Chasing Europe...........

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Does there need to be one?

The point of the tournament is it concluding with the best vs the best, not some plucky raffle winners taking some shoe.

Yes, personally I find 6 or 7 of the last 8 being entirely predictable at the start of the tournament very boring.

 

[Tony Towner]

It's not so much that for me, more that the draw is lopsided top half versus bottom. JD put the 4 teams he thought could win it the other day and they are all in the same side of the draw. Probably the weakest 2 sides playing each other

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

It won’t change. The big boys in that tournament are too good.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

If it were that predictable it'd happen every year, surely.

Definitely wouldn't say Barcelona or Arsenal were dead certs based on recent history, Dortmund absolutely not and PSG had a rock hard group.

If anything the problem was too many weak teams going through from the groups so the R16 had limited jeopardy.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

If it were that predictable it'd happen every year, surely.

Definitely wouldn't say Barcelona or Arsenal were dead certs based on recent history, Dortmund absolutely not and PSG had a rock hard group.

Like I said you'd have picked 6 or 7 of them at the start of the tournament to make the last 8.

If that's your cup of tea, then fine.

But it's not mine, anymore than seeing City win the Prem every year because they are "the best".

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

None of the pot 4 teams progressed which is where the underdog story presumably lies.

With the Swiss format it will be even more in favour of the big guns too.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Last year's last 8 was far more interesting IMO.

Napoli, Inter, Benfica...

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

It's a tournament that my club has very little chance of ever featuring in.

So I'd rather watch the best football possible (and the latter stages have been superb now for years) rather than seeing Copenhagen or Real Sociedad get walked over because it's a nice story.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

None of the pot 4 teams progressed which is where the underdog story presumably lies.

With the Swiss format it will be even more in favour of the big guns too.

Yep. The novelty of the new system will be interesting for a year or 2, but it'll just be a procession ultimately

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

Last year's last 8 was far more interesting IMO.

Napoli, Inter, Benfica...

Some true plucky underdogs there

 

[YoungWolf]

The quarter finals onwards is usually the best part of the football calendar tbh

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

It's a tournament that my club has very little chance of ever featuring in.

So I'd rather watch the best football possible (and the latter stages have been superb now for years) rather than seeing Copenhagen or Real Sociedad get walked over because it's a nice story.

Well that's where we differ.

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Some true plucky underdogs there

Way to miss my point.

Few would have picked all of those 3 in the last 8 at the start of last season.

This year though..

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Inter aren’t a bloody underdog for Christ’s sake! That story would be a lot 4 team making it to the quarter finals.

 

[Deutsch Wolf]

You know it's not 2014, right?

Barcelona haven't done anything in Europe for years and are miles off what they were, and it was over a decade since Arsenal had won a knockout game, they weren't obvious picks no matter how much you retrofit it.

Dortmund or PSV, does that really matter to you either way?

There you go, nearly half the draw that doesn't fit your theory.

Also it was hardly a shock that runaway Serie A winners Napoli also did well in Europe last season.

 

[Wilf Wolf]

Does there need to be one?

The point of the tournament is it concluding with the best vs the best, not some plucky raffle winners taking some shoe.

Apart from this year's FA Cup, and I don't mean Coventry!

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

Inter aren’t a bloody underdog for Christ’s sake! That story would be a lot 4 team making it to the quarter finals.

Compared to Real, City etc they definitely are.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Compared to those two everyone bar Liverpool is really

 

[Elephant Pyjamas]

You know it's not 2014, right?

Barcelona haven't done anything in Europe for years and are miles off what they were, and it was over a decade since Arsenal had won a knockout game, they weren't obvious picks no matter how much you retrofit it.

Dortmund or PSV, does that really matter to you either way?

There you go, nearly half the draw that doesn't fit your theory.

Also it was hardly a shock that runaway Serie A winners Napoli also did well in Europe last season.

Erm, any Italian team in the last 8 is a shock these days, their revenue is a pittance compared to bigger boys in Europe, perhaps you think it's 2014? Napoli had pretty much never done anything in the CL prior.

Anyway I'm bored, all I said was that the last 8 is boring and predictable, it's pretty much all of the biggest boys and I stand by that.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

I mean feel free to want Qarabag leaking 12 over two legs against two powerhouses at full strength going at it. I know what will be the better spectacle