Champions League - PSG

[olaftab]

My prediction is if alot of these "bigger clubs" dont finish in the top 8 automatic spots they will be kicking a stink and asking for the old format back

If so how many is that to influence a decision to change? 1 or 2 in my view and they are still in it albeit having to play an additional round. If any of the "top clubs" don't finish in the top 16 it's because they have a shite  team and a little anal examination is required rather than poking the finger at the format.

[eamonn]

Do we need to leave more seats empty for adverts/segregation than in the Europa Conference League last season? Pretty sure we had higher attendances for that at VP. All the more reason to get that North Stand rebuilt or a new stadium site sourced.

[Smithy]

5th place is currently nailed for qualification in the Prem league this season. Currently an eleven point difference to second place.

Funnily enough I was just thinking that an extra benefit of a good run here is it might help us qualify again if we slip to 5th.

Still WAAAY to early to know how this will play out. We're in a good position, but 80+% of the fixtures still have to played this season, and with points for wins, all you need is for the English clubs to lose a couple while the others win, and it's all change.  We'll have a much better idea once the knockout games start.  Hopefully with all 8 English clubs still in their respective competitions.

[PeterWithesShin]

I'm guessing part of it is that away allocations are smaller in the CL than in the PL but they occupy the same area, so there's 1000 empty seats. Plus the empty rows we have to have for the CL advertising boards, soon adds up.

[cdbearsfan]

What was with that half empty Bayern stand? Surely they didn't fail to sell all their tickets?

[PeterWithesShin]

What was with that half empty Bayern stand? Surely they didn't fail to sell all their tickets?

Ahem!!

I'm guessing part of it is that away allocations are smaller in the CL than in the PL but they occupy the same area, so there's 1000 empty seats. Plus the empty rows we have to have for the CL advertising boards, soon adds up.

[Somniloquism]

5th place is currently nailed for qualification in the Prem league this season. Currently an eleven point difference to second place.

Funnily enough I was just thinking that an extra benefit of a good run here is it might help us qualify again if we slip to 5th.

Still WAAAY to early to know how this will play out. We're in a good position, but 80+% of the fixtures still have to played this season, and with points for wins, all you need is for the English clubs to lose a couple while the others win, and it's all change.  We'll have a much better idea once the knockout games start.  Hopefully with all 8 English clubs still in their respective competitions.

I don't think it is. And there is only 7 English clubs which gives us more of an advantage as the coefficient is only divided by 7 and not 8 as for Germany and Italy. We found last year with having extra teams had a knock-on, especially when two teams let down the others early on, although in the end the German clubs also progressed further in the competitions including knocking out English clubs along the way.

[astonvilla82]

Looked last week and quite a few tickets for sale for the Bologna game in lower Holte L4, just looked again and looks like a handful left

[Dave]

Still WAAAY to early to know how this will play out. We're in a good position, but 80+% of the fixtures still have to played this season, and with points for wins, all you need is for the English clubs to lose a couple while the others win, and it's all change.  We'll have a much better idea once the knockout games start.  Hopefully with all 8 English clubs still in their respective competitions.

It feels a lot less likely that so much shitting of the bed happens compared to last year. England only missed out narrowly last time, and that was pretty much all down to Man Utd and Newcastle finishing bottom rather than third of their Champions League groups, meaning no Europa League football to bump things things up with a few extra wins.

The way the four Champions League clubs have started feels like it's going to be a lot harder for any of them to ruin the coefficient as badly as Newcastle / Man Utd did last season. So as long as Spurs and Man Utd (who are currently first and second favourites to win it) don't do much worse than West Ham / Liverpool / Brighton and Chelsea don't do much worse than we did, fifth = Champions League is pretty much nailed on in my opinion.

[Dave]

Incidentally, we're now as short as 25-1 to win the whole thing in some places.

[cdbearsfan]

What was with that half empty Bayern stand? Surely they didn't fail to sell all their tickets?

Ahem!!

I'm guessing part of it is that away allocations are smaller in the CL than in the PL but they occupy the same area, so there's 1000 empty seats. Plus the empty rows we have to have for the CL advertising boards, soon adds up.

Oophs. What a ridiculous arrangement.

[Somniloquism]

Although I thought the arrangement was a minimum limit and we could offer more if the away end can hold more.

[Smithy]

Still WAAAY to early to know how this will play out. We're in a good position, but 80+% of the fixtures still have to played this season, and with points for wins, all you need is for the English clubs to lose a couple while the others win, and it's all change.  We'll have a much better idea once the knockout games start.  Hopefully with all 8 English clubs still in their respective competitions.

It feels a lot less likely that so much shitting of the bed happens compared to last year. England only missed out narrowly last time, and that was pretty much all down to Man Utd and Newcastle finishing bottom rather than third of their Champions League groups, meaning no Europa League football to bump things things up with a few extra wins.

The way the four Champions League clubs have started feels like it's going to be a lot harder for any of them to ruin the coefficient as badly as Newcastle / Man Utd did last season. So as long as Spurs and Man Utd (who are currently first and second favourites to win it) don't do much worse than West Ham / Liverpool / Brighton and Chelsea don't do much worse than we did, fifth = Champions League is pretty much nailed on in my opinion.

I hope you're right! It just feels like there is a LONG way to go...

[PeterWithesShin]

You can give the away club as many as you want, most clubs give the minimum though, 5% of capacity.

[Dave]

I hope you're right! It just feels like there is a LONG way to go...

Oh, sure. And like last season, if we find outselves hovering around fifth / sixth in March, banking on and hoping for Spurs and Man Utd to do well is going to feel no more pleasant than hoping Liverpool and West Ham did last time around.