Another embarrassing matchday for the English clubs. No surprise to me really since the EPL is incredibly poor in terms of quality football.
So what are the excuses this time?
The Christmas break argument doesn't apply here, and even then it's a fallacy since they play the same amout of games everywhere. La Liga, for example, just plays mores games in February and March when they pack the schedule heavily with the 2-legged Copa del Rey matches.
"Bottom of the EPL is (much) stronger than the bottom half of any other league". Do you really think Barca and Real would not be beating Sunderland by 5-6 goals? The reason you don't see more blowouts in the EPL is that the top 2 teams just aren't all that good. The EPL is just average top to bottom and that's why it is "so competitive". The league has no great teams - just a bunch of mediocre clubs. The EPL's marketers are amazing. Financially and commercially, it is by far the strongest top to bottom, but in terms of quality in a sporting sense? No way, it just isn't...the vast majority of statistical information we can use to compare leagues to each other shows this. Head-to-head, success in mutual competitions, points dropped to teams lower in the table, etc. The propaganda has ingrained this false idea of the EPL being the best league but the data is there to suggest otherwise. The EPL suffers from delusions of grandeur.
With all that TV cash being splashed around, why do clubs like Tottenham need to be competitive? They aren't getting relegated anytime soon so the TV cash will always be there. There is no urgency from Levy to get his boys into the CL. Whereas in Italy, heads will roll via the mafioso if clubs like Fiorentina and Sampdoria keep missing out on the CL millions every year. The celebration of mediocrity in PL is hilarious. Torino and Napoli are good enough to beat teams like Tottenham and Liverpool. Teams like West Ham and Southampton are already out of Europa. La Liga teams with their unequal distribution of money are still maintaining a level far beyond PL.
All the talk of PL being so competitive... Man City have already opened up a 5 pt gap with its nearest title rivals. Chelsea and City are the only real candidates and have been so for the last 5 seasons. English football is faster because they continuously hoof and puff instead of playing with brains and skills. Just like last season when Chelsea won it by a mile. There is more competition in La Liga and Serie A (Serie A is the most competitive league in the world this season).
I think the real problem in England is the stockpiling of paper talent. When you look at a lot of the EPL teams in the lower half of the table, you see that they have quality players that have done well in other leagues. Then, why don't they perform in England? It's because they know their spot is guaranteed and since many of them are foreign, they don't have any emotional connection to the club so they'll just show up for the FAT paycheck and hope they don't embarrass themselves. That's why it's puzzling when people say EPL is best because it has top to bottom talent. Talent is not enough in a team game. It even happens to the top teams-- look at United. More money and better players (on paper) than PSV but when the game got tough, most of them disappeared. They don't have the passion. However, in Spain, Germany and Italy, teams don't have much $$$. For this reason, they rely more on their youth teams/scouting. When you have players coming in through the ranks, they'll either go on to fight for the jersey or they'll be sold for a profit since they weren't bought. Also, since teams outside England rely less on talent and more on teamwork, they play much more compactly and technically.
Furthermore, tactically the EPL clubs are absolutely shocking. There is little or no emphasis on tactics in the PL. Most clubs invest in speedy wingers and are forced into that double pivot formation (the 4-2-3-1 is so hot right now on the island, but it's useless without a true ball winner and regista - See AC Milano circa 2007 with Gattuso and Pirlo as the deep mids).The league has evolved to nothing but counter attacks back and forth. PL is like the NBA. Clubs are extremely loose tactically, worse defensively, and the transfer focus of nearly every club seems to be exclusivly on pace. Clubs combat opponent pace with more pace, and are often forced to rely on a moment of individual brilliance (Ned Zelic) to win matches in Europe. Juve vs City is the perfect example of how to defend a PL side. Slow them down and stifle their attack with a rigid shape. Then, after frustrating them for 60 odd minutes, pounce on the single mental mistake they make and score. German clubs are built on size and strength. Spanish clubs boast high technical ability. Us Italians (genetically smaller) have historically drilled tactics and defense as a unit. This is why when English clubs come up against sides that play team defense, and are more tactically organised, they don't stand a chance. And tactically organised != parking the bus.
There's more to football than guts and stamina. You watch the "top" teams-- City, Utd, Chelsea and Arsenal-- and only Arsenal seem to want to play football. United try to implement passing football but still revert to Fellaini (FELLAINI!!!!) as a back up #9... Chelsea are so pragmatic and defensive and are two different teams for most games. In their 4-2-3-1 formation, one team is the 4-2 and the other team is the 3-1. They are not compact or disciplined at all. This isn't just happening this year (last two years they've been eliminated by Atletico/PSG due to those other teams' players sacrificing themselves for the cause. Arsenal are beautiful to watch but awful defending counters. You watch them against West Ham earlier this year or Zagreb yesterday or even Monaco last year and you can see how they allocate so many players upfront and are naked at the back half the time.)
Arsenal and City are both massively naive tactically. The amount of space City gave to Barcelona last year was stunning- there were 20/30 yards between defense and midfield at times. Likewise for Arsenal against Monaco. It was embarrassing how wide open Arsenal were at the back. Compare those two teams to Allegri's Juventus. The midfielders and forwards never leave any space open even for a second, the space between the defenders and midfielders is always very well calculated, and whenever someone ends up in a bad position, another player quickly rushes to cover his zone to ensure there are no open passing lanes or areas for opponents to run into freely.Its well-organized, practiced play. By contrast, Arsenal and Chelsea seem to have no tactical ideas except to attack with 4 players and try to command the midfield with 2. It's very inflexible and easy to react to. In Italy the soccer is, was and always will be a chess game not kick and chase.
Anyone who watches football can see these faults. It's not that EPL is awful, it's not. It's that their teams and culture has lagged behind the continent due to arrogance/economic conditions. Blame a lot of the English media and commentators as well who always talk about the Premier League as it were some kind of measuring stick for performance or success. I mean Andy Gray once asked if Messi could play on a cold rainy night in Stoke. Are you kidding me???
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Topic: The Football (Association) Thread (Read 315896 times)