...because there were 8 players in the FIFPRO XI form spain and the rest were from Inter Milan. Seriously Blatter? Stop embarassing yourself, the EPL is more competitive and those spanish players all hail from two teams. I admit they are better than any player in the EPL if you compare them individually, however, when we're comparing Leagues, the amount of players from the world XI not a fair ground to use. http://www.goal.com/en/news/755/eur...-the-best-in-the-world-and-premier-league-can
The only reason the premier league is competitive is because all of the top sides have drastically weakened. Man United- Sold arguably the best player their club might have ever had and is in huge amounts of debt. Still unbeaten despite that, but aren't playing terrific football on most days. Chelsea- Seems Roman lost interest after putting mountains of money into the club and not winning the CL. Chelsea had a bunch of players leave in the past few years without replacing them, they let go what might be the best coach in sport's history at the rate he is going, and their squad is kind of aging with not much good young talent coming up. Also, getting rid of Ray Wilkins was silly, and now they are dropping points like crazy. In the Mourinho days, on the days they'd play poorly, they'd still grind out victories. Now if they play poorly, they get battered by some relegation side. Arsenal- No real plan B, they won't buy the players they actually need, and have a shockingly bad defense. Their coach has to be the most stubborn guy in the world. Liverpool- LOL City- Spend a bajillion dollars of some foreigner owners money on players to become Chelsea Version 2.0. On paper their squad looks good, but instead they got a bunch of mercenaries who constantly fight each other and bicker about their wages, and are quite inconsistent. Adding a coach who will constantly play for draws doesn't help either. How long have people been talking about how "this is going to be City's year" Spurs- Took them long enough to get where they are now, but these guys are notorious for choking. The rest of the league is shockingly bad. Liverpool is part of that. What did it take for the big four era of dominace to end? Liverpool to become a bunch of clowns, and then you just have a few of the Europa League level sides now fighting for that vacant spot Liverpool left. Hardly exciting. As for La Liga, you have skillful and technical sides all through out the league. Part of the problem with La Liga is that the middle of the league is SO competitive, that everyone is dropping points to each other to make a real challenge to the current Barca and Real sides. Real and Barca are machines when it comes to league play. Stick all the EPL teams in La Liga, and you won't see Real and Barca dropping points to garbage sides like Stoke and Wolves and they'd still be fighting for first and second. The whole "two horse race SPL LA LIGA" stuff is nonsense. When was the last time a team other than Chelsea or United won the league in England? I'll give you a hint, it was the same year a team other than Real or Barca won La Liga. This whole "EPL IS DA BEST" is all English media propaganda trying to hype up their own league to make it appear better than it actually is. England has been doing this for decades. "The best fans, the most physical, the best teams" it's all a bunch of biased nonsense and facts prove otherwise. How do you even define the best fans? Every country has a different definition of what makes a "good fan". Every time a big national team tournament rolls around, England consider their team the favorites because they won a flukey World Cup once a billion years ago, and then always embarrass themselves. The European Cup/CL started because an English side won a friendly and then the English media or some nonsense claimed they had the best team in the world. So a tournament was designed just so they could actually prove that absurd claim, and what happened? The FA tried pressuring English clubs not to enter it because they knew they'd be exposed. Trolling at it's finest right there, claim you are the best, and then back off when it's time to prove it. Oh, and for a long time, that tournament was dominated by Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese sides. In fact, a side from Scotland won a European Cup before England did. As for the better league, I think the titles speak for themselves. In recent times, since the year 2000, Spain has produced more winners of the CL, the Europa League, and both combined than any other country. England isn't even second on that list. So English media, brag about your third and 7th place Europe finishes, but the fact remains La Liga produces winners.
England had three clubs in the semi-finals of the CL 3 years in a row and a finalist 5 years in a row. Don't pretend they haven't accomplished anything. La Liga is an utter joke. The gap between Real/Barca and the rest of the league is light years away. United and Chelsea have been trading Prem titles for quite a few years now but every year there is other teams in contention throughout the season. Real/Barca make the title fight between them two before January every year. Teams like Valencia, Sevilla and Atletico used to pose a threat to take points and now they aren't even a challenge for them anymore.
