best three players on the pitch. The latter probably didn't deserve to be on the losing side.

[Emerald Emblem]

Does Scholes get flukiest goal of the champions league? Even footballing season?

Edited February 17, 2010 by Emerald Emblem

[DuD]

I didn't watch the United game tonight, I had a more important game to listen to

Just a shame we got a draw. I'm not sure what Robbie's thinking was with starting Luke Moore instead of Cox, but I was quite shocked at that..

 

As for the Play-Off idea.. I don't think it's too wise.

Ramar and FLiNk have pretty much covered it with the Europa League problems and possibly sending inferior teams into the Champions League, but also if teams are in the position to settle for their current league position it could end up affecting teams pushing for the title or fighting against relegation.

 

I think having the Play-Offs in the Championship is a good idea though.

Its usually a fair bit tighter around those positions come the end of the season, so there's no settling for a Play-Off place.. it's fighting all the way. There's also no problems with the Europa League places, it's extra revenue for the teams concerned, and it gives teams a greater chance of making the Premier League.

 

Obviously the mid table nearly men are going to want this, why not, it's a chance for extra cash. But if that's the case why not give the Champions League 4th spot to the winner of the FA Cup. Not only would it vary the entrant (most of the time) it would increase the importance of the competition which has been reported as "losing its magic".

Interesting idea. I wonder how Pompy would be doing now with the Champions League cash-injection.

[nekunando]

Interesting idea. I wonder how Pompy would be doing now with the Champions League cash-injection.

 

While I would never wish for Portsmouth to go out of business, I can't help but look at the league table and think how much better it looks for Liverpool if everyone's matches against Portsmouth were removed

[Ellmeister]

LOL @ Fabianski.

[Fierce_LiNk]

Does Scholes get flukiest goal of the champions league? Even footballing season?

 

I laugh everytime I see it. It's funny...Ronaldinho was doing that trick all night. Swinging one foot, then scoring with the other. Then, the little ginger scores from something similar.

[Emerald Emblem]

Fabianski was terrible tonight, both easily avoidable goals yet he had to mess up. Glad we only have 1 goal to make up.

[Ramar]

Not disappointed by the result, but I suppose I am about how we let the goals in. And I suppose I feel sorry for Fabianski because he's getting slaughtered for it, when he only has half the blame.

 

Clichy should never have got turned inside out for the first, he dived in the bloke done him and whipped in the cross-shot.

 

Then the whole team is to blame for the second, no one tracked back, then whole fuck up between Campbell and Fabianski. Then everyone watched them take it quickly.

 

I look forward to the return leg.

[Emerald Emblem]

Not disappointed by the result, but I suppose I am about how we let the goals in. And I suppose I feel sorry for Fabianski because he's getting slaughtered for it, when he only has half the blame.

 

Clichy should never have got turned inside out for the first, he dived in the bloke done him and whipped in the cross-shot.

 

Then the whole team is to blame for the second, no one tracked back, then whole fuck up between Campbell and Fabianski. Then everyone watched them take it quickly.

 

I look forward to the return leg.

Only thing Campbell got wrong really was not paying attention to who had the ball when protesting about the back pass, but Fabianski really shouldn't have picked that ball up in the first place. Mistakes at this level are really costly and he's proved that tonight. I do feel sorry for him, but at the same time I really feel he let us down this leg. He's not been at his best the last few matches he's played, this performance was overkill.

[Ramar]

If there was doubt in Campbell's mind he should have punted the ball out for a throw.

 

Fabianski has hardly been allowed to create a run for himself, every time he's brought into the team it's a one-off. Form isn't created over one match, whilst it's not excusable it is understandable that mistakes creep into his game.

[Emerald Emblem]

Campbell saw him control with his feet first, I think Campbell had no doubts but he was probably unaware of the ground the Porto forward was making, Fabianski saw that and probably panicked.

 

However true enough Fabianski hasn't had a good amount of time playing in the team and we can't expect him to be at his best right away. I was just shocked at some of those decisions he made. A top division goalkeeper needs to do better.

