Ian Bishop: "MLS is of similar standard to the English SECOND division."

Couldn't have summarized my opinion any better!

 

Yes, this explains why there is a nearby park that I run by every day at lunch. It has two baseball diamonds and two soccer fields. Everyday kids or adults are playing pick-up soccer in those fields. No one ever plays baseball. Just one small example from a city with no MLS team.

 

Nobody's arguing here that MLS is at the level of the EPL. But when a guy told his "mates" in November of last year that the quality of play in MLS was at English First Division level, then starts bad-talking the league because they decided not to renew his contract (not to mention saying patently false things regarding salaries, attendance, etc.) then he's nothing but a whiny cry-baby.

The rest of your post contained a bunch of non-sensical babbling that I won't address.

 

See calcio, benine agrees with you, which pretty much proves your stance is incorrect.

 

It would be nice if we could do our own interview with Bishop. Someone have a soccer 'zine?

 

They're a mediocre team. By MLS standards. At best. They're 8th out of ten, what other proof does one need? Against that, why should I care they won the title three years ago? Might as well be three hundred.

 

Not to mention 3/4 of our team when we played them away were 3rd tier bench or A-Leaguers. We still only lost 1-0. And when we played them at home, with only a marginally better lineup, we beat them.

 

I guess that star above their badge isn't for the 2000-2001 Invierno Championship, after all.

 

I'm not sure if this was the point you were making, but style of play is probably at least as important as level. This is a gross generalization: MLS IS fast and physical, but definitely not as physical as England; dribbling is probably more important than in England so the pure bursts of speed that you need to get free in England aren't as necessary. I don't think either of those things makes MLS a better or worse type of football than in ENgland. But it could explain why finesse players like Gazza and Bishop can do better in MLS than they could in England.

 

The above post says it all. Funny how reality changes when you lose your job.

 

Why was Morelia?

 

Indeed.

 

Re: Re: Bishop's right

And the English second Div. is actually Third. So first div. is comparable to the Segunda División in Spain. This is the level of most MLS sides, not the 3rd level in England which is called the "second" Div. Those crazy Brits!

 

Re: Re: Re: Bishop's right

What do you expect from people who put the first floor of a building on the second floor?

 

I didn't have time to read pages 2-5. All I wanted to say was that this part:

Pissed me off. U.S. enjoying its status as world's leading centre for industrial-scale eating? Hello, pot? Yeah, this is the kettle. You're black.

 

So Ian Bishop is saying none of the 10 teams in a DIV 2 level league thought he was good enoughto play in that league? Okay.

And where exactly is Barry Town, praytell? They're not exactly bumping uglies with Man U now, are they?

 

Actually, I don't think this was intended as such a big slam as you might think. My business involves dealing with a fair number of Brits, and when they visit the U.S. for the first time they are universally astounded by the size of the portions served in U.S. restaurants. Thus "industrial-sacle" is just a colorful euphamism for "big."

 

Ian Bishop is a friggin wanker!

 

quite hard to do saying as they play in a different country from man U and are never ever ever likely to actually qualify for the champions league group stages.

 

I'm pretty sure that was exactly his point....

 

Maybe we could take Bishop a little more seriously if he hadn't spent a year in MLS trying to pound the living daylights out of every talented American player and then whining like a spoiled puppy when the refs actually did their job and sent him off.

And to think I was actually starting to feel sorry for the guy.

 

I was always a tad concerned about Bishop's state of mind last year when he played the whole season in south Florida wearing a friggin long sleeved jersey.

 

Regarding the points he makes about comparing leagues, i.e. MLS to EPL, whatever. I must say that I have been considering this for some time and have found it very difficult. The reason for this is that the MLS seems to have a very much wider disparity between the good players and the bad. Much wider than in most other leagues.

I suppose it's inevitable in a league that is still relatively young - things take a while to settle down - but it does make it difficult to compare.

Additionally the MLS plays more in the style of the EPL rather than some of the continental leagues, (there is often little time for players on the ball to show skills), so that may make it seem that the skills don't exist.

My own feeling, for what it's worth, is that the MLS is approximately level with the middle of the English 1st division or the bottom of the EPL.

 

"Your honor, the defendant's Exhibit #23...."

I found a better Bishop quote, actually:

(italics mine)

Not bad for a second-division level league, to have a dozen guys who could cope in the EPL.