Moanrinho...

[Jim D]

why Chelsea are ranked so low in the European seedings? Its like he is totally oblivious to reasoning behind the seedings.

 

Season 02/03, Chelsea get knocked out of the UEFA Cup to Viking FK, thats why they are below the other three teams in England. Next season though their ranking will skyrocket and will definitely be in the top pot of seeds.

 

 

 

Jose Mourinho insists a Champions League draw which could easily pit Chelsea against Barcelona in the group stage must be flawed.

Mourinho's Premiership champions have a one-in-five chance of being grouped with Barca when the draw is made in Monaco on Thursday.

Chelsea will be in the pot of second seeds and, if they avoid the champions of Spain and Europe, they will face one of AC Milan, Inter Milan, Real Madrid or Valencia. Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, if the latter qualify, will all be among the first seeds but cannot be drawn with another English team in the groups. Mourinho still cannot understand how the domestic champions can be ranked beneath three of the teams they beat to the title.

 

The Chelsea boss said: "The way the groups are made is wrong, the criteria to be seeded in the groups. For example, the English champions Chelsea are lucky to be second seeds.

 

"For me, being champions is more important than the past for seeding.

 

"Inter Milan for example get more coefficient points for the Champions League than us even though Chelsea are champions of England and Inter Milan are only third in Italy."

 

UEFA seed the teams based on a coefficient calculated from the performances of the clubs in Europe over the last five years combined with the coefficient of the country they come from. This system puts new football powers like Chelsea behind the traditional heavyweights of European football.

Liverpool had to qualify this season by beating Maccabi Haifa and Arsenal must finish off Dinamo Zagreb to reach the group stage but they will both be seeded ahead of Chelsea because of their superior coefficient.

 

Mourinho said: "How can a team who has to qualify be in front of a team who goes straight into the group?"

 

Chelsea will expect to qualify from any group because the top two teams progress but, if they are plunged into a tough group and can only finish second, they will face one of the group winners in the first knock-out round. This happened last season, when the Blues finished behind Liverpool in the group and were then drawn against Barcelona in the second round. Frank Rijkaard's team won an epic clash and Mourinho's European dream was over in early March.

 

The Chelsea manager believes the seeding system has a detrimental effect on the overall quality of the competition because so many of the best teams meet in the early stages.

 

Mourinho said: "It is the best competition in the world but you don't see the best clubs in the semi-finals.

 

"For me the competition is not correct and you are in a lucky situation if the best team in Europe wins the competition.

 

"Compare the semi-finals with the earlier rounds, the last eight or last 16. Compare Arsenal against Villarreal with Arsenal against Juventus, Chelsea against Barcelona or Milan against Bayern Munich. It does not compare.

 

"Liverpool were champions and over 30 points behind Chelsea in the league, not even in the top four in the Premiership. Arsenal got through to the final but the best they could do [in the league] was fourth."

 

Mourinho is chasing his third successive Premiership title with Chelsea this season and the club's first Champions League trophy.

 

He finds it hard to prefer one above the other but believes he is fighting an uphill battle in Europe because of the coefficient system.

 

Mourinho said: "The Premier League is an even competition. The Champions League is not.

 

"When you decide there is a head of the group, they start in front of the others.

 

"They are ahead of the group and there are a lot of advantages. If you are second there are a lot of disadvantages. You don't start from zero.

 

"To win the Champions League when you are not head of the group is a big, big achievement."

[Ed the Wool]

He's s***ting it in case he gets us again.

[johngibo YPC]

we can't. and i think he has a point

[Leo No.8]

Chelsea are relatively low in the European ratings because they've done f*ck all in Europe not only recently but in their entire history. Is it really that difficult to understand?

 

If he wants to be ranked higher, he'll have to do better in the competition, its not rocket science. Inter are higher because they have won a European competition in recent years.

 

The man is a plant pot he really is, can he understand the difference between DOMESTIC and EUROPEAN.

Edited August 23, 2006 by Leo No.8

[Tosh]

Not that the system is rigged to make the rich clubs richer

 

Rigged by whom? UEFA on behalf of the G14 to stop them taking their ball and playing somewhere else

 

Personally, for the reason that it pees him off is reason enough to like the system

 

FYI, doesn't our rating plumet next season?

[johngibo YPC]

Not that the system is rigged to make the rich clubs richer

 

Rigged by whom? UEFA on behalf of the G14 to stop them taking their ball and playing somewhere else

 

Personally, for the reason that it pees him off is reason enough to like the system

 

FYI, doesn't our rating plumet next season?

