With respect to Liga fans I think if more evidense was uncovered about Fuentes' affiliation with the Spanish NT and subsequently club teams like Barca, you wouldn't be tooting your horn so much.
La Liga has the best quality top to bottom, but lets face it: any match not featuring Barca or Real Madrid is like watching paint dry. Even Barca and Madrid games aren't all that exciting half the time since the title races haven't been that close lately (except 2009-10). I've also really noticed this season all the half-empty stadiums for La Liga matches. Valencia - Sociedad in front of 60,000 crazy fans would be watchable, even if both teams are 18,000 points behind first-place, but when you have 50% empty seats it just kills any remaining incentive I may have to tune-in.
Best can have (in my reckoning) three very variegated definitions in this case: 1) Most high quality league -- that is, a league that from top to bottom has strong teams, one where a mid-table team can make a good case to be a Top 100 club team in the planet. 2) Most even league -- one where up to the last day you don't know who's going to win it and who will get relegated, where the spread between the top half teams is less than 10 points. 3) Most entertaining league -- which is very subjective, but it can be one where many games end 5-4, and spectacular shots and saves are common fare. IMO, By criteria 1), I'd say La Liga is the best. Sevilla, Levante, Bilbao (mid-table teams) can make a case for being among the Top 100 club teams in the world. The Bundesliga comes close, although making the case for Hamburg, Hannover or Nurnberg would be more difficult. By criteria 2), the Eredivisie and the Brasilerao can make a solid claim, with ever-changing champions, different leaders from week to week, and very close relegation battles, plus the requisite good quality football. By criteria 3), the EPL and Serie A. The EPL has the most propaganda around the planet, and most people are aware of the style of its teams (even though most of them show little variety). The games are often a ton of fun, with many high-scoring games (due to lousy, often criminal defending, but so be it). The Serie A is fun for the opposite reason: the tactical battles, specially in defense, are fascinating to watch to types like me, who get all giddy analyzing an Anand-Gelfand chess game.
It depends on how you measure the quality of the league. If you're talking of having the best teams in the world yeah it has the best 2 in the world. If your talking about the quality of play, yeah at the top levle it's the best to watch. If you're talking about the competitive balance HELL NO. If you're talking about depth of quality HELL TO THE NO!! La Liga has so many problems that its a joke how highly it's rated. The defending is terrible, there is a huge drop off in quality outside the top 6. A lot of the clubs in la Liga are whipping boys. You don't find that in the premire league. I would expect Wigan to be a mid table club in la Liga. But the worst is how the league is run. There is no room for growth or investment due to How the tv rights are negotiated. The bottom clubs are always going to be the bottom clubs. To put this into perspective for you: Malaga, who after one year of new ownership and investment, were forced to sell their best player and still were sanctioned by uefa for having terrible finances. Compare this to chelsae city and PSG who spend like its going out of style and haven't been punished at all. It's so bad that the top economist in Spain said that it was in dancer of collapsing. Best league in the world?? Yeah right!
Well, that's not saying much even if you're right. Southampton is mid-table in England. Is there really any difference between them and Wigan? But the main problem is you have no evidence to support your claim. There is a history of mid-table La Liga teams going far in Europe (albeit the UEFA Cup/Europa League). So the bottom 14 of La Liga can't be all that bad.
You could easily make something of a counter-argument to his point: That Real Madrid and Barcelona have been so good the last few years that they would be constantly winning championships in any league, the Premier League included.
You obviously haven't been watching Southampton recently because since pochettino came they been playing some excellent football. They're way better than Wigan. And Wigan are actually pretty good to, they just aren't pragmatic enough to play in the premire league. For a bottom club they play really well and year after year they get some freak result like beating united or arsenal at home. You can't say that about bottom teams in la Liga. Look at this weekend, Mallorca and levante got spanked by Barcelona and Madrid b team. And yeah their b teams are still world class and this happens in the premire league too, but that doesn't change the fact that Mallorca and levante didn't look like they had a prayer of getting anything out of the game. Also i have no idea which mid table teams you're talking about, but the performances of top levle teams in Europe is not an indicator of the overall quality of the league. I'm not gonna start watching Ukrainian or Cypriot football because of shaktar or apoel.
