How do you rate English football?

[Tomáš]

Hi everybody,
Just watching both Manchester Clubs going out of EL. Arsenal went after great fight out of CL against Milan. Just Chelsea made it with some 'luck' into the next round. Putting the 'wrong colors’ besides, wondering how do you rate English football with respect to the European competition and especially with the money and a lot of very good players in your league. Thanks and best wishes,
Thomas

[frankbutcher]

Hi everybody,
Just watching both Manchester Clubs going out of EL. Arsenal went after great fight out of CL against Milan. Just Chelsea made it with some 'luck' into the next round. Putting the 'wrong colors’ besides, wondering how do you rate English football with respect to the European competition and especially with the money and a lot of very good players in your league. Thanks and best wishes,
Thomas

British teams have got worse. No doubt about that. I think we have also had a "bad year". Lots of sub-standard performances, inter-spersed with some good play. That's the way it goes some times.

Will a British team win the Champions League in the next 5 years?

In my opinion - no. The Spanish duopoly, plus up-and-coming teams with oil money like Malaga, PSG will prevent us winning. Bayern are also strong.

[flash gunner]

I think the quality of English football has definately gone down and most probably European football in general has improved too.

[Henry Norris 1913]

oh I detest this *******, I knew that as soon as the two manc clubs got eliminated it would be made to be about english football getting worse, despite our great performances in the recent CL. Its a load of daily mail bs, of course nothing to do with foreign teams getting better is it
what about stoke, b'ham and fulham doing well in europe this season ? fulham got to the final in '10, what does that make them? and top players at city and united like Aguero, Dzeko, Rooney, Nani, Kompany. Are they not good enough for La Liga now?

Load of kneejerk pollocks, don't suscribe to this lazy, over dramatic journalism please

[frankbutcher]

oh I detest this *******, I knew that as soon as the two manc clubs got eliminated it would be made to be about english football getting worse, despite our great performances in the recent CL. Its a load of daily mail bs, of course nothing to do with foreign teams getting better is it
what about stoke, b'ham and fulham doing well in europe this season ? fulham got to the final in '10, what does that make them? and top players at city and united like Aguero, Dzeko, Rooney, Nani, Kompany. Are they not good enough for La Liga now?

Load of kneejerk pollocks, don't suscribe to this lazy, over dramatic journalism please

Say what you really think.

[augie]

Henry, tomas merely asked what our opinions on the subject are so it isn't as if he is condemning English footie now is it ?

For the record I think only Stevie wonder would deny that English football hasn't deteriorated and considerably at that - forget about euro football and just look internally and you would have to agree that this manure team wouldn't get within 10pts of winning the league a few years back. I firmly believe that the increased tax bill that footballers in uk now face means that more and more of the worlds best will opt for the Spanish league

[Henry Norris 1913]

Henry, tomas merely asked what our opinions on the subject are so it isn't as if he is condemning English footie now is it ?

I didn't even mention him, I'm obviously not responding to him but the bandwagoners that will start making a big thing of the mancs failing in the EL. who cares? At the moment our fifth best team is in the CL , and Spain only have the top two teams.
I would argue the Premier League has never been the best league , but it did at one point feature three great sides that could look like causing Barca some trouble on their day. I mean what has one Man Utd team looking less strong all of a sudden mean about the whole league? Look at how good Newcastle have done this year, and a Liverpool side with Suarez and Gerrard have been kept quiet by the likes of swansea and norwich.

[SammyDroppedHisShorts]

Henry, tomas merely asked what our opinions on the subject are so it isn't as if he is condemning English footie now is it ?

I didn't even mention him, I'm obviously not responding to him but the bandwagoners that will start making a big thing of the mancs failing in the EL. who cares? At the moment our fifth best team is in the CL , and Spain only have the top two teams.
I would argue the Premier League has never been the best league , but it did at one point feature three great sides that could look like causing Barca some trouble on their day. I mean what has one Man Utd team looking less strong all of a sudden mean about the whole league? Look at how good Newcastle have done this year, and a Liverpool side with Suarez and Gerrard have been kept quiet by the likes of swansea and norwich.

Why are you such an angry young man? I read so much of your stuff and like what I see, but sometimes I think you are a very angry Balotelli!!

[Barriecuda]

Probably the most entertaining league in the world. Fast, physical, blending modern athleticism with the traditional tenets of the British game. The battle for the league is always good; sometimes the relegation battles are even better; and the Cup competitions give a variety of teams a chance to win a piece of something meaningful. Love it.

On the world stage, England isn't as competitive in the last few years - but who is, competing with Barca and Madrid? The quality of English teams is also in a slight decline as financial realities tighten up the grip on these teams spending power - excepting City.

