UEFA watch 2020-21

And for the loaners

 

EL draw (last 32, UK participants) :

1. Wolfsberger v Tottenham
2. Real Sociedad v Manchester United
3. Benfica v Arsenal
4. Royal Antwerp v Rangers
5. Slavia Prague v Leicester


Other interesting ties (IMHO) :

- Braga v Roma
- Lille v Ajax

 

I suppose Wolfsberger is as reasonable an opponent on
both the threat + air miles side as Spurs could have asked for
in the EL last 32.

 

<BBC>
Point of order - Tottenham's home second leg against Wolfsberger will be on Wednesday 24 February
to avoid a clash with Arsenal's home tie against Benfica, which will take place the following day as originally scheduled.
</BBC>

Not the "Spursday" league for much longer eh.

The club should immediately demand to the PL and the broadcasters
that the following Spurs PL game is played on saturday.

 

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What a bizarre stat.

 

I think it was quite common way back for the better teams in the current season to be in the UEFA Cup rather than the European Cup. Winning the league twice running isn't that frequent and the new champions will often have been in the top four last season so in the UEFA Cup.

 

Ah, that famous Austrian sense of humour...

 

They're just being self-deprecating, but I'm not sure Mourinho will enjoy the suggestion that he'd say such a thing.
He'll happily be a massive prick to big clubs and rivals, but he wouldn't disrespect a side like Wolfsberger for a variety of reasons.
Not least because he wouldn't want his players to underestimate an opponent.

 

Was not aware of this shake-up in UEFA land :

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/54133192

[ Posting the above on the same day as certain FA cup results is purely coincidental ... ]

 

More games?

 

If only somebody brought this up two or three months ago as yet another reason why the Season Killer Cup is a pointless endeavour

Oh wait, I did...

 

I'd rather be in that ****ty, third-rate competition than nothing, to be honest.
It's not like we'll take it seriously if we qualify for it, but we can use it for rotation and blooding some youngsters.
Another **** idea from UEFA. Who benefits from the creation of that?

 

All EL group stage + domestic cup competitions are now
an opportunity for PL top 6 clubs to do squad rotation
(in the hands of a competent manager) .

As/when the draw gives a serious opponent, then the manager
has to judge at that moment in time what is the weakest possible
strong team sheet to overcome that opponent.

 

It was one of Ceferin's key policies - to give European competition to teams from smaller/less rich nations, rather than have them fall at the qualifying stages of the EL/CL.

Will it work? **** knows? There's every chance that it'll be treated with contempt by teams from wealthier leagues and a financial drain on less wealthy ones. I should imagine that the broadcasting rights will be within my price range.

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55955659

More contortion acts to try and justify UEFA avarice
at the cost of extra games per club etc.

 

It's a crap idea and they need to **** off with these dumb alterations and stupid schemes to help the top sides.

 

The Swiss system is actually a much better idea than small all play all groups. What they really ought to do though, which would solve the fixture congestion problem too, is to get rid of most of the qualifying rounds, put say 140 teams into a Swiss system league playing ten fixtures and take the top 8 into the CL knock out, the next 8 into the Europa knock out and the next eight into a third tier knockout.

 

That narrows it down, does it?

 

For anyone that needs a reminder and also a chance to see some footage that you may have missed.