Liverpool FC Forum

by **JoeTerp** » Fri Oct 24, 2008 6:25 pm

stmichael wrote:Although the CL has it's flaws, is it just me or does the UEFA Cup look stronger than in recent years this season, even before the inclusion of the CL teams?

UEFA Cup Groups

there does seem to be a pretty decent amount of quality there for being the 2nd best club cup competition in Europe

City, Milan, Benfica, Sevilla,

Aston Villa, Pompey, Ajax, Valencia, Deportivo, Hamburg, Udinese, Stuttgart, Galatasaray,

Liege, CSKA, Spurs, Sampdoria, Hertha Berlin, Spartak Moscow, Wolfsburg, Slavia Praha, Feyenoord, AS Nancy

some decent teams, and more to be added later.

by **Bam** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 6:52 am

JoeTerp wrote:I am sure that this is more a semantic argument over the word "hard" Because if it was so easy to win the CL then everybody would be doing it every year.

Talking of semantics. Nobody is saying its easy to win the CL there your words nobody elses, but many think its easier to win than the Prem. Which I agree with, lets look at it your way then. If the Prem was easier to win surely we'd of won it by now within the last 19 years. As it happens Liverpool FC have only come back into Europes cream of the crop within the last decade or so (maybe more), we've won the CL in that time, have come runners up in it, reached the semi's of it and done pretty well year after year. While in all that time being no nearer to being champions of England.

The prem is harder to win, otherwise we'd be winning it every year.

by **Igor Zidane** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 7:03 am

Bam wrote:
JoeTerp wrote:I am sure that this is more a semantic argument over the word "hard" Because if it was so easy to win the CL then everybody would be doing it every year.

Talking of semantics. Nobody is saying its easy to win the CL there your words nobody elses, but many think its easier to win than the Prem. Which I agree with, lets look at it your way then. If the Prem was easier to win surely we'd of won it by now within the last 19 years. As it happens Liverpool FC have only come back into Europes cream of the crop within the last decade or so (maybe more), we've won the CL in that time, have come runners up in it, reached the semi's of it and done pretty well year after year. While in all that time being no nearer to being champions of England.

The prem is harder to win, end of !

That's always been the case though Joe. The league has always been harder to win . When we were winning the league and the European cup back in the 70's ans 80's the league was the harder one to win . It's just maybe we had a better team to compete in both comps . This team has not been strong enough or good enough to compete in both comps this time around , THis obviously gives us a better chance at winning the easier competitions . Hopefully this will change this season and we can compete in the league and have a good run in the champions league.

by **maypaxvobiscum** » Sat Oct 25, 2008 1:16 pm

its a case of mentality and attitude. when you play in europe, you have to pay just 2 matches, give your all and you're into the next round. and this goes on. the marathon is much shorter and there is no room for complacency.

in the BPL, there is 38 matches. so, a team can always lose a game, and think ''oh alright there are 37 more matches to make up for it''. there is so much room to take things for granted.

therefore i feel the ECL is tougher then the BPL.

by **ste123lfc** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 8:14 pm

Platini f*cking about with a perfectly good system again in an attempt to rid the champions league of at least 1 english club to make way for the champions of f*cknowswheresville.

LINK

by **LegBarnes** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 8:31 pm

ste123lfc wrote:Platini f*cking about with a perfectly good system again in an attempt to rid the champions league of at least 1 english club to make way for the champions of f*cknowswheresville.

LINK

I have to agree with him it can only be good for footballt o do this.

Those teams will find it hard at first but with the extra imcome they will grow and we have more of contest in euorpe once agian i am sick of seeing the english teams bully in CL and also teams like barca and real.

good on him at last some one has balls to shake things up.

You just all scared cos we liverpool might miss out but come on no CL football for 1 season might be what we need to win the prem then you wouldn't be bitching. :buttrock

by **JoeTerp** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 8:38 pm

or one season without CL money could be a huge disaster.

by **Bad Bob** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 8:42 pm

ste123lfc wrote:Platini f*cking about with a perfectly good system again in an attempt to rid the champions league of at least 1 english club to make way for the champions of f*cknowswheresville.

