Bad draws for us all around. Vitesse will face Anzhi if they go through, Feyenoord drew Dynamo Kiev. Having all 7 teams get into the group stages doesn't seem that likely anymore.
^have no idea what the above links to and don't care. It looks like we will only have two teams in Europe this season, Ajax and PSV. Not good for the coefficient unless both teams run the table and win their respective competitions!
That was back then earlier this year. But right now it looks to be the worst results in I don't know how many years.. (also awful euro2012, and Ajax' hard CL group) This is looking horrible. Vitesse, Heerenveen, and Feyenoord are out. Twente currently playing... 1-1 vs Bursaspor.. AZ is 0-2 behind, lost the first game.. looks like an exit as well. Only Ajax and PSV left.
FC Twente 2 goals in 1 minute. 4-4 game on. 30 minutes and after that penalty's. Love penalty's. Bring it. PS Castaignos should have scored.
So 3 teams left out of 7, with Ajax in the most difficult group ever. Absolutely terrible and we can kiss our hope of competing for 6th place goodbye. The only way this could be mitigated is if all three teams end up doing really, really well this year (I'm talking semi-finals in the Europa League or something). In that scenario we might still end up with 8 points or something and not have this year be a total bust.
PSV could go places if they buy proper defenders in the winter. Advocaat has won the thing with Zenit IIRC.
Well, wonder how the coefficients move around with the remaining clubs left to start group stages in CL and EL this week.
Twente really needs to not give up points away at home. I still think they should end up in the top two in their group but should have been more in the first match. I have no clue how to explain PSV's result. It was just another part of an overall bad week for them. Ajax stood tough for much of the match and could have taken advantage of a few Dortmund mistakes but one big mistake and instead of an away draw, they fall to the bottom of the very tough group.
I don't really know our history in Europe as a league, but I'd guess that the way things are going, it could be the Eredivisie's worst point haul yet. We're at 3.5 points and Twente is almost certainly gettting knocked out, and Ajax only holds the EL spot by one point going up against RM
Well, from a PSV perspective, I know that they could have cared less how they were going to do in the Europa this year. It is full steam ahead concentration wise for the League.
Yeah but that is really a weak argument. For the following reason. Let's say PSV gets to win the Eredivisie. Then they will play CL next season. The first concern is to get the entry money. Oke, mission completed, but what about playing a role in Europe again and go after the money of winning games and advancing? If you can't compete in Eredivisie and EL at the same time, how do you imagine a club competing in both Eredivisie and CL? Rutten also said it today. From the player development point of view it is vital to play in Europe. We saw Dortmund bombing out last season, now they do much better and at least advancing. Gaining some experience first does wonders for the next season. So any club with ambition should take EL serious for this reason. I have learned that the "realism church" that has some pastors on this board, is nothing but a way to think short term and be unambitious. Realism is also dangerous. It's the door of the downward spiral. Italian clubs also have also suffered from this concept. German clubs did take the EL serious and now win more points in Europe year in year out. Got them the extra CL spot. I am curious what Russia will do in the future and if they can compete with the Italians in the long run. That's a competition on the rise quality wise.
Personally I think both PSV and Twente tanked their matches in the EL so they can focus on the League title and I agree with DRB about this being just dumb. Italian football is undergoing a sea change right now. Many of the teams are becoming more attack minded (Juventus matches are just great fun to watch these days compared to 5-6 years ago when they preferred to grind out 1-0 or 2-1 wins). Milan are in the midst of revamping their team to comply with the new Platini rules and Internazionale are likewise changing (missing Sneijder for what looks to be most of the season so far has not helped either). Russia have lots of money to throw at players and it's not clear how the new rules will affect their teams. I don't think they will overcome Italy anytime soon (particularly if Napoli and Juventus do well in the EL and CL respectively this season).
Was Ajax going super deep year after year in the EL during their off years where they didn't finish high enough in the table or getting dropped into the EL for the 2nd half of those seasons?
Here again is my argument that there needs to be some sort of motivation in the EL. It isn't even a tiny fraction money wise compared to the CL. The champion barely gets any of that money let alone just advancing into the knockout rounds. You play on Thursdays which throws off your weekends even more. The double header format with that round of 2nd matches on those days being what time locally in Europe? The Champion should get to at least have a chance to qualify for the CL the following season or some sort of motivation. Don't get me wrong, I actually enjoy watching all these extra clubs from all over Europe but I can see why people don't exactly go all out.
The reward money is low because the interest is low. The interest is low because the quality isn't very high (despite many quality teams being in it). The quality is low because many first team players are rested. the first team players are rested because the EL isn't worth tiring them out. The EL isn't worth playing the best players because the reward money is low. And the cycle goes on.
Its the set up of the tournament. It would be easy to improve it. But it wont happen. Because Uefa excists to make the rich richer and no other reason. A few suggestions: Play on Tuesday before CL instead off after. Pay more money. KO rounds only.
