Qualification is based on last season Weeksy, not previous glories.
Qualification yes, overall seeding, no. That's based upon performances of the 'league' in the major competitions on previous, previous seasons.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UEFA_coefficient
The order of the four pots – each comprising of eight teams – is determined by Uefa’s club coefficient ranking, which calculates a mark for each club taking into account their record in European competition over the past five seasons.
Victory for Benfica in their play-off tie with PAOK Salonika – confirmed by last night’s 4-1 second leg rout in Greece – secured the Portuguese side a place in Pot 2 and ended Liverpool’s hopes of moving up into the second tier of seeds. Though Benfica lost all six of their Champions League fixtures last term, they have been an ever-present in Europe’s top tier for the last five campaigns and reached the quarter-finals in 2015/16 as well as the Round of 16 the following season.
Read more: Liverpool’s Champions League group and fixtures – in full
Liverpool, meanwhile, have only qualified for the Champions League in two of the last five seasons. They may have reached the final last time out, but Benfica have pipped them to Pot 2 on the basis of long-term consistency.
All four European finalists have lost to Wolverhampton Wanderers this season.
this is not something that has been said before.
All four European finalists have lost to Wolverhampton Wanderers this season.
this is not something that has been said before.
And which (ex-'clue') PL team took 6 points off Wolves this season? Junior school logic says Town should be World Champions however it don't work like that which is a shame.
We've just put some kit in a local hotel for Manchester City. 3rd time we've done that at this hotel for the visiting team and the previous 2 both lost at the Amex.
Ro5ey, I've fallen in love with the Teal! its dirty to say that but...i ordered a shirt last night! only a £15 ebay special which surely is a fake and wiil fall apart in 3 washes but well...the club don't get any extra money for a shirt sale so I saved myself £30 and I'm hoping I'll come to my senses and only Lilywhte will do by the time the fake falls apart
Oh and pot 1 - 7 biggest league winners plus the CL holder, pot 2 and 3 are on coefficient. Spurs scraped into pot 2 for this year as the lowest seed at a coefficient of 19. so spurs of liverpool will be pot one, possible both (or man city will be the 2nd in pot one) from runnig down the list of teams currently in the group stage spurs proper already i count at least 5 that aren't pot 1 (league winners) above spurs, but liverpool are a fair bit higher. Liverpool should be pot 2 if not 1, Spurs....pot 1 obvs!
Well we've been called back to put more kit in for City. Exactly what happened on the last two occasions, it's not looking good for them
i'm still being brought to tears
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1xNSTVvc9B_XsY8qk7iPTBvnR9tfoGXq3/view
need sound up
What's everyone doing for the matches then? I'm off to my Liverpool-supporting mate's to watch them suffer. Its the hope that kills you..... 😀
Should be a corker this! Given the absolutely bonkers nature of what's happened so far this this week, I doubt it's going to be straightforward. What an end to the season? The standard of football from Liverpool and City has been on another level completely. It's been absolutely brilliant to watch
Enjoy, you lot!
Just got to the pub. Got the last free table although it's possible the crinklys will all piss off once they've finished their roast dinners.
Pub in Apsley, I don't even ask me where Apsley is, not far from Hemel.
Got to collect my boy from Scout camp at 5, so was the only way I'd get to see it as it's 90 min from mine to collect him
They've got both games on
quiet first quarters, but it's kicking off now!
Bah! And Grrrr.
I think that should be that now. But you never know!
I think I'd call it now......
Although.....Liverpool came back from 3 behind in a second leg; Spurs in a second half......can Brighton do it in 20 minutes?
No
Let's not forget...
Man U 0 . Cardiff 2.
United board has a big dilemma now!
Well done Liverpool, nice try. Thank god you didn't win. Now please destroy Spurs.
Let’s not forget…
Man U 0 . Cardiff 2.
Cardiff fans singing "You're getting fired in the morning" 🙂
United board has a dilemma now
I’m presume you mean whether or not they should all **** off? I think I could give you an answer to that.
I knew this was going to happen today. It just perfectly capped off a bloody awful run of form caused by clueless owners who have given the players licence to decide whether or not they can actually be bothered to turn up
You can’t blame Ole. The whole ownership and management culture of the club is absolutely rotten to the core
They can sell every player (if anyone would have them) and replace the lot, but unless theirs some significant changes happen in the structure of the club, it’s just going to be more of the same
Hats off to City and Liverpool. They’ve played absolutely top notch football all season that has been amazing to watch
I can blame Ole
Though I was amused by the Wolves fans giving a rousing rendition of “* all! You’ll never win * all!”