That sort of cherry-picking argument never flies. I can point to several matches this season where La Liga's bottom teams gave Madrid and/or Barcelona tough matches. Granada beat Real 1-nil. Deportivo scored 4 goals on Barca, albeit a 5-4 loss. They also gave Madrid a heck of a game at the Riazor. Espanyol drew Madrid 2-2 in the Bernabeu when they were in 19th or 20th place. Just from the top of my head...
The Premier League is currently so good, they got three teams in the Champions League quarter... ooooops! Ah well, we all know English teams don't care about such Mickey-Mouse competitions. Only the league matters, right?
The Bundesliga is now the best both on and off the pitch. Lets hear nothing more about the Premier League or La Liga until they sort their problems out.
La Liga is as predictable as Scotland.. or was. Ever since Real Madrid and Rangers fell off the map, the league has gotten even more boring...
Anyone watching the Champion's League should know by this time that Barca and Real Madrid (while both very good) are over-rated. It's easy to look excellent when you're compared to the other teams in La Liga, and both teams have become a bit stagnant in the past couple years. They're still two of the top teams in the world, but also the only ones in Spain who can hold that title. Bundesliga is by far the most successful League in the world if you look at profits, and they have the best attendance as well. It's also the most under-rated league as far as quality. It's no coincidence that we're looking at an all German UEFA final. I still think the EPL has the highest number of champion's league quality teams, and is the most entertaining to watch since it's the most competitive. Chelsea didn't even finish in the top 4 last year yet they're still Champions of Europe. In terms of League health and overall success: 1. Bundesliga 2. EPL 3. La Liga In terms of excitement and competition: 1. EPL 2. Bundesliga 3. La Liga Until there are more than two teams worth watching in Spain, the league will continue to suffer...
Yeah, I'm sure Leverkusen is just going to tear up the Champions League next season. Bundesliga only has 2 good teams too. And one of them will get dismantled this summer. Just as a reminder, I agree that La Liga has gotten a bit predictable/boring and has major financial issues, but there's no arguing against the quality. The 7th-best La Liga team almost made the CL semis while the 3rd-best could kick Leverkusen's arse any day of the week.
Who, athletico? I'm not so sure... And I think you're being a bit harsh on Schalke, Hamburg, Wolfsburg and Werder Bremen. However I understand that a La Liga fan would tell me I'm being harsh to Athletico, Valencia, or whoever else. To each his own, but I very much prefer the style of EPL and Bundesliga. In La Liga they seem to discourage any type of contact in defending. To me, that's just boring. It's the same reason I take everything I see in Serie A (Brazil) with a grain of salt. The attacking players have all the time in the world to play with the ball. For some people, that's exactly what they want to watch...
Bit of a myth. Yeah good teams with skilled players get time on the ball because they won't panic when you pressure them. When Barca plays against EPL teams in the CL they are still given tonnes of time on the ball, like against any mid-table La Liga team.
So just to make sure I'm clear on what you're saying- you think the defense of a mid table La Liga team is on par with a top 4 EPL team?
Reading comprehension. I was talking about given time on the ball. Man United unable to deal with Bilbao's pressing and high tempo: http://www.zonalmarking.net/2012/03/08/manchester-united-2-3-athletic-bilbao-pressing/
Which is a direct reflection of the quality of defense. Good defense = less time on the ball. Pretty basic stuff. If you say Barca has just as much time on the ball when they play against top 4 EPL teams as they do against mid table La Liga teams, you are essentially saying the opposing defense is of similar quality. No?
No. It's not a direct relationship although there might be some correlation. You also have to factor in tactics. Barca a good example. Pep's Barca gave teams no time on the ball, but player for player their defense was not the best. Italian teams meanwhile are historically the best in the world, but will still give you time on the ball often.