Has the La Liga head had another press conf yet about it's unfair the Prem is so dominant? Cracks me up every time.
The relative strength of the Premier League
- Thread starter Wumminator
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If we're back and can stay at this level (or better) and Liverpool and Chelsea can return to competitive form, no other league comes even remotely close to the PL. Doubly so if Newcastle can also claim a place at the top, which looks increasingly likely. And if Arsenal can keep this going as well (which I wouldn't count on, but you never know), there could be as much as six English clubs that are all realistic candidates to win the CL. That'd be completely unprecedented, but it may very well happen. That's in addition to Tottenham who, while certainly not favored, can make it quite far in a good year.
The PL might not necessarily have the best top 2 teams at all times, but if we look at the 6-8 best, England blows everyone out of the water. The 4th, 5th and 6th best teams in Spain/Italy/Gemany/France are nothing. This very minute, Liverpool and Chelsea are in the wilderness, but that's obviously not going to last forever. They'll be back in the top 6 within two seasons.
The PL might not necessarily have the best top 2 teams at all times, but if we look at the 6-8 best, England blows everyone out of the water. The 4th, 5th and 6th best teams in Spain/Italy/Gemany/France are nothing. This very minute, Liverpool and Chelsea are in the wilderness, but that's obviously not going to last forever. They'll be back in the top 6 within two seasons.
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Why would a sensible United fan would want Liverpool to do well in Europe so PL has a better reputation in the UCL?
Might as well say you felt bad for Liverpool after they got trashed by Madrid last night.
The quality of the managers that we have had here near every season is mad - we have had Guardiola, Arteta, Ten Hag, Conte taking over Jose, Tuchel, Klopp, Unai Amery winning things in his Spanish team and now managing Aston bloody Villa, Ancelotti managing Everton 
, Pochettino, Benitez, Rangnick, Martinez and others
, Pochettino, Benitez, Rangnick, Martinez and othersWhat are you talking about? At no point have I so much as hinted that I want Liverpool to do well.
He didn’t say anything remotely like that?
I can't think of any time in the last decade in which Liverpool, Chelsea, and United were all in competitive form. I'm not sure why you think it's obvious that this will happen.
The 9th team in La Liga won the EL (against United) and eliminated Bayern from the CL last season (and reached the semis).
The 6th team in the Bundesliga won the EL last season.
The "PL is the best league in the world" thing is really cultish at this point. One PL club won a knockout match in Europe and you are throwing a victory parade, it's absolutely mad.
Let's wait for the round to end before we announce the death of the Premier League. I fancy all the teams bar Liverpool to progress.
The funny thing is that last season, the narrative was "Real Madrid fluked it, City/Liverpool/Chelsea are better clubs." Nine months later, both Liverpool and Chelsea look rough, and City are a step behind where they were last season. Real Madrid are pretty much the same. So what was the fluke?
To counter the Premier League's dominant financial and commercial position, it makes a lot of sense for the traditionally big clubs outside of England to create a European Super League.
No it wasn’t easier Only the first 20 mn were easier… And still we ended up winking it by 3-0. Leicester defended like clowns throughout the game.
Liverpool were kind of lucky to make it past a Barella deprived Inter. Inter went down to 10 men immediately after scoring at Anfield… Then they got a lucky draw with Benfica in the quarters and even luckier than that with Villarreal in the semis when it could have been Bayern… City certainly were lucky in their second leg against Atletico. It’s always tight in the CL.
I think that was a narrative before the final and more directed at the PSG, Chelsea, City matches where all 3 were probably better for longer periods of the ties. Benzema scoring goals and taking chances that didn't look sustainable. Fluke is a bad description but you had something in that luck territory. Your ruthlessness was one of your more impressive traits, it probably sounds backhanded but it looked intimidating to face up against and isn't meant to be.
Chelsea would probably still be a good cup team if they didn't sack Tuchel but Boehly would probably be a headache for anyone, at least initially. Liverpool were pulling the last drops out of that team last season and the signs were there. You were flat out better than them in the final anyway.
City just don't give a shit about the league this season to be honest. half their players are on holidays most weeks. Its poor preparation for the champions league and will probably bite them in the ass but i wouldn't write them off just yet. Getting their shit together for the run in and winning their next 10 games is entirely plausible for them. Guardiola will probably pick a dumb formation and make life difficult for them sooner or later regardless i guess.
