The Barclays Premier League Thread 2013/14

[Cheeky Hughes]

Why? Are Xavi and Iniesta going with him?

This. Until he joins City (or any other club in any other league for that matter) and gets similar results, he's always going to be seen as being propped up somewhat by Xavi and Iniesta.

[EddieG]

Lord knows how City would get such a move through this FFP stuff, I'm not getting my hopes up.

Isn't the owner of Etihad like the brother of your owner? And he'll just pump 200m into the club as a sponsorship bonus or some bs?

[Ant]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/14490740

[EddieG]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/14490740

They were going to look into it 2 and a half years ago.. any resolve?

[Cheeky Hughes]

Lord knows how City would get such a move through this FFP stuff, I'm not getting my hopes up.

Isn't the owner of Etihad like the brother of your owner? And he'll just pump 200m into the club as a sponsorship bonus or some bs?

I wouldn't put it past them to give us that sort of money as a "congratulations" for winning the Capital One Cup or something silly like that.

[Ant]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/14490740

They were going to look into it 2 and a half years ago.. any resolve?

It's UEFA. Costa Coffee could do a better job at cleaning up the game

[Liam]

The idea of Messi having to prove his worth on a rainy night in Stoke to somehow be validated is laughable.

[brenchill]

No, but I think he does have to prove himself in another league in a team that isn't built to suit him.

Ronaldo has done it, fat Ronaldo did, so did Zidane, Maradona, Cruyft, Ibra, Henry, etc, the list goes on. Not many of the true greats stuck to one club and one league.

[Liam]

No, but I think he does have to prove himself in another league in a team that isn't built to suit him.

Why?

Heaven forfend that he was consistently the best player in the best league in the world (only arguably usurped this year by Ronaldo - IMO, for sure).

[brenchill]

Because the Barca team is built around him. I would like to see him challenge himself and do it somewhere else.

[Ant]

Plus i'd argue the Spanish league is not the best league in the world. More technical maybe but not the best.

[stokeriño]

*cough*

The argument that the Premier League sets the bar for players bemuses me at times. It always feels like the subtext is "unless they can still perform at that level whilst being repeatedly punched in the face by Lee Cattermole, I'm not convinced".

[Liam]

Because the Barca team is built around him. I would like to see him challenge himself and do it somewhere else.

Because he is good enough for it to be built around him. Shouldn't be a knock on the player.

Why should he 'challenge himself'? He plays for what was until recently the best club in the world, a club who have invested time and money into him since he was 11. He plays against the best players in the world at League, European and International level.

Plus i'd argue the Spanish league is not the best league in the world. More technical maybe but not the best.

In what way is the Premiership (or whatever you have in mind) better? Not being disrespectful, just intrigued.

[brenchill]

The Premier league is better because it has 20 competitive teams who on their day can beat any of the others. Compare the EPL's bottom 9 sides to the bottom sides in la Liga. It's no contest.

La Liga has Barca and Real, sometimes Athletico, and the rest are complete dross. And the Bundersliga is a joke. The 2nd best team in the league are the top teams feeder club.

[Liam]

The Premier league is better because it has 20 competitive teams who on their day can beat any of the others.

La Liga has Barca and Real, sometimes Athletico, and the rest are complete dross. And the Bundersliga is a joke. The 2nd best team in the league are the top teams feeder club.

We say that, the same thing happens in La Liga - not every team gets rolled over, big teams get beaten, yadda yadda yadda. Also, not all our teams are genuinely competitive - any team from about 12th place down are pretty 'meh', although they get it up every once in a while against a 'big' team.

This the first season in a fair while where it hasn't practically been a two or three horse race in the Premiership.

[Ant]

Because theres more competition in the Premier League. La Liga is predominantly dominated by Barca and Madrid (although AM have come into it this year) and yes whilst the odd time a Valencia or what have you make a surprise claim for the Championship, 9 times out of 10 either Barca or Real win it.

In England you now have 4, possibly 5 teams who are genuine title contenders and now three of the top 4 having new managers, its an open playing field again. City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool are in a four horse race and for the first time in quite a while United look suspect in all areas of the pitch. How often does that happen in La Liga? Even when Madrid or Barca are shit they still finish second to the other one.

Personally i prefer the Bundesliga though. Germany cares about the fans. England/The FA dont.

[brenchill]

Yeah, I love the way the Bundersliga is ran, but it's a poor league. Especially now Bayern have gone crazy.

[Liam]

Because theres more competition in the Premier League. La Liga is predominantly dominated by Barca and Madrid (although AM have come into it this year) and yes whilst the odd time a Valencia or what have you make a surprise claim for the Championship, 9 times out of 10 either Barca or Real win it.

In the Premiership years, the same amount of different teams have won La Liga as has won the Premiership (5). The Premiership has a slightly more even distribution, even though it also includes two teams who have won it only once.

[Ant]

Fair point. Still prefer Bundesliga though

Besides, Premiership as it stands is in a much better position to be a lot more competitive for the foreseeable future than La Liga is.

[Cymbols]

Yeah, I love the way the Bundersliga is ran, but it's a poor league. Especially now Bayern have gone crazy.

It's not like the Bundesliga's always been a one horse race though. You could easily argue that 9, 10 teams have been title contenders over the last decade which shows that there is class there. It's just more recently Bayern have really started pulling away. Wouldn't call it a poor league at all.