What league is better then PL

[O Fenomeno]

Thun

[O Fenomeno]

Guys need to remember the CL is a cup competition...

Some d*ckhead logic

[The Infamous]

It's been a poor show all round, and has been coming.

In reality City are pretenders, us and Liverpool sidemen compared to the best teams(and can't even beat the lower tier teams) , and Jose's tactics only work max once per cycle.

So true

Cannot see an English team reaching a CL final again until 2025

pmsl

[O Fenomeno]

It's been a poor show all round, and has been coming.

In reality City are pretenders, us and Liverpool sidemen compared to the best teams(and can't even beat the lower tier teams) , and Jose's tactics only work max once per cycle.

So true

Cannot see an English team reaching a CL final again until 2025

pmsl

Cuz whats your view on

La Liga having two teams and PL having four?

[The Infamous]

Are they changing it to two la liga teams?

Thought they had 4 too

[O Fenomeno]

PMSL

f*ck that shitty league

More stop start than NBA

only 2 good teams

/

Mbia beasted La Liga nuff said lmao

How many are there in your league?

more than 2 mate

Chelsea

Man City

Liverpool

Arsenal

So 4 and another 4 good sides under these 4

[The Infamous]

That was a jokey post mate

[O Fenomeno]

????

[O Fenomeno]

So

Spain 4

Italy 3

Germany 2

France 2

Ukraine 2

Belgium 1

Russia 1

Portugal 1

[Michel Kane]

Barca are going to have a real difficult transitional period soon, the methods taught in the academy is now different to that being played on the pitch

Elaborate

[Fighting Weight]

 

Barca are going to have a real difficult transitional period soon, the methods taught in the academy is now different to that being played on the pitch

Elaborate

 

 

The style and tactics that made the club so succesful over the last decade were drilled into the players at academy level, the progression & tactics of the first team simply mirrored the progression & tactics of the youth team, and when players did make the step up to the first time, there was continuity in their playing style, and also a willingness to promote youth players to the first time at the earliest possible oppertunity, the combination meant a crop of players who knew  eachother well, and knew the system well, and could play within it almost in their sleep, in terms of ball retention and more importantly, of pressing.

 

If you look back to the 3-1 Champions League final win over United, 7 of the Barcelona outfield team joined Barca as kids. Fast forward to Wednesdays win over Man City and that number was 4. A look at Barcelona over the last season also reveals a much more direct approach, less inclinded toward ball retention and much less so with aggressive pressing that was the hallmark of their game under Guardiola.

 

Changes in backroom staff have had an impact too

 

They are now in very real danger of becoming a 'buying' club

[Michel Kane]

 

 

Barca are going to have a real difficult transitional period soon, the methods taught in the academy is now different to that being played on the pitch

Elaborate

 

 

The style and tactics that made the club so succesful over the last decade were drilled into the players at academy level, the progression & tactics of the first team simply mirrored the progression & tactics of the youth team, and when players did make the step up to the first time, there was continuity in their playing style, and also a willingness to promote youth players to the first time at the earliest possible oppertunity, the combination meant a crop of players who knew  eachother well, and knew the system well, and could play within it almost in their sleep, in terms of ball retention and more importantly, of pressing.

 

If you look back to the 3-1 Champions League final win over United, 7 of the Barcelona outfield team joined Barca as kids. Fast forward to Wednesdays win over Man City and that number was 4. A look at Barcelona over the last season also reveals a much more direct approach, less inclinded toward ball retention and much less so with aggressive pressing that was the hallmark of their game under Guardiola.

 

Changes in backroom staff have had an impact too

 

They are now in very real danger of becoming a 'buying' club

 

 

Ohhh...

 

TBH, their current playing style is geared towards getting the best out of their forwards but positional play-possession based football is geared towards their midfield. Notice how Iniesta plays a much more conservative role & Rakitic plays as a box to box CM now to provide defensive cover for Messi on the right side of midfield & also creates space for him there too, whilst 2008-2012 Xavi was there as fulcrum of play.

 

To be fair, positional play-possession based football has various forms. The current Bayern side practice hit but have a certain level of directness to them that Barcelona traditionally didn't have. The pressing is something I've seen intermittently albeit you look at the time in the season, the personnel, etc, and could think maybe it's fatigue management? I'm not sure...