Its impossible to compare leagues really, too many teams, but the premier league is in a lull this season and pretty weak. You could have a fun competition around midtable with Chelsea and Liverpool dropping into that territory but most of the usual suspects around that level like Leicester, Wolves, West Ham and Everton have dropped off too so theres just 10 relegation candidates.
Theres a few teams building up decent sides that'll do well next season i imagine though. The lull wont last too long.
I didn't say real Madrid fluked it, I said we were 2 minutes away from 3 all English finals in 4 years which we were. Real are clearly a strong team, as are bayern and Barca, the relative strength of the Premier league is that there are 4-6 teams in any given season who are close to that level.
We just knocked out the team miles clear at the top of la liga and we're 3rd
You deserved the title like we did the season before. It was no fluke but at time it definitely was a hard carry by Benzema, that you have to accept.
I agree that Real Madrid were lucky.
If they hadn't been lucky, there would have been another all-PL final. And there would have been lots of comments about how this shows the overwhelming superiority of the PL, with people unaware that in less than 9 months, those same teams would look a hell of a lot worse.
All I am saying is people have to be careful to distinguish real patterns from made-up ones.
If they hadn't been lucky, there would have been another all-PL final. And there would have been lots of comments about how this shows the overwhelming superiority of the PL, with people unaware that in less than 9 months, those same teams would look a hell of a lot worse.
All I am saying is people have to be careful to distinguish real patterns from made-up ones.
These type of things can be cherry picked though. 11th placed Frankfurt knocked out 2nd place Barcelona last season. Knockout games aren’t the best way to judge quality.
7th placed Villarreal knocked out Bayern Munich last season which if we go by judging quality, shows that the depth in La Liga is freaking strong
Look, the best and so far only real metric we have of comparative league strenght is the UEFA coefficient. Which is not the best by a long shot and incomplete too, but still
PL has been dominating that for the past 5-6 years, and are way out in front this season too
PL has been dominating that for the past 5-6 years, and are way out in front this season too
Notice Casemeiro is saying how much more difficult the prem is.
I can't be arsed to do this right now good sir, but one day I'll sample your posts in this thread to showcase the brilliance of your wumming
That might be true but every player says his new league is difficult after he moves, that's really not something you can notice ^^
Nah, but ballbag was on Monday night live saying it’s the PL’s duty to help out La Liga by giving them some money so they don’t get left behind.
Anyone ever done that for PSG?
Messi did it, Herrera did it, they all do it, it doesn't mean much.
I know you're wumming but to be fair, for a DM like him this was likely to be true even back when la liga was way stronger than the rest. Conversely, and this is likely true even now, la liga is more difficult for forwards
Heard this kind of prediction so many times before. Meanwhile, in the current CL, English teams are struggling to get past the round of 16. In the last 10, 15, 20 years, English teams have been anything but dominant.
We know the PL has the most money as it has pretty much always had. I'm gonna wait to see this much vaunted dominance actually manifest in consistent CL wins before I start accepting any grandiose claims such as the ones made in this post. Because for all the trumpeting of the PL's strength, the only time English clubs have actually been dominant in Europe's premier competition was in the 1970s and 80s.
If you pull the timeline to 10 years, PL clubs may not be outstanding, but in the last 5 years, PL clubs have the most appearances in QF, SF and by far the most appearances in Final. I don't think it is wrong to say that PL is has been the best league in the world in the recent years.
Appearances in QF in UCL 2017-2022:
La Liga: 10
PL: 13
Serie A: 4
Bundesliga: 6
Appearances in SF in UCL 2017-2022:
La Liga: 5
PL: 7
Serie A: 1
Bundesliga: 3
Appearances in Final in UCL 2017-2022:
La Liga: 2
PL: 6
Serie A: 0
Bundesliga: 1
Winners:
La Liga: 2
PL: 2
Bundesliga: 1
Serie A: 0
Almost entirely predicted by..
Yeah its basically this.
For most of 2010-2020 real and Barca had super teams, I mean that real Madrid side was so strong that someone who most wouldn't have had in the top 5 players has come to us and absolutely revolutionised us, and the aging remnants of that team are still strong enough to win champions leagues. But that was an aberration and it lead to them winning 7 champions leagues over a 10 year period between the two clubs
Now that they're back to being regular strong clubs rather than outrageously strong superteams, the PL advantage is starting to show and is going to keep growing IMO
Yet none of these sides are even competing in the CL this season or even in Europe. This is such as based statement. How do teams who haven't played CL for years (including us) become favourites?
