Last nights draw

[IanWrightsUglyWife]

:stupid:Apologies if this has already been posted.

Can someone explain why our only option was group A last night?

I could work out why some of the other groups were not available, but why was group B not an option?

I could not see any clash options of Lyon or Benfica so it didnt really make sense?

 

[Kendall]

Because Schalke couldn't go into group A.

 

[SlickMongoose]

What was the exact situation just before we were drawn?

 

[gregga]

I think it was something to do with the teams being split into red and blue balls and A being the only red option left but I still can't quite get my head round it.

Because Schalke couldn't go into group A.

#

Yes but we were third out of the pot so there was still lots of other groups Schalke could have gone in to.

 

[Damian99]

I think it was something to do with the teams being split into red and blue balls and A being the only red option left but I still can't quite get my head round it.

#

Yes but we were third out of the pot so there was still lots of other groups Schalke could have gone in to.

But surely they didn't want to be left with that problem had schalke been drawn later and only "B" left?

 

[wozzahotspurs]

Conspiracy there against us they made sure we had a tough group, this smells of David Dein bending some rules OMG :roll:

It was to do with team clashes and the blue and red situation, they have been doing this for years so lets give them the benifit of the doubt shall we?

 

[aws_young]

They took the relevant 'Group' balls in relation to what team had just been pulled out.

 

[TheSteve]

I think I read somewhere that teams from the same country are paired up for tv purposes so there isn't a clash with viewing figures when both teams are playing at once. I think Schalke were paired with Munich so as they were in the blue half of the draw it meant Schalke had to go into the red half, and as they couldn't go into group A with Bremen that left them group B, which meant we could only have A.

 

[jondesouza]

I still don't get this.

Let's presume we'd gone into B and then all of the other teams drawn subsequently had gone into the groups they drew. Then Ajax were penultimate team to come out - Ajax could have been forced into A and Schalke would have been free to go into G. That would still have meant two German teams on one side of the draw and one on the other.

 

[jondesouza]

I think I read somewhere that teams from the same country are paired up for tv purposes so there isn't a clash with viewing figures when both teams are playing at once. I think Schalke were paired with Munich so as they were in the blue half of the draw it meant Schalke had to go into the red half, and as they couldn't go into group A with Bremen that left them group B, which meant we could only have A.

That's the best explanation I've heard so far. I don't get why Bayern would be paired with Schalke and not Bremen though.

 

[roosh]

That's the best explanation I've heard so far. I don't get why Bayern would be paired with Schalke and not Bremen though.

Because Schalke and Bayern qualified for the group stages automatically, and Bremen had to go through the qualifiers.

 

[roosh]

I still don't get this.

Let's presume we'd gone into B and then all of the other teams drawn subsequently had gone into the groups they drew. Then Ajax were penultimate team to come out - Ajax could have been forced into A and Schalke would have been free to go into G. That would still have meant two German teams on one side of the draw and one on the other.

Where there's 3 teams from one country, 2 are paired and must play on different evenings. In the case of the Germans, Schalke were paired with Bayern, because both qualified automatically for the group stages, while Bremen had to go through the qualifiers.

Schalke had to go into groups A-D, because Bayern were drawn in Groups E-H. Bremen got drawn in Group A, so Schalke couldn't go in there. Groups C and D were already filled with the 2 teams that were drawn before us, so Schalke had to go into Group B.

Leaving us with Group A.

 

[bigturnip]

I think this finally make sense, it's just a shame that TV rights have to dicatate the draw, it makes it a bit laughable calling it a draw really. Perhaps they will get Sky, ITV and all the other major European broadcasters to just get round a table and come up with the groups in future. Sorry you can't be in group B because it would clash with Coronation Street.