So halfway thru the group phase and here's a look at the table. Top 8 move on directly to the R16, 9-24 play a home and home for the other 8 R16 spots, and 25-36 are eliminated. There is no more drop down to UEL and UcoL. The way I look at it, the most interest is in the top 8 since that means R16 qualification and saves squads 2 extra UEL matches. And obviously the bottom 12 is huge since they are eliminated.
Sporting, Monaco, and Brest (!) all currently sit in the top 8.
PSG and RB Leipzig currently are in the relegation elimination zone.
I'm too lazy to look it up, but I'd be curious to know which clubs have played the most and fewest pot 1/pot 2 games. In other words, if PSG has already played their 4 toughest games on paper, then we can reasonably expect them to take more points over their next 4 UCL games. OTOH, if Arsenal have played all of their pot 3 and pot 4 games and still only have 7 points, they may be in more trouble than it appears from the table.
But much like the old group format, I think it's a bit of a mess and less interesting until the final 2 group fixtures or so. I'll pay more attention to the table after MW 6, when we'll have a clear idea of how many points are needed to get into a top 8 spot and to avoid elimination. I doubt clubs care that much whether they finish 12th or 20th, although it will have a significant bearing on who their opponents will be for the R16 playoff and the R16.
Now over to the UEL thread!