Like I said, England brags about runners up and 10th placed finishes, La Liga produces WINNERS. Anyone can get a lucky draw, but to win the whole thing takes a bit more than just a few lucky draws. England hasn't even produced the second most winners in this recent time period. You talk about teams like Valencia, Sevilla, and Atletico not being a challenge to Real and Barca, yet I guarantee you those sides would pose a BIG threat to taking points from United, Chelsea, etc. In fact, didn't Valencia and United just draw the last time game they played. Also, didn't Atletico, despite being a joke side in La Liga, just knock out two English sides and win a Europa League last year? Didn't that same Atletico side BEAT Inter Milan this year for a Super Cup? Meanwhile, Atletico got battered 4-1 by Hercules on the weekend. What's that strategy English sides do these days if they draw Real or Barca? Park the bus in the away game and hope something goes their way in the home game (bad reffing, a pk, a flukey goal, etc)
United has drawn with Celtic too. I don't think they would pose any threat in the Prem league either. Chelsea would park the bus but I can't recall anyone else blatently doing it. England having 3 clubs in the semi's for that run is representitive of their quality. It takes more than lucky draws as you say. Atletico beat a very weak Liverpool who is losing to everyone and beat Fulham in extra time whom are 14th in the Premier League. I don't see some major discrepancy in class.
I do think that EPL average is way above La Liga. If you see the average game in the EPL (when there is a big team vs an average team)there is action back and forth within seconds. Each team wants to win and show it every second they have on the pitch. The average La Liga game where is Barca or Madrid vs everybody else is very, very, one sided. The teams are very defensive and hardly pose a serious threat to the Barca defense. The summary of the whole game is Barca braking apart the opposing team's defense scoring and average of 4+ goals. Without the other team actually controlling the midfield hardly ever. In the EPL things are different; if Man Utd is going to beat Tottenham, the game won't be decided until the last 10 min of play and the game could have actually gone to either side. In La Liga Barca or Madrid score 2 goals within the first 10 minutes and the game is over. Over. There is very little chance of a comeback by any team and the only reasons to continue watching the game (for me at least) is that the big two rack up more goals and seeing individual skill aka Messi and C.R.. (although for me mostly Messi). Second, the Barca team and players are better in every single aspect. Obviously their a better team but individually they are miles above the others. Not only are the Barca players better technically but also physically, Alves can outrun anybody, and Pedro is much, much quicker than anyone else. The mix of better technical skills with being better athletes means the Barca attack trump most defenders. Plus Abidal tears up any forward and midfielder. This compounded with their extremely effective style of play (passing/possession with accurate and precise triangulations) make them devastating to the La Liga defenders who aren't very good. In the EPL at least the physical part can be matched. In other words, yes the big teams are going to have the better technical players but the other teams can compensate by getting the most athletic. Just look at Bale for Tottenham, an extreme athlete who also has skills. He can match up with Man Utd and Chelsea players IMO. That is why although the Barca team is much better than any EPL team, on average the EPL teams and league are/is better.
then explain to me this why epl teams are always in lal liga and serie a backyards trying to steel their players if best players play in epl. teams like catania and malaga have players that big teams want.what players do bottom half clubs in epl have that top clubs want none.
I don't know the context of Blatter's comments, but it sounds like an absolute joke. In terms of what league is better I think it's obvious Barcelona has been the top dog for the last few years, and Madrid is always a big dog, but I would take a mid range EPL team over a mid La Liga team by a smidgen. But the real difference is in excitement. I may be alone in my thinking, but despite the scoring in La Liga, I generally think the style is like watching paint dry. Nice possession, but no urgency. The up and down game in the EPL is more enjoyable to me.