 

Barcelona go through these phases where they 'lose their way' a bit. I'm inclined to believe that domestic/continental success this season sees the likes of Sandro, Sergi Roberto, Rafinha, Munir will get more game time next season.

[Fighting Weight]

IMO they will make way for signings

[JOHN DOE]

Paul Scholes column: Outplayed, outfought and out-thought: once again, our English clubs have been miles off the pace in Europe

 

 

 

 

 

 

As far as the failings of Premier League teams in this season’s Champions League go, there was no better example of their collective shortcomings than Manchester City’s defeat to Barcelona at the Nou Camp on Wednesday night. Outplayed, outfought and out-thought, City were miles off the pace.

 

This was a defeat that was not just about Lionel Messi, although he was sensational. It was not just about Barcelona’s return to form, although they look very good again. It was about another English team going into a game against brilliant European opposition with no plan to stop their opponents playing and an extreme naivety when it came to their tactical approach.

 

Just as Arsenal’s complacency and arrogance in the first leg against Monaco cost them dearly come the second leg on Tuesday night, so City failed to understand what it took to beat Barcelona. Just as Chelsea failed to create more than one chance against Paris Saint-Germain in Paris and then got caught between attacking and defending their lead in the second leg, so City let Barcelona take control.

 

It is a shocking statistic over the last three seasons that England have had just two representatives in the quarter-finals of the Champions League and only one, Chelsea last season, in the semi-finals.

 

Once upon a time we might have been able to blame that kind of failure rate on a lack of imported coaching talent, but we have got the supposed tactical masters from across Europe and South America at our top clubs now. Once we might not have been able to compete with the biggest European clubs for transfer fees, but our league has the biggest television deals in history.

 

Joe Hart made 10 saves at the Nou Camp Joe Hart made 10 saves at the Nou Camp Over the last two weeks our coaches and players in the Champions League have looked second rate. If you put one of Barcelona, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the Premier League, they would win it by 10 to 15 points. Even PSG and Juventus look better sides than any of those currently at the top of the Premier League.

 

I understand that our league is harder in terms of the depths of its competition, and that you are more likely to get a tougher game against sides in the bottom half of the division than would be the case in Spain, Germany or Italy. But it is not as if teams have been unable to combine domestic success with Champions League success in the past: in 1999 and 2008, United won the league and the European Cup.

 

We played 63 games in the treble-winning season of 1999 and I cannot remember feeling tired once. We won the league title with the last game of the season and along the way we knew that in any game we could miss out on this chance of a lifetime to win all three. We had 22 players who were ready to be called on at any moment.

 

The bottom line to this season’s failings? I think the big two in Spain, and Bayern, simply have better players than the English teams in the Champions League.

 

Even so, there are ways of playing against Barcelona and, on Wednesday night, City gave a demonstration of how not to do it. When you play Barcelona, as I have said before in these pages, you know that for most of the game you will be defending. You know that your concentration has to be at the very highest level and that if you switch off for a moment they will punish you. It is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one.

 

When United beat Barcelona over two legs in the semi-final of 2008, we were exhausted by the effort but won the tie. In the finals of 2009 and 2011 we did not reach those levels and paid the price. City once again turned up at the Nou Camp on Wednesday as if they were unaware how Barcelona play the game.

 

The first thing to do is to deny Messi, Luis Suarez and Neymar space. City gave them space in abundance. Another rule is not to dive in, especially with Messi, but instead to try to get two or three players around him and control him. City dived in on Barça’s No 10 time and again, and by the end of the game he was humiliating them.

 

Let me tell you what it is like playing against Messi. You are up against a footballer who can take the ball either side of you, and you have no idea which side that might be from any hint about his body-shape. Unfortunately, there is also a third way that he might go past you – the worst of the lot – and that is through you, as Fernandinho and James Milner discovered to their cost.

 

Lionel Messi excelled against Manchester City Lionel Messi excelled against Manchester City Those two nutmegs are a professional footballer’s worst nightmare. I thought Gary Neville got it right when he said he was commentating with his legs closed. In a training session you might try to nutmeg a team-mate for a bit of a mickey-take. It is regarded as the ultimate training field embarrassment to fall for it. But embarrassment was not in Messi’s mind when he did it twice on Wednesday, he just saw it as the most effective bit of skill for that moment in time.

