http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010–11_UEFA_Champions_League_group_stage lists the clubs in the Group Stage and what pot they will be in for tomorrow's draw. For each country with at least one club in the Champions League, the four numbers are how many clubs the country has in each pot from best to worst: England: 4 (3, 0, 1, 0) Italy: 3 (2, 1, 0, 0) Spain: 3 (1, 2, 0, 0) Germany: 3 (1, 1, 1, 0) France: 3 (1, 1, 0, 1) Portugal: 2 (0, 1, 1, 0) Russia: 2 (0, 0, 1, 1) Netherlands: 2 (0, 0, 1, 1) Ukraine: 1 (0, 1, 0, 0) Greece: 1 (0, 1, 0, 0) Switzerland: 1 (0, 0, 1, 0) Denmark: 1 (0, 0, 1, 0) Scotland: 1 (0, 0, 0, 1) Romania: 1 (0, 0, 0, 1) Israel: 1 (0, 0, 0, 1) Serbia: 1 (0, 0, 0, 1) Slovakia: 1 (0, 0, 0, 1) Turkey: 1 (0, 0, 0, 1) 18 countries are represented.
Live Now Pot 1: AC Milan, Arsenal, Bayern Munich, Chelsea, FC Barcelona, Inter Milan, Manchester United, Olympique Lyon. Pot 2: AS Roma, Benfica, Olympique Marseille, Panathinaikos, Real Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, Valencia, Werder Bremen. Pot 3: Ajax, Copenhagen, FC Basel, Rangers, Schalke, Spartak Moscow, Sporting Braga, Tottenham Hotspur. Pot 4: AJ Auxerre, Bursaspor, CFR Cluj, FC Twente,Hapoel Tel-Aviv, MSK Zilina, Partizan Belgrade, Rubin Kazan. http://1800-worldcup.com/european/UEFA_2010-2011/index.htm
Potential group of Death: Chelsea, Real Madrid, Schalke 04, Auxerre Potential group of Dearth: AC Milan, Panathinaikos, Basel, Zilina
The Groups Group A: Inter Milan, Werder Bremen, Tottenham Hotspur, FC Twente. Group B: Olympique Lyon, Benfica, Schalke, Hapoel Tel-Aviv. Group C: Manchester United, Valencia, Rangers, Bursaspor. Group D: FC Barcelona, Panathinaikos, Copenhagen, Rubin Kazan. Group E: Bayern Munich, AS Roma, FC Basel, CFR Cluj. Group F: Chelsea, Olympique Marseille, Spartak Moscow, MSK Zilina. Group G: AC Milan, Real Madrid, Ajax, AJ Auxerre. Group H: Arsenal, Shakhtar Donetsk, Sporting Braga, Partizan Belgrade. Group Stage Matches: Matchday 1 - 14-15 September, 2010. Matchday 2 - 28-29 September, 2010. Matchday 3 - 19-20 October, 2010. Matchday 4 - 02-03 November, 2010. Matchday 5 - 23-24 November, 2010. Matchday 6 - 07-08 December, 2010.
Yeah, I would say Group A is stronger. Inter = Madrid Spurs > AC Milan Bremen = Ajax Twente > Auxerre ---------------- A > G
Good lord, does Sir Alex get to pick Man U's group draw every year?!?!?!? They couldn't have gotten a more simple draw if they had tried.
Spurs Fixtures I can give you Tottenham's fixtures. 14th September, 2010: Werder Bremen vs Tottenham Hotspur 29th September, 2010: Tottenham Hotspur vs FC Twente 20th October, 2010: Inter Milan vs Tottenham Hotspur 2nd November, 2010: Tottenham Hotspur vs Inter Milan 24th November, 2010: Tottenham Hotspur vs Werder Bremen 7th December, 2010: FC Twente vs Tottenham Hotspur
Re: Spurs Fixtures These matches will be fun. Best right-back in the world against the best left-back. Going to be interesting to see how the players cover for these 2 defenders who like to gamble especially with both teams so deadly on that side of the field. And of course Rafa back in England...
Re: Spurs Fixtures Assou-Ekotto is the best left-back in the world? I'm presuming you mean Bale is the best left-wing, which I'd also say is premature. Certainly one of the most in form though.
Re: Spurs Fixtures Well, okay lets agree on top 3 then. Isn't he also a LB? Anyway, will still be interesting to see Maicon defend against him.
