Comments on: Is the Prem Just a Feeder League for Real Madrid and Barcelona?

By: MoMONEY

MoMONEY — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 01:05:03 +0000

IMO in a footballing sense its La Liga no doubt. Players and teams there pay football. In England they sit back and defend, and rely on athleticism because the result is all that matters. So if you are talking about pure footballing sense, I think its La Liga in an instant. I think Hilal nailed it with his argument as well…

By: Hilal

Hilal — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 12:15:19 +0000

@Jack…..lol. Yeah because there is soo much logic in your rants isnt there? Its funny how you EPL fans always talk and talk but you dont put anything forward to back your claims. Please if you are so sure of your position answer me the two very simple questions I put to you; why is it (if the EPL is the best league) that outside of the top four not a single team has won anyting in Europe in the last 10 years? And name me one player outside the top four who could walk into either Barca or RM? I named you 4 already that would go the other way. In fact Chelsea are scrapping for 2 of them. They prob wont get either because they lack any history whatsoever, they just have money, not even the most money anymore. They already lost Robinho to Man city, i could see it happening again with Aguero.

Chelsea have one midfielder who would get into the best XI and that is Essien. Lampard is great but he wouldnt get in a midfield ahead of the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Gerrard or Kaka. Sorry mate, no chance. As for beating the shit out of Madrid next season, lets see. You didnt convincingly beat any teams in the CL this year so I am not sure where you get your confidence from, but I am willing to wait and see cos well who knows how this “new and improved” RM is gona fair next year. I tell you what though you wouldnt batter any of the other top four teams in Spain. Utd have yet to beat Villareal once out of the four times they have played in the last 2 years. Villareal are a tiny club who spend about a 10th of the money top EPL teams do and the all mighty Utd havent been able to beat them once. Liverpool couldnt beat Athletico Madrid who were convincingly thrashed more than once by Barca and several other teams in the league. Chelsea scraped by Valencia the last time you played them and that was at the peak of your powers. You won, but it certainly wasnt a grand victory. None of these clubs btw spend anywhere near the money top EPL teams do. I mean really you EPL fans need to get over yourselves. You would have thought seeing the EPL champs so convincingly outplayed in the final of the CL (when you all though they would walk it) might have woken you up a bit. They didnt even play a full strength team!!! So you know keep talking and talking, its what you english are good at, but results dont lie.

By: martin

martin — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 12:12:12 +0000

Real Madrid wouldn’t have such an impressive honours list if it wasn’t for government corruption.

By: Jose159

Jose159 — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:25:18 +0000

You know, this isn’t something that hasn’t been said 10^6x o’er the internet.

By: Jose159

Jose159 — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 06:19:22 +0000

To follow on Madridista’s point, notice that the EPL’s Champions League representatives are the same every year. This creates a positive feedback loop in which these clubs get CL income and it accumulates over the year. These clubs can come to depend on this income, with the little challenge that the rest of the EPL has offered the last few years. (Look up how much clubs make in the CL compared to the UEFA Cup. One analysis I read once showed that a club that makes the CL knockout stage is already making more than that year’s UEFA Cup WINNER.) The last time all of CLAM wasn’t in the Champs League was 2003, when Liverpool was replaced by (the now-relegated) Newcastle.

In Spain, though, the Positions 3-6 are constantly in flux (Real and Barca are-usually- but not always in the top two). You don’t get clubs that can depend on constant CL income ever year, so they can’t mount the wealth to build a squad that can allow them a deep CL run. And unless you are extremely lucky with injuries (like us this year), you need a deep and thus expensive squad to keep up in La Liga and the CL. Atletico, Valencia, Sevilla, Villareal… Bless ‘em, but none of them can consistently (>2 straight years) make it into the Top 4.

That gives La Liga an on average better 3-6, but not the best 1-4.

By: Madridista

Madridista — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 05:35:53 +0000

To my mind there is little doubt La Liga nurtures a lot more talent than the EPL. Part of why RM’s transfer policy is so maligned is that they in fact let ridiculous numbers of their players go to other La Liga teams or out of Spain altogether, while spending big on players with no affiliation to RM. Cambiasso (Inter), Negredo (Almeria), Granero, Soldado (Getafe), Juanfran (Osasuna), Arbeloa (Depor, then Liverpool), Diego Lopez (Villarreal), Mata (Valencia) – and this is *just* Real Madrid. Barca, Sevilla, Valencia, Athletic Bilbao all have strong youth development policies, but we’re only just looking in the obvious places: David Villa came through the Sporting Gijon ranks, and Xabi Alonso through the Real Sociedad ranks (both teams have strong cantera policies too). Every single one of those players, if not a full international, is considered a key player for their club. So let’s put the “Spanish clubs buy big and EPL clubs nurture talent” to bed. It’s daft.

As for the overall strength of the league, I think the comparison between CL and UEFA Cup sides is a worthy one. That Spanish teams generally get into the knockout stages but not as consistently into the later stages as the EPL teams do says their top end is not as consistently strong as the EPL, but in the UEFA Cup there’s no comparison. This season, EPL won out (Man City made it further than Valencia and Depor), but over the last five seasons in the UEFA Cup we’ve seen 11 Spanish clubs represented, with more than half of those also playing in the CL group stages during this time (Depor, Villarreal, Sevilla, Atletico, Valencia, Betis), with two wins (both Sevilla) and five different clubs in the quarters to show for it. In comparison, there have been 8 EPL clubs in the UEFA Cup these five seasons, with one team reaching the final (where Boro lost 4-0 to Sevilla), three teams in the quarter-finals, and only one team (Everton) also getting the chance to qualify for the CL (but lost to Villarreal during qualifying). So I don’t see why it isn’t fair to say the top end of the EPL might be stronger, but La Liga is stronger overall.

By: jordi

jordi — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 05:06:18 +0000

LOL, so we rant illogically do we? The irony…pot meet kettle.

By: Jose159

Jose159 — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 04:58:42 +0000

Andres, fellow La Liga fan, I’ll second that advice. We at the Barca Offside have been on give-Jack-space alert until further notice. It ain’t easy being a Chelsea fan these days…

By: Andres

Andres — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 04:46:49 +0000

lightning* ……

By: Andres

Andres — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 04:44:38 +0000

Ahahah dont bring that up before he post another essay up on how deserving chelsea was of a place in rome

LIGHTING!!!!!! uh sorry i got flashbacks of iniesta’s strike