CL, EL, Proposed Greed League

[Stew]

As the title says- Cup competitions go in here.

[Rustin Cohle]

Let’s hope the CL isn’t as stressful as last year!

[Deleted]

Aug 18, 2018 17:11:32 GMT Rustin Cohle said:

Let’s hope the CL isn’t as stressful as last year!

You know it will be.

[SAF_Legend]

Aug 18, 2018 17:12:09 GMT Paul said:

Aug 18, 2018 17:11:32 GMT Rustin Cohle said:

Let’s hope the CL isn’t as stressful as last year!

You know it will be.

Fuck.

[Bestie]

Do we have to? It's just depressing to contemplate at the moment.

[Karma]

Don't worry, we'll get past the qualifying stage and then Ed will be trying to get a discounted Toby who will be Cup tied.

[Deleted]

Group stage exit, just so we can go get our Europa trophy back.

[bushy1987]

I think city or Barca to win it this year

[Deleted]

Aug 20, 2018 11:02:52 GMT dek said:

Group stage exit, just so we can go get our Europa trophy back.

Might have to get used to the Europa after this season anyway.

[Diablo Rouge]

It'll be grand, sure Mata will apologise and tell us to be positive when we get eliminated.

[Rustin Cohle]

www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/sport/champions-league-plans-to-use-var-rml8z72r0

Champions League plans to use VAR

Uefa is aiming to introduce video assistant referees from the quarter-finals of the Champions League this season after being impressed by its use during the World Cup in Russia.

It is understood that staff at European football’s governing body have been working on a plan that would see the video assistant referee (VAR) system brought in for matches involving the last eight clubs in the competition.

Uefa’s club competitions committee is expected to recommend approval for the system when it meets in Monaco next week and a final decision should be made by Uefa’s executive committee at the end of next month.

The main problem that had faced Uefa over its use in the Champions League was to do with the manpower that would be required with eight group matches being played on the same night, and some stadiums not having the necessary facilities.

It is a much more straightforward task to have the system in place for the quarter-finals, where only one game is played at any time. Uefa chiefs hope that this will protect its elite club tournament from being damaged by a major refereeing blunder in the decisive, high-profile knockout games.

The organisation will also consider using video assistant referees at Euro 2020 but a decision on that may be taken at a later date.

Uefa will have to make a decision regarding the future use of the additional assistant referee (AAR) — an extra official placed behind the touchline near the goal — which it uses in Champions League and Europa League matches.

If a VAR system is in operation then it should mean that an AAR is not necessary. The AARs had been championed by Pierluigi Collina, but he stepped down as Uefa’s head of refereeing last month.

The use of video assistant referees is also on the agenda for the European Club Association’s annual meeting in Split, Croatia, early next month. It too is expected to back using them in the Champions League, given that all the major European leagues except the Premier League will have the system in place this season. The Premier League is running non-live VAR trials throughout the season, aimed at training officials to use the system with a view to introducing it in a year’s time. VARs will, however, be used in about 60 FA Cup and Carabao Cup matches this season, if the ties are played at Premier League grounds.

The International FA Board (Ifab), the game’s law-making body, said yesterday that reviews by VAR officials averaged 55.6 seconds, while those in which the referee reviewed the incident himself on a pitch-side screen took an average of 86.5 seconds. “Some people expected that VAR would disrupt the flow of the game and make every match much longer. That has not been the case,” an Ifab spokesman said.

A survey of 1,000 football fans in England by the data collection agency, Viga, showed that 75 per cent believed that the VARs at the World Cup improved the quality of the matches and that the overall standard of refereeing was higher. However, 40 per cent of fans said that there had been “some unfairness” in World Cup matches in Russia, particularly for incidents in which they felt the VAR should have been used but had appeared not to have been.

[Jayrannasaurus]

Draw for this is on Thursday at 5pm - correct me if I'm wrong but this would be the first time we're playing in successive Champions League campaigns since Sir Alex retired?


Champions League seedings:


Pot 1

Real Madrid

Atletico Madrid

Barcelona

Bayern Munich

Manchester City

Juventus

Paris Saint-Germain

Lokomotiv Moscow


Pot 2

Borussia Dortmund

FC Porto

Manchester United

Shakhtar Donetsk

Napoli

Tottenham

Roma


Pot 3

Schalke

Lyon

Monaco

Ajax

CSKA Moscow


Pot 4

Club Brugge

Galatasaray

Young Boys

Internazionale

Hoffenheim

AEK Athens


To be determined

Liverpool

Valencia

Viktoria Plzen

PAOK vs Benfica

PSV vs Bate Borisoc

Red Bull Salzburg vs Red Star Belgrade

[Deleted]

Jesus, look at pot one. Usually I'd be happy to get a glamour tie early on if the other 2 sides in the group were easy enough but right now I'd be worried about how embarrassingly we'd be beaten by most of the sides there.

[Jayrannasaurus]

Aug 29, 2018 10:46:45 GMT fergiegiveusawave said:

Jesus, look at pot one. Usually I'd be happy to get a glamour tie early on if the other 2 sides in the group were easy enough but right now I'd be worried about how embarrassingly we'd be beaten by most of the sides there.

Including Lokomotiv Moscow?

[Deleted]

Aug 29, 2018 11:29:07 GMT Jayrannasaurus said:

Aug 29, 2018 10:46:45 GMT fergiegiveusawave said:

Jesus, look at pot one. Usually I'd be happy to get a glamour tie early on if the other 2 sides in the group were easy enough but right now I'd be worried about how embarrassingly we'd be beaten by most of the sides there.

Including Lokomotiv Moscow?

Gotta watch out for those pesky Russians!