Kick off times are 6pm and 8pm next season also if I remember correctly.
Yeah, 5:55 and 8:00 - https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/champions-league-europa-kick-off-times-uefa-changes-qualification-2018-19-season-a8230441.html. I think it's due to time zones over the vast distance that UEFA countries cover.
Don't want to derail the thread
More than likely it's so more games are watched. Now 2 teams from the same country can both play on the same day, but not clash with each other.
Probably and that would be a good thing as it would mean that teams who play on the same day in Europe can play on the same day in the league.
At some point last season, somewhere here on RAWK, amid all the excitement of the Champions League Final, there was a discussion about which pot we would get in next season's competition. Had we won, we would have been in Pot One.So what's the situation now? As there's no proper football on for a few weeks, I thought I'd have a look.Well, first of all, under the current rules, the Champions of Europe and Europa Cup Winners are joined in Pot One by the winners of the remaining top Six ranked leagues.So pot one will be: 1. Real Madrid (CL Winners)2. Atletico Madrid (Europa Winners)3. Bayern Munich (German Champions)4. Barcelona (Spanish Champions)5. Juventus (Italian Champions)6. PSG (French Champignons)7. Manchester City (English Champions)8. Lokomotiv Moscow (Russian Champions)After that, it's based on club coefficients.https://www.uefa.com/memberassociations/uefarankings/club/index.htmlLiverpool are currently ranked 22, which does not bode well for our chances of a Pot 2 spot. Roma are ranked 21.Confirmed Pot 2 clubs:1. Dortmund2. Porto3. Manchester United4. Shaktar5. Napoli6. Spurs(Roma)We need seven clubs above us in the ranking to miss out to get into Pot 2.Seville (6) finished 7th in Spain.Arsenal (9) finished 6th in the Premier League.Chelsea (13) finished 5th in the Premier League.Zenit (15) finished 6th in Russia.Leverkusen (20) finished 5th in Germany.The remaining clubs who are above us in the coefficients, and playing in the qualifiers are:Basel - (18) who will enter at the 2nd Qualifying Round, where they will play PAOK (draw was yesterday, the sneaked that one out!)Benfica (15) - who will enter at the 3rd Qualifying Round, where they are seeded in the League Path.We need both to go out before the Group Stage to get us into Pot 2. There is a chance they could play one another at the Play Off stage, which would obviously be bad.So chances are it's Pot 3 for us. Obviously we have a score to settle with Real, and I'd take Porto from Pot 2.
Doesn't really matter which pot we are in.. lWe are the one team every team in Europe will want to avoid..
Basel and Benfica will be seeded the whole way though if they go all the say so can't play each other.
Does this have any effect on our seeding or do we still need both to go out in the qualifiers if we're to make it into Pot 2? Sorry if this is a thick question with a really obvious answer (I'm sort of assuming we still need both to go out?), but the labyrinthine machinations of this seeding process are still a bit of a mystery to me.
Forgot that we can't get someone from the same league so yeah, in theory whether we're in pot 2 or 3 shouldn't make that much of a difference to the standard of teams we get, although I'd probably rather not face Napoli, Dortmund, and possibly Shaktar and Roma which we'd have a chance of doing should we be in pot 3. I'm sure we can beat anyone, I'd just prefer we get the easiest draw possible so we can just sail serenely on through and have a couple of dead rubber games at the end to play the kids as opposed to having to go full strength throughout with the knockon effect of having our first teamers getting fatigued for the league games after. Chances are we'll get a pretty big team out of Pot 1 anyway, unless we fluke Lokomotiv.
PAOK leading 1-0 atm.
PAOK 2 up now. Huzzah, etc.Bollocks. Basel pull one back. 2-1.
FT 2-1 Only the first leg though
Craig Burnley V West Ham - WEST HAM WIN - INCORRECT
Barring a Istanbulesque comeback by Basel, we're all but guaranteed to be in pot 2 now.
Still need Benfica out? Now 3-0 to PAOK
Doesn't really matter which pot we are in.. lWe are the one team every team in Europe will want to avoid..I personally want Real in the group stages with Salah making a mug out of that c*nt Ramos twice..Not bothered who else we get..
In such a sumptuous festival of shite, I wouldn't be so quick to pick a winner..But he'd make the shortlist
I'd prefer them in the knockouts, but that's a dream at the moment. As long as we can compete in our group..
3-0 Game OverDon't we need Benfica out as well?