does anybody else think the champions league?

Question

last 16 teams should be put into groups as at least then u would surely get more solid competition that way rather than the way the groups are done at the 32 club stage when some groups are so poor...ie, the lyon, liverpool & bayern munich groups...

i meant should we not get rid of the 1st round group stage ( have that as knockout), & have the group stage at the last 16 stage...

Answer 1

Yes I agree with you. This way the champion would really be a CHAMPION. With ko stages all along the way now, any weak team might be lucky enough to reach semis or even the final without having had to play against a big gun. It might happen, and that is a bluff for the competition. There should be another group stage so that the ones that play the quarters really deserve to be playing it.

Answer 2

I can see your point, but no I reckon it works fine the way it is.

With your format, if a big team met a small team i.e Milan v Sofia in the first round then one or two lucky games could see Sofia go through and Milan would be out. However, the way it is at the moment the small teams won't get past the group stages because over 6 games the bigger teams will 9/10 go through which leaves the best 14 or 15 teams in the last 16 which is great for the competition.
Once you're down to 16 teams, knockout is the best way because it's solely about two teams head-to-head rather than other matches affecting who goes through.

Basically with your format there would be smaller clubs in the last 16 which is not what we wanna see.

Answer 3

If we're back to the old format surely more games to play and that would be a disaster for clubs that joined the competition. For example just imagine the 4 clubs from Premiership. Aside of matches in regular Premiership games, they also have to compete in FA Cup and Carling Cup. Can you imagine if they also have to compete in groups again apart of knock out phase? They will be exhausted at the end of the season and we the fans can not see the real them during the Euro matches or World Cup with their national teams.

UEFA changed the format because lots of national team manager were complaining about how certain key players in a club lost their magics during the national team competitions. The war between clubs and national team are still heating up the football world, no definite answers are found, yet!

Answer 4

They will be VERY hard to stop. I support Man United and at the moment we do not look fit for Champions league performances but this has been known to change and seems to be again. I think Barcelona could make it to the final because the way the thrashed Bayern was unbelievable, it will be hard to beat them but where theres a will theres a way and in this crazy world of football ANYTHING is possible. :)

Answer 5

when you get thru to the next stage the competition gets more solid anyway. Doesn't matter if it's a group or knockout -you're gonna get a toughie.
It wouldn't go down well here anyway, it would increase the no. of fixtures.

Answer 6

I am afraid our overpaid, superfit, professional soccer players could not handle extra games. They need the time away from the pitch and training to pursue other more lucrative income sources.

Answer 7

No it means more games, and there are too many in a season for european clubs, and knock out stages are much more exciting....thats why UEFA changed it

Answer 8

No, the only thing is that there are too many matchs, in the groups should be only one match, that means only three matchs per club.

Answer 9

they used to that about 5 years ago but it didnt work to well

Answer 10

Good