IS THE PREMIERSHIP OVERRATED?
I was in Bali in December and I remember landing and thinking, I have to watch Chelsea play Leicester and also watch them play the UCL game against Porto.
I checked the time zones and some games were coming up at 2am, so I asked at the hotel reception where I could watch the Premiership at that time of the night? ‘Everywhere’ was the answer and as I asked the foreigners I met one by one, I realised that the EPL was watched even at such wee hours of the morning by majority of the people – and needless to say I didn’t need to walk for very long before I found a store selling EPL jerseys!
The story is the same each time I am in America, it’s amazing how I always find a TV in the hotel showing premiership games on a Saturday or a Sunday morning as early as 5am!
In Africa all games are watched by fanatical supporters! And even the 3pm games are live on the networks each weekend!
So is the EPL the best in the world? Or is it just the most popular?
Is it the most sought after by the best players or do players just arrive at their peak and take a share of the cake?
Is the EPL attracting the best of the world footballers or do we get the very good?
I want to know, because once again for the third year in succession, an English team will not be winning the UEFA CL, and even though I am a Chelsea fan, the last one we won was really on penalties against the best team in Europe at the time by a mile.
Has the problem been further highlighted by Leicester City?
Would Getafe, Grenada or Betis ever be able to win the League in Spain?
Could Palermo or Udinese ever be able to perform the stunts that Leicester have in the Italian league?
Can Hoffenheim or Darmstadt unseat Bayern at the top of the Bundesliga?
So Why have Leicester been able to do that in England?
Are there no teams with the same passion and unity in the other leagues?
I have been thinking: many years ago, very good was excellent in football but today, very good is only average in football and exceptional is the excellent of today.
Are there too many very good players in the premiership?
Maybe that explains why a team like mine (Chelsea) could just crumble at the onset of the season? Maybe that explains why the gap has been bridged between a WestHam team of very good players and a Chelsea team? I don’t know, I am also looking for answers….
Maybe the emphasis on running, pace, power and strength has taken from the tactical and technical part of the game for most players and so strength and stamina determines more where the EPL would finish, whereas in Spain, Italy, Germany and France the exact opposite is the case?
So is the Premiership overrated?
CITY REINFORCE WHY GUARDIOLA IS NEEDED.
When Roberto Mancini delivered the first title to Manchester City a few years ago, many had thought they would go on and repeat the success and stamp their authority on the EPL and English football and Europe as Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea and especially Sir Alex Ferguson’s United team did previously. They were expected to be revered and feared in Europe and also to turn to the playground bullies of English football.
Since their first championship however, City have just become unpredictable and their style of football is still unidentifiable.
As they huffed and puffed against Arsenal at home yesterday, I couldn’t help but think:
Are they not supposed to be ‘A GIANT’ in the EPL?
Are they not supposed to resemble ‘a’ Barcelona, Madrid, Juventus or Bayern, so how could they be struggling as they are?
Three players out : Kompany, Silva and Yaya and they looked ordinary for several minutes in yesterday’s game, they looked lost like a driver in a foreign country without a GPRS, looking at road signs in a foreign language.
With one more game to play, City have invited their neighbours from the red corner to the party and are in danger of being kicked out of the party by their own invitees.
If City don’t qualify for the UCL, they would have themselves to blame for throwing it all away, but on the other hand, Pep Guardiola would not have a better start to a managerial
reign at any club.
This is not a Bayern team that has just won the treble and playing the best football of their life, this is not a Barcelona team basking in the euphoria of Champions League and domestic glory with Rikjaard and Ronaldinho, this is not a City team with the most magical, influential and dominant player of the new millennium.
He is inheriting a Manchester City team that is very good but have not gone on to become excellent, a team that threatened to be dominant but are in danger of becoming has-beens.
Pep will strengthen the squad and bring his own type of players, he will also insist on playing his own way, but he will also get rid of some as well; tired legs, aching legs, the weak at heart, fragile in the head and of course Yaya Toure.
I know Pep would go to work on this team once he arrives at the Etihad so I can’t wait to see how he would go about his work, integrating power, passion and sheer strength with ball possession, tactical play and quick transitions.
One thing is for sure, next season is pregnant with excitement!
HAS KLOPP FINALLY ARRIVED IN ENGLAND OR DOES HE STILL HAVE SOME TO PROVE HIMSELF THIS SEASON?
Liverpool have qualified for the final of the Europa League, steered by Herr Jurgen Klopp
Is this the beginning of the return of Liverpool as a dominant force in England & Europe or have we seen all that Herr Klopp has to offer?
Congratulations to Jurgen Klopp on a well deserved qualification, played out with passionate, tactical and brilliant pressure game.
So my Liverpool friends I ask, has the Euro league final has justified his price tag or does he have to win EPL at least to justify his signing? Over to you.