I know it’s a double negative, but I think we got what they meant and it cheered up a truly terminally miserable last day for a United fan 😂
Another big cup game for Newport, off to Wemberley.
They can sell every player (if anyone would have them) and replace the lot, but unless theirs some significant changes happen in the structure of the club, it’s just going to be more of the same
That's the dilemma. Do you replace the coach with someone else to try to polish the turds and get some of the 'world class' players to give a shit, or do you flush out the Augean stables that is the MU squad over the summer and start again?
It's just bizarre that they had this fantastic run under Ole, playing attractive attacking football, but then flipped a switch and it was straight back to the bad old days (only worse).
Pogba has to go, doesn't he?
Sacked in the morning sounds like a reasonable shout for Ole. A bad mistake has been made, and it ain't about to fix itself over 3 months of no football. Clubs will usually act fast in this situation.
They had a great run under Ole yes, but it was hardly attractive attacking football. He seems keen to play on the break, sit deep and counter attack. Against the mid table and better sides you’ve got to be having more of a go to be honest. Isn’t that the United way as he kept harping on about during that run?
Got to question some of the decisions too - why give Martial such a good new contract if his attitude is poor? Why give Phil Jones a new deal? Make a statement and ship him out, he’s injured half the time and mince when he plays.
Would expect the fans would revolt if Ole gets sacked though. Give him next season at least.
Didn't he have them on the worst losing run since Liverpool last won the league (so we're going back a bit)? Utd fans are a sentimental bunch but I can't see them taking to the warpath if he gets binned. There's be some superficial grumbling, but they all know Ole's out of his league so they'd just direct their ire at Woodward, whilst privately being happy to see the back of him.
Yeah - any revolt I’m sure would be directed to Ed Woodward and the board. Giving Ole the job and not waiting to the end of the season sums his decision making up! He just seems to get all the big ones wrong.
Ole was amazing at Cardiff, I can see why United signed him up!
In all honesty they should have waited until the end of the season before deciding, bet they are kicking themselves as they would have been in with a chance of Poch I recon.
It’s just bizarre that they had this fantastic run under Ole, playing attractive attacking football, but then flipped a switch and it was straight back to the bad old days (only worse).
Always hard to tell from the outside, but it seems like a confidence thing. I don't think they have the consistent quality through the whole squad right now to challenge the top teams, regardless of the manager. Once their winning run ended (and it was mostly against weaker teams), they lost the belief that they could keep winning and fell back into old habits.
Seems like there's too much focus on Pogba as well, maybe the world cup flattered him but he can't carry a whole squad by himself. Record signings of big names don't seem to be working out too well for United (at least on the pitch, I'm sure it sells a lot of shirts) but I'm not sure what selling him would achieve when they already look weak in midfield.
It will all be ok, when Rio gets the director of football job.
I'm not sure at this stage they need to challenge the best of the best, that wasn't going to happen.
But after the inital surge in performance and style i think people hoped for a bit 'more' than they had earlier, but it seems they have slumped back into their older ways.
TBH i never thought for a second he was the right man for the job, he's done next to nothing as a manager, as a man-manager or indeed as a coach. At Man Utd you need to get the big name players in and someone like him just isn't enough to do that.
Of course we could argue that's exactly what they did with Jose and look how that went, but we'd all seen the Jose implosion before with Madrid and Chelsea, so wasn't exactly a shock.
Personally, i think they'd have done better with Eddie Howe for example. Sure he's not of the super manager level, but as a 'potential' then he should have been topping their list ?
There was an interesting article on Football 365 talking about the incentives that Sanchez and Pogba get paid for goals / assists ... and how much that is out of kilter with the rest of the team.
Onbvious Pogba's name will sell shirts , Sanchez makes them appeal to the Latin market ... but at the cost of team spirit.
Much as I thin Morinho as the ability to be a dick, I don't think the blame is with him or Ole - the blame is with Woodward.
That siad ... well done Citeh. Next years the noisy neighbours will be stronger ( the ones ta Anfield, that is). Perhaps we could get one of those patronising ticket tape banners that they had at Old Trafford?
And well done Seagulls, for staying up ... but FFS, sort out your recuitment process and don't buy from the Dutch league ... the players are hopeless ...