Who would you back over us in a two legged tie - the next La Liga Champions?
This sounds superficially nice, except
Half of these appearances in finals come from a single club: Liverpool. They also happen to be the most successful English club in European competition, historically. So the dynamic is actually pretty similar to La Liga. You can make the same statement, really, PL had 2 "super teams" but "it was an aberration", and so forth.
You started this thread in 2016 by saying the quality of squads like this one was "immense":
Premier league clubs no doubt spend the most (PSG and Barca aside)
However I think the PL clubs especially UTD and Chelsea overpay for our players. How much have we spent to try and get a decent squad and we are still a striker away from being where we want. It’s for this reason I think Liverpool are done for 4/5 years now. City are the ones who should have dominated in Europe, they’ve massively underachieved.
However I think the PL clubs especially UTD and Chelsea overpay for our players. How much have we spent to try and get a decent squad and we are still a striker away from being where we want. It’s for this reason I think Liverpool are done for 4/5 years now. City are the ones who should have dominated in Europe, they’ve massively underachieved.
It is! That’s a great team!
One of those players is going to win a Bundesliga this year
One will win a La Liga
One is in a CL spot in Italy
One is going to be in the quarter finals of the CL
Two are in CL spots in England
Two Premier League legends who have retired
Basically your argument is “the team you said were good enough to be doing better if they were in other leagues…. Proved you right”
Thank you for making that argument for me.
The Prem is the best league in the world, but its strength gets overblown heavily.
Still think it was at its strongest in 2007-2008 for top teams. 4 best teams in the world were all from the Premier League.
And I think La Liga from 2014 to 2017 was easily stronger than the Premier League now too.
Still think it was at its strongest in 2007-2008 for top teams. 4 best teams in the world were all from the Premier League.
And I think La Liga from 2014 to 2017 was easily stronger than the Premier League now too.
There's a couple of things I see in modern English football culture that hinder the clubs, IMO:
- Distrust of superstar players. Even though the PL has the most money and its top clubs are incredibly wealthy, they don't seem to go for proven world-class players all that often. The list of most expensive transfers to the PL is: Enzo, Graelish, Lukaku, Pogba, Antony, Maguire, Sancho, van Dijk, Havertz, Fofana, Pepe, Kepa, Darwin, Di Maria, De Bruyne, Rodri, Mudryk, Dias, Cucurella, Mahrez, Morata, Laporte, Cancelo. Only a few of these players were top tier when they were purchased. Meanwhile the non-PL top transfers include Neymar, Mbappe, Bale, Ronaldo, Hazard, Griezmann, Suarez, Zidane, Zlatan. When world class players move to the PL there is often surprise that they perform so well, like Silva or Casemiro. Haaland just moved there and a decent number of people seem to think he has to fail at City. Just odd things.
- Too much focus on projects. This leads to accepting worse results, under the promise of future success. I'm not sure this is the best method to create super competitive teams.
- Overpaying. Like you said. A lot of the financial advantage is squandered by buying non-superstar players for superstar prices.
I agree the PL vastly overpays for players but there are definitely reasons for that.
Domestically teams will fight to keep hold of players and if that fails will hard ball each other into paying ludicrous amounts. I don’t keep much interest in Spanish transfers but the money that flows between them does seem to be significantly less. In Germany.. everyone submits to Bayern. Their record transfer for a long time was £40 mil and that’s simply crazy given market prices over the last 15 years.
Internationally clubs recognize that English teams drive up prices. Agents like Jabba the hutt himself Raiola would actively play on this because it benefitted his pockets. It’s also very well known that English clubs will not give up targets easily (you could write a book on the De Jong Saga) and will throw money to get their man (Enzo to Chelsea).
When it comes to superstars, they’re Complicated transfers. It’s not pay €100 million. It’s pay his club €80 million. Pay a third party ownership. Deal with his sponsors for the image rights. Deal with his agent. The club will always pay far more than they actually disclose. English clubs usually back out of these kinds of deals. The last big one was Pogba and that was an expensive mistake in the end.
4 of those names you listed were sold from the PL. They were superstars here before anywhere else.