(UEFA) Football Thread - Football not Soccer

[Jax]

Nice comeback from Arsenal but I thought Week 1 of the CL was a bit of a DUD. I kind of miss the 90's when the group stages were hard to progress from and excited to watch.

I remember the days of

Man Utd vs. Juventus 2 times in a row in the grouo stage and then the 1998 group of Man Utd, Barcelona, Bayern Munich & Brondby.

[HappyDayRiot]

I know what you mean. This year isn't too bad to be honest because of all the very solid teams that ended up in pot 2 and there were quite a few good sides in pot 3 too. And Wolfsburg will mess things up I expect. But you can still predict every group's winners and runners-up, mainly because the structure of pot 4 means there's a guaranteed weak team in 7 groups out of the 8.

It's never a popular opinion, but I really think seeding isn't the best way. I know it's to ensure you have the top teams playing each other later on, but I'd love to see a completely random group draw where anyone can get anyone else. It might even kill off the English-Spanish-Italian monopoly on the competition if they get drawn together.

I wouldn't be against a straight knockout competition either, scrapping the groups altogether. The stakes would always be high in every game, thus removing a lot of the duds you get with groups, especially when teams qualify early.

Also if you finish 3rd or 4th in your league, you shouldn't be in a 'Champions League'. Either change the name or amend the structure again. I know that would lead to leagues getting monopolised because of the extra money and TV rights but let's face it Spain and England are already a 2-horse race every year. If you're lucky it'll be 3 teams still in contention by March.

None of the above will ever happen

[Roger Wilco]

I'm all for bringing back the old Champion's Cup, Cup Winner's Cup and UEFA Cup. I've never been a fan of the Champions League.

[Iasius]

So far, congratulations!


(Generally, I'll support any German team this season because we're very close to taking the fourth CL spot from Italy, but I'll make an exception for HSV. )

[Iasius]

I'm just wondering now how drunkl Roger Wilco will be when he checks in.


Commentator just said: "Auch in dieser Saison scheint Grün-Weiß nicht die Lieblingsfarbe des HSV zu sein."

[HappyDayRiot]

Wow. How good are Rapid supposed to be again?! In saying that, have Hamburg simply gone downhill since Jol left?

[Iasius]

HappyDayRiot wrote:

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Wow. How good are Rapid supposed to be again?! In saying that, have Hamburg simply gone downhill since Jol left?

I'd say they (HSV) played above their level in the Bundesliga so far, but it took an exceptionally bad performance, as much as I like Rapid.

[Roger Wilco]

Hahahaha. Who the fuck is HSV?

I'm fucking speechless.

Iasius wrote:

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I'm just wondering now how drunkl Roger Wilco will be when he checks in.

Quite.

HappyDayRiot wrote:

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Wow. How good are Rapid supposed to be again?! In saying that, have Hamburg simply gone downhill since Jol left?

Not that good generally, but maybe they are better than I thought.

[Iasius]

Thank you, Pizarro. I'd better go to bed now, lest I think too much about this game.

[Roger Wilco]

A victory is a victory.

[StolenThunder]

I decided to put a (very, very small) amount of money on the football this weekend. I've never bet on sports before. Gambling, eh? How hard can it be?

[Iasius]

My father is having a competition with a couple of friends on who can predict the Bundesliga results best (just for bragging rights ).

This weekend and next I'm filling in for him since he's away on vacation. So far, out of one game, I predicted the result accurately (Schalke 1-2 Wolfsburg). I hope I can keep this up because this prediction has put him at the top of the list.



I've also thought about betting against my team in international competitions at times when I had to pay Premiere to view the games online (ie pay per view). Basically, I'd pay a bit more if they won, but at least I would have watched the game for free if they lost. I haven't done that yet for reasons related to why I call the lottery a "tax on stupid people" (in economese: the arbitrage price is too high). Also, I can't quite convince myself that betting against "my" team is something with which I feel comfortable.

[StolenThunder]

Convincing win for Arsenal today, so I'm pleased about that despite their slightly frustrating inconsistency.

Iasius wrote:

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I've also thought about betting against my team in international competitions at times when I had to pay Premiere to view the games online (ie pay per view). Basically, I'd pay a bit more if they won, but at least I would have watched the game for free if they lost.

Hm, I've never thought about doing things that way before. It's a nice idea.

[Roger Wilco]

Iasius wrote:

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I've also thought about betting against my team in international competitions at times when I had to pay Premiere to view the games online (ie pay per view). Basically, I'd pay a bit more if they won, but at least I would have watched the game for free if they lost. I haven't done that yet for reasons related to why I call the lottery a "tax on stupid people" (in economese: the arbitrage price is too high). Also, I can't quite convince myself that betting against "my" team is something with which I feel comfortable.

Don't. Betting against your team is bad karma.

[Iasius]

Roger Wilco wrote:

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Don't. Betting against your team is bad karma.

Well, so far, whenever I paid to watch Werder Bremen (internationally) it has always resulted in them losing or at most drawing so far. That's why I was considering the betting arbitrage.