2015 - 2016 Football Thread - Page 205

On December 10 2015 14:41 Rebs wrote:


That wont work for a number of reasons but the main one would be that alot of these teams that you are talking about can only play well in spurts. The fact that smaller PL clubs have access to talent from the continent does indeed mean that the teams are better. But having to maintain the intensity of playing in Europe and domestically is not something these players can handle. And squad depth is an issue even for the top teams. Middling clubs have to work alot harder than top clubs in all aspects to compete and maintaining that isnt viable.

Thats why mid level teams look amazing one day and super flat the next so you will see your Stokes play City of the pitch but then lose a shitty sloppy game against someone like NewCastle or Norwich and conversely make them look godly.

So yes top English teams are a little weaker and the rest have gotten better in England especially but what your suggesting wont have much impact. Sure with more bites at the cherry and a bit more money some smaller teams might make a run here and there but overall there wont be much difference.

Its not like continental teams in Europe are significantly weaker than mid level teams from the top leagues. Its roughly the same level and some of them with less domestic pressure are able to perform at a higher level.

You wont see a rebirth of the premier league until the top clubs get their act together. The PL didnt become a big deal because Stoke and Leicester city were playing well. It became a big deal because of teams like United in the 90's and later Arsenal aswell. And then ofcourse your oil teams showed up. If you dont have teams dominating as bad as that might sound as far as competition is concerned being competitive is actually worse than having 3-4 teams cemented at the top and consistently expanding brand value through their impressiveness. Thats what makes a big league, competition on its own is pretty useless. You need to wow and win alot one way or another. I mean think about it at the end of the day we have this idea that there are alot of title challengers. but usually by December theres like 2 or at most 3 teams in the mix at best. And there have been a bunch of cakewalks to. Not to different from most other leagues. United had mastered the art of grinding out wins while playing badly. Thats what they need to get.

On December 15 2015 00:05 Eliezar wrote:


I think we might see 6 teams from Spain in the champions league under that suggestion, but England have been struggling in the Europa league. What would change is that if a team like Liverpool or Tottenham that have been finishing just outside the top 4 in England are able to get in the Championsleague they would likely be able to spend enough to stay there.

On December 13 2015 19:36 Greg_J wrote:
I haven't mentioned the K-League much this year since I've been busy and it's largelly been boring. But a quick summary might be order.

Jeonbuk won the K League comfortably and the usual Pohang, Seoul and Suwon Bluewings will join them in the AFC competition. Daejon and Busan were woeful and luckily we now have relegation so it's unacceptable to have teams that bad and neither will appear in next years competition as Busan lost the playoff finals to FC Suwon.

Disappointingly Sangju (The military team (football's Airforce Ace)) won the K-League Challenge so they will be playing top flight football again next year. I say that's disappointing because though we all cheered for Airforce Ace and loved the underdogs in Esports. The reality of Sanju is that they play at a ground in the middle of nowhere with just a thousand or so fans watching and it's not really great for the Korean football to have them in the top flight. It also speaks of the weakness of the second League that the military team tops the table.

Having said that Dageu where hugley unlucky finishing on level point sand goal difference and only not getting promoted because Sanju had more goals scored for them.

FC Suwon winning the play offs and now been promoted is actually pretty awesome. They are not a big Chaebol team but are actually a community backed 'real' team. Which is great for Korean football and they need far more teams like that. Hopefully they won't get hammered too badly next season when they play against the big boys and it will be great to have a Suwon Derby. Korean football desperately needs more teams like that to start popping up.

On December 15 2015 06:08 city42 wrote:
Mahrez is the best player in the PL by some distance this season.

On December 15 2015 06:10 Boucot wrote:

Özil ?