I think France got rid of their Carabao equivalent so we're the only league that has the extra cup now, I really don't get why it exists (well, I do, it makes sponsors money) but it's not prestigious and most managers really don't seem bothered given most teams play weakened starting XI's. Get rid of that and then also the Nations League thing, there are plenty enough games of football, the only times that are boring for me are the international breaks to be honest but I guess they have to happen sometime.
The relative strength of the Premier League
- Thread starter Wumminator
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It's just a dumb excuse. He himself reached multiple CL finals with Liverpool so it's clearly not impossible.
He blamed overworked schedule, not level of competition
Which isn't even true per se - reference the performances of PL sides in recent years - more a hot button issue, that of schedule and number of games, which he's been calling out for a while and this was just new ammunition for it
So the years pl sides have done well it somehow wasn’t a factor?
Liverpool have never won the Champions League while also being the best team in the Premier League. Chelsea the same.
Only the best two United teams in a generation and a team built on 15+ years of corruption and cheating have managed to conquer both and therefore actually be "European Champions".
It's a fair comment.
But that's the same in every big league. Trebles are rare for a reason.
They don’t though. Ironically it’s the top managers who take it most seriously. This is why when Klopp and Pep complain it’s just absolute nonsense. City and Liverpool repeatedly put out strong teams in that competition. Notice how many league cup finals city and Liverpool have been to since Pep and Klopp arrived. I’ll never forget city playing Oxford United in the early rounds a few years back and Foden,, Rodri, Sterling etc playing the match. Or the time they beat Burton 9-0 ina first leg semi but still sent out half a first team in the second leg.
These clubs are stacked with young talent yet you rarely see them in the league cup. You compare that with Fergie and Wenger back in the day and it’s completely different.
No it’s not. the gap between the top few teams and bottom in the pl is more than ever. . so it’s just as easy for them to win against most of the division that in other leagues.
this whole hardest league in the world is bull shit. They’ve been saying it for as long as I’ve been watching football. (which is well over 30 years )
im also not saying it isn’t hard but it’s all relative. I refuse to believe teams in other leagues don’t have to work and train as hard
Problem is that you have big squads with about twenty or more players that you have to keep happy before you can use that kids.
If you do not have injuries you have to keep all of them happy.
Guardiola has now said it is one of the main reasons that Premier League clubs aren’t doing well,
Klopp and Pep- “the intensity and difficulty of the English league makes it hard to compete in Europe”
People on the caf - “actually I think you’ll find I know just as much as the two men running some of the best teams in the world and they’re wrong”
Klopp and Pep- “the intensity and difficulty of the English league makes it hard to compete in Europe”
People on the caf - “actually I think you’ll find I know just as much as the two men running some of the best teams in the world and they’re wrong”
Managers making excuses for their shortcomings I for one is shocked .
More lame excuses as if other leagues aren't busy with games too. Where was this reason when PL clubs were doing well making finals regularly including some all PL finals in the last 5/6 years?
PL is still best the league for now but is not streets ahead. Besides man city every other top PL club looks beatable on paper and even City can be beat.
The Premier League is the best league in the world in terms of the teams.
Playing these teams regularly means there is a greater physical demand than other leagues.
Sometimes their overall quality means they’ll get to a final. Sometimes they will struggle.
CL performance over a two legged tie is not the best way to measure quality. There are a lot of variables.
Not really. The premier league is more physically demanding because games are played at a faster pace, referees have a higher threshold for fouls, there's 2 domestic cups and much greater fixture congestion. Also no winter break. This was true back when the second best team in england would have finished 9th in Italy(in the 90s) or when the PL winners would have struggled to finish 4th in Spain(2013-17)
That the teams are better now and the average quality of opponent is higher than anywhere else does make it extra hard on that front though, yeah. City and Liverpool of the last few years are the best english sides ever by a very wide margin but nobody here seems to want to accept that
Real Madrid have never won a treble in their history, so what's your point again?
France even reduced the number of teams in the ligue 1 to mirror Germany
That wasn't the point.
It is, because it proves how difficult it is to compete in all competitions in other countries as well.
Guys, that posters name is Wumminator. Don‘t fall for it.
Regarding the topic: the clogged schedule is an issue, not the competitiveness.
Regarding the topic: the clogged schedule is an issue, not the competitiveness.
La Liga used to be very difficult (because you needed to win almost every game to win it) and its teams performed well in the CL. Now it's less difficult and the teams perform less well in the CL.
I don't think the PL performed particularly poorly in Europe anyway. The only teams you'd have as nailed-on finalists are City and Liverpool, but 1) City went out on penalties against the team most people consider 2nd best/most competitive in the world, and 2) the Europa League is flukier than the CL because big teams just don't care as much.
A manager of a team in the EPL says the EPL is the best league in the world and makes excuses for it's poor performances, color me surprised.
I don’t think it was a Europa League thing, Liverpool have collapsed physically and mentally. Won only 1 of their last 5 league games.