 

surely that depends what we do this season

[CaptainXabi]

we can't. and i think he has a point

 

No he doesn't. The system by-and-large works.

 

Look at the list below and tell me how many grevious errors there are in that list. The only one that's obviously wrong is Chelsea in Pot 2 - they should be in Pot 1 instead of Valencia. But Chelsea is an anomaly, and it's hard to design systems to deal with that. Otherwise, there's not a whole lot to argue with. Maybe one could talk about Lyon or Bayern, but they are a borderline case and it's just unlucky they are in Pot 2 instead of Pot 1. That happens no matter the system.

 

As for the whole knockout stage thing, if you're really the best team ever you should win the group and so should all the other domestic champions and then you won't have to play them will you? One argument that I do buy is that UEFA cup results shouldn't help your coefficient as much as CL results. But that's not the argument Mourinho is making.

 

 

Pot 1

------------

AC Milan

Barcelona

Real Madrid

Inter FC

Liverpool

Arsenal*

Manchester United

Valencia

 

 

Pot 2

------------

Lyon

Porto

PSV Eindhoven

Bayern Munich

Chelsea

Roma

Ajax*

Celtic

 

 

Pot3

------------

Lille*

Benfica*

Bordeaux

Steaua*

Werder Bremen

Sp Lisbon

Olympiacos

CSKA Moscow*

 

 

Pot 4

-----------

ΑΕΚ*

Anderlecht

Dynamo Kiev*

Lefski S.*

Shaktar Donetsk

Galatasaray*

Hamburger*

Slovan L.*

Edited August 23, 2006 by CaptainXabi

[Leo No.8]

Now concentrate this time, Dougal. These (pointing to plastic cows on table) are very small; those (pointing at cows in field ) are far away...

 

Now concentrate this time, Jose. This (pointing to picture of the European Cup) is European football; this (pointing at Premier League Table in paper) is domestic football...

[Gomez]

we can't. and i think he has a point

 

You're right, it should based on the last 50 years to stop corrupt oligarks trying to buy the European Cup.

[Stevie H]

he's boring.

[Guz]

He has a point talking about chelsea specifically but they're an extreme case because they're success has only been based on the last 3 seasons, wheras the seedings take into account european football over the last 5 years. As said above, generally the system is sound and Chelsea will probably be in pot 1 sooner rather than later.

[Runehammer]

If he has a point, and I don't believe he does, then how is it going to be decided which nations get 4 entries? Presumably he'd like to get the casting vote and, no doubt, a say in who Chelsea get to play every round.

[zimmie4444]

Two points, Firstly, this is the Champions League, and as such the seedings deal with teams' performances in this competition only (seems pretty obvious to me). Secondly, he says Inter finished third, when technically, they are the Italian champions in fact, following the match-fixing scandal. I know the second point is a bit pedantic, but anything to prove Maureen wrong

Edited August 23, 2006 by zimmie4444

[Herbie von Smalls]

if he has a point, then it is that uefa should drop the 'champions' bit from the title of the competition.

[Michael]

Now concentrate this time, Dougal. These (pointing to plastic cows on table) are very small; those (pointing at cows in field ) are far away...

 

Now concentrate this time, Jose. This (pointing to picture of the European Cup) is European football; this (pointing at Premier League Table in paper) is domestic football...

 

 

Always thought that was one of the best lines in a comedy ever.

[Skillz]

Sorry Jose, you have to win it. Stop making excuses. Just win it!

 

PS sorry, do you need more money?

[growler]

based on seedings, providing we match inter/real this season in the CL we will overtake them in the seedings for europe. The same for the following season.

 

The biggest drop will be Man U. If they don't have a good cup run, they could drop to second seeds.

 

russia will be in the top seeds next season. don't forget with Juve not even competing, thats one top seed completely out.

[Benzo-13]

His face after the match tonight was Priceless..

[Rimbeux]

He has no idea hwat he he is talking about here, he has no clear idea of anything other than it doesn't suit him.

 

Admittedly this isn't word for word transcript, but he makes a statement of opinion, then produces another that argues against it next breath. Like the world view of a naive adolescent.

[Murphman]

we can't. and i think he has a point

 

 

So do I but he's a c*nt so who cares. I'm glad they're hard done by, feck 'em.

[ozziecazzie]

....and did he truly say that that was not a Jose Mourinho side playing Middlesbrough tonight?