English teams have a tough time playing with European (UEFA) officials, and it clearly shows; look at Arsenal against AC for example. Continental referees expect a different kind of game, and English teams are built more to be more physical than that.

Overall I think English teams are the strongest in Europe, with the exception of the Spanish giants, because Madrid and Barca simply have too much money. Many of the mid and lower table teams in England would - with a lenient referee - stomp all over a lot of continental opposition from the best leagues. Even teams like Porto would probably find it significantly tougher to win games in the Premiership.

[RioGooner]

Is the best league around, the small teams are competitive, they have some money, unlike the smalls in spain that are going bankrrupt. the crazy fast pace of the premier league makes is very entertaining. I particulary prefer the Bundesliga for enterteinment just because the teams are much more leveled then in the PL, but even with the Spanish duo spending far more then what they have, just because they are massively state funded for the sake of propaganda, I still think the best players are in the Premier League and the league's capacity to attract talent is second to none.

[DB10GOONER]

It's still the most "entertaining" league in the world. But the technical level isn't what it was a few years ago. But then the PL was NEVER as amazing as SlySports would have us believe and with the amount of diving and cheating that is creeping into the game it's getting worse if anything.

But for all that's wrong with the PL (mercenary players, greed, poor reffing, lower technical level etc) I'd still watch a PL game any day of the week ahead of the diving acting slow boring rubbish that is the vast majority of Italian or Spanish league games. If you think diving and acting are ruining the PL you should watch a full 90 minutes of Italian or Spanish league football. It's embarrassing to see grown men act like that.

[the moog]

english football is fu***ing great. the amount of teams involved, the amont of interest, the amount of people who attend throughout the leagues is simply astounding. if it is technically (god i hate that word) not as good as europe i don't care as the thrills and spills that it brings makes up for the technical aspect.

i'd rather watch a match that has mistakes/incident and goals than a match that the players do everything right.

[spike241]

It's still the most "entertaining" league in the world. But the technical level isn't what it was a few years ago. But then the PL was NEVER as amazing as SlySports would have us believe and with the amount of diving and cheating that is creeping into the game it's getting worse if anything.

But for all that's wrong with the PL (mercenary players, greed, poor reffing, lower technical level etc) I'd still watch a PL game any day of the week ahead of the diving acting slow boring rubbish that is the vast majority of Italian or Spanish league games. If you think diving and acting are ruining the PL you should watch a full 90 minutes of Italian or Spanish league football. It's embarrassing to see grown men act like that.

Couldn't agree more. In the PL you can usually pick out a few players from each team who dive on a regular basis. In Italy and Spain you can pick out a few players who dive more than others but most of them do it and the refs fall for it!

[MadRich]

Just watch the Newcastle v Sunderland.
Only in the premier league!!

I think the 50% tax rate affect the EPL a great deal.
I'm not into politic or anything I wonder how many more industries where affected by this too

[Tomáš]

Dear All,
Thanks so far for your input.
Some of you pointed out what it did not see in the first place.
When looking at football in different countries it basically comes to the aspect of:
1. How good and competitive is the national league
2. How good and competitive are the national teams when they have to face teams from other leagues in the European cup competition
3. How good and competitive is the national squad

For number one, looking as a foreigner on the PL it looks like it is pretty much sliced into section. You have the let’s say top four teams, you have a solid midfield and then some teams which always have to fight against relegation. Also it looks from the outside that some few teams have the money power http://www.deloitte.com/view/en_GB/uk/i ... 0aRCRD.htm and the others are struggling more or less. I think the German Bundesliga and the PL are kind of the same, although there is less money in Germany and I think for the lower teams it is easier to beat sometimes the top teams.

For number two, that is what we as foreign football fans looking at during the European competition. Teams like Manchester United, Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool, have been always around in Europe. I have never noticed Manchester City up to now. So the teams I mentioned had ‘a natural right’ to be almost until the end in the European competition or even win it. Arsenal finished this year top in the CL group and then went out in the first knock out stage. Both Manchester teams did not survive the CL group stage, which is at least for United a huge blow in my eyes. Then strange to see is that both teams also have been knocked out in the first EL round. So the only club which is holding the English colors up is Chelsea. At this point of time, with two European competitions in the quarter finals, it is very ‘strange’ to see that only one English team is still alive. Do you think that this would have any impact on the new season in terms of money, new signings, awareness, recognition, etc.?

For number three, well football is a game of 11 players and the Germans always win, joke !

Wish you all a good weekend and stay safe.
Best black and yellow wishes from sunny Germany,
Thomas