EPL 2014/15 Discussion Thread

Again a competitive league needs to be gauged on all teams in the league.

Just because two teams are neck and neck is not true competitiveness.

The disparity in la Liga is * unreal

 

Theres an illusion that the English is more competitive than the Spanish for some reason despite it not being true.

I put it down to us being brainwashed weekly by the likes of Sky Sports on how competitive/exciting/close it is while also only being told of "Barcelona and Real Madrid" like they are the only teams in Spain.

As when you think of the top 7 or so teams in each League

Barcelona
Real Madrid
Atletico Madrid
Valencia
Sevilla
Villarreal
Athletic Bilbao

Chelsea
Man City
Arsenal
Man Utd
Liverpool
Tottenham
Southampton

Theres not a great deal between them and when push comes to shove, Spanish teams probably perform better in Europe and would probably win a head to head if those 7 were to play each other.

 

La Liga teams have won the Europa League the most times in the last 15 years mate, the teams that are not the top tier are still better than there counterparts across Europe.

They're just technically more proficient.

 

Brilliant article, sums it up better than I could. Pretty much this - the money has become a smokescreen. You can usually predict the (rough) places of all the teams and there is now an elite in the EPL. Even then as this guy said, there is an elite within the elite. Whereas mid-table Spanish teams and German teams switch constantly and are always battering each other and taking risks.

Agreed. I've actually enjpoyed the battle for a top 4 finish in Spain between Valencia and Sevilla, than in England this season.

I think the level of money being so high has negated the benefits. They often waste money on their own average players, paying exorbitant wages. This then means they struggle in Europe against the best because they are filled with average players.

They're also the victims of their own success really because now (as the guy in that article Rory posted said) they have to maintain the status quo of the 'elite' teams because these teams make them the money. Its a self-fulfilling prophecy now.

 

This. The fact that Real, Barca, and Atleti are so dominant doesn't mean that the other sides are *. The other clubs have been much better in Europe recently than even some of the best English sides. The fact that the top three are so superior is a testament to them, not a black eye to La Liga. Spanish players are so superior to most others in the world, and so many of them are at a high level, that they will be able to stem the flood of players going to the big clubs in Europe and England. And looking at England, their players are tactically inferior to the continental players and I think this actually holds back the big clubs in Europe. It's hard to translate the hustle-bustle style to the Champions League as it requires tactically naive opposition to work.

 

This. I think people think just because English teams have so much money that somehow they are better than their European counterparts, when in actual fact they aren't - sometimes its not even close.

 

Aye that's it.

There is more than 7 teams in a league mate.

I'm talking about the leagues in their own right, not how they perform in Europe against each other as that's a different topic I think.

All I'm getting at is watching Real Madrid and Barcelona 90% of the time scoring at will because of the stranglehold they have on the league finances is not what I call being truly competitive league.

 

They overpay for mediocre talent - the very top players will stay with the continental clubs who can match their pay - Real, Barca, Munich, and even now with PSG. Juventus as well have been paying a lot of money to keep their stars.

 

Shiteology has entered tbye building.

 

I think the differance is that Spanish diddy teams are more technical and smaller teams and EPL diddy teams are bigger, more solid and harderworking teams - so there is an illusion that they are harder to beat.

EPL teams are used to defending and being hard to beat, while Spanish are used to playing football and when they need to defend against better teams they arent as good as it.

If Getafe were to play Stoke or Vallecano play Aston Villa or Sociedad play Everton or Celta Vigo play Crystal Palace its hard to say who would win as those teams are built to play certain styles which are really different from each other.

Even hard to say what would happen if Stoke, Crystal Palace, Aston Villa etc were to play Barcelona or Real Madrid, as its seen as they hammer the diddy Spanish teams too easy cause those teams are weak but you wouldnt put it past them taking 5/6/7/8 off those weak English teams all the time either as those English teams arent used to coming up against teams with 4/5 world class attacking players who dominate possession as much as they do and attack you from all angles.

 

Gary Lineker talking to Advocaat last night.....'can you stay up *'?:smiley-laughing002:

 

But is it because of that?

Do you think Stoke would beat Sociedad or Everton would beat Celta Vigo or Crystal Palace would beat Espanyol or QPR would beat Cordoba etc?

Id probably say if 1-20th in Spain was to play their counterpart in England you'd probably end up with it finishing about 15-5 to Spain.

 

Aye, I heard that. I just assumed he was talking to Shearer though.

 

Competition doesn't always translate to quality, the most competitve league in the world is that Algerian one where every team can still win it with 4 games to go. Doesn't translate into quality.

What I do know is the best players are all in La Liga, the clubs smaller clubs are all better than there counterparts across Europe, on a technical level La Liga is beyond any other sort of football, Barcelona and Real are so far ahead of anything because they are insane teams just now but there's still a real surprise in Atletico being the current champions.

That's not something I've saw in any other league in a long time, real outsiders winning it.

There's a reason that Spanish teams are competiting to win both Europeans trophy on the go at the very end stages of the competitions.

They're better than the other teams, outside of Bayern Munich, there is nobody who can touch them.

 

Greedy * at times that Kane, shoots all the time from outside the box, there his path was blocked and he could have passed it to the guy along from him who may have had a tap in but held onto the ball and shot himself.

 

Ack season he's had you can't blame him, he's had some ridiculous luck while scoring a lot.

 

But could Sociedad cope with a cold Tuesday night in Stoke ?

 

Aye, not even sure it was greed possibly never seen him as I noticed he stares down at the ball a lot when playing "David Goodwillie syndrome" fails to see anything around him.

 

With all the money that Man City have and the better players they can get, Milners still goimg to be a big loss to them.

 

I don't give a * if West Brom could beat Getafe, that is not what I'm getting at. (see below in Devs reply)

When Real and Barca play other teams in the league it is pretty much how many will they score, not will they win.

From top to bottom La Liga and BPL side by side, the Engerlish league is way more competitive. Now I'm not saying this translates to the quality of football etc

I never once said it had anything to do with quality though and again I'm talking on a purely domestic level and not talking about how other teams fair against others in different leagues.

The gulf between the teams through out the league, while yes every league has it's gulfs but the gulf in La liga is beyond a joke.

Aye I seen that Algerian league table the other day, pretty mental that. :smiley-laughing002: