No it's not. The knock out stages are where you measure how you've performed against an individual team, that's where head to head should be applied, league format is and always has been how you perform against everybody. The whole point of a league is measuring how you do against 3 teams not 1. Cluj are the reason why the system is flawed. To win at Old Trafford 1-0 and be told you are cannot qualify due to a head to head rule is farcical. Cluj performed better against the other 3 teams than Galatasaray and should have gone through. Forget Chelsea, Cluj are the reason why the competition is flawed. The head to head rule means some games later on can be rendered meaningless with no incentive to win i.e that was the case in every group.
That's what the points are for. Goal difference is a flawed method of deciding between two teams that have done equally well when there are so few games for the reasons I mentioned. Teams qualified and were "out" of the competition after the 4th round of matches before they changed the rules too, the only thing that has changed is that one big scoreline against a crap team that's already out will not have as big of an effect, instead the results between the two clubs are used which is a better measure of which team should go through.
@Drogs How is it you think you did better than Arsenal? Arsenal had qualified after 5 games and were able to play a second string team with a bench of youth players in there last fixture having already got through to the knock-out stage. You are out of the competition, Arsenal are through and had already made sure of that before even kicking a ball in greece. Not sure how you think you did better..
letting Juve back in at 2-0 at home cost us had we held on we would be through but whats done is done need to focus on our league form get close to City and United and maybe bring a cup back to the bridge this year title challenges will have to wait till next year.
Arsenal had a far easier group than we had with our group Arsenal would have been out as they got the same amount points and a lower GD than we had and there group was easier.
Yes finished on the same points and better GD. But Chelsea are out and Arsenal are through. Arsenal had already qualified for the next round of the competition with a game to go. Againt Olympiacos we played our fringe players and had a bench of youth players hoping to make a CL debut. Chamakh played 90 minutes for god sake! Due to having already got through the group stage the last result didn't matter and so our eam where rested for our game against WBA on the weekend. I'm not sure how you can think Qualification with a game to go is worse than not getting through your group.....
And thats ignoring the fact your lovely GD came against an aweful team, far worse than any team in Arsenal group.
Yeah, Man U, Man City,WBA,Spurs, Liverpool, Arsenal. those now in, and usually in the top 4. How many of them play their top team in every round of the FA and League Cup ?? It's a dumb thing to do , because as far as I can tell, no European team wins all their Countries' Competitions. Neither will we. That's why Spurs did well last year. They were home with their feet up, watching us run our guts out in competitions they were well out of.More power to Spurs I say.
Your point was that you think your group was tougher and you ended on the same points and better GD - i was pointing out why that doesn't mean you did better. Arsenal had qualified for the group stages with a game to go - so at that point they had already done better than Chelsea after 6 games. I don't understand how it's possible you are not understanding my point here. Arsenal qualified their group. Chelsea did not. Both teams ended on the same points in there groups - but Arsenal had done enough before there last game and played a reserve team - win lose or draw that last game, Arsenal had still done better as they had guaranteed there qualification already. Hopefully you get my point now - it seems fairly obvious to me that Team A who qualify the group stage in 5 games did beter than eam B who didn't qualify. And the Goal Difference point isn't a strong one considering almost all your goals and points came from the group whipping boys who are one of, if not the worst side in the competition! Honestly, i don' see how you could possibly claim you did better than Arsenal in this years group stages of the CL....
but the point still remains i very much doubt you would have got out of the group we were in take Schalke out of Arsenals group and its very average we had 2 very good teams in our draw 1 that hadnt lost at home in months and the other that hadnt lost period for nearing a year now Nordsjaelland i will admit are very average but given that that the other 2 teams were top draw opposition there had to be at least 1 easy team in there all Arsenal had was Schalke therest were very average .
PLS .. shaktar 3-2 win did flatter chelsea.. you were 2nd best at that game beside, if you can't beat or outscore shaktar and juv, you really don't deserve to be in the next stage .. just bcz you scored alot facing crappy side Nordsjaelland, sorry that is not enough for you to claim you deserved to go through ahead of shaktar and juv.. so with regret the best team in the group had qualified better luck next time
We underperformed for much of the campaign. I tore my fur out during some matches at the lack of energy and interest we seem to be showing. Chelsea were not unlucky with the final result of the group, they got out exactly what they put in. It seems that the team were surprised by Shaktar and they really shouldn't of been, one reason why I haven't been one of the bears complaining about RDM and Eddie being moved on. Team prep and motivation was their job and it appears they dropped the ball.