[Ramar]

A top division goalkeeper needs to do better.

 

Completely agree.

 

Our keeper situation is something Wenger has hoped to avoid since losing Lehmann, alas he's only papered over the cracks.

[BlueStar]

Interesting idea. I wonder how Pompy would be doing now with the Champions League cash-injection.

Probably wouldn't have won the cup, seeing as how the bigger teams would have taken it much more seriously and no-one would field weaker teams if there was a CL spot on offer at the end.

[DuD]

The whole idea behind the magic of the cup though is that on that day anything could happen. Its not like the teams have a long time to show their superiority like in a season, one bad day for one team and a good day for another could see an upset... see Liverpool vs Reading this year. I'm pretty sure Liverpool didn't sent out a weakened team, Reading beat them.

 

The thing I don't get with Pompy is the fact that Harry bought in quite a lot of players for relatively low amounts and then sold them on for a fair bit of profit. Where has all that money gone..?

[Iun]

Yay 4-1 yay! Top o' the table to ye!

[BlueStar]

The whole idea behind the magic of the cup though is that on that day anything could happen. Its not like the teams have a long time to show their superiority like in a season, one bad day for one team and a good day for another could see an upset... see Liverpool vs Reading this year. I'm pretty sure Liverpool didn't sent out a weakened team, Reading beat them.

 

But even with the trend for the big clubs resting players, aside from Portsmouth you've got to go back 15 years for an FA cup winner that wasn't Man U, Liverpool, Chelsea or Arsenal. What happens if one of the top three win the FA Cup? Either you give it to fourth place, in which case almost every season will still be the top four getting into the champion league, or you give it to the team that lost in the final, which means the semi final would be the big game for a non-top four sideand winning or losing the final is pretty much acedemic because they've already got the new "prize" (That's assuming the final isn't between two top four clubs anyway)

 

The thing I don't get with Pompy is the fact that Harry bought in quite a lot of players for relatively low amounts and then sold them on for a fair bit of profit. Where has all that money gone..?

 

Absurd wages I think. West Ham, Southampton, Pompey, saggy face has left a trail of financial destruction wherever he goes - hope that means Spurs are next

[darksnowman]

We were totally outplayed for the first 20 or 30 minutes. If you had told me that United would win 3-2 at the end, I'd have laughed. AC should have been 6 or 7 up before half time. Ronaldinho ran the show and dominated the game.

 

Second half was a different story. Rooney got more into the game, Valencia replaced Nani and provided some great service into the box, and the midfield three of Fletcher, Scholes and Carrick were more up to speed. Fletcher, Rooney and Ronaldinho were the best three players on the pitch. The latter probably didn't deserve to be on the losing side.

 

I watched the highlights of all the matches last night and it looked like United were completely outplayed for the whole match. Milan were battering away but just couldn't finish their chances. Even after Clarence scored his sublime goal to get it back to 3-2, Milan still had chances to get it to 3-3 after that.

 

If they play with a fraction of that cutting edge at Old Trafford, but manage to actually get the ball into the back of the net it should be plain sailing. :wink:

 

 

Anyone watching the Liverpool game on C5? Looks like Rafa has named as strong a team as possible. I see Pacheco is on the bench, personally I would have started him and I hope he gets on.

[danny]

Yeah its on Sky. ITV have the rights to the Wednesday Champions League games this season so I'm presuming the second leg will be live. Then they'll be able to make a massive thing out of Beckham's return to Old Trafford, rather than just his first game (if he even plays) against United.

 

With regards to the play off's proposition... Whilst it would be nice to mix it up a bit it would seem unfair if the team that finishes 4th then loses out to the team that finishes 7th. Also if you know that 7th place will get you the same chance of Champs League football as 4th place then it could see competition over the last few weeks of the season drop as the teams "settle" for their current position.

 

 

Would they be able to settle? Wouldnt the teams behind them be trying even harder? Im not sure what i think of the idea. I like the fact they are trying to break the top 4 up a bit. As i think were moving in to a bit of an SPL situation only twice as big. But i dont like the idea of the 7th place team going through over the 4th.