New Year, Tweaked Format: Champions League 2018-19
- Thread starter Titans Bastard
- Start date
I'll take Dortmund. Strong team but I'll enjoy watching Pulisic. I think the Portuguese teams would have been easier.
Moving this to the second page
Running tally below
Group A
Atlético Madrid
Borussia Dortmund
AS Monaco
FC Brugge
Group B
FC Barcelona
Tottenham Hotspur
PSV Eindhoven
Inter Milan
Group C
Paris Saint-Germain
Napoli
Liverpool FC
FK Crvena Zvezda
Group D
Lokomotiv Moscow
FC Porto
Schalke 04
Galatasaray
Group E
Bayern Munich
Benfica
Ajax
AEK Athens
Group F
Manchester City
Shakhtar Donetsk
Olympique Lyonnais
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
Group G
Real Madrid
Roma
CSKA Moscow
FC Viktoria Plzen
Group H
Juventus FC
Manchester United
Valencia CF
BSC Young Boys
Running tally below
Group A
Atlético Madrid
Borussia Dortmund
AS Monaco
FC Brugge
Group B
FC Barcelona
Tottenham Hotspur
PSV Eindhoven
Inter Milan
Group C
Paris Saint-Germain
Napoli
Liverpool FC
FK Crvena Zvezda
Group D
Lokomotiv Moscow
FC Porto
Schalke 04
Galatasaray
Group E
Bayern Munich
Benfica
Ajax
AEK Athens
Group F
Manchester City
Shakhtar Donetsk
Olympique Lyonnais
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim
Group G
Real Madrid
Roma
CSKA Moscow
FC Viktoria Plzen
Group H
Juventus FC
Manchester United
Valencia CF
BSC Young Boys
Last edited:
Group G looks bad on the surface, but no Inter in pot 4 due to Roma makes that more palatable... at this point I'm hoping for
Group D
Group E
Group G
Group D
Group E
Group G
Five groups that could get Liverpool.
Edit: Now four that could get Liverpool. Of course Real Madrid avoids them...
Edit: Now four that could get Liverpool. Of course Real Madrid avoids them...
Going to be a helluva lot of fun no matter how it shakes out.
The thought of Mbappe blowing past Lovren is only leavened by the thought of Milner cutting down Neymar.
Away tie won't be fun but the quality gap is so severe that I don't imagine they'll pose many problems
Atletico has a pretty good group: Dortmund is tough but not impossible, Monaco is weaker this year than last year, and Brugges should be easy. Plus, no horribly long trips.
I like you. Also, it's unclear whether early pretty boy Ramos or current Degeneration X Ramos' face is more punchable. I think it's the former because he was still a scumbag but had a more innocent look about him, whereas now his dipshit look matches his dipshit dirty play.
Groups B, C, and H bring plenty of good action. I think B is the best of the bunch, as Barca and Spurs look ready for great seasons and Inter reinforced their squad very well over the summer. PSG and Liverpool should get thru group C--I think Napoli will struggle without Sarri. H could be really fun if Valencia brings their A game and MANU do not. Juve is a machine and I'd be shocked if they don't get out.
Average club rankings by group:
A: 39.8 (Three top 30ish teams, plus Brugge)
B: 11.8
C: 32.8 (Three top 10ish teams plus Red Star)
D: 78.3 (Come on, it's gonna be Schalke and Porto here)
E: 64.5
F: 15.5 (All teams in top 30)
G: 29.3
H: 37.8 (Three top 20ish teams plus Young Boys)
A: 39.8 (Three top 30ish teams, plus Brugge)
B: 11.8
C: 32.8 (Three top 10ish teams plus Red Star)
D: 78.3 (Come on, it's gonna be Schalke and Porto here)
E: 64.5
F: 15.5 (All teams in top 30)
G: 29.3
H: 37.8 (Three top 20ish teams plus Young Boys)
UEFA club rankings are almost entirely based on results over the last five seasons, so it can underrate clubs like Liverpool a bit because they've missed Europe twice in that time frame and overrate clubs whose league opposition makes it easy to qualify for Europe every time like Basel (solid club, not the 18th best in Europe).
