Football 16

[Alcibiades]

My pet solution for fixture congestion has been to remove teams that qualify for Europe from the Carling Cup. Hopefully, then they'd have enough depth to put out strong squads for the FA Cup. This will also make it easier for lower premier league sides and/or lower division teams to win the Carling Cup.

[Mme Erzulie]

THE MIGHTY LEEDS 1 - 0 Man U

Fuck yeah!!!!!!!

Not even the likes of Rooney, Berbatov, Giggs, Valencia and Owen could score.

Oh yeah... and at Old Fuckin' Trafford, too.

As a Leeds fan we don't get much to cheer about these days. But fuck if this isn't the best thing to happen for fucking years. :smoking:

After our terrific tour de force at the Madejski, this was just what I needed :cheers:

[baxus]

it's always great to see an underdog team win a match (unless of course it's against your team)

[kuroishi]

it's always great to see an underdog team win a match (unless of course it's against your team)

In which case it becomes an unforgettable nightmare... (*still have horrible flashbacks of last year's infamous defeat in the semi-final of the french ligue cup against a division 2 team*, our chance to win our first trophy since 1997 !)

[Horza]

Hats off to Patrick Kisnorbo and Neil Kilkenny, two Aussie lads mixing it with the Premiership elite. Paddy had Berbatov in his pocket and Kilkenny's passing was superb.

Great win, fellas /parochialism

[Hereward]

My solution to the devaluation of the FA Cup is to award the 4th Champion's League place to the winners. This would have the added benefit of making the Premiership more interesting as well. The top 4 have, until this season, become just a little too cosy.

[Mme Erzulie]

Good suggestion

[Jon AS]

My solution to the devaluation of the FA Cup is to award the 4th Champion's League place to the winners. This would have the added benefit of making the Premiership more interesting as well. The top 4 have, until this season, become just a little too cosy.

Good to see the English coming around to Michel Platini's way of thinking.;)

[DJDonegal]

My solution to the devaluation of the FA Cup is to award the 4th Champion's League place to the winners. This would have the added benefit of making the Premiership more interesting as well. The top 4 have, until this season, become just a little too cosy.

Bad suggestion.

[Hereward]

Why?

[john]

Because there's a chance somebody like Portsmouth could end up in the competition. Sony wont sell much merchandise off the back of Portsmouth, never mind the theoretical possibilty of Macclesfield Town qualifying.

[DJDonegal]

Millwall made the final one year. Cardiff another. Portsmouth won it.

Too often a team a long, long way from European quality (let alone Champions League quality) makes it to the final. Portsmouth aren't European quality any more and they won it just two seasons ago.

It's nice to have cup upsets - but let's not reward them with humiliation in Europe's elite competition.

[Jon AS]

Yes, let's protect those poor small clubs from the terrible fate of having to play some of the biggest teams in Europe. Those poor bastards who surely never, ever dreamed of playing at the Nou Camp or Guiseppe Meazza will be utterly crushed if they are first forced to go there and then lose. Such a terrible fate that'd be for them.

All that aside, making cup winners compete in the CL would probably reduce the number of cup upsets, since the bigger teams would be less likely to field weakened teams.

[Sir Thursday]

Millwall made the final one year. Cardiff another. Portsmouth won it.

Too often a team a long, long way from European quality (let alone Champions League quality) makes it to the final. Portsmouth aren't European quality any more and they won it just two seasons ago.

It's nice to have cup upsets - but let's not reward them with humiliation in Europe's elite competition.

But with the added incentive of a Champion's League place, more clubs would take the competition seriously and you wouldn't get these clubs in the final. I don't think there's any way you'd get cupsets of quite the magnitude we've been experiencing recently if the cup was a top priority.

Sir Thursday

EDIT: Crosspost with Jon

[DJDonegal]

Yes, let's protect those poor small clubs from the terrible fate of having to play some of the biggest teams in Europe. Those poor bastards who surely never, ever dreamed of playing at the Nou Camp or Guiseppe Meazza will be utterly crushed if they are first forced to go there and then lose. Such a terrible fate that'd be for them.

All that aside, making cup winners compete in the CL would probably reduce the number of cup upsets, since the bigger teams would be less likely to field weakened teams.

Maybe I should have written a longer post. Maybe I shouldn't have said "humiliation". But basically, most of these clubs are too small to have a place in Europe's elite competition. Anything can happen in a cup competition, the league system is a far better barometer for measuring the quality of teams, and it should be the top 4 finishers who qualify for the Champions League.

Well, really it should only be the Champion, but those days are gone.

But with the added incentive of a Champion's League place, more clubs would take the competition seriously and you wouldn't get these clubs in the final. I don't think there's any way you'd get cupsets of quite the magnitude we've been experiencing recently if the cup was a top priority.

Sir Thursday

So your solution to a declining interest in cup football is to give it a bigger ultimate reward? Even winning the Champions League itself doesn't merit a place next year by itself - why should winning the FA Cup?

[Hereward]

I don't much care for the Champions League, so the prospect of one of England's four entries not being a decent bet to get to the final fails to bother me. Income maximisation also leaves me cold. I do, OTOH, care about the loss of importance of the FA Cup, which was the one club tournament I was really fascinated/moved by. Perhaps that's because I'm a West Ham fan.

[Slick Mongoose]

Even winning the Champions League itself doesn't merit a place next year by itself - why should winning the FA Cup?

I thought it did now. Or did they change that just for Liverpool then change it back?

[Jon AS]

I thought it did now. Or did they change that just for Liverpool then change it back?

No, you're right. If a team wins the CL and finishes beneath the CL placs in its domestic league, it gets to participate but one less team qualifies from the league. I.e. if an English team were to win the CL and finish 5th or below, the team that finishes 4th in the PL will not go into the CL but the UEFA Cup instead (with another team potentially losing their UEFA Cup spot).

[Padraig]

Maybe I should have written a longer post. Maybe I shouldn't have said "humiliation". But basically, most of these clubs are too small to have a place in Europe's elite competition. Anything can happen in a cup competition, the league system is a far better barometer for measuring the quality of teams, and it should be the top 4 finishers who qualify for the Champions League.

Clearly having the top 4 teams ensures the better sides normally compete. But the CL already allows the champions of Cyprus etc to compete because it wants to give the smaller nations a chance. So why not give the smaller clubs a better chance also. I don't particularly care but I can understand the argument.

[ljkeane]

Clearly having the top 4 teams ensures the better sides normally compete. But the CL already allows the champions of Cyprus etc to compete because it wants to give the smaller nations a chance. So why not give the smaller clubs a better chance also. I don't particularly care but I can understand the argument.

How well your teams perform in the Champions league can have an impact on how many places you get over the long term though as well as the having an impact on the prestige of the league. I doubt the Premier League has much interest in increasing the likelihood that a weaker team will take one of the places for the English teams.