Not necessarily just this season but in the past few years, teams that have played the most beautiful, apealling football Arsenal Barcelona Manchester United (at times) AC Milan (at times) Roma Zenit Are there any other teams that deserve mention?
It depends on who you are and what your definition of appealing football is. My opinion is that Atletico's "we'll score more than you" style of football isnt attractive as they are neglecting the defensive side of the game, although they have improved slightly this season. IMO the most balanced teams are the best to watch...the ones that know when to play possession, when to play counter-attack football and when to pass short or direct. These balanced teams that can dominate opposition are the most appealing to me. However, there arent many teams that have been able to do this on a consistent basis throughout a season and it is a skill that only the best teams can achieve.
You clearly do not watch them most times unless you are basing everything on this season and this season alone. For what it is worth I agree with Grinners89 and that is why my list consists of Barcelona, Man Utd and Roma.
Roma, in attack are the best to watch IMO but overall they tend to sit back too much for me. Barca have the most attractive football of high pressing and possession retaining football. For all the goals they score and all the plaudits they get for their attack, when they lose possession all their players work hard to retain possession and start up another attack. Ronaldinho wasnt good for Barca in this sense as he was the only one that wouldnt work hard when he didnt have the ball. Only problem with Barca is that their depth isnt as great as Man Utds (apart from their forwards) and if they lose any key players, they could struggle against other top sides. Ive also not seen someone test Dani Alves yet in a Barca shirt to see if he can cope with a top quality winger.
They dont play counter-attack football, however they are the best counter-attacking side at the moment. Therefore if you only watch highlights, you will see many of Man Utd's goals coming from CA's.
As much as it pains me to say, Bayern deserves a mention. In the first half of the last season and this season after some troubles at the start, they are quite impressive. Also, if you go for spectacular matches with loads of goals, Werder should be in the list. They are certainly not the strongest team in Europe, but they've scored more goals per match in the Bundesliga than Arsenal in the EPL or Barca in La Liga for years, they are usually entertaining and they produce memorable 3:6, 5:4 or 5:2 matches more often than any other team mentioned.
I would include Werder as well, especially when on form and diego pulling the strings. As for man utd, they definitely should be included in the list especially during last season when they would play quick one touch passing football and scholes and carrick with the distribution.
Really? Barca's midfield is ridiculous. Xavi, Iniesta, Hleb, Keita, Yaya Toure, Sergi Busquets(who's having a great debut season), Gudjohnsen. It think that's just as good as ManUtd's. In defense ManUtd's two CB's and LB are better but in terms of overall depth Barca have a lot of quality as well. Marquez, Puyol, Milito, Pique, Abidal, Caceres, Sylvinho, Alves. Well Iniesta who has been one of their key players the past couple of seasons has been out for a little while now and they still managed to beat Sevilla, Valencia, and Madrid convincingly.
Looking at it now...i was completely wrong. Barca's depth is quite amazing. Although Milito is injured and Caceres and Pique arent quite consistent enough yet, they do have great depth. Abidal and Alves arent the greatest defenders but Barca's high pressing game means that there are very few moments when they are tested close to their penalty area. Same with Sylvinho, he is a less capable defender than both Abidal and Alves. Gudjohnsen and Busquets are not quite up to it yet...the former can be easily harrassed out of the game and against a better midfield, i feel he would struggle to control a game or provide anything for his forwards. Although Busquets has also shown promise in games this season he is still young and unless to ask him to play a significant role in the last 16 of the CL against the better sides in Europe would again probably be too much. That leaves Xabi, Iniesta and Toure as the 1st choice 3 with Ketia, Hleb and Gudjohnsen as back-ups. Up front they have Eto'o, Henry and Bojan as possible CF options (arguable the best depth in that position in any club) with Henry, Messi, Iniesta and Hleb as possibilites to play wide. Although their midfield and defence is probably good enough to shield their defence against decent teams, when they face the best teams in Europe, their defence will come under pressure and their midfield wont be able to control games like it does currently...eg 65% possession vs Madrid. Madrid, Valencia and Sevilla dont exactly have the greatest defences to hold out Barca. Madrid's backline of Salgado, Metzelder, Cannavaro and Ramos is certainly not their 1st choice and even then, tactically, they dont seem to understand what is required just yet. Ramos will fix this. They were missing Pepe, Torres and Heinze which reduced their options significantly vs Barca.
I don't think anyone, with the possible exception of Barcelona, is playing attractive football right now. I can't remember such a situation with so many ugly, disjointed teams. Man U, AC Milan, Roma, and Arsenal are all huge disappointments, definitely not easy on the eyes.
Excluding Barcelona, how do the best Spanish teams compare? (Valencia, Sevilla, Villareal, Real & Athletico Madrid). I only get to watch Champions League on ESPN, and thats always ManU & Chelsea.
I always enjoyed Sao Paulo of the 90's and the Red Star Belgrade team that won the ECC. Fluid passing that was fast, pin point and attacking. I must admit that more recent teams IMO just dont stack up against these two, however the game has change in those 15+ years. These days I agree that Holland is a good choice.
You mean Sao Paulo or Holland???? SP back in the 90's was fantastic to watch they way they moved the ball around. Holland at the Euro's was by far the best team to watch as a neutral supporter. Current day club level I find it hard to make a judgement at the top level. Sometimes it is hard to distinguish between entertainment and attractive football. I think that when you are a neutral supporter you can make a better judgement of what you find attractive football as you dont have the bias of saying a team you support plays the most attractive. You might not be right but your judgement isnt clouded.