Football 17/18

[mjsell]

Going to try to get to the New Zealand vs Peru playoff game over here. Bit disappointed they didn't get Argentina, Chile or Columbia but should still be fun to see. 

I guess Peru is probably the easier of the 4, despite being 12th in the world rankings - but there's another thing that I'd put in a formal complaint about on the topic of things wrong in football. 

Crazy that a team like Chile who are 9th in those rankings haven't made it. I disagree with the attitude that the teams qualifying that are only there to make up the numbers are replacing teams that are making up the numbers. Chile not being there put pays to that for me.

[jyoung]

1 hour ago, pink_triangle said:

Its the first world cup I remember without USA, from memory I think they had so pretty decent games in the last world cup.

At least we won't have to watch a repeat of this

 

or see any of this

 

[jyoung]

http://www.uefa.com/uefanationsleague/news/newsid=2501767.html#/

The Nations League is incoming and will apparently reduce the amount of meaningless friendlies. Initial thoughts? Gonna take a bit of time to wrap the brain around this one I think.

[pink_triangle]

1 hour ago, mjsell said:

Going to try to get to the New Zealand vs Peru playoff game over here. Bit disappointed they didn't get Argentina, Chile or Columbia but should still be fun to see. 

I guess Peru is probably the easier of the 4, despite being 12th in the world rankings - but there's another thing that I'd put in a formal complaint about on the topic of things wrong in football. 

Crazy that a team like Chile who are 9th in those rankings haven't made it. I disagree with the attitude that the teams qualifying that are only there to make up the numbers are replacing teams that are making up the numbers. Chile not being there put pays to that for me.

To me the world cup has never been about getting the best 32 teams in the world. I dont want to see Europe v South America with one or two added in. The different fans, different cultures and the chance to see players you have never heard of before are a vital part of the tournament, as is the chance to develop football in other areas of the world.

Wales are 13th in the world rankings and not going either. Like Chile we didnt get the job done against teams ranked below us and are paying the price.  I am also very dubious about using world rankings as a measure of a countries level. Wales are nowhere near the 13th best team in the world. We also now have countries using statisticians to pick friendlies purely with a view to increasing the ranking. 

[pink_triangle]

5 minutes ago, jyoung said:

http://www.uefa.com/uefanationsleague/news/newsid=2501767.html#/

The Nations League is incoming and will apparently reduce the amount of meaningless friendlies. Initial thoughts? Gonna take a bit of time to wrap the brain around this one I think.

Im not personally in favour. Why shouldnt teams be allowed to play countries from different continents if they choose?  Why shouldnt a middling team get a decent payday playing against one of the giants of European football? I dont have much of an issue with the current system, meaningless friendlies are sometimes a good time to blood new player, try different formations/styles when the pressure is off.

[jyoung]

6 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

To me the world cup has never been about getting the best 32 teams in the world. I dont want to see Europe v South America with one or two added in. The different fans, different cultures and the chance to see players you have never heard of before are a vital part of the tournament, as is the chance to develop football in other areas of the world.

Completely agree with this. Something I'm looking forward to is watching the Iceland fans travel to their first ever World Cup.That and the pundits trying their utmost best to look like they know a single thing about the Panamanian football team.

[lost]

14 minutes ago, jyoung said:

Completely agree with this. Something I'm looking forward to is watching the Iceland fans travel to their first ever World Cup.That and the pundits trying their utmost best to look like they know a single thing about the Panamanian football team.

Yep love this too. Then a premiership team will spunk £30m on one of the Panamanian's based on three good appearances and he turns out to be terrible

[ThomThomDrum]

5 hours ago, TheGayTent said:

The rules are the rules are the rules. 

 

Didnt FIFA just make up the seeded rule for the playoffs back in 2009 when a few big teams failed to qualify automatically? And so just before the draw for the playoffs they said "oh, lets seed them according to rankings" so as to effectively give the big boys an easier ride?

The rules may be the rules but they were not always thus and they were most likely put in place without "fairness" being at the forefront of their thoughts.

I have to agree with PT on this. You are seeded when the group stages are formed. If you cant take advantage of that then I dont think you should get a second advantage from it after you fail to qualify automatically. 

Edited October 11, 2017 by ThomThomDrum

[Hugh Jass]

1 hour ago, jyoung said:

http://www.uefa.com/uefanationsleague/news/newsid=2501767.html#/

The Nations League is incoming and will apparently reduce the amount of meaningless friendlies. Initial thoughts? Gonna take a bit of time to wrap the brain around this one I think.

Looks like utter bullshit to me.

[eFestivals]

17 minutes ago, ThomThomDrum said:

I have to agree with PT on this. You are seeded when the group stages are formed. If you cant take advantage of that then I dont think you should get a second advantage from it after you fail to qualify automatically. 

yeah, spot on.

[pink_triangle]

20 minutes ago, Hugh Jass said:

Looks like utter bullshit to me.