 

 

 

My view is that you show Messi one side or the other and if he goes past you, he goes past you. But if he slips it through your legs then you have to obstruct him and take the foul. Just don’t ever let yourself be nutmegged.

 

Those moments of skill were what everyone will remember from the night. The more fundamental problems for City were Yaya Touré walking about in midfield and David Silva not helping out much either. Once again, Fernandinho was left to close down Barcelona on his own. City needed to frustrate them for 70 minutes then try to take a chance, but they never came close to frustrating them. They let Barça play the way they wanted to play.

 

Well done to Joe Hart for a record number of saves in a Champions League game this season, and without him it would undoubtedly have been much worse for City. But what I could not get my head around was his evident delight at it all. Towards the end of the game he was smiling after every save and fist-bumping his defenders. City were losing 1-0. They were going out of the Champions League. What were they celebrating? Not losing 5-0?

 

It takes us back to that gulf between the best teams in Europe and the best teams in the Premier League. By the end, City looked relieved the scoreline had not been more humiliating, but it was still a humiliation nonetheless. English clubs should not be pleased to go to places like Barcelona and get away without a thrashing. They should be able to compete. They have the resources.

 

 

[Michel Kane]

You lot will love this.

 

'The problem with English football'

 

http://spielverlagerung.com/2014/11/21/the-problem-with-english-football/

[Michel Kane]

Like I was saying before. English football is suffering from a lack of detail.

[Guest babatundestacks]

For me the premier league aint "that" far behind.

people fail to realize that things change and every league has its golden era and a shitty era.

for instance up untill last year real madrid never reached a champions league final in 12 years.

up untill the early 90s barca never won a single european cup now they have 4 and they are seen as a powerhouse.

look at serie a and how dusty it is.

it was once the best league in the world now look.

Things wont always be the same.

and for the record in the past 10 years premier league 3 champions leagues,la liga 3,serie a 2,bayermunichleague 1

[O Fenomeno]

2025 thats when English Football will return back to the top just like the early 80s unless them three crucial appointment happen and also losing a slot to Ligue 1 is so essential.

Another thing Europa League thats one competition English clubs need to improve in

The Premier League are ten years behind

[i5_PRODUCER]

It's not as drastic a situation people are making it out to be imo. 

 

 

Fittness - too many games in a calendar year

 

Tactical nous - Too many big Sam type managers in the PL

 

Suits & Money - Everyone want's to play/stay in the prem for P & if that means route A , that's what they do. Few teams actually play ball. Steel sharpens steel

[O Fenomeno]

Has the number of games increased from Seasons 2005-2011 compared to now?

So there was no Big Sam type of managers back then?

SKY money wasn't there?

[Michel Kane]

For me the premier league aint "that" far behind.

people fail to realize that things change and every league has its golden era and a shitty era.

for instance up untill last year real madrid never reached a champions league final in 12 years.

up untill the early 90s barca never won a single european cup now they have 4 and they are seen as a powerhouse.

look at serie a and how dusty it is.

it was once the best league in the world now look.

Things wont always be the same.

and for the record in the past 10 years premier league 3 champions leagues,la liga 3,serie a 2,bayermunichleague 1

 

 

It's not as drastic a situation people are making it out to be imo. 

 

 

Fittness - too many games in a calendar year

 

Tactical nous - Too many big Sam type managers in the PL

 

Suits & Money - Everyone want's to play/stay in the prem for P & if that means route A , that's what they do. Few teams actually play ball. Steel sharpens steel

 

#Detail

 

Exactly what I'm talking about.

[Michel Kane]

LOL, bar Germany, Ligue 1, La Liga & Serie A all play 38 fixtures in a domestic season. Similar amount of games for cup competition & even if you include our league cup, that's 6-7 games, half of which will be played by squad players & youth players.

 

I've said it before & I'll say it now, what's the last great tactical innovation that's come from English football?

 

Dead serious, there hasn't been one since possibly the 1960's.

 

That says A LOT.

[i5_PRODUCER]

 

Think I'll go with what this guy says 

 

[i5_PRODUCER]

& that is just the fitness aspect 

 

The detail you're talking about comes from a lack of interest from the higher ups in improving a clubs way of playing.

 

Again 

 

Most PL clubs only care about MONEY. they have no time to develop systems and "innovate" so they do what they can to survive in the league 

 

 

While being managed by "Big sam " who has no tactical nous nor any interest in youth development.