‘Premier League rubbish? I’d say the opposite…’
The central argument raised by Nick Miller that the Premier League is rubbish is an interesting one.
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| Hindsight is a wonderful thing, but should Arsenal have broken the bank for Chris Smalling? One Mailboxer is dreaming of Pep Guardiola for Arsenal and Wayne Rooney is defended |
However I would suggest that the opposite is true and plays a large role in why English teams struggle in Europe. The Premier League teams ON AVERAGE are very good (discount Sunderland).
The so called ‘lesser’ teams in the Premier League would beat their Spanish or German counterparts most of the time.
Take for example Leicester (finished 14th) last season, compared to Levante (14th in La Liga) and Stuttgart (14th in Germany), I would back Leicester every time over the other two. This was before the huge TV rights money this season which has seen unprecedented investment and star names such as Shaqiri joining Stoke. This has made the Premier League even more competitive.
The top four cannot afford to rest players even against the relegation threatened teams any more. This leads to an over reliance on a first 11 (Chelsea) or so much abuse for dropping points when you rotate (Arsenal) that managers are forced to play their star players into the ground.
I think this very point was raised in a previous mail box but the authors name escapes me. I’m fairly sure Bayern, Real or Barca can afford to rest players more often than the English teams.
Whilst this doesn’t explain Arsenal losing to Olympiacos, I’m fairly sure they had an easier game last weekend than a 90 minute end to end game vs Leicester.
Craig (Personally loving the unpredictable Premier League), AFC, Vietnam.
English teams need to get a grip in Europe
Was interested to read a couple of comments seemingly dismissing the likelihood of Italy overtaking us in the UEFA rankings and nicking a Champs League Place, thought I’d take a look.
English teams need to get a grip in Europe
Was interested to read a couple of comments seemingly dismissing the likelihood of Italy overtaking us in the UEFA rankings and nicking a Champs League Place, thought I’d take a look.
Ranking points are calculated with the following rules (I’ve abbreviated)…
1. Both Champs League and Europa League count.
2. It’s an average score per club from a country
3. 2 points for a win, 1 for a draw, bonus points awarded for Group Stage of Champs League (4), Last 16 of Champs League (5) & a further point in both Leagues for Quarters, Semi & Final.
4. Quali and Play Off rounds score half points.
5. Last 5 years all count equally.
Currently we have a nice 3-point lead over Italy mainly due to Chelsea winning back in 2011/12 and we’re guaranteed 4 CL places next year.
All very good but things are going to get harder to maintain that gap, last season Italy had a great year with 1 CL finalist and 2 Europa Semi Finalists from 6 teams whilst we had a shocker.
Very soon our historical lead will have gone and we need to beat Italy over the next 2 seasons (by about 0.8 points) to stay ahead. Over the next 3 years that stretches to 2.8 points. A tough ask on current form in the Champs League and attitude in the Europa League.
Basically, English teams need to get a grip, start winning games, preferably at the expense of the Italians and take the Europa seriously otherwise the 4th placed trophy will be no more. (Long Live the 3rd Placed Trophy)
On the other hand it would shake up the Premier League and would be hilarious if Spurs got 4th only to be denied a Champs League spot because Arsenal and Chelsea were rubbish in the Champs League.
Should Wenger have broken the bank for Smalling?
In a week where Wenger has been slammed yet again for not spending money and having too much faith in his current players, do we have another example of a player Wenger should have tried harder to sign?
Over the years Wenger has become infamous for spending money like it is his own. For me the three players Wenger should have signed and was close to signing but refused to pay the fee were:
26 year old Xabi Alonso from Liverpool back in 2008 who Wenger did not think was worth £18m
26 year old Luis Suarez again from Liverpool in 2013 who Wenger famously offered £40,000,001 and not the asking price of £50m plus
Chris Smalling who was heavily linked for £12m this summer who surely would have been sold for £20m plus.
Of course hindsight is a wonderful thing but one must think that an Arsenal team with a Smalling, Alonso (even at 33) and Suarez core would be more successful….
Paul, London
PS I am a Wenger in man.
Strange loans
When watching the Chelsea v Porto game on Tuesday night, Porto made a sub late in the game.
The commentator noted that it was Miguel Layun coming on. Who was currently on loan from Watford. From Watford, on loan at Porto.
It struck me as odd. I looked into it and it turns out he is there on loan with the option to buy, so it makes a bit more sense. But I thought that would be time for a mailbox survey. Strangest loans?
I will start. Faubert to Real Madrid.
Nick, CFC, Inverness
Man United and Everton hold same blueprint
I noticed in the various conclusions to the Man Utd game that many fans and pundits were seemingly pleased that Utd went behind early as it forced them to up their tempo which in turn made the passing more incisive and Utd more dangerous.
I tried to make a similar point in my half cut conclusions to the West Brom Everton game, in that when we went 2-0 behind we increased our tempo which made some of our more sideways passers take extra risks and get the ball forward along the deck. Both teams have managers whose ‘philosophy’, or simply put, strategy to win a game of football, is to control possession throughout the game in the hope that:
Without the ball, the opposition cannot score (unless there’s a brain fart, like on Monday by Funes Mori and Barry
With the ball, the team have incisive passers in deep lying midfield roles (Carrick, Schweinsteiger, Herrera, Barry, McCarthy – I know, I know, the United players are better, I’m not making a direct comparison between the players, more the styles of play) to open up the play for the attacking flair players up top.
The issue I see with this style of play is that it generates a slow tempo of build-up play that can be easily stifled by sitting deep and counter attacking (which most teams can do), which in turn reduces the space for the flair players to exploit and thereby negating their impact.
When the team goes behind the midfield have to take more risks and transition to the attacking players quicker, with the big advantage being that there is then more space for someone like Ross Barkley or Juan Mata to do their thing. My belief is that there is still a concern from both managers on the makeup of their defences which makes them go for a defensive style of play (sterile domination as it has been referred to).
I would say for United, with De Gea, Darmian and Smalling that this is not a fair reflection and that the defence is pretty strong and when Everton have Stones and Jagielka playing this is also the case.
So in summary, I would like to see both teams go for it on 17th October and get the ball quickly to Deloufeu, Barkley, Depay and Mata when they have more space to play in by taking those risks – it may harm pass completion statistics and put more pressure on the defence (which as stated are capable of dealing with it), but both teams have shown that it is their most effective method of scoring goals. It’ll be better than 90 minutes of sideways passes 60 yards from goal.
Bonus point: Have to agree with the recent praise for Smalling, in the pub last night we were amazed at his transformation. An England back five of Hart, Clyne, Stones, Smalling and Shaw (best wishes to him) has amazing potential and the possibility of 500+ aggregate of caps.
Given a year ago we had a back four of Johnson, Cahill, Jagielka and Baines lining up at the World Cup (all good pros but all on the decline) the future looks bright at the back for England, or at least until the underwhelming exit in France.
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