Champions league and Europa league thread (General)

feyenoordsoccerfan · Dec 10, 2019

In the REAL forum a number of posters are having a good time Ajax left the building.
Boy, that wack last season did their pathetic egos really pain.

Orange14 · Dec 11, 2019

feyenoordsoccerfan said: ↑

In the REAL forum a number of posters are having a good time Ajax left the building.
Boy, that wack last season did their pathetic egos really pain.
Click to expand...

I don't even go over there. The problem is all these clubs that have endless amount of money feel so entitled. If you go look at the Chelsea forum, they remain convinced they outplayed Ajax in both matches and are looking forward to all the players they can now purchase as the transfer ban has been lifted.

European football is dying a slow death because of the inequality of television money. As John Donne wrote some centuries ago, "...therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee."

feyenoordsoccerfan · Dec 11, 2019

PSV might be tempted to make the Rosenburg no matter match a day off affair, but this article tells a different story:
https://www.ad.nl/europees-voetbal/psv-heeft-europese-punten-keihard-nodig~a5be2561/

PuckVanHeel · Dec 11, 2019

This is, it goes without saying, a terrible day for the sport, a triumph for those who manipulated the competition to make the rich even richer and let the rest of the world function as nothing more than a vast farm supplying raw material for their product machines.
— Jonathan Wilson (@jonawils) December 11, 2019

Sad stuff

Orange14 · Dec 11, 2019

@PuckVanHeel - Yeah, it is all too sad. I just booted myself off of the Referee forum as one of the posters did not like me raising the issues of problems Ajax has encountered in this season's group stage. I'll stay away from those guys who seem to think that they are the only ones who can tell fair from foul.

Might as well see the Super League that Real Madrid is touting get put into place as there really seems to be no interest in see competition within UEFA.

PuckVanHeel · Dec 11, 2019

Orange14 said: ↑

@PuckVanHeel - Yeah, it is all too sad. I just booted myself off of the Referee forum as one of the posters did not like me raising the issues of problems Ajax has encountered in this season's group stage. I'll stay away from those guys who seem to think that they are the only ones who can tell fair from foul.

Might as well see the Super League that Real Madrid is touting get put into place as there really seems to be no interest in see competition within UEFA.
Click to expand...

There are a few things that bother me here.

1) Why do all those bad Spanish referees get games (or other disasters on repeat). Lahoz again screws up big time. The UEFA or FIFA doesn't reward good performers but makes clearly political appointments. Ideally you should have something like ice hockey where they can do the assignments at random.

2) Why does a team as Ajax get four times in within eight months the same referee? From Germany no less.

3) All the unbalanced anti-trust exemptions in football. The European Union has a rather unbalanced stance to football because on the one hand they treat footballers like every other commodity, yet at the same time it's explicitly recognized by them football has a societal and cultural value, which makes clubs exempt from anti-trust protection. This is the only reason such closed Super League is a theoretical possibility.

feyenoordsoccerfan · Dec 11, 2019

PuckVanHeel said: ↑

This is the only reason such closed Super League is a theoretical possibility.
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Uhm, no. That will bring down the development pyramid and destroy the quality of development. As such the superleague will not become a reality. Without an open competition pyramid with entry to top EC competitions developing becomes futile and useless.

Orange14 · Dec 11, 2019

PuckVanHeel said: ↑

There are a few things that bother me here.

1) Why do all those bad Spanish referees get games (or other disasters on repeat). Lahoz again screws up big time. The UEFA or FIFA doesn't reward good performers but makes clearly political appointments. Ideally you should have something like ice hockey where they can do the assignments at random.
Click to expand...

I don't know. UEFA do evaluate CRs and can restrict their appearances if they do screw up. Unfortunately, this is all not very transparent.

2) Why does a team as Ajax get four times in within eight months the same referee? From Germany no less.
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Don't know. We also had Turpin for one of the Juventus matches last year. There are only a limited number of really good CRs and two of those are Dutch. I know English CRs were not in the WC this past year because they had not implemented VAR. I can't remember whether they were doing CL matches last season.

feyenoordsoccerfan · Dec 11, 2019

Analysis of where it went wrong, in the midfield.
https://www.voetbalprimeur.nl/nieuw...jax-in-de-finalewedstrijd-tegen-valencia.html

PuckVanHeel · Dec 12, 2019

How do you fix a match? Voetbal International explains

Orange14 · Dec 12, 2019

I want three wins today from our EL contending clubs to make up for the Ajax slip up on Tuesday night. A win from AZ puts them top of the group and Slot said he is not holding any players back. ManU have the traditional busy fixture season coming up but most of their opponents are mid to bottom of the table so it's uncertain who they play today. Ideally I want to see AZ win and Ajax draw ManU in the first knockout game and thrash the EPL team.

feyenoordsoccerfan · Dec 12, 2019

PSV needs to win, despite being eliminated, because of the consequences losing club coefficient points mean to later earnings when qualifying for either CL or EL matches.
Feyenoord needs a win as they still have a slight chance to progress.
AZ needs to build on their winning momentum.
We still can catch up with Belgium.

Orange14 · Dec 12, 2019

feyenoordsoccerfan said: ↑

AZ needs to build on their winning momentum.
We still can catch up with Belgium.
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Two draws in the early games is not good enough. Come on AZ.

