Premier League don't believe the hype

[Fox From The Hudd]

The Premier League - the hypefest is about to start...

Why do we kid ourselves it's so great?

Only one Premier League player has started for the winning team in the World Cup final since 2002
The Champions League winners are not from The Premier League...
The "biggest clubs" in the world are not in The Premier League - Real Madrid/Barcelona...
The Bundersliga has higher gates...
The best players in the world do not play in the Premier League - C.Ronaldo, Messi, Iniesta...

Yes some of the above is subjective...but isn't it the hype of our elite league that made us think we could do well in the World Cup?

 

[Blue Maniac]

Going completely from memory (in other words I'm probably wrong) I think three Premier League players started in the World Cup semi finals.

 

[Fox From The Hudd]

Going completely from memory (in other words I'm probably wrong) I think three Premier League players started in the World Cup semi finals.

Which further proves my point...

 

[Han]

Which further proves my point...

I don't see how it backs up your argument about the Premier League.

The more 'elite' leagues tend to keep hold of their home-grown talent - i.e. Spain, England, Germany, Italy. You can't say that La Liga is better than the Premier League just because there are more spanish players in the spanish team.

There are other factors too - lots of south american players move to spain/portugal because of the language barriers. Does that make their leagues better than ours?

I'd be interested to see the league representations accross the whole of the world cup.

 

[Han]

I'd be interested to see the league representations accross the whole of the world cup.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/wo...b-club-guide-106-stars-heading-World-Cup.html

 

[Fox From The Hudd]

I don't see how it backs up your argument about the Premier League.

.

My argument is that the league is over hyped when it is quite obvious other leagues are stronger...

 

[Han]

I don't think it's "obvious".

Had it not been for Man Utd's monumental collapse in the semi-final then we would have seen an English side in the final for the sixth consecutive year.

Then there was the Mourinho factor for Inter versus Chelsea (not sure whether they would have beaten Barca, though).

If you look at other leagues around Europe they only have 1/2/3 teams that are really capable of competing on the biggest stage. Englad now has 4/5/6/7.

In my opinion it is money that had the biggest say in attracting foreign players. With the strengthening of the Euro over recent years, clubs tightening their belts and the new income tax bands England has become less attractive.

I think the EPL has been the best league for a good few years now but it will not be for long.

That said, the extra competition from Man City at the top of the table could bring more excitement and more interest.

 

[jb5000]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/wo...b-club-guide-106-stars-heading-World-Cup.html

What does that show? There were plenty of great players who didn't go to the World Cup and there were plenty of mediocraties that did - that so many of the latter came from the Premier League goes to show that the league works against the health of the England team. Don't swallow the hype!

 

[jb5000]

That said, the extra competition from Man City at the top of the table could bring more excitement and more interest.

Give me a break, over the last few years the Premier League has been a three horse race (Chelsea, Man Utd and one of Liverpool or Arsenal), adding a fourth horse hardly makes it exciting or interesting.

And even if they do win, what is the morale of the story? That the foreign billionaire looking for a toy who spends the most wins. Again, exciting or interesting? Really?

 

[Han]

What does that show? There were plenty of great players who didn't go to the World Cup and there were plenty of mediocraties that did - that so many of the latter came from the Premier League goes to show that the league works against the health of the England team. Don't swallow the hype!

I was showing that international teams have little to no correlation with the strength of a league.

Give me a break, over the last few years the Premier League has been a three horse race (Chelsea, Man Utd and one of Liverpool or Arsenal), adding a fourth horse hardly makes it exciting or interesting.

And even if they do win, what is the morale of the story? That the foreign billionaire looking for a toy who spends the most wins. Again, exciting or interesting? Really?

La Liga has been a two-horse race
Serie A a one-horse race
Bundesliga has been all over the place (but with Bayern, Werder Bremen and Shalke regularly appearing in the top 3)

I go back to the argument about the number of quality teams in each league.