Is the Premiership the best?
European Football
by Chris Bevan - BBC Sport 12 April 2007
comment on the article
So, English clubs rule the roost in Europe again.
The progress of Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea means three Premiership clubs are in the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time.
But does that make our league the best in Europe?
United boss Sir Alex Ferguson thinks so:
"Six or seven years ago Spanish football was the best. But on the evidence of this season Barcelona and Real Madrid are not as near to where they were in previous years," Ferguson said.
"The competitive nature and the quality of the English game has improved over the seasons."
Ferguson is definitely right on one point. For various reasons, Barca and Real did not live up to their reputations this year.
But is the English game really as good as he thinks?
Sure, there are no problems at the top. United, Liverpool and Chelsea have proved that. And even Arsenal looked good until they reached the knockout stages.
But beyond that, the drop in quality is alarming – something that is actually down to the level of competition that Ferguson wrongly believes exists.
Only once since 2002 have our big four failed to carve up the Champions League spots, and it looks like being the same again this season too.
The lone intruder was Everton in 2005 and their campaign lasted all of one qualifying round. It does not say much for the rest of the Premiership does it?
Spain and Italy, who supplied three semi-finalists in 2000 and 2003, are traditionally England’s rivals for the crown of 'best league'.
You can discount Serie A, which is in turmoil after the match-fixing scandal in Italy.
That leaves La Liga, which has a strong case despite failing to provide a single team in the last-four of the Champions League this year.
The turnover of Spanish teams making an impact on European competition is greater than here.
As well as Barca, Real Madrid and Valencia – who have all won or reached the final in the past six years, Deportivo La Coruna and Villarreal have also made the last four.
Add that to this year's Uefa Cup, where three different teams in Espanyol, Osasuna and Sevilla are in the last eight – compared to just Tottenham from the Premiership.
Sevilla are challenging Barca and Real for their domestic title too.
So while I would not dispute that England's top four are dominant home and abroad, the greater competition in Spain means they still have a case for having the strongest league overall.
In Trap we trust
No denying the quality of the 3 semi-finalists.
They're all very well managed.
However, I just prefer watching La Liga matches regardless. More skill.
Apart from the Argentine national team, Barca are the team most likely to entertain out of any footie matches on the telly.
Last edited by Risteard; 27/03/2008 at 11:19 PM.
City definetly have the best bands playing at half-time.
O'Bama - "Eerah yeah, I'd say we can alright!"
G.O'Mahoney Trapattoni'll sort ém out!!
Personally I think La Liga is the best league in the world, simply because they have the better teams overall. Man Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool are all world beaters, but outside of that the quality in the Premership is very poor
Well, you're leaving out Arsenal there who play better footie than the other 3 and could easily mount a title challenge out of nowhere next season.
If you take 5th and 6th though against each other
It'd be
Bolton v Valencia
Everton v Atletico Madrid.
So point taken.
Also as good as Real or Barca tend to be, theres always a good few teams in the shake-up whereas in England, it's pretty obvious by December which team or pair of teams will be way out in front come February/ March.
City definetly have the best bands playing at half-time.
O'Bama - "Eerah yeah, I'd say we can alright!"
G.O'Mahoney Trapattoni'll sort ém out!!
In fairness they where knocked out by villareal who went on to the semi finals .Originally Posted by NeilMcD
I think the tide is turning in 2 or 3 years with the new money in the prem its only a matter of time 3 out of 4 teams in the semi finals speaks for itself . An english team in the Final for 3 years running ( including this year ) .
I personally cant stand spanish football its so boring not as boring as watching liverpool or chelsea though , I'd much prefere to watch arsenal play lovely flowing fooball than watch barca give the ball to ronaldinho .
Last edited by anto1208; 12/04/2007 at 3:20 PM.
Its kind of like asking what the best wine in the world, whats the best song, etc.. A lot of it has to do with personal opinion. If you like 100 mph, blood & guts, heart on your sleeve football, then EPL is one of the best, if you like to see to teams probing like master chess champions trying to find each others weakness and then pouncing then Italian football is your bag, or if you like to see to teams pass each other off the park la liga should be your first port of call.
Theres no doubt the SKY put together a very sexy package and thats definetly part of the reason why the EPL is banded about as the best league in the world.
I think SAF is just saying what the English media want to hear at the moment. This way if someone accuses them of hyping it up too much, which they do, they can point to him and say: "He thinks it too."
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The premiership is the strongest league but I rarely watch it, unless there's an Irish player I want to see or I'm in the pub on a Sunday afternoon. I can't remember the last time I watched Chelsea for 90 minutes. I wasn't too fussed about Bayern - Milan last night but Spurs - Seville I couldn't wait for. I just like to watch attractive football and the premiership doesn't offer it a lot of the time. The Dutch, Portuguese, Spanish league and Serie A some of the time is great to watch. Liverpool - Chelsea in the CL doesn't do it for me at all.
Basically, flair players and poor defences does it for me.Although Cannavaro at the world cup was a joy to watch.
Last edited by eirebhoy; 12/04/2007 at 9:37 PM.
3 Spanish teams in UEFA Cup semis. Spaniards seem to have greater strength in depth but top English teams are able to attract the better players.
I note that none of the 8 ties in the quarter finals of both tournaments was won on the away goals rule. One of my bugbears that. Commentators almost die with excitement when an away goal is scored and treat the tie as almost being over. They are important in the event of a tie but by and large they are just goals - full stop.
Forget about the performance or entertainment. It's only the result that matters.
Yeah but they do effect the physchology of the game. Last night Seville getting the second goal was a real killer for Spurs. I agree they are not as important as commentators like to make out but every commentator lives now in the world of hyperbole.
In Trap we trust
It affected last nights game with a few mins left spurs needed 2 goals so basically gave up when it went to injury time
Looking forward to USA vs Russia in the Champions League final - it's like the Cold War never went away...
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Prefer Spanish football myself
Sky Sports News have been making a HUGE deal about this for past few days.
Spanish Clubs have won Champions League more than any other country, therefore they are the best.
Semi-finalists mean fook all
So the fact that the Premiership has 3 out of the best 4 teams in Europe this season means nothing?
They have the strongest league atm, I don't know how anyone can deny that.
Best league at present is the FA Premiership IMO.
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What strange lodgic , liverpool have won it 5 times yet they arent the best team in england .
Take out the 9 real bought
I think it's cyclical. The Spanish league is very poor this year. None of the big teams are performing. Madrid, Barça and Valencia are playing in fits and spurts and none of them seem to be clear favourites for the title. Sevilla have been excellent over the last two seasons but they've started to wobble recently; participating in three competitions seems to be taking its toll on what is essentially a medium-sized club. They're still a joy to watch though. The BBC article makes the point that while in the EPL you have basically four bit teams and then the rest. In Spain you could say that you have three or four really big clubs but the fact that they're underperforming has given wings to some of the "lesser" clubs such as Zaragoza, Sevilla, Espanyol, Racing who are challenging for Champions League and Uefa places for next season.
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