Ajaxtalk

Man City don't scare me.
My "other" team Notts County (Division 3) almost beat them in the cup this year

;o)

A draw like this sure would make 2 strong groups:

Barcelona
Milan
Manchester City
Lille

Manchester
Lyon
Ajax
Dortmund

Why should we continue to get awful groups!!! Lets believe we'll get a proper one

Twente got an easy draw for this round (FC Vaslui); assuming they go thru it won't be quite as pretty in the next one....

CL preliminary seeding : Lyon will play Rubin Kazan, and will not make it I'd say.

Need two upsets for Ajax to jump into Pot 2. Based on the draw I'd say the best options are Twente/Benfica and Kazan/Lyon. Still wouldn't bet on it tho....and if they do make the jump, would probably see ManCity out of Pot 3.

will be curious to see all the teams in the various POT's.

Can't wait for the draw. The draw and susequent match day schedule will determine my holiday, I'm combining CL and Eredivisie .

Last season Ajax earned 12,3 M€ from the UEFA Champions League. Not that much. Auxerre got 13,7 M€ ...
http://www.uefa.com/MultimediaFiles/Dow ... WNLOAD.pdf

As previously noted, Ajax needs two higher seeded upsets in order to jump to Pot 2. While it is still unlikely, events of the past two days have at least made it possible. The big upset came today with Villarreal losing in Denmark. While they are likely to turn this result around next week in their home match, the door is at least open here. The other two upset possibilities include Arsenal nursing a 1-0 lead going to Italy next week, and Befica on a draw (albeit with 2 away goals).

I would not count Rubin Kazan out of it yet, Lyon is a different team when playing outside of Gerland and Russian teams seem to take advantage of their home field. An early goal is all they need to put Lyon against the ropes. I can really see a 2 - 0 result in favor of Rubin.

I really hope that Arsenal lost to Udinese so that Zenit move up and we draw them from Pot 2, maybe Inter from Pot 1 and anyone but Napoli or Dortmund from Pot 4.

Any other situation than that, our chances are slim of advancing from the group stages. I hate to say it but most of those teams in Pots 2 and 3 look pretty deadly.

So Pot 3 it is.....

I hate to say it but I think Arsenal right now are the weakest out of Pots 1 and 2. I would like to draw them because we have a chance against them and we get big $. We might as well get them and Milan and Napoli so we can get the TV cash and for good TV coverage.

cdnajaxfan schreef:I hate to say it but I think Arsenal right now are the weakest out of Pots 1 and 2. I would like to draw them because we have a chance against them and we get big $. We might as well get them and Milan and Napoli so we can get the TV cash and for good TV coverage.

Oops, just realized that can't have 2 Italian teams, Dortmund then.

cdnajaxfan schreef:I hate to say it but I think Arsenal right now are the weakest out of Pots 1 and 2. I would like to draw them because we have a chance against them and we get big $. We might as well get them and Milan and Napoli so we can get the TV cash and for good TV coverage.

Cannot have two teams from the same league in one group so we won't get both Inter and Napoli in the same group. It will be an interesting draw tomorrow.

I want to see us play Barca!!!! We'll see whose side Cruyff is on.

Here's the setup

Pot 1:
Manchester United
Barcelona
Chelsea
Bayern Munchen
Arsenal
Real Madrid
FC Porto
Inter Milaan

Pot 2:
AC Milan
Olympique Lyon
Shakthar Donetsk
Valencia
Benfica
Villarreal
CSKA Moskou
Olympique Marseille

Pot 3:
Zenit
Ajax
Bayer Leverkusen
Olympaikos Piraeus
Manchester City
Lille
Basel
BATE Borisov

Pot 4:
Borussia Dortmund
Napoli
Dinamo Zagreb
APOEL Nicosia
Trabzonspor
Racing Genk
Viktoria Plzen
Otelul Galati

I would prefer: Porto, Valencia, and APOEL

However, my prediction as to who we will actually get: Chelsea, CSKA, Dortmund

Easiest group would be: Inter, Valencia and anyone from pot four other than Dortmund & Napoli
Best Group for Great Football: Barca, Milan, Dortmund (we would really know what the team was made of)
Teams we realistically can beat: Pot 1 - Inter, Arsenal; Pot 2 - Olympique Marseille, Villareal, Valencia, Benfica; Pot 4 - Everyone except for Dortmund (Napoli is probably a draw)

From Pot 1 we have a good chance of drawing an English Team. From Pot 2 we have a good chance of drawing a Spanish or French Team.

I agree that Inter and Arsenal are the weakest in Pot 1. Would also like to avoid Dortmund and Napoli. I think that almost all in Pot 2 are beatable, Milan included. Travelling to Moscow and the Ukraine and playing in their harsh winters would suck though.

I think we will struggle to advance to the next stages being in Pot 3. Might as get the group of death again this year. We always seem to get screwed in these draws anyways. Someone in the Ajax organization must have been with Madame Platini back in the day!

I am already tuned in for it

none of these groups look particularly friendly!

That's nice I think. We can beat Lyon, though they are strong.

Group D it is, so far with: Real Madrid, Lyon

shit real again