The All-Encompassing Playoffs-in-Soccer Thread

The EPL reintroducing the 5 sub rule for next season:

https://www.espn.com/soccer/english...roduce-five-substitutes-rule-from-next-season

This is good for young players. IMO it will serve to only widen the gap that the biggest clubs have with the smaller clubs. This favors the best teams in the league.

 

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And I'm telling you that 'pointing out TWO head to head results' is not enough to ascertain the best team!! Even the best teams in the world lose to clearly inferior opposition from time to time but the worlds best teams will always rise to the top over the course of a season and that's why the best team in England will ALWAYS win the league but the team that wins the FA Cup, the World Cup or the Champions League are not necessarily the best teams in England, the world or Europe!

That's why a play-off to decide the league championship makes a mockery of it and that's why football supporters would never let it happen here.

 

But rugby supporters did. Why? Because it made the game more attractive generating much needed revenue.

And once again playoff systems aren't about deciding which is the best team.

Who the best team is is, or was, is a post- season debate in the media.

 

I wouldn't say the best team always wins in a league scenario, but a league does more to iron out anomolies than a play-off

Both Jimmy and Graham sported impressive chins, but there doesn't seem to be any actual family link, despite the surname.

 

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8 points from safety.

It's very likely Norwich City will be relegated but, as you point out, they are not yet relegated. I don't think that distinction should be hard to grasp.

 

Guess I fell for an urban legend.

 

Good thing I'm basing it off of the entire season of work, the numbers from said season, AND the direct head to head match ups between the two teams. You can "tell" me all you want, doesn't mean you're "telling" me anything that does anything to go against what I'm saying.

You're singling out one bit and trying to force it into an incorrect comparison while dismissing the rest of what is being said. That's what you do, every ... single ... time.

Clearly not, and I'm not the only one that feels that way. But, AGAIN you contradict yourself with the "best team in England" bit as they don't play everyone (which you said they did).

AGAIN the incorrect comparison.

Though, I will point out YET ANOTHER selective application of yours. You said ManU "knew what had to be done to garner the points" and "did it better" so therefore they're "the best" that season. How does that not apply to the teams that win Cup competitions?

Woops!

DING DING DING .... see @Crawleybus

Yeah, they are ... realistically. I'd say that's a distinction that shouldn't be hard to grasp but you've shown that grasping the realistic isn't a strong suite of yours.

 

It does apply to the teams that win cup competitions HOWEVER it doesn't change the basic premise that sometimes in one off games an inferior team (sometitmes a vastly inferior team) will beat a superior team HOWEVER over a period of games the superior team will ALWAYS aggregately come out on top. And that is why a one off 'playoff' would make a mockery of the league season - a competition to ascertain the best team in the land! And they DO play everyone if Preston North End want to prove they're the best team in England the way is open for them (another beauty of pro/rel).

 

So you admit you're selectively applying your principle. That's progress, I guess.

 

Yes they do! There is nothing stopping Man City playing Preston North End in fact they've played each other many times before! If Preston North End want to prove they're the best team in England the first thing they have to do is prove they are one of the best 20 teams in the land! The way is open to them (and EVERY other club), Thanks to the league structure (inc pro/rel) the winner of the Premier League IS undoubtedly the best team in England, something that could very easily not be true of a champion decided in a one off playoff! Deciding the Premier League Champions with a playoff would make a complete mockery of the whole damn thing!

 

Show me the league schedule this season that has Man City playing PNE ...

I'll wait ...

Well, I'm not the only one that has stated that your first statement there isn't quite as true as you'd like it to be. You can continue to repeat the broken record but it won't make it any more factual than it was the first time you said it (IE - not a fact).

 

Man City left PNE behind in 2002, PNE need to prove they are one of the best 20 teams before they play again home and away over one season. Fact is Preston North End are currently the 34th best team in England, of course they could possibly beat Man City in a 'one off' but thankfully because of the league format and pro/rel we know for certain that Man City is better than PNE.

 

So then you admit that they don't play everyone despite vehemently saying that they do more than once?

And unless they play, you don't know for certain ...

 

I'm not there yet, but once MLS gets to 32 teams, I would consider becoming a member of the Church of Pro/Rel.

 

There would come a point where the odds of winning become rather too remote, and much would depend of how much fans would be happy just for their team to be in the league.

That said, hitting that point wouldn't automatically correlate with a point where the clubs outside MLS would be strong enough to make it a viable proposition.

I really think the only way it'll happen will be if there's pressure from below, in the form of clubs who look better prospects than some of the clubs already in. And even then, there's no guarantee that those that went up would be those better prospects.

 

How much would relegation knock off the valuation of a MLS club?

I mean technically they still own the same percentage of the single-entity but it has to have some knock-on effect.

And then there's the "it's not real pro/rel if it's limited to MLS" argument from people that don't understand history.

 

Yet they point to Japan

 

I suggest we combine the playoff and pro/rel threads.

 

I mean...If Pro/Rel only happens between USL teams within USL.....is it still Pro/Rel?

 

Don't ask me, ask the toxics.

 

Thanks to pro/rel we DO know for certain, if the divisions were isolated and developing as separate entities then perhaps you would have a point but after 100 years of 'jockying' the clubs are exactly where their talent puts them RIGHT NOW. The English league is one league separated into levels of proficiency, promoted team from ANY division always find it harder in the division they are promoted into for obvious reasons. Clubs obviously 'evolve' over time, players retire, develop from youth, get sold etc, all with the intention of getting better, thank god for the opportunity for promotion that will (if you work it right of course) enable your club to develop into the best in the land.

 

Based on LAST YEAR'S team. THIS SEASON who knows, Fulham could be better than any number of EPL clubs .... but they don't play so you can't know for 100% certainty that they aren't.

No, it is MULTIPLE leagues separated into levels



Now, move the pro/rel talk back to the pro/rel thread. This thread is about PLAYOFFS

 

They are clearly NOT the best team in England, however thanks to pro/rel they will have a chance to prove their worth among the best 20 teams in England next season won't they? Answer me this how can it be multiple leagues when any club can go from 92nd in the English League to top of the English League?

 

But theoretically if Borehamwood had signed the Belgium national team to become the best team in England, they couldn't win the Premier League for at least 4 seasons. So the Premier League winners wouldn't be the best team in the country. Theoretically. However based on the last 134 years its quite likely that the winners of the Premier League are the best team in England, though it's not certain. What they are is the Premier League team that got the most points over the course of 38 games.

 

That's the same as saying that if my Auntie had 'balls' she'd be my uncle!! It is certain though isn't it, because the points are accumulated over a whole season and that's EXACTLY the point, the team that wins the cup however can be lucky for many reasons (ie other teams have knocked out superior teams so you don't get to face them, or they can get lucky on the day just like Wigan in 2013), you cannot ascertain the best team by the result of one game.