The three reasons why it annoyed me so much were because: 1) We'd just lost 2-0 at home to Newcastle a few days earlier in the League Cup semi-final. 2) We had every possible advantage in our favour for the tie against United and we STILL couldn't beat them. 3) We could have had a good cup run and instead we ended up getting KO'd by a mid table side. It was utterly embarrassing the way we got dumped out of the FA Cup. Havertz missed some sitters too, which didn't help calm me down. Five years in a row that we've got dumped out of this competition early on. Not good enough.
I mean they were for the most part. The last 5 European Champions were in it, plus Bayern. The only team in my view that should have been in it and werent was Liverpool really. Thats not the reason the tournament sucked, the tournament sucked because it was new, and because it was hosted in America and the yanks have a certain way of hosting sporting events that doesnt jive with the rest of the world. The way I see it though, people still say Real Madrid have won 15 European Cups....and by all rights the first 5 shouldnt count because no one took the competition seriously, it was ridiculed to hell, I mean heck, for the first year the English FA wouldnt even let english teams compete in it, but no one remembers that, they just remember that Real Madrid have won 15 European Cups.
I think it sucked because it was full of really crap teams - most of which would be in the Championship or League 1 in England. In the end it was like a friendly tournament with a few top teams - not much more than the old smaller affair which no one cared about, just this time with heaps of cash, a cast of extras to make up some numbers and a truly awful US presentation of football. This was the 21st Club World Cup btw - i doubt many people have any idea who won them. Heck, most Chelsea fans wouldn't even know this was the clubs 2nd win and 3rd final. Just my opinion - but also accept if I were a Chelsea fan I would probably think differently about it.
Theres no way of having a world tournament without crappy teams in it, the FIFA World cup has crappy teams in it, so does the FA Cup, in the early rounds. Not trying to defend this tournament too much, because it was goofy as hell, and I have done nothing but **** talk it all month and it doesnt touch the CL in terms of prestige and quality, but there is no way of hosting a world tournament with only the best teams, as all the best teams are in europe, and we already have a European tournament, its called the Champions League,
Honestly don't see the point of it unless there is some proper qualification process. At least all the other tournaments have qualification rounds. If they want that Cup to be serious they need to have a structure to actually competing in it.
Yeah I must admit, I havent got a ****ing clue what the qualification criteria is, winning the CL gets you in, but there were also teams like PSG and Juventus who hadnt won the CL during the qualifying period. And Messi's team getting an invite just because Messi played for them was a joke. There was even a convoluted scheme to get Ronaldo involved with a temporary loan deal to another Saudi club...... I mean it might end up being a big deal one day, but it has a long way to go......but like I said, the European Cup was viewed as a joke when it started and people never consider that when listing Real's achievements.
I think one of the reasons it's like this is because if it were a structured competition that had a proper qualification process with the best teams making it through to the finals stages, it would end up with a last 16 pretty much the same as a the Champions League with maybe 1 or 2 outliers each year.
I mean the two semi finals were Chelsea, Fluminense and PSG, Real. With the exception of Fluminense, obviously, it wouldnt be too much of a stretch to see the other 3 clubs in next seasons CL semi finals. In fact, with the way we are set up, I think we have a better chance of winning the CL next season than we do the PL.
The champions league is a cup competition at the end of the day. Clubs like Real rest their players in the league and prioritise the CL. It can’t determine the best team in Europe.
So the CWC doesnt determine the best teams, the CL doesnt determine the best teams, then what metric pray tell do you use to determine the best teams? Co efficient points? I find them to be flawed, seeing as you get the same number of coefficient points for beating FC Qarabag 1-0 at home as you do for battering PSG away 4-0. Anything else is purely subjective. Unless that is what you are contending, that it is ultimately a subjective thing, which I would agree has some merit.
yeah, that’s what i am implying. Don’t see any objective way other than within leagues over a season. Feel the same about player comparisons.
I mean I would agree that the best team in Europe doesnt always win the CL, Heck we have won it twice and neither time would I have said we were best team in Europe. We were Champions of Europe, but not the best team in Europe. But looking at domestic leagues doesnt judge the best team in Europe, it objectively determines the best team in that respective country, sure, but not in Europe. Again, you could compare PSG to say Liverpool as both won their respective leagues and they finished dead even when they played each other (Pens are a lottery so you cant really count them), so again , its subjective....
