Men's Soccer (Football) Thread [ARCHIVED] Soccer • Page 161

I think a big issue is that the CL can be so random. The schedule has big gaps where injuries/form can really dampen the overall season a club is having. 2 leg ties with a 1 leg final turns chance/randomness into a bigger factor depending on scheduling and injuries as well.

Premier League is so competitive because of the massive TV money and that all teams get basically an equal slice (you either outspend or take chances by paying for youth). Other leagues it takes a club with an incredible academy and/or investment/patience in a manager to compete since TV money is much lower and not spread out as evenly.

 

This is an interesting assessment that I hadn't considered before. The negative impact of all the money, perhaps.

 

It's just hard to see who wins from all this money being in the game (besides the "fat cats" at the very top). I guess it's just that the problems are just different for the richer clubs, and it's better to be in that elite group with the chance of winning trophies, however slim that chance actually is, than not.

 

Maybe the rumors of the European super league are closer than we think?

 

European super league would make me completely lose interest in football

 

I think it would completely ruin football in Europe if it happened, and is the worst possible option for those big clubs as well as destroying smaller clubs + the leagues they leave behind.

But said big clubs already dominate everything anyway and every option people can think of for trying to level the playing field seems to have a massive downside too

 

Something Liverpool-related that is good - Oxlade-Chamberlain is now back on a football pitch after over 1 year out!

 

Starting to believe the “premier league is most competitive top to bottom” narrative is a lie. Two teams were relegated in March...

 

that an interesting argument because how are you measuring? by the number of different teams that win the title in a given number of years, number of different teams that make top 4/6? its a tough argument to find a metric for

 

I know coming from a La Liga fan it’ll get some eye rolls, but a league where only 2-3 teams really stand a chance to win the title over the course of the season can’t make that claim. Every league in europe is too heavy, but a team like Getafe is currently taking Champions League away from a powerhouse of the recent decade in Sevilla, Celta a season or so removed from being in the semis of the Europa are in a seven team regulation battle...with no certain teams regulated yet. That’s more of a sign of parity to me than just a bunch of rich teams coming in roughly the same places for the last decade, with the notable blips of Leicester, Swansea sneaking into Europa, and Everton making a legit UCL charge five years or so ago.

I don’t follow other leagues as closely as La Liga, but I’m assuming there are similar correlations beneath the PSG/Juventus/Bayerns of the world.

 

But the top two are also on a ridiculous point total right now. 98 and 97 if both win out.

 

Which also kinda proves the league isn’t competitive as we’re supposed to believe.

 

The last team to retain the title was Man Utd in 2008/2009. That’s the first indicator for competitiveness for me. Yes, there is a top six but on their day, any of those can beat any of the others. I like what Pep said - City raised the bar last season and Liverpool have risen to the challenge. A measure of competitiveness going forward is whether the other four can rise to that challenge.

Now, I think this season (and the last) has been interesting and not as competitive across the board as previous seasons. Early relegations are a good indication of that, and the dominance of City & Liverpool shows the gulf in class between top and bottom (last night for example). If this continues that would be a sign of less competitiveness but can you judge that on two seasons? No, in my opinion, not when you compare to other seasons.

The fact that the table does become a fight for 7th is a good sign of it not being as competitive. I remember when it was a fight for 5th though and teams like Everton and Aston Villa were involved. Is a league more competitive now that 6 teams are fighting for the top or less competitive that those teams are almost guaranteed those 6 places? It’s hard to determine and definitely hard to compare with other leagues.

Wolves record against the top 6 has been a good example of competitiveness. If they improve against the other teams next season it will be interesting to see what they do.

I think you can make a case for declining competitiveness with the top 6 being more predictable than ever before, but I still think compared to other top leagues (particularly Bayern, Juventus, PSG) we are not there yet. We could go that way though with City.

The Getafe point is interesting and I do appreciate it but we did have a Leicester City anamoly only a few seasons ago and that was equally remarkable. I think a true indicator of competitiveness is less the anamolies themselves and more whether they sustain it - with Leicester the answer was no (indicating less competitiveness) with Getafe it remains to be seen.

 

The competitiveness question is interesting. I'm one that thinks most of the top leagues are competitive outside of the top couple of teams. Serie A, Ligue 1, and La Liga are competitive outside of their top teams. But when you include the top teams that statement becomes a little bit pointless. Barring complete collapse of something like a fluke Monaco season PSG and Juve were always going to win their respective leagues.

For La Liga it was always going to be Real or Barca. Atletico have stagnated and Real lost their manager and talisman last summer. Barca were the only logical winners. With England, everyone was always going to say City were favourites. But no one would have said they were bankers to win it. Hell one slip up and they will lose it. One bad patch of form takes a team like Spurs from potentially pushing the top two, to fighting their way away from 6th place.

I wouldn't put much thought into Huddersfield and Fulham being relegated early. Huddersfield are a tiny club that haven't adjusted, and Fulham have some shockingly bad mismanagement. Both heavily underestimated the competitiveness of the league and have been punished for that. The competitiveness of the league is exactly what they failed to adapt to. Huddersfield thought they could just continue on the same way they were in the Championship and first month of last season and they would be OK, Fulham thought they could buy themselves a top flight team without care of thought into how players fit with each other and the uncertainty of fielding what was practically a complete new team.

They're clubs that got punished by the competitiveness, not clubs that show it doesn't exist in my opinion.

 

Harry Kane is reportedly out of his walking boot and “walking pain free”. He says he could be available to CL final if Spurs advance.

 

This race for 6th is really hotting up

 

That Antonio celebration leaves nothing to the imagination. It deserves to go viral.

 

Been visiting doctor Cugat i take it

 

Hope is the thing with feathers. Massive win for AFC Wimbledon!

 

Man, not having Sissoko and Winks is really hurting this team. Tuesday could get ugly with how good the Ajax attack is.

 

CAMPEONES!

 

I don’t know what’s going on with Lamela but it sounds like he has another serious injury.

 

Lyon and Wenger apparently in talks over their managerial position

 

After leading 2-0, PSG lose the French cup final on penalties to Rennes! Mbappe sent off for a horrific challenge too

 

Yessss Rennes!

Mbappe should get a really REALLY long ban.