Domestic and European Cups (15/16)

[Jay29]

Thread to discuss the cup competitions and their respective draws.

Tonight is the third round draw for Capital One Cup that'll take place after the Luton/Stoke game at approximately 21:45.

It's also the Champions League group stage draw on Thursday. More details on that when I know for sure who's going to be in it.

[Jay29]

SPURS VS ARSENAL

Middlesbrough vs Wolves
Norwich vs West Brom/Port Vale
Hull vs Swansea
Leicester vs West Ham
Aston Villa vs Birmingham
Man Utd vs Ipswich
Liverpool vs Carlisle
Crystal Palace vs Charlton
Fulham vs Stoke
Sunderland vs Manchester City
Newcastle vs Sheffield Wednesday
Reading vs Barnsley/Everton
Preston vs Bournemouth
Walsall vs Chelsea
MK Dons vs Southampton

[EL Patron]

Good Opportunity to spank them lot, they are due a proper tonking after last season

[RealGunner]

Good draw

[Jay29]

Now for the fun draw.

There are five more games to go in the Champions League play-offs, but the pots are pretty much complete by this point. This is what they are right now:

Pot 1
Barcelona, Chelsea, Bayern, Juventus, Benfica, PSG, Zenit, PSV

Pot 2
Real Madrid, Atletico, Porto, Arsenal, Valencia, Manchester City, Shakhtar Donetsk/Sevilla*

Pot 3
Shakhtar Donetsk/Sevilla*, Lyon, Dynamo Kyiv, Olympiacos, Galatasaray, Roma, Sporting CP/CSKA**

Pot 4
BMG, Wolfsburg, Dinamo Zagreb, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Gent, Malmo, Lazio***, BATE/Partizan, Astana/APOEL

* If Leverkusen and Man United progress, they'll be in Pot 2, and both Shakhtar and Sevilla will go into Pot 3. If neither progress, Shakhtar and Sevilla will be in Pot 2. If one of United or Leverkusen do not progress, Shakhtar will be in Pot 2 and Sevilla in Pot 3.

** Winner of Sporting/CSKA will be in Pot 3.

*** Lazio will be in Pot 4 if they beat Leverkusen.

So the group of death for us would be:

Barcelona/Bayern/PSG/Juventus
Arsenal
Sevilla/Roma
Wolfsburg/Lazio

The easy group:

PSV
Arsenal
Olympiakos
Gent

[RealGunner]

Hopefully we get a group of death

[Sina]

yep i want some strong opponent from pot 1
dont really care about other pots we will do enough to finish 2nd

Bayern/PSG
Arsenal
Sevilla
Lazio

[El Gunner]

Has there been a new rule implemented used to make these seedings? Cause I can't grasp how Zenit and PSV are in pot 1 and how Madrid is in 2

[RealGunner]

winners/runner ups of their leagues in pot 1 or something

[Jay29]

The new rule is that Pot 1 is now made up of the Champions League winners (Barcelona) and the winners of the top seven leagues in the co-efficient table (Spain, Germany, England, Italy, Portugal, France, Russia). As the CL winners were also the champions of Spain, the eighth spot in Pot 1 has gone to the next strongest league, which is the Eredivisie.

Hence, Pot 1 is Barcelona (CL winners), Bayern, Chelsea, Juventus, Benfica, PSG, Zenit and PSV.

The rest of the pots are sorted by the usual club co-efficient score.

[El Gunner]

Thanks for that

[Sri]

Group of death please.

[Myesyats]

When is the Cl group draw taking place lads ?

[Sri]

Thursday evening, wasn't it?

[Jay29]

Thursday, 16:45 (UK)/17:45 (CET).

Also, group of death would be fun, though I'd like Arsenal and Sevilla to avoid each other.

[Sri]

Would rather face tough opponents early than have slippery banana peel away games..

I believe that if we have tougher opponents from the beginning, this team would be in the 'every game is a final' mode early, which is the only time we put up a run and perform consistently anyway.. That is the only scenario where I see us making it past the R16..

Give us an easy group and I'm convinced we'll approach the R16 with typical complascence and muck it all up..

[Jay29]

I have a more selfish reason for wanting a group of death: I want Arsenal to play the best teams in Europe and potentially give us some memorable nights before they inevitably crash out the last 16 or quarter-finals. I don't want another year with a forgettable group phase and then going out early, because it makes the CL seem pointless.

[Sri]

But our CL runs are only about the psychological effect of being among Europe's elite anyway.

When was the last time we seriously contended for it? 2006?

And the last 2-3 years, we have been struggling to even come into the reckoning as contenders for the domestic league. And that is despite coming forward by leaps and bounds in this period.

It is a fact that there is a chasm of difference in quality between us and the real European heavyweights. And we are not one of those tacticaly astute clubs or those form clubs who make a long run despite shoestring budgets. If anything, we are their anti-thesis: a club with substantial financial clout, but not enormous enough; a big club, but not in the top most tier; the heaviest weight in the middle weight category of sorts.

We are the best among the mid-level club ranking, but bottom of the top level club ranking. The fact that we're among the top 10 clubs globally, in terms of resources, counts for nought since we seem content in the niche we've carved for ourselves. Or maybe, it is a hole that we've dug for ourselves.

Anyway. I digress. My point was, our CL 'campaigns' are actually only really about 'We were also there' and not about 'We challenged to win it'.

[Sina]

so even if sevilla end up in pot 3 which is most likely
there are still 3 Spanish teams in pot 2
awkward

making chances of us drawing Barcelona higher https://i.servimg.com/u/f72/16/79/56/27/calma10.png

[LeBéninois]

Yeah it's like we don't even try nowadays.

[Jay29]

Anyway. I digress. My point was, our CL 'campaigns' are actually only really about 'We were also there' and not about 'We challenged to win it'.

Which is why I want the group of death, because the matches will be more memorable for the short duration we'll be in the tournament.

[RealGunner]

Yep fully agreed.


Also, won't mind having a good run at EL if we crash out of CL by finishing 3rd.


actually scratch that. We will go out of top 4 if we start playing on thursday nights

[El Gunner]

Yep fully agreed.


Also, won't mind having a good run at EL if we crash out of CL by finishing 3rd.


actually scratch that. We will go out of top 4 if we start playing on thursday nights

YOU WANNA RUN UP ON ME?
ME?
Watch your step then, son.

[Jay29]

Confirmed pots then:

Pot 1
Barcelona, Chelsea, Bayern, Juventus, Benfica, PSG, Zenit, PSV

Pot 2
Real Madrid, Atletico, Porto, Arsenal, Valencia, Manchester City, Bayer Leverkusen, Manchester United

Pot 3
Shakhtar Donetsk, Sevilla, Lyon, Dynamo Kyiv, Olympiacos, Galatasaray, Roma, CSKA Moscow

Pot 4
BMG, Wolfsburg, Dinamo Zagreb, Maccabi Tel Aviv, Gent, Malmo, BATE, Astana

[RealGunner]

Let's hope we avoid Tel Aviv at all cost. Imagine going over there and spending 10+ hours on the journey

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