On 28th May this year at the Wembley Stadium in London we witnessed one of the greatest team of all time demolish the English Premier League champions Manchester United, to win the UEFA Champions League. We all gasped at the sight of this Barcelona team dismantle the English Champions. We all know how good this Barcelona team is, no need for me to remind anyone about that but the question I want to ask is “ Was Barcelona too good or were Manchester United poor ? “ . Let me rephrase this question ...” Is the standard of English Football really as high as we all think it is?”.
To answer this question perfectly is an impossible task. The opinions and views of people differ. So I know that my views will be met with mixed reviews. To start off, one thing I would like to say is that most of the eminent journalists and football experts are of the view that the EPL is currently the most competitive league in the world, and I don’t disagree with them. The EPL is currently the most closely contested among all the big leagues of Europe. Since the last 2 years there have been 6 teams all capable of winning the title. And before that there has been 4 teams fighting for the coveted prize. In Spain, it is always going to be one of either Real Madrid or Barcelona. And in Italy, it’s a fight among the Milan sides, Juventus and AS Roma.
But the question I want to ask is “Whether this highly competitive EPL producing a higher standard of football? “ Are we fooling ourselves to thinking that just because the league is competitive, the standard is going to be high too ? . I know that only a few years back (2008) Man Utd won the UCL. They then reached the finals next year (2009). Chelsea meanwhile were Manchester United’ opponents in 2008 and Chelsea has reached the semis quite a few times of late. But then in 2008, both Madrid and Barcelona were very weak and in 2009 it was Barcelona who beat Manchester United.
What is the best way then to judge the standard of football???
Let us look at the performances of the England National Team. No need for me to remind you all the performances of England in the World Cups and the Euro Cups (England didn’t even qualify for the last Euros). Now, some of you will not agree with this argument of mine. Many of you will say that we cannot compare International Football with Club Football, and you are all right. But the thing is that I am not comparing them, what I want to bring to notice is the quality of players that play for England in the big tournaments. Some of the biggest names in Football like Rooney, Terry, Gerrard etc represented England in the World Cup of 2010 . But what happened? England got outplayed by a young, vibrant German side in the 1st knock out round to lose 4-1. Of course, Lampard was slightly unlucky to have his goal disallowed which would have made the match 2-2. Also, England somehow managed to limp out of the Group stages. In comparison, Uruguay managed to reach the semis and they even stretched the strong German side in the 3rd place match.
My point is, are these English stars like Lampard, Rooney, Gerrard overrated??? After all, how do we judge the quality of these big players? its through their performances in the big matches and the big tournaments. The English players rarely do well in a real big stage. And by performance I am talking about their individual performance. Now, when these players play for their clubs they are legends but when they come up against a Barcelona, they all come to naught.
The other night I was watching Man City play Swansea. Swansea, we all know will be in the relegation battle in this EPL season. But then, the quality of Sergio Aguero was unmistakable. He really looked like a player who has the potential to win City the league this year. Of course, it is difficult to judge a player from only 1 match but his vision and his shots were all there to see for everyone. Similarly, Luis Suarez has come and has transformed Liverpool. But still, it’s the English players who get all the attention. Aguero and Suarez has shown the true standard of English football. These 2 players were considered as stars , but they are not as big a star as say a Lampard is. Another player that comes to my mind is Rafael Van der Vaart . Van der Vaart has come to English Football at the autumn of his career, nowhere near his peak as he once was. But still he has become a legend at Tottenham. Van der vaart’s skills, experience were no match for even the big, physical defenders of the EPL. What these guys have shown is that when it comes to the true world stage, English football is still lagging behind. It is only the media that labels the players and the British media is well known for overrating. Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard and Terry are all very good players but in comparison with the world I still think they fall short.
So, is the standard of EPL and English football really that high as we thought it was? Or are we guilty of just blindly following what we hear from the commentators and the press? Now that we are comparing leagues in general, it is also essential that we compare the teams that finish in the bottom of the league. Blackpool got relegated last year even after playing the most entertaining football that we have seen for some time being played by a newly promoted team. The reason for their relegation is no doubt their defense. Their defending was among the worst standards possible. Now if we are to ask ourselves how they would have done had they played in the La Liga or the Serie A we have to consider all aspects of the game. La liga is an attacking league where the defense of teams is pretty average, but they all attack well. Blackpool at a glance might have stayed up had they played in la liga. But then we also have to consider that Blackpool will have conceded more goals there. As a result, its not easy to judge whether they would have stayed up. In the Serie A, Blackpool might not have conceded many goals but they undoubtedly would have found scoring goals tough too and considering that the Italian football is very tactical, Blackpool would have struggled there too.