Re: Spurs Fixtures He can play at LB, but he's almost exclusively a LW now. He's too attacking to play LB in the 4-4-2 that we play. He played there against United at the tail end of last season (because Corluka was injured and we switched BAE to right-back) and it didn't really work. He has been phenomenal of late though. I reckon if anyone can handle him Maicon willdo a great job (in fairness Scott Sutter did a good job for Young Boys against us).
group G 20 EC1/CL wins together!! But Real and Milan even in bad shape, nowadays a size too big for Ajax and Auxerre.
Yeh, feel sorry for Auxerre who will find it tough to qualify against Real Madrid and Ajax, as for Milan...if they are not in-form, IMO they will struggle to qualify.
Re: Spurs Fixtures Hmm, IMO Spurs have a decent midfield/attack with the likes of Bale, Defoe, Crouch, Lennon, Palacios to name a few but whether or not their defence is strong enough to block out the likes of Sneijder, Milito (inter); Marin; Pizarro (Bremen) and Ruiz; Janko (Twente) is questionable. What would be the Spurs first-choice back-line (taking into account, King's inflammatory problem): RB: Corluka ---CB: King CB: Dawson---LB: Assou-Ekotto RB: Corluka ---CB: Gallas--CB: Dawson---LB: Assou RB: Corluka ---CB: Dawson--CB: Bassong --LB: Assou
Don't feel, they are more than all happy to welcome such legendary clubs with all their stars. Besides, Auxerre is this club in Ligue 1, you come there thinking you can win easily, and you leave wondering how you could lose.
Re: Spurs Fixtures King is the first choice player. It will depend on which games we choose to prioritise in order to allow him to play in them. It will also depend how Gallas settles in once he recovers from injury. First choice will be King and Dawson to start with I'd presume. If we have any problems defensivley it is because our formation is too attacking when we go away from home. Very few teams nowadays play with two attacking wingers, a playmaker and two strikers as we do.
Re: The Groups Group A: Inter Milan, Werder Bremen, Tottenham Hotspur, FC Twente...Inter and Werder have played UCL football for many seasons, they should progress Group B: Olympique Lyon, Benfica, Schalke, Hapoel Tel-Aviv--> Lyon should be alot better with Gourcuff and IMO Benfica have enough talent to just beat Schalke Group C: Manchester United, Valencia, Rangers, Bursaspor --> Man Utd should cruise, particularly with Hernandez as a super-sub, Valencia have the Euro experience but may struggle without talisman Villa & Silva. Group D: FC Barcelona, Panathinaikos, Copenhagen, Rubin Kazan --> Barca easily. I reckon if Karagounis plays awesome then Pana will beat Rubin. Group E: Bayern Munich, AS Roma, FC Basel, CFR Cluj --> Easy for Bayern, Muller is a very nice talent and Kroos is so young but is gifted. Roma with Adriano should be good to watch. Group F: Chelsea, Olympique Marseille, Spartak Moscow, MSK Zilina --> Chelsea should be comfortable. IMO Marseille have enough to edge Spartak. Group G: AC Milan, Real Madrid, Ajax, AJ Auxerre...Dunno bout the other 3. Group H: Arsenal, Shakhtar Donetsk, Sporting Braga, Partizan Belgrade --> Arsenal's attacking talents will have fun in this group. Based on form, Braga should get over Shakthar and I like the Lima fellow.
Re: Spurs Fixtures another word for overrated is Philip Lahm, midget who can't defend but only attack.
Re: Spurs Fixtures Dont be that harsh on Lahm, he's solid at both defending and attacking but just like any Wing-back, he does get caught out of position on numerous occasions..then again, how bout other solid full-backs like: A. Cole; Clichy; Maicon; Kolarov; Bridge; Michel Bastos..all of them have been shown up by lesser wingers in many games throughout their careers. Anyway, Bayern Munich won't win the Champions League due to their defence. Particularly as Badstuber & Contento are nice talents, they are still quite raw (as shown by the former's UCL game against United last season..) and also Van Buyten is too attacking-minded to be CB for a club like Munich.
Re: Spurs Fixtures Twente play a 4-2-4. Ruiz and Chadli on the wings, De Jong number 10, Janko striker. Hasn't made us defensive dodgy though. Zero goals conceded in the league so far. Just one goal conceded over the past 11 league games. So Spurs v Twente and vice versa promise to be entertaining what with two attacking teams.