Anfield Until The End 17/18

Champions League Charge: Playoff Draws

I didn't make this little thing just so I could post CL pictures of Liverpool as I please . . . of course not. Not at all . . .

Anyways, Champions League Playoffs are just around the corner! Once the season starts, it's only a matter of days that in between PL matches, we have CL matches to think about. Only a wonder how Arsenal pulled it off for as long as they did. And then we took that. It only gets sweeter thinking about that as time goes on, like fine wine. 

The possible draws we could've gotten for this fantastic occasion of August 15/16 and August 22/23 would be:

Steaua Bucharest (UEFA Coefficient #76) - A team in Romania that we should hope to not get simply for the fact that they're in Romania. Their talent is very much not known to me (because, as I said, they're in Romania. It's hard for me to find the Chinese Super League, this is simply a needle in a hay stack), but the distance will be killer in between PL matches, with or without the talent challenge. Young Boys (UEFA Coefficient: #81) - Coming in second in their league like Steaua, this distance would be a bit more favourable than going to Romania. There have been rumblings about this team in the past about them being good and you don't get into CL and not be a good club. I'd enjoy facing these guys more than Steaua. Nice (UEFA Coefficient #107) - The distance for this one is arguably worse than Steaua's, so this could be a reason to not want to play them. There's also the obvious Balotelli stuff that will surface. They're a good club, which could work in our favour as we're always at our best with better clubs. It's just the distance and Balotelli bothering me here. Hoffenheim (UEFA Coefficient #125) - Distance, if you're as worried about it as I apparently am, is the best with this trip. There's also the chance to meet up with Firmino's old club and as seen with Karius' return, those are always a treat to see. They're a good football club, but after Firmino left, they took a bit of a hit, which makes sense considering his talent. They'll be fun to play against and for the most part, don't sit back. Plus, we can scout some players we may want.Istanbul Basaksehir (UEFA Coefficient #150) - And here's the one with the worst distance possible. A trip to Istanbul, which will bring a lot of good memories, will also bring back tired Reds. And near/in an area with trouble, I'd be a bit worried about safety, though you could argue I'm acting a bit too afraid of this area. Again, a good club, but my eyes are looking at the time between matches and not liking the jet lag portion. 

My picks, in order of most wanted to least, would be Hoffenheim, Nice, Steaua Bucharest, Young Boys (they have artificial turf, that's a killer) and then Istanbul Basaksehir. Also, don't mean to offend any Reds fans in those areas, but it would be tough if they go farther out. UEFA Coefficient numbers, if you don't know what they mean, they're basically numbers based on of how the clubs have fared in Europa and Champions League over the past five seasons and the coefficient of the clubs' association. All these numbers are added up, and the total number is compared to others to determine ranking, highest number gets the number one ranking, which is Real Madrid. Then the ranking would be used to determine seeding in either EL or CL for playoffs and first rounds (in Europa, it goes to second rounds because they have more teams). 

Anyways, we got Hoffenheim, which is awesome because this is possibly the hardest team we could get, which will be a good way to get us ready for Champions League. Though others would argue for easier things, I think that would open the chance for clubs to grind out a boring win over us. 

Going over to our players, Clyne is not ready for Watford. Or, at the moment it looks like he's not. He's been out for a long while this preseason, so I guess it was a bit expected, but never fear because Trent Alexander Arnold is here! He's done very well to prove his worth so far, so even if Clyne was fit, this doesn't hurt us as much as it did before. 

Lallana is possibly going to be out for up to three months, a weird big injury that popped up during training to his thigh. This could force Liverpool into signing some much-needed depth in midfield because all the competitions we're in could stretch us thin, especially with Lallana being a big enough part in our exciting play. But there's always the possible argument for Ejaria and Grujic. 

Wow, this was longer than I wanted it to be. Have a chapter to finish for another book, so I'll be on my weekend silence as per usual unless big stuff happens (van Dijk??). Good day/night, Reds!