Orange14 · Dec 12, 2019

Awful piece of officiating on the 2nd ManU goal. Clear foul on the AZ player and it's not called. He loses the ball and it's an easy score. Maybe there is a conspiracy against Dutch teams when they have English opponents. This was such an easy call.

EDIT: All unravelling now as Clasie called for a foul in the penalty box. PK converted and it's 3-0 AZ had a good match until the first goal was scored.

Orange14 · Dec 13, 2019

Ajax might draw a very dangerous opponent in the Europa League knock out stage. They do have a preferred seed and will host the first match. AZ cannot be an opponent and the remaining possibilities are:
APOEL (CYP)
AZ Alkmaar (NED)
Bayer Leverkusen (GER)*
CFR Cluj (ROU)
Club Brugge (BEL)*
Copenhagen (DEN)
Eintracht Frankfurt (GER)
Getafe (ESP)
Ludogorets (BUL)
Olympiacos (GRE)*
Rangers (SCO)
Roma (ITA)
Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR)*
Sporting CP (POR)
Wolfsburg (GER)
Wolves (ENG)

feyenoordsoccerfan · Dec 13, 2019

Our adversaries in the Coefficiency battle had as bad a week as we had:

Orange14 · Dec 16, 2019

Good draws for both Ajax and AZ. Each tie is winnable. Let's see them both get hot for this competition!

PuckVanHeel · Dec 16, 2019

Orange14 said: ↑

@PuckVanHeel - Yeah, it is all too sad. I just booted myself off of the Referee forum as one of the posters did not like me raising the issues of problems Ajax has encountered in this season's group stage. I'll stay away from those guys who seem to think that they are the only ones who can tell fair from foul.

Might as well see the Super League that Real Madrid is touting get put into place as there really seems to be no interest in see competition within UEFA.
Click to expand...

There is also an obvious motive for sabotaging teams as Ajax: the poor performance of teams as Real Madrid costs UEFA, sponsors and broadcasters millions, even billions.

https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/10551237/champions-league-tv-viewership-european/
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/footbal...-sports-dismal-champions-league-viewing-figu/
https://theathletic.com/1457876/201...shortening-is-it-time-for-football-to-change/

I'm not saying it (always) happens but the incentive is there. English teams performing poor (and Portuguese teams well, for example) destroys enormous sums of money.

Viewing figures have been under pressure for a few years, and broadcasting revenues are flattening too (or even declining in existing markets, the West European markets).

feyenoordsoccerfan · Dec 16, 2019

The funny thing is that they think viewers will come back when they make the SL a clone of the CL past the group stage. Fact is that viewer numbers are diving in the non 5 top leagues for it and in the 5 top league countries too.
So how is that going to turn things around in viewers and money?

Orange14 · Dec 16, 2019

feyenoordsoccerfan said: ↑

The funny thing is that they think viewers will come back when they make the SL a clone of the CL past the group stage. Fact is that viewer numbers are diving in the non 5 top leagues for it and in the 5 top league countries too.
So how is that going to turn things around in viewers and money?
Click to expand...

A Super League may be fine for Real Madrid who appear to be pushing it but I don't think England will go along. There are too many great rivalries in the EPL and supporters like to watch those matches. EPL gets so much television money it's not even funny. They would have to take a reduction in a SL.

Other than Juventus, are any Italian teams worthy of playing in a Super League? Look how far AC Milan have fallen; they are no better than a mid-table team these days. Outside of Bayern and Dortmund, the rest of the German teams are just so-so. Same in France besides PSG.

feyenoordsoccerfan · Feb 13, 2020

Ajax won't take legal action despite UEFA 'admissions' over ...
www.mirror.co.uk › ... › Champions League

- Vertaal deze pagina
6 feb. 2020 - Edwin van der Sar says it is "hopeless and pointless" for Ajax to take legal action against UEFA over the refereeing in their draw with Chelsea ...

DutchFanatic · Feb 17, 2020

If you want to see why I hate Chelsea so much check out their thread of the Manu vs Chelsea game. https://www.bigsoccer.com/threads/matchday-26-chelsea-fc-vs-manchester-united.2108840/page-3

What immense hypocrits. Not a word or ounce of sympathy when the ref absolutely robbed us and gifted them champions league progression, but straight into the famous Chelsea victim role when the coin is flipped. All of a sudden they should be making official complaints to the FA, its Oveebo level, etc. etc. but absolutely NOT A WORD in the ajax games. Despite UEFA nog secretly confirming what we all already knew.

Even Van der Sar couldn’t resist a sneaky dig - which although I don’t think is becoming of his role, is still pretty understandable. https://m.voetbalzone.nl/doc.asp?uid=368007

What hypocrits. British football and the British football media are a corrupt joke.

Orange14 · Feb 19, 2020

Really love Dortmund and their 19 year old striker. I hope they win the CL as they are the most honestly run team in the competition.

wilson00 · Feb 20, 2020

Orange14 said: ↑

Really love Dortmund and their 19 year old striker. I hope they win the CL as they are the most honestly run team in the competition.
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In years to come him and odegaard will light up the Norwegian national team.

Remember Tore Andre Flo.

feyenoordsoccerfan · Feb 20, 2020

wilson00 said: ↑

In years to come him and odegaard will light up the Norwegian national team.
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Nope, unless good quality co players are in the team. They can't do it with the two of them.