Champions League Quarter Final Draw

[Dimples]

This must rank as one of the biggest games in bin dipper history surely ? 21 points behind us have the media mentioned the gulf not fucking gap yet ? and we hammered the cunts 5 nil ! let’s get things into perspective eh !

The bookies agree.
We are 3/1 to win outright, the Dippers are 12/1.
Money is a reflection on reality everything else is just noise.

[phips]

man, this is gonna be a fun run of matches: Everton, Liverpool, United, Liverpool, Spurs.

[South Stand Balti]

man, this is gonna be a fun run of matches: Everton, Liverpool, United, Liverpool, Spurs.

All in the space of 14 days.

[Swales4ever]

Serious question.
Do people think that the draw is fixed?

I don't think the draw itself is fixed, but I think the CL has been set up in such a way as to minimize the chance of upsets, and I think referees are subconsciously influenced by the fact that if they make a mistake in favour of one of the "smaller" teams, it'll be more damaging to their career than if they do so in favour of one of the "bigger" ones.

Whatever people say about the draw being fixed, there simply isn't anything statistically overly unlikely that's happened over the years, whether you look at things from the perspective of individual clubs (who have risen and fallen in the rankings) or from the ranking positions themselves. Any other way of looking at it essentially relies on emotions, and there's probably someone on a Barca forum somewhere out there whimpering that the same 2 or 3 teams always get an 'easier' draw than them, too.

well BiB... you are right when arguing that forensic evidence will hardy ever reached... but when looking at this particular draw... it gets very hard for any sensed person not to imply the blatant obvious.
I said in advance that UEFA would have made sure to reward sponsors with a SF involving the 4 most marketing attractive sides and here we have gone.
not that I want this as any hint of my smart.

I fully commend your law abiding plea and stance, though

[Dimples]

Only the two that matter are the Dippers matches.
Lose all the others and we still win the PL.

Focus on the Dippers.

[Sideshow Bob]

if im honest, id prefer to see us rest our best players in the derby just to ensure we are 100% for the dippers. we have plenty of time to win the league.

[South Stand Balti]

Serious question.
Do people think that the draw is fixed?

Yes.

Yes. Barca and RM avoided each other yet again at this stage. RM, Barca and Bayern all kept apart. The sponsors pay mind boggling amounts and they will want Messi and Ronaldo in the comp.

[Swales4ever]

This must rank as one of the biggest games in bin dipper history surely ? 21 points behind us have the media mentioned the gulf not fucking gap yet ? and we hammered the cunts 5 nil ! let’s get things into perspective eh !

The bookies agree.
We are 3/1 to win outright, the Dippers are 12/1.
Money is a reflection on reality everything else is just noise.

see... I am half a professional investor greed, having offered 4/1 on a over 3.5 aggregate

still yet to receive any bet from any tabloid brainwashed fearful of almighty histriiy laden Liverspool.

[Beefymcfc]

Amazing how these draws go. I was looking at UEFA coefficients yesterday anticipating the easy draws for the elite and my thoughts were exactly right. I even envisaged that the only draw for UEFA would be for us and the Dippers drawing each other because on our day, both clubs would have a decent chance against their favoured elite clubs. They never disappoint, unless you aren't expecting to be disappointed.

On another note, this may, and should have an impact on the Rag game where, I'm afraid to say, we should be playing a second 11. This is disappointing but in the scheme of things, the Rags game is small fry.

Interestingly, the weekend in-between these games is where we've both got our Derby. The Dippers had a 9 day rest prior to playing us at theirs where we had a game a couple of days before. They won't have the same rest this time and with the Derby itself, will they have the chance to rest vital players knowing that they're still in a fight for 4th place and CL qualification for next season?

[blues2win]

I wonder whether Raheem will be rested for the Anfield leg. Always seems to be affected by the booing and he plays near the touch line.

[South Stand Balti]

if im honest, id prefer to see us rest our best players in the derby just to ensure we are 100% for the dippers. we have plenty of time to win the league.

