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2015/16 Football/Soccer thread
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Before he looked much the Premiership, but times with Spain and other parties as much informed me. And honestly, that good football will come to a club like Leicester City is not only the revelation of this world, who can also win a Premier. I think the next game is against Arsenal Leicester, not bad. They are very key parties that may be worth a League. Apart from the club I am very fond of Borussia Dortmund. A pity vs Hertha equalized scoreless and did not take advantage cut to Bayern who got the same result against Leverkusen. In things like that you should repent, because Bayern in Bundesliga rarely achieve 1 point or anything. Aubameyang good season, a player who has managed to forget about the Polish. Forward revelation by Vardy, Higuain.
While I'm undoubtedly over the moon with Leicesters amazing current form, I do wanna raise the point that in all honesty we'd probably be nowhere near the top in Spain, Germany, Italy or even the French leagues! It's kinda sad how he premier league continues to decline although perhaps that could also be considered as the reason it's so exciting, because there isn't a set agenda as much anymore and you're only a mistake or piece of quality away from turning the table on its head. Looking forward to seeing Man City next season, hope they can bring in the stars to make at least one English side that the rest of Europe will fear playing against(outside of Leicester of course :D :D :D).
To those saying nerves will collapse our bid, I don't necessarily see what we have to be nervous about. When you were bottom of the table and by all accounts dead this time last year, you really can take each game as it comes and enjoy the ride knowing you've surpassed any expectations unlike Man City, Arsenal and to an extent Tottenham who are expected to challenge with their resources and investment and therefore feel a lot more pressure. Just rewatch Man City vs Leicester from Saturday, to me there was only one side that held any nerves and it sure wasn't Leicester!
To those saying nerves will collapse our bid, I don't necessarily see what we have to be nervous about. When you were bottom of the table and by all accounts dead this time last year, you really can take each game as it comes and enjoy the ride knowing you've surpassed any expectations unlike Man City, Arsenal and to an extent Tottenham who are expected to challenge with their resources and investment and therefore feel a lot more pressure. Just rewatch Man City vs Leicester from Saturday, to me there was only one side that held any nerves and it sure wasn't Leicester!
We are doing this now? Hell why not, there's like 12 games left or something:
1) Leicester City (I'm not seeing them drop form unless someones intentionally tries to injure one of their star players)
2) Arsenal (They get their shit together for the first time in a decade, the gap is too much to close however)
3) Tottenham (they earned it)
4) Man City (Announcing that you're gonna get replaced is going to effect you, players knowing they're getting replaced will effect you)
5) Man Unt. (Mixture of gap from fourth place, inconsistent performances and increasing pressure/rumors of LVG exit should do it)
1) Leicester City (I'm not seeing them drop form unless someones intentionally tries to injure one of their star players)
2) Arsenal (They get their shit together for the first time in a decade, the gap is too much to close however)
3) Tottenham (they earned it)
4) Man City (Announcing that you're gonna get replaced is going to effect you, players knowing they're getting replaced will effect you)
5) Man Unt. (Mixture of gap from fourth place, inconsistent performances and increasing pressure/rumors of LVG exit should do it)
While I do believe that Leicester would probably not be first in the other leagues you cited, it's important to remember that this is an unusual year for the Prem. The Premier League's top clubs are going through a transitional phase at the moment (except maybe for Man City), and I believe the Prem will be back as a major force in Europe in a couple of seasons (specially with Messi and Ronaldo getting older and the money Prem clubs are getting from the TV deal).
Except PSG, the French league has a really low level compared to PL, especially this year. Pretty sure that Leicester would be great competition for PSG and smash every other team easily. In France, PL is still seen as the best championship and no one would ever have the idea to consider it declining.
France and maybe Italy but thats about it for other top leagues. But honestly its not so much leicester's match up, its the entire premier league. The game has evolved into a skilled and under control game and the premier league is a much faster paced game with less control. The way Leicester play is proof of that
Spain's La Liga is by far the best football league on the world. Anyone doubting that hasn't followed european club football in the last years.
Also the Premier League title race is close for the single reason, that they lack world class teams. I can't see a single english team on the level of Bayern, Dortmund, Barca, Real, Atletico, or PSG.
If you remove this teams from their leagues, you'll also get a close and exciting league. For example Hertha would be on top of the Bundesliga then, which is somewhat comparable to Leicester leading the Premier League.
Nonetheless the Premier Leagues club will go back to the point where they've been few years ago and where the spanish teams are right now. I can't imagine them underperforming like that all the time.
Also the Premier League title race is close for the single reason, that they lack world class teams. I can't see a single english team on the level of Bayern, Dortmund, Barca, Real, Atletico, or PSG.
If you remove this teams from their leagues, you'll also get a close and exciting league. For example Hertha would be on top of the Bundesliga then, which is somewhat comparable to Leicester leading the Premier League.