I have read the BBC sport article and still not sure I have got my head around the link with euro 2020.

[Hugh Jass]

15 minutes ago, pink_triangle said:

I have read the BBC sport article and still not sure I have got my head around the link with euro 2020.

It's basically a safety net in case any of the more marketable teams fail to qualify.

[pink_triangle]

1 hour ago, Hugh Jass said:

It's basically a safety net in case any of the more marketable teams fail to qualify.

It's almost impossible now for a big team not to qualify, unless your called Holland!

[pink_triangle]

I'm struggling to understand the idea of one of the bottom 16 teams qualifying. Doesn't that just mean in future for some teams relegation will give them an easier route to qualification?

[TheGayTent]

7 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

I have no issues with that, to me the variety makes the world cup group stages. If you replaced the 8 worst teams in the competition with 8 from Europe/south America you are still swapping 8 teams who are making up the numbers with another 8 making up the numbers. 

Except you would be making it fairer possibly?

7 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

When it comes to play off seeding, the teams have already had the advantage of seeding and reached the same level in my view those sides should be treated the same. I know what the rules are, but do you think it's a good rule?

I think there are plenty of worse rules I'd change first given the chance. 

[TheGayTent]

7 hours ago, pink_triangle said:

Its the first world cup I remember without USA, from memory I think they had so pretty decent games in the last world cup.

Didn't realise you were such a pup !

[TheGayTent]

3 hours ago, ThomThomDrum said:

Didnt FIFA just make up the seeded rule for the playoffs back in 2009 when a few big teams failed to qualify automatically? And so just before the draw for the playoffs they said "oh, lets seed them according to rankings" so as to effectively give the big boys an easier ride?

The rules may be the rules but they were not always thus and they were most likely put in place without "fairness" being at the forefront of their thoughts.

I have to agree with PT on this. You are seeded when the group stages are formed. If you cant take advantage of that then I dont think you should get a second advantage from it after you fail to qualify automatically. 

The rules are the rules are the rules. 

Unfortunately, the member FA's continually choose to back FIFA rather than do something about them. They had the biggest opportunity in a generation to do something about them with the whole Blatter stuff and they chose to brush it under the carpet. I wonder why....

To then bitch and moan about something as trivial as seeding introduced by FIFA seems a bit worthless to me. 

[TheGayTent]

If you ignore fans and particularly ones that do away trips, which of course all football organisations already do, the obvious answer is non seeded, non-regionalised World Cup qualifying groups...

Edited October 11, 2017 by TheGayTent

[The Nal]

Look who over did it a bit in Dublin last night

 

[jyoung]

Can't really be assed with seeing Jack Wilshere getting mentioned for the World Cup. Are people for real? Short in the middle of the park but get a grip.

[CRW5252]

40 minutes ago, jyoung said:

Can't really be assed with seeing Jack Wilshere getting mentioned for the World Cup. Are people for real? Short in the middle of the park but get a grip.

If he hits form (big if) he's got to be in the mix. We lack creativity so much and he's got that. Looked decent the couple of times he played for us this season. 

[CRW5252]

On 10/10/2017 at 5:43 PM, thetime said:

One of NI and Republic won't be a seed.

Ah, didn't realise that it was seeded. Shame, that would have been one hell of a tie. 

[CRW5252]

On 11/10/2017 at 11:35 AM, jyoung said:

http://www.uefa.com/uefanationsleague/news/newsid=2501767.html#/

The Nations League is incoming and will apparently reduce the amount of meaningless friendlies. Initial thoughts? Gonna take a bit of time to wrap the brain around this one I think.

Football manager always implement this at around 2018. I think it is a good idea, it will make international breaks more interesting and, if done right, should make the seeding more accurate (probably still not great though). 

Speaking of football manager, on my save arsenal just won the Prem. Then they had a champions league final versus Tottenham. Arsenal won it and then Wenger retired. Mad send off, shame it will never happen in real life 

[jyoung]

35 minutes ago, CRW5252 said:

Speaking of football manager, on my save arsenal just won the Prem. Then they had a champions league final versus Tottenham. Arsenal won it and then Wenger retired. Mad send off, shame it will never happen in real life 

Cor, what a way to go. Real life Arsene still wouldn't leave after that tho.

I'm still playing FM 16. In my sixth season with Brighton and Hove Albion. Won the Championship in my first season, finished 10th in the PL in my second season, and came 8th in my third and forth. Just finished my fifth season a few days ago, came 3rd in the league and won the FA Cup beating Chelsea in the final, having lost to them at the same stage in the previous year. Turned down Man United over the summer and now looking forward to playing in Europe this season! The dream is to win the Prem / Champions League with Brighton but I also wanna manage England, Chelsea and Real Madrid.

Edited October 12, 2017 by jyoung

[The Nal]

52 minutes ago, CRW5252 said:

Ah, didn't realise that it was seeded. Shame, that would have been one hell of a violent hate filled mess. 

Fixed!