GWT: Europa/Conference League - Knockouts

[spintheblackcircle]

We have WAY too many cups and tournaments.......but I had a great/horrible idea:

The Relegation League.

Take the relegated clubs from the top Euro leagues and make a 24-team Cup where the relegated teams play each other.

We try to measure the top clubs and by extrapolation the leagues they are in. Why not use the bottom clubs to also weigh the quality of the leagues? Winner of the Cup gets into the Conference League automatically the next year, or something. Give the minnows something to play for.

 

[cgf]

Never heard someone complain about Arsenal being boring... usually it's the opposite - try to play pretty football and end up losing because of it. The teams in the early Emirates era were toothless and yet it seemed like they scored the goal of the year every single year.

They're more robotic/regimented now under Arteta, but they scored the 2nd most goals in the league last year and are 2nd again this year.

What makes it especially peculiar is that before Wenger arrived and changed the meme to "the problem with arsenal is, they always try to walk it in", it used to be "1-0 to Arsenal" because they were so defensive and anti-football.

So making the cut off the late 90s/early 2000s is just weird. Unless you prefer deep blocks and route-1 football, with few goals & little skill.

We have WAY too many cups and tournaments.......but I had a great/horrible idea:

The Relegation League.

Take the relegated clubs from the top Euro leagues and make a 24-team Cup where the relegated teams play each other.

We try to measure the top clubs and by extrapolation the leagues they are in. Why not use the bottom clubs to also weigh the quality of the leagues? Winner of the Cup gets into the Conference League automatically the next year, or something. Give the minnows something to play for.

Staying in the first division / getting promotion back tot he first division isn't something to play for?

 

[luiginb]

Wenger came in the late 90s...

 

[cgf]

Wenger came in the late 90s...

Which was why I thought it was weird that that was when you started to dislike the way they play.

 

[gary69]

Yeah, Wenger changed the "boring, boring Arsenal" -label and made them more attractive to watch.

 

[Savant]

Yeah, Wenger changed the "boring, boring Arsenal" -label and made them more attractive to watch.

And now they are back to boring boring Arsenal. But boring wins

 

[luiginb]

Which was why I thought it was weird that that was when you started to dislike the way they play.

You misunderstood, I said it's the last time they were playing attractive footy. It's when he was signing the Henrys ,Bergkamps, Vieiras and Anelkas of the world, not random cheap French kids from lower leagues and trying to mold them into superstars.

 

[Evilo]

Henry, Vieira and Anelka were random cheap guys from lower leagues.

 

[luiginb]

Henry, Vieira and Anelka were random cheap guys from lower leagues.

???

Henry came from Juventus, Vieira from Milan and Anelka from PSG

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

Henry, Vieira and Anelka were random cheap guys from lower leagues.

Thinking that maybe you misread the post and you're being sarcastic based on that misreading.

If not, Henry was Arsenal's record transfer until they signed Santi Cazorla in 2012.

 

[Evilo]

Henry was barely playing LWB at Juve and was sold for a loss 7 months after joining, Vieira played 2 games at Milan, and Anelka was an academy player at PSG.

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

Henry was barely playing LWB at Juve and was sold for a loss 7 months after joining, Vieira played 2 games at Milan, and Anelka was an academy player at PSG.

And yet was Arsenal's record signing for 13 years and was a year off scoring three goals in a WC. He was neither cheap nor random (and, for that matter, Serie A wasn't a lower league at that point).

 

[Evilo]

Doesn't matter much to the point.
Neither of the 3 were obviously random, but neither were most of Arsenal's french signings after that (Diaby, Nasri, Petit, Gallas, Pires, etc...).
In fact, Vieira and Anelka were much lesser known that most of Wenger's french signings.
Henry was a hyped winger, never a ballon d'or level striker.
Vieira was all potential, nothing shown yet.
Anelka was a hyped prospect back when internet didn't exist. Which means barely anyone knew him.

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

Doesn't matter much to the point.
Neither of the 3 were obviously random, but neither were most of Arsenal's french signings after that (Diaby, Nasri, Petit, Gallas, Pires, etc...).
In fact, Vieira and Anelka were much lesser known that most of Wenger's french signings.
Henry was a hyped winger, never a ballon d'or level striker.
Vieira was all potential, nothing shown yet.
Anelka was a hyped prospect back when internet didn't exist. Which means barely anyone knew him.

i mean it does matter to the point insofar as your response was, literally verbatim, "Henry, Vieira, and Anelka were random cheap buys from lower leagues."

Vieira, okay, yes. Henry definitely not. And Anelka was an extremely hyped prospect who was only cheap because he Bosman-ed out of Paris.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

I do agree that the French buys Wenger made were never random guys. Guys like Nasri def had tons of hype, same with Diaby.

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

I do agree that the French buys Wenger made were never random guys. Guys like Nasri def had tons of hype, same with Diaby.

Yep, 100%. Hell, Marouane Chamakh was Ligue 1 TOTY before he went to Arsenal.

 

[Savant]

Yep, 100%. Hell, Marouane Chamakh was Ligue 1 TOTY before he went to Arsenal.

 

[hatterson]

Henry was a very hyped prospect who was purchased from a top tier league (at the time) for the 4th most expensive transfer in world football that year and Wenger also has history with him at Monaco. He qualifies as none of "random" "cheap" or "from lower leagues"

i mean it does matter to the point insofar as your response was, literally verbatim, "Henry, Vieira, and Anelka were random cheap buys from lower leagues."

Vieira, okay, yes. Henry definitely not. And Anelka was an extremely hyped prospect who was only cheap because he Bosman-ed out of Paris.

Juve bought a random, cheap player from a lower league when they got Pogba for the first time.

 

[Evilo]

i mean it does matter to the point insofar as your response was, literally verbatim, "Henry, Vieira, and Anelka were random cheap buys from lower leagues."

Vieira, okay, yes. Henry definitely not. And Anelka was an extremely hyped prospect who was only cheap because he Bosman-ed out of Paris.

Again I responded to all 3 to stress the point. None was a star player. Even Henry.
And none was a much better player than other French purchases from later.

 

[Wee Baby Seamus]

Again I responded to all 3 to stress the point. None was a star player. Even Henry.
And none was a much better player than other French purchases from later.

i mean sure, but instead of saying "he didn't buy already completed stars" you said "they were random, cheap and from lower leagues." so i'm sure you must be able to understand why people replied to the patently absurd thing you did say rather than the actually accurate thing you didn't say.

 

[Evilo]

i mean sure, but instead of saying "he didn't buy already completed stars" you said "they were random, cheap and from lower leagues." so i'm sure you must be able to understand why people replied to the patently absurd thing you did say rather than the actually accurate thing you didn't say.

I obviously wanted to show the ridicule of it???

 

[luiginb]

Dude even Vieira was something like 5 mil, which was huge in the 90s. It's not like he was Aliadiere.

 

[JeffreyLFC]

Thierry Henry had more hype than Zidane when both joined Juventus.

 

[Evilo]

Thierry Henry had more hype than Zidane when both joined Juventus.

Nah. Zz was hailed as the new Platini but had trouble performing. But the hype was huge.