LINK

Actually, I'm not sure all that much would change, mate. Consider the chart from the article you've posted:

First off, if we finish in the top three in the league, we automatically qualify for the CL group stages (far right path).

If we finish fourth, however, we take the middle path. We'd be placed in the "Qualifying Playoff" along with the 4th place finishers in Spain and Italy and the 3rd place finishers in Germany and France. But notice the wording: it suggests that we wouldn't play any of those teams but, rather, one of the five winners from Round 3. In effect, that means we'd be playing either the 3rd place finisher from the Russian league or a runner up from one of the following leagues: Romanian, Dutch, Portuguese, Ukrainian, Turkish, Scottish, Greek, Swiss or Belgian.

Granted, there's plenty of potential for a banana-skins there but I'm not sure these teams would necessarily provide stiffer competition than Standard Liege (Belgian champs) or Maccabi Haifa (Israeli Champs) or Grazer AK (Austrian champs). The key, though, is that it seems we wouldn't be facing the Spanish, Italian or German clubs in this round...if I'm reading it right.

by **NANNY RED** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 8:44 pm

Ive often thought if i prefer the old European cup Qualifiying ways to now. put it this way for me it was easier then on the finacial side for me as we didnt have so many games away to go to . An you knew back then that you were gonna be playing the champions of there respective leagues. There was no micky mouse teams really every game was a toughie.

I dunno i might sound mad cause we wouldnt have won number 5 , but i still prefer the old way. If you league champions you go into the europeon cup.

by **tubby** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 8:53 pm

There is too much money in the current setup so going back to that would be a no no even if it is better for the purists like you Nanny

by **NANNY RED** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 9:00 pm

bavlondon wrote:There is too much money in the current setup so going back to that would be a no no even if it is better for the purists like you Nanny

Its better for my bank balance i know that :laugh:

by **tubby** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 9:08 pm

Following your team is very expensive these days. I have been to a few European away games and they can really burn a whole in your pocket. Great experiences though, worth every penny!

by **JoeTerp** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 9:17 pm

I know this might sound a bit radical, but what about making the Champions League more like a league competition?

Do it similar to how Brazil runs their league where they have state competitions and then a national competition run on independent promotion/relegation structures.

I would suggest all domestic competitions limit their # of teams to 18 to lessen the load of fixtures (should probably happen anyway) and then have a 4 league Euro set up with 10 teams a piece. (only 3 more games than the last time we made it to the final, but there would be minus 4 prem matches). Then have promotion and relegation between the Euro leagues based solely on performance in those Euro leagues. But run the 4th division more like the current CL tournament where the 4 semi finalists are promoted to 3rd division and everybody else has to requalify via their domestic league (top placed team not currently in one of the 3 Euro divisions) and then navigate the tournament again.

I would also suggest bringing back the cup winners cup. this way all the best domestic cup teams can cup it out for who is the best cup team in Europe, and then all the best domestic league teams can league it out for the best league team in Europe.

by **Sabre** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:06 pm

I don't find your view radical, in fact that's a possibility that's been discussed hundred of times in my country.

The problem I see is that reducing the league to 18 teams, only means 4 matches less in the local competition. Not enough to get the necessary matches to do a proper European league. And if you talk about reducing further than 18 teams, you'd find a massive opposition in the local federations, at least the Spanish ones.

The agenda, with the international games, is crowded enough. It's difficult to set a proper league without weakening competitions that have more than 100 years of history.

But despite I think it's difficult, I'm afraid that may be the future if the course of football continues this way.

by **Alex G.** » Mon Dec 08, 2008 10:33 pm

In 10-15 years time we will realize how important is the Rafas record. We have regained the proud in Europe with Rafa and that´s priceless for any club and its supporters.
Now it´s time to regain the proud and respect in England with the Premier League title.

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