Nonetheless the Premier Leagues club will go back to the point where they've been few years ago and where the spanish teams are right now. I can't imagine them underperforming like that all the time.
The Tv money will let the premier league teams buy all the players from these leagues and get better quality. If you know, the top clubs domestically don't buy them first
La Liga is for sure a great championship but the lack of surprise really reduces its attractivity, although Atletico has reached the level of Real & Barça, all the other teams can't compete and this creates the same situation that we know in Germany or France : one monster at the top, a few followers fighting for Champions League/Europa League and the rest just being mediocre. While it's true that there are no incredible teams in PL atm, the suspense factor really gives it an interest that is missing in other leagues, although it's true that your average Liga team plays better football than your average Ligue 1 team for example
So a "joke league" keeps steamrolling all european cups in the last years?
Don't forget Atletico won La Liga two seasons ago, which is clearly a surprise. They are without a doubt playing football on the highest level in europe and still have a relativly close title race even though the top teams don't emberass themselves weekend after weekend.
Don't forget Atletico won La Liga two seasons ago, which is clearly a surprise. They are without a doubt playing football on the highest level in europe and still have a relativly close title race even though the top teams don't emberass themselves weekend after weekend.
I wouldn't deny that La Liga plays very good football all around, but there's definitely a serious tilt at the top moreso than the Premier League. Sure the top teams in Spain are better on average than the top teams in England right now, but with the money that's been coming into the English league everyone's got players and is competitive with top teams consistently barring shit clubs like Aston Villa. Your top teams in Spain will win several games by large margins over the course of the year because everything good in Spain finds it's way either to Madrid or Barcelona or ships out overseas. The fact that it's so amazing that one of the teams who isn't Barcelona or Real Madrid finally won the league not too long ago speaks about how tilted it is, in fact it's such a crazy thing to do that Rafa Benitez has literally been able to build his entire career off of it after winning it at Valencia. Hell in the past 15 years the title has been won by a club apart from the big two only three times, that is not something that happens in a well balanced league or universally competitive league.
I love La Liga, but the league is far from being the highest quality league across the board. Even though the English league isn't as good as Spain at the top at least every team can be competitive as hell and beat anyone on any given day.
I love La Liga, but the league is far from being the highest quality league across the board. Even though the English league isn't as good as Spain at the top at least every team can be competitive as hell and beat anyone on any given day.
The old "only acknowledge one point" tactic I see.
Yeah, and in those years I see United dominance under the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson who literally knocked Liverpool off of their perch in England as the team that has won the most league titles, that's the equivalent of Diego Simeone consistently winning enough La Liga titles to come even with Real Madrid or Barcelona. In fact at the end of Sir Alex's tenure he managed to consistently win with subpar teams and punch well above his weight, don't tell me that a midfield starring an aging Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs and the wonderful talents of Anderson deservedly should win the title as much as they did, those pricks pulled titles off where they had no business to during that time. I see Arsenal winning an undefeated league title. I see the rise of Manchester City and the slow slump of Liverpool who still managed to stay competitive with the richer clubs at the top with academy bred talent like Gerrard and smart spending. I see a lot more teams vying for the trophy during those years than I see in Spain.
At the beginning of every season in England multiple teams are talked about as title contenders, not just the "Will it be Real or Barca?" articles in Spain that have now been utterly astonished by the fact that someone else is actually contending now. Hell, look at the Premier League now, last years champions who you mentioned were part of the reason the Prem is boring because they've won it several times are struggling, and a team that was nearly relegated is at the top of the table in February! A team in the bottom half in England will typically be more competitive than a team in the bottom half of La Liga because it's not nearly as tilted as it is in Spain, simple as that.
Yeah, and in those years I see United dominance under the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson who literally knocked Liverpool off of their perch in England as the team that has won the most league titles, that's the equivalent of Diego Simeone consistently winning enough La Liga titles to come even with Real Madrid or Barcelona. In fact at the end of Sir Alex's tenure he managed to consistently win with subpar teams and punch well above his weight, don't tell me that a midfield starring an aging Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs and the wonderful talents of Anderson deservedly should win the title as much as they did, those pricks pulled titles off where they had no business to during that time. I see Arsenal winning an undefeated league title. I see the rise of Manchester City and the slow slump of Liverpool who still managed to stay competitive with the richer clubs at the top with academy bred talent like Gerrard and smart spending. I see a lot more teams vying for the trophy during those years than I see in Spain.
At the beginning of every season in England multiple teams are talked about as title contenders, not just the "Will it be Real or Barca?" articles in Spain that have now been utterly astonished by the fact that someone else is actually contending now. Hell, look at the Premier League now, last years champions who you mentioned were part of the reason the Prem is boring because they've won it several times are struggling, and a team that was nearly relegated is at the top of the table in February! A team in the bottom half in England will typically be more competitive than a team in the bottom half of La Liga because it's not nearly as tilted as it is in Spain, simple as that.
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