Out of curiosity, how does Lokomotiv Moscow end up in Pot 1? It’s like UEFA’s version of the Sesame Street “One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn’t belong."
Pot 1 contains all champions, so Champions League winner, Europa winner, and winner of top 6 domestic leagues.
Pot 1 contains domestic champions. It’s a relatively recent change and imo it has been for the better. The old system of using rolling past x years results created a bunch of weird outcomes where the league champion would be in pot 2 or 3 while others from same league would crowd pot 1. This gives a clear bonus to winning your domestic competition and spreads teams out more evenly so more group permutations are possible
Specific to lokomotiv the Russian league has risen in Fifas rankings to where their champion gets an automatic pot 1 berth and I believe an extra league spot
Last edited:
I wonder how average Club Elo Ratings would do at expressing the relative group difficulties.
Any way you slice it, Group D is the Group of Life out of the bunch.
Yes, absolutely. With the current format, the Group of Life should be renamed to "Group of Russian Champion"
Games today!
Inter v. Spurs
Barcelona v. PSV
Monaco v. Atletico
Brugge v. Dortmund
Red Star v. Napoli
Liverpool v. PSG
Schalke v. Porto
Galatasaray v. Lokomotiv
Inter v. Spurs
Barcelona v. PSV
Monaco v. Atletico
Brugge v. Dortmund
Red Star v. Napoli
Liverpool v. PSG
Schalke v. Porto
Galatasaray v. Lokomotiv
Bump for the start of group stage play today. Oddly, there are two matches in a first window beginning at 12:55pm EST and the rest of the matches scheduled for 3pm EST kickoff:
12:55pm (Group B)
Barca vs. PSGV
Spurs vs. Inter
3pm (Groups A, C, and D)
Monaco vs. Atleti
Brugge vs. Dortmund
Galatasaray vs. 4 Loko-motiv Moscow
Liverpool vs. PSG (!)
Red Star Belgrade vs. Napoli
Schalke vs. Porto
Spurs vs. Inter is an interesting match as both clubs came into the season with big ambitions but have gotten off to rocky starts. Spurs have been hampered by Son's demanding summer (WC followed by Championship run thru the Asian Games) and an injury to Alli. While Moura has been pretty good so far, @DrewDawg (I think) has an excellent post in the Spurs thread as to why his use as a second striker has been not good. Lamela should probably start to preserve the 4-2-3-1 until Alli and Son are back in the rotation. I haven't watched any Inter yet, but they have dropped points in two fixtures at this early juncture in the season.
The other huge highlight match is Liverpool vs. PSG. PSG will always be measured by how they do in UCL. They are off to a terrific start as Ney and Mbappe already have 4 goals and Cavani already has 3. Liverpool also have started well taking all the points thru 5 EPL matches. This should be a terrific match for neutrals.
Edit: beaten by minutes, damn you @pedro1918 !
12:55pm (Group B)
Barca vs. PS
Spurs vs. Inter
3pm (Groups A, C, and D)
Monaco vs. Atleti
Brugge vs. Dortmund
Galatasaray vs. 4 Loko-motiv Moscow
Liverpool vs. PSG (!)
Red Star Belgrade vs. Napoli
Schalke vs. Porto
Spurs vs. Inter is an interesting match as both clubs came into the season with big ambitions but have gotten off to rocky starts. Spurs have been hampered by Son's demanding summer (WC followed by Championship run thru the Asian Games) and an injury to Alli. While Moura has been pretty good so far, @DrewDawg (I think) has an excellent post in the Spurs thread as to why his use as a second striker has been not good. Lamela should probably start to preserve the 4-2-3-1 until Alli and Son are back in the rotation. I haven't watched any Inter yet, but they have dropped points in two fixtures at this early juncture in the season.
The other huge highlight match is Liverpool vs. PSG. PSG will always be measured by how they do in UCL. They are off to a terrific start as Ney and Mbappe already have 4 goals and Cavani already has 3. Liverpool also have started well taking all the points thru 5 EPL matches. This should be a terrific match for neutrals.
Edit: beaten by minutes, damn you @pedro1918 !