Reactions to the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League Draw | The GSMC Soccer Podcast

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leave a comment or question there we couldn't do what we do without your amazing support and we're so thankful to have you as part of our um as part of our community but yeah we have to start off though with this new Champions League draw now on the screen y'all can see the pot one teams what they were drawn up against the pop one teams um which was Real Madrid Manchester City Bayern Munich PSG Liverpool interm Milan Bia Dortmund leig and uh Barcelona you can see all the pot one matchups that we have in the screen right um and but there's you know there's also some big teams that are in the other pots you know Arsenal being in one of the pots um as a part two team I think that's a getting to having to face Arsenal as a pot two team is uh is really rough like that's the worst possible option out of all the P two teams so you know Inter Milan who have to uh play Arsenal at least they get to play them at home that'll be that's a rough one for them um PSG um having to go away to the Emirates that's really really rough for them you know you you know as a part two team that's the one pot two team you would you know you would like to avoid in Arsenal but um but yeah overall it was interesting it's interesting now there is this new format right we all know this new format I explained to yall yesterday to the best of my abilities you know you basically have a 36 Team league to um 36 Team league each team will face off each team has um has eight opponents two opponents from part one two opponents from part two two opponents from pot three two opponents from pot four and it don't matter you can you you will play two teams from your own pot so if you're a pot one two you'll face off against two pot one teams you face off against two pot two teams you face off against two that's what we're seeing right here all the pot one teams so it uh it makes it interesting top eight automatically move on to the round the 16 9th to 24th Place the next 16 spots will all face off in January as a home Anda leg sort of playoff to reach the round the 16 essentially an extra round of The Knockout stages sort of like a playin sort of situation to get into it from 9th Place to 24th Place the 16 teams will half of them will move on um to um to The Knockout stages so really there is a benefit here of trying to finish top eight you don't want to face that you don't want to play those extra two games in January um to get into the Champions League knockout stages if you know if you don't have to you try your best and yeah it's it's interesting here with this new Champions League format because the the point tallies the point things you know it's not the same usually you know you get about nine points in the Champions League group stages you you know you're in decent positioning you know you get anything more than nine points you know you're you should be comfortably moving on it's a little bit different here with the fact that it's a 36 team League I assume you basically you know you play Eight Games I'd say you know you want to aim for at least around you know eight games you know if you if you win half of them it'll be 12 points I think that'll be good enough to get you into the from you know 8 to 16 the 9th to 24th spot now if you're trying to win you know you're trying to finish in the top eight you realistically want about 16 points you want to win about about five the games you know five five games about um you know maybe six depending on if you lose the remaining but you know it's it's it's very very confusing things are going to be very tightly congested as well with only eight games being played and this being a 36 Team league you know they could be a point that six or 678 sort of positioning you know it could be to the point that Ninth Place in like 17th Place is all separated by three points you know it it will get that title we will be that congested that's just how it's going to be in this sort of big league in a small game format because eight games is a small it's a small sample size for a whole 36 Team league um but yeah I will say though you know you're seeing these ties right now I don't want to break down exactly the ties um you know what are going to be the most fascinating ties because we have a whole segment later on on this show where we do that but we do have some interesting games and it does get interesting as you know with the PO one team is facing off yeah that's very good but also another thing is we have some very strong teams in part two that will also be facing off against po two part one teams which will make it interesting like Arsenal is listed as a part two team Leverkusen after going last season unbeaten in all competitions besides the Europa League final they find themselves in Pon two um which for me you know look bisha Dortmund they reached the final and obviously there you know there needs to be a sort of element of respect there but for me they're not at the level of L well they're they're clearly not at the level of Leverkusen and they're most definitely not at the level of Arsenal liic now lipic in European wise has been pretty decent and I look forward to their game actually going to you know playing against Villa that'll be actually very fascinating tie or yeah that'll be actually a very very fascinating tie actually they go Villa goes to liic but should they be a part one team in my opinion I don't I don't know I do think I'd favor Leverkusen and Arsenal despite I do like what liick has been as a team over the past few years there's some real quality there but yeah going back to the main point you know you know we get these juicy sort of ties in the Champions League group stages I also think this will sort of make managers um for these sort of pop one teams for these sort of top teams you know like a Guardiola you know or card LTI it'll make him you know it'll make them second guess whether or not they should take these letter games in the group stages more seriously in the past you know after three to four games we see City roll out the youth team essentially I don't think City will have that sort of luxury in this format because of how everything will be tightly congested and chances are not you know you're going to need a result in that final game to guarantee yourself in the top eight because City will be playing against inter and PSG you know there will be some games that they can slip up they have to also go away to Juventus you know so that you know we'll get some you know interesting ties there's there's no two ways about it um uh we'll get you know team we'll get managers taking the sort of group stages more seriously I think think they will I think the managers will value the incentive of finishing in the top eight I think that's very important I think though the last thing that these top level teams this Manchester City this Real Madrid these Bayern Munich this psg's liverpools the last thing they want to do is play Barcelona is to play an unnecessary tie in January you know especially with the amount that people talk about that everyone talks about in the football World talking um discussing how much football is being played how much minutes toll I think this going to be an extra incentive there to finish within the top eight so you don't have to place that extra you know sort of knockout stage game just to get into The Knockout stages that I that's you know that's something these top level teams will like to avoid uh but no you know I I'll say this I think we should be a little bit more patient you know there's a little bit criticism over this new format and I'm the first to criticizing new things especially when things are not broken don't fix it but for me I have to say the Champions League group stages were broken in my opinion the Champions League group stages is some of the most boring football I have ever seen the first week maybe two is a little interesting in the fact that champions league has been gone for a while but as you get to the later stages of the group stages there is just so you know unless there's some drama involved at the group it can get interesting but overall you know you know especially was group The you know how many times in the past few years has City essentially played a youth team for the second half of their group stages it happens countless countless time again I want City to actually get tested to have something to battle for to the final you know group stage sort of games you know I don't want to say that over and over again some of the weak groups that we've seen as well we've seen one pop one team and three sort of you know you know teams that have no real ability to challenge them um yeah I'm very excited for this group stages and you see see some of these fascinating matchups and these are only you know the pot one teams facing off there's some interesting ties all over the place and yeah we'll continue to discuss that more on the third segment of here but