If we lose to the Rags we will need to win 3 of the other 7 games. We play Everton just before the dippers and Spurs just after the home leg. It's a quandary. I'd sooner lose to the Rags than the dippers in this though. Pep will sort it.

[BlueinBosnia]

Serious question.
Do people think that the draw is fixed?

I don't think the draw itself is fixed, but I think the CL has been set up in such a way as to minimize the chance of upsets, and I think referees are subconsciously influenced by the fact that if they make a mistake in favour of one of the "smaller" teams, it'll be more damaging to their career than if they do so in favour of one of the "bigger" ones.

Whatever people say about the draw being fixed, there simply isn't anything statistically overly unlikely that's happened over the years, whether you look at things from the perspective of individual clubs (who have risen and fallen in the rankings) or from the ranking positions themselves. Any other way of looking at it essentially relies on emotions, and there's probably someone on a Barca forum somewhere out there whimpering that the same 2 or 3 teams always get an 'easier' draw than them, too.

well BiB... you are right when arguing that forensic evidence will hardy ever reached... but when looking at this particular draw... it gets very hard for any sensed person not to imply the blatant obvious.
I said in advance that UEFA would have made sure to reward sponsors with a SF involving the 4 most marketing attractive sides and here we have gone.
not that I want this as any hint of my smart.

I fully commend your law abiding plea and stance, though

If you're using the 'rich list' to define this, then yes, you're right. But the 4 richest clubs left in the competition weren't kept apart in 2016-17, or 2014-15, or 2013-14, or 2012-13. If you're defining 'most marketable' another way, is it how you "feel", or are you using something else to define it?

I'll repeat - I've yet to see a convincing argument with consistently applied parameters to suggest that draws are consistently beyond the realms of statistical plausibility.

[budfox]

if im honest, id prefer to see us rest our best players in the derby just to ensure we are 100% for the dippers. we have plenty of time to win the league.

If we lose to the Rags we will need to win 3 of the other 7 games. We play Everton just before the dippers and Spurs just after the home leg. It's a quandary. I'd sooner lose to the Rags than the dippers in this though. Pep will sort it.

We have to win three out of seven if we lose to the rags AND they win all of theirs.

If we draw with them we'd only need one more win and two draws, and even then they'd need to win all of their seven other games.

Over on Betfair you simply cannot bet on City to win the Premiership any more, and the rags are currently 670/1 with the dippers and spuds at 1000/1.

If we don't win the Premiership it would be the greatest upset in English football history, and if you're bothered that we might actually not win then chuck a tenner each of the three clubs above. A minimum win of £6,700 tax-free would surely soften the blow.

[budfox]

Serious question.
Do people think that the draw is fixed?

I don't think the draw itself is fixed, but I think the CL has been set up in such a way as to minimize the chance of upsets, and I think referees are subconsciously influenced by the fact that if they make a mistake in favour of one of the "smaller" teams, it'll be more damaging to their career than if they do so in favour of one of the "bigger" ones.

Whatever people say about the draw being fixed, there simply isn't anything statistically overly unlikely that's happened over the years, whether you look at things from the perspective of individual clubs (who have risen and fallen in the rankings) or from the ranking positions themselves. Any other way of looking at it essentially relies on emotions, and there's probably someone on a Barca forum somewhere out there whimpering that the same 2 or 3 teams always get an 'easier' draw than them, too.

well BiB... you are right when arguing that forensic evidence will hardy ever reached... but when looking at this particular draw... it gets very hard for any sensed person not to imply the blatant obvious.
I said in advance that UEFA would have made sure to reward sponsors with a SF involving the 4 most marketing attractive sides and here we have gone.
not that I want this as any hint of my smart.

I fully commend your law abiding plea and stance, though

If you're using the 'rich list' to define this, then yes, you're right. But the 4 richest clubs left in the competition weren't kept apart in 2016-17, or 2014-15, or 2013-14, or 2012-13. If you're defining 'most marketable' another way, is it how you "feel", or are you using something else to define it?