These guys rambling about "average La Liga games" have obviously not watched Spanish football much, and assume every team just rolls over against big teams. Villarreal were outplaying Real Madrid on the weekend. Pretty much every team is going all out against Real Madrid this season. Real don't play "keep 90% possession and bore everyone to death and then score" tika-taka nonsense like Barca. Real Madrid play fast paced attacking football. Villarreal and Sevilla had a 3-3 thriller against each other. Hercules mowed down Atletico 4-1 and beat Barca at Camp Nou earlier in the season. The reason teams are defending against Barca, is because Barca try to make it so they ALWAYS have the ball and force teams into that. Didn't Barca beat Arsenal very recently like 4-1? Guess one of your EPL top three teams is about on par with Levante. I think La Liga has not only a MUCH more talented midttable, but a larger amount of teams in the midtable. As someone said before, lots of top teams in England are looking to poach talented players from some of the lower level teams in Italy and Spain, but no one wants anyone from England. In fact, there aren't a whole lot of players in the top four of England that teams in other countries want. The whole EPL is best nonsense is just silly propoganda England tries to shove down everyone's throats, hoping that if people hear it enough, they will actually believe it. It's to make up for the fact that English sides rarely win titles in the big competitions where they can prove they are as good as they say. Like I said, brag about being runners up, Spain produces WINNERS.
. . . learn what? That unless you have a player from your league in the top world XI spots, the 800+ players in your league are all crap? Or that having more local players, the league is better? Then that case move over La Liga, the football league in New Zealand must be better. Spain has all/most their players in their league. But strangely, that is the same about Germany, Frnace, Italy, England, Sweden, Denmark etc etc because there is money to be made in Europe. . . Hell yeah, EPL clubs should buy those 11 players to the EPL and then they can claim to be the best league in the world! Best adaptive idea ever. Honestly, the world should know by now that everything that Blatter says, the opposite must be true because he alway say things to alleviate fears to the audience he speaks to. That is his thing.
GIANT facepalm. The EPL teams are very competitive. Im talking about the ones who are in the rest of the league and not just the top 6. Chelsea, Arsenal, Man U can loose games to smaller teams because they make it hard for those teams to beat them. If they are determined to get a draw against these sides, they will do that. Unlike La Liga where the Malagas and Sociedads can not even concede less than 3 let alone draw games. In What Universe can you say La Liga is soooo good that they loose points against each other as oppsed to challenging Barca. They get whopped 4-0 3-0 week in week out, this should tell you the difference in the quality. At some point last year, Real Mallorca who were 3rd were closer to the relegation spot than to the top of the table. How can you defend that? Why? Because of the Financial powers of RM and FCB. They buy all the best players while the rest of the league buys players of lower calibre.They are weak because they don't have money and have to sell their best players to stay afloat (i.e. Valencia) or others don't add players to stay competitive (Sevilla) and hence decline. And sure, it's been Manu/Chelsea since 2004, but atleast Arsenal/Liverpool are in contention till April/May. By January we can already tell Madrid and Barca are the only serious contendors. In the EPL Tottenham and Mancity are also apparently in the running, I don't expect them to win but they're still in contention at this stage and Manu, Arsenal and Chelsea are sweating over them. Now that's competition. RMCF anf BCF won't publicly say it but Valencia and Villareal are no threat to the title. And Finally your point of most UCLs won is irrelevant to the quality of the league. Liverpool from 2004-08 were a dominant force in europe while not taking the title race seriously, Inter won the UCL last year and Barca the year before that, but they're from mickey mouse leagues. For Liverpool, they had Benitez who knew what to do to win a tournaments but had no idea how to win a League. That's how unrelated those comparisions are
Again you fail in your argument. We're talking about the better league between the two. The EPL is the best because it's more competitive, unpredictable, is better financial run and even has better refereeing than La Liga. Your argument about the EPL attracting foreigners and the foreign leagues not attracting english players is null and irrelevant. Spain has a better team than england, so does Germany, France, Argentina and Brazil. But in the league, they attract the best players to make the league one of the best and that's why they attract these players. Stoke City plays hard and collectively as a team, so does Blackburn. They don't get f****ered by the top dogs and give a good challenge when they play them. That's what relevant.
