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Football: Mo Please!


AncalagonTheBlack

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4 minutes ago, Consigliere said:

I don't know about having more opportunities.

Liverpool's period of dominance overlapped with the European ban after Heysel, denying them a likely further success or two.  The Dalglish-Rush team and then the Barnes-Beardsley-Aldridge team would have been amazing to watch against the Italian teams, especially Napoli and then Milan, who emerged in the vacuum left by the English teams.

Also, United's period of dominance was in the period of multiple CL qualifiers.  So United had a chance at the CL almost every single year, unlike the Liverpool era when they were in the European Cup every other year on average.

So United definitely had more at-bats.

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7 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Also, United's period of dominance was in the period of multiple CL qualifiers.  So United had a chance at the CL almost every single year, unlike the Liverpool era when they were in the European Cup every other year on average.

They were actually in it every season between '77 and '85 due to either winning the league or European Cup.

Still, I'm not sure I buy winning the Champions League being harder than the old European Cup. The group stages are generally thought to have made it easier for the bigger teams plus, as you said, it's easier to get in with multiple qualifiers.

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3 minutes ago, Iskaral Pust said:

Liverpool's period of dominance overlapped with the European ban after Heysel, denying them a likely further success or two.  The Dalglish-Rush team and then the Barnes-Beardsley-Aldridge team would have been amazing to watch against the Italian teams, especially Napoli and then Milan, who emerged in the vacuum left by the English teams.

Also, United's period of dominance was in the period of multiple CL qualifiers.  So United had a chance at the CL almost every single year, unlike the Liverpool era when they were in the European Cup every other year on average.

So United definitely had more at-bats.

I'd say that the competition is also more difficult to win with the multiple qualifiers format. I don't think anyone can put a finger on exactly why some teams perform better than others in Europe. Take Juve for example: historically they have been the dominant side in Italy but their European achievements are well short of AC Milan.

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For all their dominance in this competition, Real Madrid have only won a double of La Liga and Champions League once (last season).

In their case, I think the traditions of the club - their history in the competition and the fans’ demand when it comes to European competition - mean they up their game when they play in Europe. I think Liverpool is the same - AC Milan, too.

Btw, what a comeback. This will be good viewing when the rest of the Netflix series is released.

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Just now, JordanJH1993 said:

For all their dominance in this competition, Real Madrid have only won a double of La Liga and Champions League once (last season).

In their case, I think the traditions of the club - their history in the competition and the fans demand when it comes to European competition - means they up their game when they play in Europe. I think Liverpool is the same - AC Milan, too.

Also, Real are by far the most successful side under this current format, winning it six times yet on three of those occasions they were not Spanish champions the previous season and so wouldn't have even qualified under the old format. The old European Cup was also successfully defended by (I think) 7 or 8 different sides in the span of 35 years whereas Real are the only ones to do it in the CL era after 23 or 24 years of the current format. So the group stages may have made it easier for the big clubs but the multiple qualifiers have also added more quality making the competition more difficult to win.

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I don’t understand the arguement that the group stages make it easier. Real Madrid, Dortmund and Tottenham were all in the same group, for instance. 

If Real Madrid go on to win this competition, they’ve been facing tough teams right from the off.

In the old format, where you played five rounds, teams played probably three strong teams, at best, as the first round was practically a bye, if teams such as the champions of Northern Ireland were in it.

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4 minutes ago, JordanJH1993 said:

I don’t understand the arguement that the group stages make it easier. Real Madrid, Dortmund and Tottenham were all in the same group, for instance. 

If Real Madrid go on to win this competition, they’ve been facing tough teams right from the off.

Right, and if they'd played Spurs in a knockout round rather than the group stages they'd no longer be in this competition.

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Dortmund have not been particularly brillant this year, especially on the European stage. But your overall point stands.

Anyway back to football.

The Bayern - Sevilla game is horrible to watch. 0-0. Sevilla not really being bothered to invest much in this game, apart from fouls and provoking Bayern's players. Really a dreadful game. Overall it feels like a stricter referee who wasn't that tight with the yellow cards might have worked better for that pairing.

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