I don’t think the blame is with him or Ole – the blame is with Woodwar
How ? Whilst the owner/directors/etc can influence some of the purchases it's down to the manager/staff mould, change, affect them players into their system, into their tactics and style of play. The bosses in suits are not on the training ground telling them how to press, to pass, to break teams down or defend corners. Sure, you may not have all the players you want, you may have a couple you don't want... but you're far from alone as probably only City/Liverpool can say they actually have all the players they want (and not even them to an extent) the rest of the squads are built upon compromise, budget and availabilty.
Next years the noisy neighbours will be stronger ( the ones ta Anfield, that is).
I am not so sure about that, I think with the squads as they are now, city could go again next year and get 95+ points. I don't really believe Liverpool could. I think Liverpool really need to strengthen their midfield, especially in terms of creativity. Citys challenge could be holding onto some of the players that are no longer automatic picks, ie Sane and Gundogan.
their riches are astounding aren't they.
Sane, hell, i'd have him in any team any day of the week, i think he's brilliant. Then players like Gundogan and Mahrez pop up with goals like them ones and i sit and think "wow... incredible"
I'm inclined to agree on Liverpool, i can't imagine how they'll get 95+ again... but hell, you never know !
Got to question some of the decisions too – why give Martial such a good new contract if his attitude is poor? Why give Phil Jones a new deal?
Just two more to add to the ever-lengthening list of absolutely inexplicable decisions taken at OT since Fergie hung up his stopwatch. Signing Sanchez on his ludicrous salary being in bright red capital letters, underlined, right at the top.
And thats the problem. How much say is the manager having in these decisions? Not much by the looks of things. It looks like the call is being made by people who know an awful lot about increasing shirt sales in emerging markets and very little about actually playing football.
Can't see anything but City v Liverpool for the title for the next few seasons, with both of them finishing a similar amount of points above the rest. But both clubs seem to have hands-off owners who are happy to supply funds, but also allow their (brilliant) managers to make their own decisions
But both clubs seem to have hands-off owners who are happy to supply funds,
There was a piece on the BBC the other day, that suggests that city's chairman is a bit more involved than you may suspect, although his involvement seems to be rather positive. They do more than just supplying the cash, they know that running a winning football team is more than that. To be brutally honest, despite what they may take out of the club, united's owners have been handing over the cash, that isn't where the problem lies.
Let's start with the second one. Just after Tottenham knocked City out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals, there was silence, interspersed with tears in the coaching room.
At City, directors and, especially, the chairman tend to be balanced both in moments of euphoric victory and painful defeats. As Latins, Pep Guardiola and his right-hand man Manel Estiarte tend to be a tad more dramatic.
The scene, post-game, was traumatic. Director of football Txiki Begiristain and Joan Patsy, a key part of the technical department, were there. "Damn this Champions League! It is so hard. We can't win it!" someone shouted in Catalan.
At this point the club's chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, entered the room. After a while his train of thought turned to what was needed.
"Let's focus on the Premier League. We are five games from making history," he said. His words brought memories of what he had said the previous season after City failed to clinch the title when they squandered a 2-0 lead to lose to rivals Manchester United.
"We have won the title," he told them. "If not this week then next. Why don't we focus our energies on establishing all possible records?"
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/48244355
I’m inclined to agree on Liverpool, i can’t imagine how they’ll get 95+ again… but hell, you never know !
My view as a City fan is that Liverpool will win it next season. Defences win leagues, and Liverpool's, for me, is unquestionably the best in the PL right now, whereas City's looks a lot less robust.
Hughton sacked by Brighton
Sad decision about Hughton ... I think he has done a really good job. But the second half of theseason was a bit rubbish , and the tactics lacking.
The really fault lies with the players bought last season.
I think sacking Chris H is a mistake in the longer term .... and who will B&HA get to replace him ...
Martinhutch - as a fellow Citeh fan, I would agree with you positioning. Liverpool have been far more consistent and "solid".
Solid is not a MCFC trait ...
TBH that's harsh IMO.... keeping them in the league .... sacked... harsh...
I've also felt that Liverpool have just got better and better as the season progressed. We started off stuffing teams by five goals and racing into a lead, ended up crawling over the line a bit, needed a bit of a fluke to get past Leicester, just about edged Burnley, falling behind to Brighton.
A repeat of the Liverpool fixture in the last handful of games would have produced a different result, I think.
Hughton sacked by Brighton
Mental. Keeping them up. FA Cup Semi (lost narrowly to the champions). What exactly do the owners expect?
Sacking Hughton is insane. It does make you wonder what the level of expectation is at a club that size? By the looks of it; not a realistic one
