Mike's Blog

I was really disappointed for Everton last night as they were knocked out of the qualifying round of the Champions League, leaving them with the runners up prize of a place in the UEFA Cup. Having lost the first leg 2-1 in Liverpool, Everton needed a good performance to make it through.

Most of the game was very similar to the first leg, with Everton working very hard but without the cutting edge to create real chances, and Villarreal showing a lot of flair, creating many more chances. A first half goal to extend the aggregate lead left Everton needing two goals without reply to force extra time. They duly got the first through a Mikel Arteta free kick, and Duncan Ferguson put the ball in the net from a corner in the last five minutes. Controversially, referee Pierluigi Collina disallowed it, apparently for a foul by Marcus Bent in the box. Replays have shown this decision to be dubious at best, and most observers would surely admit the decision was incredibly harsh, as it appears that Bent's marker, Juan Pablo Sorin, was doing the bulk of the pushing.

It must be incredibly frustrating for Everton to have made such progress to get to this stage last season, then lose on such a controversial decision. It is surely time for football to embrace technology in order to avoid such things happening again. How, I'm not 100% sure, but this decision potentially cost Everton - the team in the ascendancy at the time - up to £10 million. That's a lot of money.

I also feel that Everton have every right to feel disappointed at the draw. I've genuinely never understood seeding systems. I always thought the point of a tournament was to find the best competitor - in which case, other than keeping the best teams for the telly at later stages, why do it? England's third placed team Manchester United had a high seeding and got an easy draw against the Hungarian champions Debrecen. England's fourth placed team were not seeded, and got probably the hardest draw of the lot against Spain's third placed team. Why do people think it makes sense to help the better teams? Manchester United are a great club, who have had huge success both domestically and on a European level in their history - why do they need to be granted an easy draw?

If my team - Aston Villa - scraped into fourth place this season, we'd be unseeded too, and could end up drawing a team like Villarreal, Internazionale, or even Rangers or Celtic. Compared to any seeded team who might have to face the might of the champions of Lithuania, Bulgaria, or maybe even Romania.

If people want the big guns to win every competition, just don't let smaller clubs in. It would at least be more honest than allowing lots of people in, then making it twice as hard as it is for the big guns.