Those who support big teams with aspirations of winning cups, leagues,
the CL and so on have probably never experienced the emotional
rollercoaster of a relegation battle unless, in the case of fans of
teams like Man United, Chelsea, Atletico or Milan, they have been around
for a very long time.

I was reminded of the intensity of it all when watching Everton's match against Crystal Palace the other night. Went through it live with
Bielefeld in in 1984-85, including the relegation playoff vs.
Saarbr|+cken, the most intense live football experience I ever witnessed.

Looking around at the leagues that wrap up this weekend, it is a bit of
a mixed bag in terms of relegation.

England is a bit boring, only Leeds and Burnley fighting it out to
avoid the last place. Leeds away to Brentford, Burnley home to
Newcastle. Leeds with the worse GD. If I had to bet I would say Leeds
are more likely to lose out.

Italy - Venezia and Genoa already doomed (because of Head to Head tie
breaker in the latter case), Cagliari are away to Venezia, whereas Salernitana,two points above the drop, are home to Udinese. Could Italy
have no island teams in Serie A next year ? When was the last time that happened ?

France - Bordeaux have zero chances of beating Brest (away) by enough
goals to hope to sneak into the promotion playoff match. St. Etienne do
have a possibility of catching Metz, though, given that Metz plays away
to PSG. St. Etienne are away to Nantes, so not easy. A point might do
it if PSG obliges, and even if both lose, If PSG scores a hatful, les
Verts could still sneak by.


Spain is the most interesting, though complicated as hell because of
head to head tie-breakers. A cursory glance at the table shows that the
last relegation place could go to any of Getafe, Elche, Granada, Cadiz
or Mallorca.

Getafe 39 pts
Elche 39 pts
Granada 37
Mallorca 36
Cadiz 36.

Getafe and Elche actually play each other, so a draw will do both very
nicely. Do they do biscotti in Spain? Allegedly they do Maletas (full
of cash, to incentivize teams to produce a result favourable to the donor)

Here are all the head to head results

Getafe - Elche 0-1, to come (but not relevant, since they can't both
end on 39 points)
Getafe - Granada 4-2, 1-1
Getafe - Mallorca 1-0, 0-0
Getafe - Cadiz 4-0, 1-1

Elche - Granada 0-0, 1-0
Elche - Mallorca 3-0, 2-2
Elche - Cadiz 3-1, 0-3

Granada - Mallorca 4-1, 6-2
Granada - Cadiz 0-0, 1-1

Mallorca - Cadiz 2-1, 1-1


In a three way tie (39 points) with Elche, Cadiz, and Mallorca, Cadiz
gets relegated. Same thing with Getafe//Mallorca/Cadiz. So Getafe and
Elche are in fact safe. A four way tie is impossible.

Granada are at home to Espanyol. They are fine if they win, or match the results of either Cadiz or Mallorca. If they lose and the other two
draw, the loser of the three way tie is still Cadiz. They win the head
to head against Mallorca if they lose and Mallorca draws, and would lose
out on GD in a direct comparison with C|idiz, if Granada loses and C|idiz
gets a point.

C|idiz are away to already relegated Alav|-s. Mallorca are away to
Osasuna, who have nothing to play for.

Head to head is too complicated !
--- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
* Origin: SportNet Gateway Site (24:150/2)

On Friday, May 20, 2022 at 6:15:17 PM UTC-4, MH wrote:

Those who support big teams with aspirations of winning cups, leagues,
the CL and so on have probably never experienced the emotional
rollercoaster of a relegation battle unless, in the case of fans of
teams like Man United, Chelsea, Atletico or Milan, they have been around
for a very long time.

I was reminded of the intensity of it all when watching Everton's match against Crystal Palace the other night. Went through it live with
Bielefeld in in 1984-85, including the relegation playoff vs.
Saarbr|+cken, the most intense live football experience I ever witnessed.

Looking around at the leagues that wrap up this weekend, it is a bit of
a mixed bag in terms of relegation.

England is a bit boring, only Leeds and Burnley fighting it out to
avoid the last place. Leeds away to Brentford, Burnley home to
Newcastle. Leeds with the worse GD. If I had to bet I would say Leeds
are more likely to lose out.

I am pulling for Leeds. I value two things in my preferences for teams going up or down the ladder - tradition and fan passion. Leeds has both in abundance, Burnley have neither.
For the same reason, I hope Sunderland win the League One playoff final starting in about an hour, and Forest win their playoff final next weekend.
--- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
* Origin: SportNet Gateway Site (24:150/2)

On Saturday, May 21, 2022 at 9:10:10 AM UTC-4, Al Kamista wrote:

On Friday, May 20, 2022 at 6:15:17 PM UTC-4, MH wrote:

Those who support big teams with aspirations of winning cups, leagues,
the CL and so on have probably never experienced the emotional rollercoaster of a relegation battle unless, in the case of fans of
teams like Man United, Chelsea, Atletico or Milan, they have been around for a very long time.

I was reminded of the intensity of it all when watching Everton's match against Crystal Palace the other night. Went through it live with Bielefeld in in 1984-85, including the relegation playoff vs. Saarbr|+cken, the most intense live football experience I ever witnessed.

Looking around at the leagues that wrap up this weekend, it is a bit of
a mixed bag in terms of relegation.

England is a bit boring, only Leeds and Burnley fighting it out to
avoid the last place. Leeds away to Brentford, Burnley home to
Newcastle. Leeds with the worse GD. If I had to bet I would say Leeds
are more likely to lose out.

I am pulling for Leeds. I value two things in my preferences for teams going up or down the ladder - tradition and fan passion. Leeds has both in abundance, Burnley have neither.

For the same reason, I hope Sunderland win the League One playoff final starting in about an hour, and Forest win their playoff final next weekend.

Sunderland 1-0 Wycombe HT
Sunderland by far the better team. Wycombe look like Route 1 Hoofball specialists, which is no surprise seeing that they have former Burnley big man Sam Vokes at CF. Sunderland OTOH, while limited technically, are trying to play proper football on the ground and have created several chances.
--- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
* Origin: SportNet Gateway Site (24:150/2)

On Saturday, May 21, 2022 at 12:15:17 AM UTC+2, MH wrote:

Those who support big teams with aspirations of winning cups, leagues,
the CL and so on have probably never experienced the emotional
rollercoaster of a relegation battle unless, in the case of fans of
teams like Man United, Chelsea, Atletico or Milan, they have been around
for a very long time.

I was reminded of the intensity of it all when watching Everton's match against Crystal Palace the other night. Went through it live with
Bielefeld in in 1984-85, including the relegation playoff vs.
Saarbr|+cken, the most intense live football experience I ever witnessed.

Looking around at the leagues that wrap up this weekend, it is a bit of
a mixed bag in terms of relegation.

England is a bit boring, only Leeds and Burnley fighting it out to
avoid the last place. Leeds away to Brentford, Burnley home to
Newcastle. Leeds with the worse GD. If I had to bet I would say Leeds
are more likely to lose out.

Italy - Venezia and Genoa already doomed (because of Head to Head tie breaker in the latter case), Cagliari are away to Venezia, whereas Salernitana,two points above the drop, are home to Udinese. Could Italy
have no island teams in Serie A next year ? When was the last time that happened ?

In 2003-04, before the rise (and fall) of the Sicilian teams.
The Italian race to the bottom was perhaps the most interesting one. Salernitana were behind by three already in the first half, but Cagliari
were incapable to get one past an already relegated Venezia, and the
scoreless draw doomed them.
Ciao,
Werner
--- SBBSecho 3.06-Win32
* Origin: SportNet Gateway Site (24:150/2)