PSG aren't really in any danger and that's what makes this format rubbish.

They should be out by now instead as little as a win from their remaining games could be enough.

One win will almost certainly not be enough.

I expect the liverpool game to be an anticlimax. They don't need to win and Real Madrid are masters at doing just enough to qualify before winning the tournament.

Real need to win if they want to avoid play-off round. Liverpool will want to win but don't have the pressure. All the ingredients of a great game.

Too complicated for a casual like me tbh, but it did feel like the competition needed freshening up

I much prefer this new format over the old, very tired system.

Playing 7 different teams in the league phase means you play sides that you haven't faced for years.

And you get a mix of teams from all the pots

No group of death
This doesn't need any tinkering whatsoever.

This is a massive game for Madrid and one that I think they'll lose!
I hardly ever watch Arsenal for some reason but I did last night and I was very impressed. Aggression, subtlety and a top keeper. Could be dark horses to win it!

Why have you not talked about Celtic other than being opposition for Villa? A point for Celtic tonight puts them level with the PL's greatest ever team.

Because they are not really in danger nor at the other end.

comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 2 minutes ago
Because they are not really in danger nor at the other end.
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You mentioned City who will either be one point ahead, level or 2 points behind Celtic after tonight. Very similar positions. Celtic could also go level with Arsenal and above Villa tonight

Exactly

Can you just mention them in the comments then? Just say "Celtic" or something?

The 'tics are also involved.

think this new format sucks personally, at least so far

What sucks about it?

You can finished 24th in the league and win the whole tournament. Kinda dumb

Felt there has been no jeopardy so far, so few teams are eliminated in this 8 game league phase so it largely feels like a waste of time.

We've gone from eliminating half the teams in 6 games to eliminating a third of teams in 8 games, that's naturally going to lead to less exciting games.

Also feel like the teams that got harder fixtures have it more unfair than the groups of death that you had with the old format because at least in that system everyone in that group had the same fixtures. Look at Leipzig for example, have had to play Atletico Madrid, Juventus, Liverpool and Inter so far despite being a Pot 1 seed, there are Pot 4 teams that got better fixtures than that.

There are points I really like on the new CL format and there is one point I dislike.

Think the draws depending much on having luck or bad luck even more than before. I look at RB Leipzig fixtures and especially PSG had really bad luck with their draws.

Don't feel there is any less jeopardy than the group system. In fact most groups were all but done in 4 games and the last couple were just dead rubbers or the bad teams fighting for the Europa place. As it stands no-one is out, no-one is guaranteed top 8. Still everything to play for.

Not sure about the less exciting games. Had City blow a 3 goal lead against Feyenoord last night! Had a lot of shock results this year too.

Not sure I agree with the last point. Some teams had easy groups (City vs Leipzig, Young Boys, Red Star) and some had tough groups (Newcastle, Milan, PSG, Dortmund). That is the nature of the seedings, when teams without a recent European record - like Newcastle last year and Villa this - distort the seedings a bit.
Not sure Leipzigs draw was really that tougher than Arsenal or Liverpools, Villa in pot 4 had Leipzig, Bayern, Juve, Monaco etc - again not really that different to Leipzig.

When Arsenal were out of the CL I barely bothered with the group stages. Often dull, one sided and little jeopardy. This, in my opinion, gives us better games so the neutral has something of interest.

We can agree to disagree tbh, I don't care a great deal, UEFA are always going to try and milk more from this competition.

I just think this format takes more games to achieve less and without adding anything like fairness or excitement.

Maybe it will get more exciting in the last couple rounds of games, but we'll have to wait and see.

comment by D'Jeezus Mackaroni (U1137)
posted 3 minutes ago
Don't feel there is any less jeopardy than the group system. In fact most groups were all but done in 4 games and the last couple were just dead rubbers or the bad teams fighting for the Europa place. As it stands no-one is out, no-one is guaranteed top 8. Still everything to play for.

Not sure about the less exciting games. Had City blow a 3 goal lead against Feyenoord last night! Had a lot of shock results this year too.

Not sure I agree with the last point. Some teams had easy groups (City vs Leipzig, Young Boys, Red Star) and some had tough groups (Newcastle, Milan, PSG, Dortmund). That is the nature of the seedings, when teams without a recent European record - like Newcastle last year and Villa this - distort the seedings a bit.
Not sure Leipzigs draw was really that tougher than Arsenal or Liverpools, Villa in pot 4 had Leipzig, Bayern, Juve, Monaco etc - again not really that different to Leipzig.

When Arsenal were out of the CL I barely bothered with the group stages. Often dull, one sided and little jeopardy. This, in my opinion, gives us better games so the neutral has something of interest.
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Yes, there is still stuff to play for but it's not as significant as losing to your rival for 2nd place in the group and you could be out. Each game has something riding on it, but hardly any matches have a lot riding on them. It is just the difference between finishing 12th and 19th for most teams.

There may be like one actual crunch game towards the end where PSG need to win to not be eliminated. But that will very much be the exception.

ALSO in the old format you were competing directly against the team you were fighting against for that qualifying spot. Meaning that a lot of matches were effectively 6 pointers. There is almost none of that here. (yes there were some that were 0 pointers towards the end).

BUT many 6 pointers with some 0 pointers is better than no 6 pointers and a load of 3 pointers.

Would you change the world cup to a league format? Your answer is yes if you prefer the new super league.

Oh yes!! The World Cup with this format instead of the groups would be immense.

So instead of 2nd playing 3rd in a group to decide who qualifies from the group, you have a mash of random teams playing eachother and whoever finishes the highest from the mash goes through? Instead of teams competing directly against eachother, like in you know, SPORT?

2nd and 3rd both qualify in 80% of groups anyway.