La Liga is poor compared to EPL, as Barcelona and Real Madrid have gotten stronger and invested more and more money, the league has suffered. Just take a look at the point differences between them and the rest of the league, it's almost pathetic to say that is something to look up to. People act like it's La Liga taking the Champions League by storm, when it's really only Barcelona. Real Madrid has failed miserably, time and time again, against English, French and Italian squads for years now. I'll take balanced football over the Barcelona orgy and day of the week.
Anybody can be competitive on a given night, but over the course of an entire season, Man United, Man City, Arsenal, etc would finish well above the likes of Sevilla and Atletico. That's the strategy that most of La Liga's "cannon-fodder 18" use when they play Barca too. As for Real Madrid, they haven't played many English sides recently, apart from getting raped by Liverpool and Arsenal a few years ago (who aren't even the best EPL sides). So I don't know what you're referring to there. Maybe if they can get past the round of 16 of the Champions League for once they'll finally play a top English club ... LMAO!
Nothing says "La Liga is the bestest league in the world" more than having a club win almost every domestic match and then get trashed by 2nd-rate European opposition in the round of 16 of the Champions League year after year after year.
and what you said a minute later Way to contradict yourself in like the period of five seconds. Two of your big four sides aren't considered the best in England? Funny how both those teams have generally always been powerhouses in your league. That Liverpool side isn't nearly the same as the joke side of today. Oh, and that old Arsenal side went UNBEATEN in your precious premier league. Hardly the side of 15 year olds we see today trying to be a Mini-Barca. Also, how could you forget Real Madrid knocked out Manchester United TWICE. In fact, your treble winning Manchester United side was played off the pitch by Real Madrid the following year. Chelsea aren't a big club, they are a small no name club, and it looks like their foreign billionaire owner is getting bored of them, so now hopefully they go away and no one has to hear about them again. Come back when you have watched the sport for more than a couple years. Real won the CL in 1998, 2000, and 2002. That's three times in our lifetime(well mine, you not sure if you are older than 12, and it wouldn't surprise me if you weren't), when most clubs are happy to win the competition ONCE in a 100+ years. Failed miserably? Are Real Madrid SO good that they are expected to win the CL every year? Oh no, Real Madrid went a few years without winning every what a horrible team! Real Madrid have also won the European Cup/CL more than the entire Big Four in England combined. Let that sink in for a second, and realize how idiotic it is to say the most successful team in the sport is a failure. 31 league titles, and won the best European competition 9 times. I'll say it again. La Liga has produced more CL and Europa League winners than any other country since the year 2000. England doesn't even fall second in that category. You act like there has never been an all Spanish final recently. Let me guess, you weren't watching this sport in the year 2000 when 3/4 semi finalists were Spanish teams and Real faced Valencia in the finals. Let me guess, you somehow forgot that Valencia in the following year made it to the finals again and were beaten on penalties. Let me guess you forgot the next year that Real Madrid won the final(beating Barcelona in the semi finals). How about when Villarreal and Deportivo La Coruna made the semi finals? This all happened in the last decade. In fact...let's count the semi finalists from the 2000 CL onward. 2000- Semi Finalists Spain 3 England 0 Winner Real Madrid 2001- Semi Finalists Spain 2 England 1 Winner Bayern(Germany) 2002- Semi Finalists Spain 2 England 1 Winner Real Madrid 2003- Semi Finalists Spain 1 England 0 Winner Milan (Italy) 2004- Semi Finalists Spain 1 England 1 Winner Porto(Portugal) 2005- Semi Finalists Spain 0 England 2 Winner Liverpool 2006- Semi Finalists Spain 2 England 1 Winner Barcelona 2007- Semi Finalists Spain 0 England 3 Winner Milan (Italy) 2008- Semi Finalists Spain 1 England 3 Winner United 2009- Semi Finalists Spain 1 England 3 Winner Barcelona 2010- Semi Finalists Spain 1 England 0 Winner Inter Italy So in recent times, Spain has had 14 Semi-Finalists and four winners. England has had 15 Semi-Finalists but only two winners. Spain was also doing very well right before this century started as well. So really, you aren't nearly as ahead in "runners up" as England claims and have won the competition half as many times as Spanish sides in that period. 2 Trophies > 1 more runner up. Spain has also produced more Europa League winners than England has in that time period. Game, set, match. Let that ownage sink in for a second.