I'll repeat - I've yet to see a convincing argument with consistently applied parameters to suggest that draws are consistently beyond the realms of statistical plausibility.

I make it a 3.3/1 shot that the "big four" avoided each other today.

UEFA must be aware that accusations of draw fixing exist, it's not as if sport doesn't have a history of sharp practice. As I said earlier in the thread though, they could put the integrity of the draw beyond question if they wished to do so. Lottery systems that are properly audited and monitored exist all over the world, why not employ such a system instead of one that *could* be fixed? You can still have the pazzaz, just do it by hitting a big red button rather than drawing balls out of a hat.

[Sideshow Bob]

has anyone dared to visit RAWK since the draw?? i cant bring myself to do it but imagine they are celebrating with glee, the deluded twunts.

[Swales4ever]

Serious question.
Do people think that the draw is fixed?

I don't think the draw itself is fixed, but I think the CL has been set up in such a way as to minimize the chance of upsets, and I think referees are subconsciously influenced by the fact that if they make a mistake in favour of one of the "smaller" teams, it'll be more damaging to their career than if they do so in favour of one of the "bigger" ones.

Whatever people say about the draw being fixed, there simply isn't anything statistically overly unlikely that's happened over the years, whether you look at things from the perspective of individual clubs (who have risen and fallen in the rankings) or from the ranking positions themselves. Any other way of looking at it essentially relies on emotions, and there's probably someone on a Barca forum somewhere out there whimpering that the same 2 or 3 teams always get an 'easier' draw than them, too.

well BiB... you are right when arguing that forensic evidence will hardy ever reached... but when looking at this particular draw... it gets very hard for any sensed person not to imply the blatant obvious.
I said in advance that UEFA would have made sure to reward sponsors with a SF involving the 4 most marketing attractive sides and here we have gone.
not that I want this as any hint of my smart.

I fully commend your law abiding plea and stance, though

If you're using the 'rich list' to define this, then yes, you're right. But the 4 richest clubs left in the competition weren't kept apart in 2016-17, or 2014-15, or 2013-14, or 2012-13. If you're defining 'most marketable' another way, is it how you "feel", or are you using something else to define it?

I'll repeat - I've yet to see a convincing argument with consistently applied parameters to suggest that draws are consistently beyond the realms of statistical plausibility.

again, my utmost respected mate, besides the fact that i don't consider myself fit enough to trade "academic barbs" with you, honestly, I consider this topic so blatantly obvious to not even deserves the application of strict accademic reasearching parametres...
me think:
Barca (aka UEFAlona) and and Bayern (European dominat economy tycoons's recreational playground/club) get drawn the only two accidental freak of the draw itself... and barring extreme upsets, always possible when a ball is rolling, but utmost improbable given importance/mement in the season and all, we (the global audience) and the sponsors are gonna served a SF stage made of the 4 most stars laden sides...
Again, I dont even have to use the word concede, to enforce Your exact statement on that factual evidence is impossible to reach, but... there is an exact reason why almost every true fan of the Game (the cynicist me included) does consider this competition a marketing outlet and, for a City fans special interest's perspective, a pill to be swallen in the persuit of the Historical All Time Greatest Clubs status.

[Beefymcfc]

It's their year!

[Swales4ever]

It's their year!

werent You, Beefsters, saying... stop it, there's a limit to anyone capability to laugh?

oh, my bad!... sorry, that was the Munchens.... now is Dippers moment on the commedy gold stage.

[South Stand Balti]

It's so damn inconvenient all of this. We should be talking about when we will win the league and the Derby etc but this has thrown a spanner in the good feeling works. I also wonder at the wisdom of both us and the dippers being given a Derby game in the middle of the chumps league quarters. If the two teams had been kept apart the fixtures are not very helpful for the two English teams to progress.

[johnny crossan]

has anyone dared to visit RAWK since the draw?? i cant bring myself to do it but imagine they are celebrating with glee, the deluded twunts.

It's a great relief for them tinged with regret they didn't draw a European Giant.