Thus, we find that English Football is not necessarily of the highest standard that we all think it is, of course opinions will differ. But then that’s why I am writing this to give a different view altogether.
To answer this question perfectly is an impossible task. The opinions and views of people differ. So I know that my views will be met with mixed reviews. To start off, one thing I would like to say is that most of the eminent journalists and football experts are of the view that the EPL is currently the most competitive league in the world, and I don’t disagree with them. The EPL is currently the most closely contested among all the big leagues of Europe. Since the last 2 years there have been 6 teams all capable of winning the title. And before that there has been 4 teams fighting for the coveted prize. In Spain, it is always going to be one of either Real Madrid or Barcelona. And in Italy, it’s a fight among the Milan sides, Juventus and AS Roma.
But the question I want to ask is “Whether this highly competitive EPL producing a higher standard of football? “ Are we fooling ourselves to thinking that just because the league is competitive, the standard is going to be high too ? . I know that only a few years back (2008) Man Utd won the UCL. They then reached the finals next year (2009). Chelsea meanwhile were Manchester United’ opponents in 2008 and Chelsea has reached the semis quite a few times of late. But then in 2008, both Madrid and Barcelona were very weak and in 2009 it was Barcelona who beat Manchester United.
What is the best way then to judge the standard of football???
Let us look at the performances of the England National Team. No need for me to remind you all the performances of England in the World Cups and the Euro Cups (England didn’t even qualify for the last Euros). Now, some of you will not agree with this argument of mine. Many of you will say that we cannot compare International Football with Club Football, and you are all right. But the thing is that I am not comparing them, what I want to bring to notice is the quality of players that play for England in the big tournaments. Some of the biggest names in Football like Rooney, Terry, Gerrard etc represented England in the World Cup of 2010 . But what happened? England got outplayed by a young, vibrant German side in the 1st knock out round to lose 4-1. Of course, Lampard was slightly unlucky to have his goal disallowed which would have made the match 2-2. Also, England somehow managed to limp out of the Group stages. In comparison, Uruguay managed to reach the semis and they even stretched the strong German side in the 3rd place match.
My point is, are these English stars like Lampard, Rooney, Gerrard overrated??? After all, how do we judge the quality of these big players? its through their performances in the big matches and the big tournaments. The English players rarely do well in a real big stage. And by performance I am talking about their individual performance. Now, when these players play for their clubs they are legends but when they come up against a Barcelona, they all come to naught.
The other night I was watching Man City play Swansea. Swansea, we all know will be in the relegation battle in this EPL season. But then, the quality of Sergio Aguero was unmistakable. He really looked like a player who has the potential to win City the league this year. Of course, it is difficult to judge a player from only 1 match but his vision and his shots were all there to see for everyone. Similarly, Luis Suarez has come and has transformed Liverpool. But still, it’s the English players who get all the attention. Aguero and Suarez has shown the true standard of English football. These 2 players were considered as stars , but they are not as big a star as say a Lampard is. Another player that comes to my mind is Rafael Van der Vaart . Van der Vaart has come to English Football at the autumn of his career, nowhere near his peak as he once was. But still he has become a legend at Tottenham. Van der vaart’s skills, experience were no match for even the big, physical defenders of the EPL. What these guys have shown is that when it comes to the true world stage, English football is still lagging behind. It is only the media that labels the players and the British media is well known for overrating. Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard and Terry are all very good players but in comparison with the world I still think they fall short.
So, is the standard of EPL and English football really that high as we thought it was? Or are we guilty of just blindly following what we hear from the commentators and the press? Now that we are comparing leagues in general, it is also essential that we compare the teams that finish in the bottom of the league. Blackpool got relegated last year even after playing the most entertaining football that we have seen for some time being played by a newly promoted team. The reason for their relegation is no doubt their defense. Their defending was among the worst standards possible. Now if we are to ask ourselves how they would have done had they played in the La Liga or the Serie A we have to consider all aspects of the game. La liga is an attacking league where the defense of teams is pretty average, but they all attack well. Blackpool at a glance might have stayed up had they played in la liga. But then we also have to consider that Blackpool will have conceded more goals there. As a result, its not easy to judge whether they would have stayed up. In the Serie A, Blackpool might not have conceded many goals but they undoubtedly would have found scoring goals tough too and considering that the Italian football is very tactical, Blackpool would have struggled there too.
Thus, we find that English Football is not necessarily of the highest standard that we all think it is, of course opinions will differ. But then that’s why I am writing this to give a different view altogether.
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