I think Sepp Blatter should have said: The EPL could learn a lot from Barcelona. That would have been a fair comment.
If you really want to say such things, do read this link as Guilem Ballague just did post some stats (difference from top teams to bottom teams) of the two league to prove your saying not true! And what about this myth that the rest of the chasing pack are much closer to the leaders in the Premier League? In the six years since Arsenal were Champions, the gap between first place and sixth place in the Premier League has averaged 28.8 points. In Spain that gap between Champions and the European contenders averages 24.8 points. now more ... The gap between first and last in the Premier League? 65 points on average - while in Spain, the average points gap between top and bottom is 56.6 points over the same six year period. Please refer to : http://www.skysports.com/opinion/story/0,25212,12087_6563395,00.html I don;t think so. as you compare apple to orange (1 league of 20+ teams with a single team)
James. I think so but I guess I should have said the top teams in EPL can learn from Barca. Man Utd, Chelsea, Man City and such... Heck the rest could even learn from Arsenal, on working with future talents.
EPL? La Liga? Pah, the Bundesliga's the most competitive, healthy and exciting Big5 league. Take for instance the income ratio of the four richest clubs in a league and compare it to the league average: Spain: 7.1 Italy: 4.1 England: 3.6 France: 3.1 Germany: 2.5 Topheavy leagues naturally have an edge in the EL/CL, but the domestic game suffers because of this. A balanced league also allows smaller clubs to do more than just sit back. That explains in part why the Bundesliga's about exciting attacking football and has had the highest goalscoring average these past 20 years.
Don't really watch the German League. But watching the EPL is also exciting, with at least one big team of course.
From 2005 to 2009 the EPL did have the stronger top teams in the CL. It was no easy draw, and no accident. Their teams did beat the top teams from the other leagues. You are very blind if you say it wasn't so. If it wasn't for Barcelona's spectacular form in the last 5 years, they probably would have had 4 CL champions instead of 2. I can tell RM didn't stop them. What's that ... 6 R16 eliminations in a row now ? Putting 3 teams in the SF for 3 consecutive years is impressive. Chelsea, Liverpool, ManU, and to a lesser extent Arsenal were very strong in that period. You just cannot ignore the EPL influence over that period.
I suppose it's a matter of taste. If you fancy a topheavy league with such immense disparities within it as the EPL, that may be a your ticket. While the Bundesliga has pretty good overall balance (just consider the records of smallers club like Mainz, Hannover, Freiburg vs. big clubs like Wolfsburg, Stuttgart or Bremen), in the EPL you don't have any similar balance. What you do have is reasonable balance at the very top (at least this year - in no small part due to Chelsea ending its big-spending days). The same can be said about Spain. There you have two clubs at rough parity with another. Everyone else is effectively playing in another league. I personally care far more for overall league balance than merely balance at the very top. As said, overall balance translates into more exciting attacking and highscoring play. And as a football romantic, the idea that a small team as Mainz might just win the league in a phenomenal year is most heartening. And it's equally most heartening that a mid-sized club such as Dortmund (in terms of finances, in terms of tradition and support it's of course far more of a force) is dominating the league, thanks for a great coach and banking on young talent. The rise and fall of Bundesliga clubs far more so a matter of what happens on the pitch. In the EPL it's more a matter of the whim of clubs' sugardaddies. I find that most sad and an immense turnoff. Spoils the EPL for me, to a considerable extent.
Of course not. The EPL is a topheavy league with the topclubs having immense transfer budgets at their disposal. Particularly in said timeframe. Now things are thankfully being paired down a bit as sugardaddies lose interest in forking out immense sums and EPL clubs need to prepare for UEFA's Financial Fairplay system. Top EPL sides remain very wealthy (nevermind the chronic losses), but their edge is diminishing and probably won't be quite as strong a force in the CL going forward.