Nah, the poor performances are a fluke. PL is currently in flux with Chelsea going through their new ownership troubles, Spurs continuing their post-Pochettino struggles(even with Conte!) and Disfunction United consistently proving their name. Newcastle's new ownership bounce happening at the same time meant the PL sent not 1 but 2 sides in CL where you didn't know what to expect. Newcastle got drawn in the group of death on top of it, and Disfunction United proved especially disfunctional, and just like that the PL lost 2 teams. Liverpool ran out of gas and against the wrong opponent, that can happen, while Arsenal went out to a more experienced Bayern Munich and City lost to Madrid's plot armor. In EL and Conference the performance hasn't been particularly different than the last 2 seasons
Anyone who takes Klopps excuse factory serious need to give their head a wobble...
I don’t think Guardiola needed to play Aguero, Foden, De Bruyne and Bernardo in league cup games against Burton and Oxford to keep them happy to be fair. You also run the risk of never giving minutes to very talented young players who then want to leave and who then turn out better than your current players (See Cole Palmer)
They probably won’t accept it because it’s not true. The idea that this Liverpool team in particular is a wide margin better than the United/Chelsea teams of 2004-2009 is laughable. This City team can be strongly argued to be better but it’s abject failure in Europe over the years against inferior opposition is definitely a huge mark against them.Not really. The premier league is more physically demanding because games are played at a faster pace, referees have a higher threshold for fouls, there's 2 domestic cups and much greater fixture congestion. Also no winter break. This was true back when the second best team in england would have finished 9th in Italy(in the 90s) or when the PL winners would have struggled to finish 4th in Spain(2013-17)
That the teams are better now and the average quality of opponent is higher than anywhere else does make it extra hard on that front though, yeah. City and Liverpool of the last few years are the best english sides ever by a very wide margin but nobody here seems to want to accept that
Their failures in Europe are because the league is so competitive, if it weren't for that Liverpool would have 3 CL and City another 2 or 3 themselves, and if City weren't around Liverpool would have won 3-4 PL titles as well
It just can't be compared to the weak past
City have got knocked out the CL by Lyon, Spurs and Monaco under pep. I’m not sure what any of that had to do with the strength of the league. In 2017/2018 they had the league wrapped up early and still got smashed by an inferior Liverpool who came 4th btw behind a Mourinho led United.
In 2020 they couldn’t get past Lyon over one leg having been well out of the title race at the time.
They were 3-1 up on Madrid with about ten minutes left two years ago and gave up two goals. That was nothing to do with how competitive the league was and just them being mentally weak during the big moments on the CL stage.
They have the advantage of more substitutes and bigger squads than ever before and they still can’t consistently win European Cups.
What’s incredible is one of the main reasons behind them not having more CL’s between them is ironically because of the club you support simply having superior mentality when it comes to winning the biggest games.
The league was just as competitive between 2006-2010. The title race going to the last day twice and the penultimate weekend the other three times which technically makes it more competitive than the prem has been in the last five years with city and Liverpool having basically won titles by March.
And for black and white purposes, you’re telling me this team - Alison, Trent, VVD, Matip, Robertson, Wijnaldum, Henderson, Milner, Salah, Mane, Firmino is “by a wide margin” better than Vds, brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Carrick, Scholes, Hargreaves, Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez. Again, laughable.
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The mid to late 2000s wasn't weak at all, United could have had 2-3 CLs only for running into an all-time great Barcelona team, Chelsea were formidable, a "weak" Liverpool team won the CL and got to another final and a few semi-finals, Arsenal were a similar level to what they are now, but just failed mentally in the big moments.
Also what you seem to be saying is that the PL being too competitive cost Liverpool two CL finals against your own team Real Madrid if you're suggesting Liverpool should have 3 CLs? I did not get that impression from those two finals at all. Real Madrid were just too savvy for Liverpool - they were a better team in the first one no doubt, the second one was slightly fortunate but Courtois and other players performed on the day. Liverpool could have had a month off before it and the same outcome could have happened
Yes
In other words, United broke them
Aye so competitive this Liverpool side which by a “wide margin” is better than our 2008 side somehow managed to finish BEHIND Mourinho, Ole and Ten Hags man United…. Strange that. We all know how great those United teams were.
League and cup form is something different - you see it with Real about every year. Or Sevilla in the Europa Cup. In Cup events you have an advantage if you are effective with the ball even or especially if you do not have the ball possession. Whereas in the league in 34 or 38 matches performances in ball possession are the most important.
the games may be easier in spain and germany, but the players still need to get up at 4 every morning to tend to their livestock or crops.
You can take the Pep Guardiola is my idol to water, and then Rudiger will take care of the rest
Do people really think games like tonight with city coasting at home to wolves are somehow harder and takes more out of them than Real coasting to a 3-0 win at home to Cadiz?
Don’t understand the obsession with the Premier League having to be the best league in the world. It’s the most entertaining, that doesn’t mean it’s got the best teams. The midtable sides are regularly embarrassed in Europe. Villa just got beat 4-2 to Olympiakos and they’re about to get top 4. It’s rare we get finalists in the Europa League, and there hasn’t been the dominance in the Champions League either.
they'd be deluded to think so