[Benitez]

I did often wonder how Arsenal managed to stay as top seeds for so long I must admit, considering how they underperformed year after year in Europe for so long!

 

But Maurenho really doesn't have muce of an argument here. I know he's used to instant cheque book success on the domestic front here, but that doesn't mean you can make up for lost years in Europe the same way.

[Bigal]

I did often wonder how Arsenal managed to stay as top seeds for so long I must admit, considering how they underperformed year after year in Europe for so long!

 

But Maurenho really doesn't have muce of an argument here. I know he's used to instant cheque book success on the domestic front here, but that doesn't mean you can make up for lost years in Europe the same way.

 

 

JM "Go on, make us top seeds"

 

UEFA "No"

 

JM "But I've promised andrei that we would be, you cant disappoint him now............."

 

cut to schevchenko looking like a lost puppy staring out of the window

[jimmylibel]

why Chelsea are ranked so low in the European seedings? Its like he is totally oblivious to reasoning behind the seedings.

 

Season 02/03, Chelsea get knocked out of the UEFA Cup to Viking FK, thats why they are below the other three teams in England. Next season though their ranking will skyrocket and will definitely be in the top pot of seeds.

Jose Mourinho insists a Champions League draw which could easily pit Chelsea against Barcelona in the group stage must be flawed.

Mourinho's Premiership champions have a one-in-five chance of being grouped with Barca when the draw is made in Monaco on Thursday.

Chelsea will be in the pot of second seeds and, if they avoid the champions of Spain and Europe, they will face one of AC Milan, Inter Milan, Real Madrid or Valencia. Manchester United, Liverpool and Arsenal, if the latter qualify, will all be among the first seeds but cannot be drawn with another English team in the groups. Mourinho still cannot understand how the domestic champions can be ranked beneath three of the teams they beat to the title.

 

The Chelsea boss said: "The way the groups are made is wrong, the criteria to be seeded in the groups. For example, the English champions Chelsea are lucky to be second seeds.

 

"For me, being champions is more important than the past for seeding.

 

"Inter Milan for example get more coefficient points for the Champions League than us even though Chelsea are champions of England and Inter Milan are only third in Italy."

 

UEFA seed the teams based on a coefficient calculated from the performances of the clubs in Europe over the last five years combined with the coefficient of the country they come from. This system puts new football powers like Chelsea behind the traditional heavyweights of European football.

Liverpool had to qualify this season by beating Maccabi Haifa and Arsenal must finish off Dinamo Zagreb to reach the group stage but they will both be seeded ahead of Chelsea because of their superior coefficient.

 

Mourinho said: "How can a team who has to qualify be in front of a team who goes straight into the group?"

 

Chelsea will expect to qualify from any group because the top two teams progress but, if they are plunged into a tough group and can only finish second, they will face one of the group winners in the first knock-out round. This happened last season, when the Blues finished behind Liverpool in the group and were then drawn against Barcelona in the second round. Frank Rijkaard's team won an epic clash and Mourinho's European dream was over in early March.

 

The Chelsea manager believes the seeding system has a detrimental effect on the overall quality of the competition because so many of the best teams meet in the early stages.

 

Mourinho said: "It is the best competition in the world but you don't see the best clubs in the semi-finals.

 

"For me the competition is not correct and you are in a lucky situation if the best team in Europe wins the competition.

 

"Compare the semi-finals with the earlier rounds, the last eight or last 16. Compare Arsenal against Villarreal with Arsenal against Juventus, Chelsea against Barcelona or Milan against Bayern Munich. It does not compare.

 

"Liverpool were champions and over 30 points behind Chelsea in the league, not even in the top four in the Premiership. Arsenal got through to the final but the best they could do [in the league] was fourth."

 

Mourinho is chasing his third successive Premiership title with Chelsea this season and the club's first Champions League trophy.

 

He finds it hard to prefer one above the other but believes he is fighting an uphill battle in Europe because of the coefficient system.

 

Mourinho said: "The Premier League is an even competition. The Champions League is not.

 

"When you decide there is a head of the group, they start in front of the others.

 

"They are ahead of the group and there are a lot of advantages. If you are second there are a lot of disadvantages. You don't start from zero.

 

"To win the Champions League when you are not head of the group is a big, big achievement."

 

Is he more or less just recycling his moans now? Expect the "Chelsea don't get enough respect" rant again soon.

[lawrie]

"To win the Champions League when you are not head of the group is a big, big achievement."

Weren't we in the second pot for the 2004/5 draw?