chileanspursfan
New Member
- Aug 10, 2006
- 322
- 0
Every weekend for the past 7 or more years I have faced the same dilemma: which European league match am I going to watch (at extravagant hours) tonight? (considering I have been living in South and North America as well as in Australia.
The choice is easy for me, I'd rather watch Blackburn against Wigan (which I did as a matter of fact a couple of weekends ago) than Barcelona vs Villarreal or Inter vs Roma.
The Premier League provides endless and continual exciting actions, with a fast paced style of play which is significantly more offensive and open than the other "top" European leagues. It is true that the Premiership is the most visually appealing football in the world, but I cannot find direct relation between that and being considered the "best" league in the planet, as some pundits claim nowadays.
Being as objective as I can, my impression is that the game is exciting and full of actions and goals only because:
1. The pitches are generally smaller.
2. The defenses are very poor.
3. After running as sprinter for over an hour and a half, your concentration and physical accuracy drop down dramatically.
I won't get into any boring and pointless insight of these points, I'd rather try to get something positive for us out of it. I remember in 1998 a pre world cup match at Wembley between my national squad of Chile against England, 2-0 the outcome for us. I remember Marcelo Salas giving the unmentionable Judas the worst night of his career, when he was supposedly at his prime and being one of the best center backs in England of his time. He looked amateurish, just like Dawson against Newcastle, Christopher Samba against the not-so-flamboyant Emile Heskey in the mentioned match at Ewood Park, Titus Bramble basically always, the entire Arsenal back 4 a week ago against Chelsea, the Liverpool back 4 against Man Utd, well, I could go for ever and every defense in the Premiership, Man Utd as the only exception, would have been seriously exposed during the course of the current season.
A half decent player with some effective tricks and good control of the ball will make any Premiership defender dance a rhythm which will prove lethal for his waist. That's why Cristiano Ronaldo looks like the best player in the history of the game. Take him to Italy and his goal tally drops to a quarter. The defenders in the Premier League generally wait for the offensive player to make his move rather than intercepting him before he gains control of the ball and starts a dribble. (I think Ledley King is one of the few who doesn't and even if he does he has an impeccable tackling ability, and this has been identified and recognized even by rivals such as Henry. ) Aaron Lennon wouldn't be a hot prospect anywhere else around Europe (take Odonkor's example at Betis).
I'll put it short: let's get a proven talent instead of wasting our money and patience in the likes of KPB or Taarabt. I assure everyone in this forum that if we get someone like Ronaldinho or Riquelme we would be so threatening up front that the rival teams would have to reconsider all their offensive strategies in order to protect their own goal. Of course these players are almost certainly out of our reach, so let's get a similar proven talent emerging from some South American league. There are hundreds and just check how underrated names such as Santa Cruz, Solano, De la Cruz, Angel ended up transferred for affordable fees to mid-table teams.
I'll get chauvinist in this one, but if we buy Jorge Valdivia and Alexis Sanchez from Palmeiras and River Plate (on loan from Udinese) for next season we would have such an immense offensive power that it would take a lot of pressure out of our over worried back 4. Even more, that burden would go straight onto our opponent's goalkeepers, centerbacks and specially on the wing backs which will have too much to worry at their end to rally freely up front.
This is one area of the game I am sure Juande will improve for next season and where he will show what an influential import he will become. He has seen these kind of players in Spain and knows that he has no one like that in his current squad to make us top 4 material.
Sorry about the extension (and bias) of the post, but there was an annoying welcoming message telling me to "Post some more!" and a "Ronny Rosenthal" under my nickname which was driving me insane. And I just want us to be the best team in the world, you know, just that...
The choice is easy for me, I'd rather watch Blackburn against Wigan (which I did as a matter of fact a couple of weekends ago) than Barcelona vs Villarreal or Inter vs Roma.
The Premier League provides endless and continual exciting actions, with a fast paced style of play which is significantly more offensive and open than the other "top" European leagues. It is true that the Premiership is the most visually appealing football in the world, but I cannot find direct relation between that and being considered the "best" league in the planet, as some pundits claim nowadays.
Being as objective as I can, my impression is that the game is exciting and full of actions and goals only because:
1. The pitches are generally smaller.
2. The defenses are very poor.
3. After running as sprinter for over an hour and a half, your concentration and physical accuracy drop down dramatically.
I won't get into any boring and pointless insight of these points, I'd rather try to get something positive for us out of it. I remember in 1998 a pre world cup match at Wembley between my national squad of Chile against England, 2-0 the outcome for us. I remember Marcelo Salas giving the unmentionable Judas the worst night of his career, when he was supposedly at his prime and being one of the best center backs in England of his time. He looked amateurish, just like Dawson against Newcastle, Christopher Samba against the not-so-flamboyant Emile Heskey in the mentioned match at Ewood Park, Titus Bramble basically always, the entire Arsenal back 4 a week ago against Chelsea, the Liverpool back 4 against Man Utd, well, I could go for ever and every defense in the Premiership, Man Utd as the only exception, would have been seriously exposed during the course of the current season.
A half decent player with some effective tricks and good control of the ball will make any Premiership defender dance a rhythm which will prove lethal for his waist. That's why Cristiano Ronaldo looks like the best player in the history of the game. Take him to Italy and his goal tally drops to a quarter. The defenders in the Premier League generally wait for the offensive player to make his move rather than intercepting him before he gains control of the ball and starts a dribble. (I think Ledley King is one of the few who doesn't and even if he does he has an impeccable tackling ability, and this has been identified and recognized even by rivals such as Henry. ) Aaron Lennon wouldn't be a hot prospect anywhere else around Europe (take Odonkor's example at Betis).
I'll put it short: let's get a proven talent instead of wasting our money and patience in the likes of KPB or Taarabt. I assure everyone in this forum that if we get someone like Ronaldinho or Riquelme we would be so threatening up front that the rival teams would have to reconsider all their offensive strategies in order to protect their own goal. Of course these players are almost certainly out of our reach, so let's get a similar proven talent emerging from some South American league. There are hundreds and just check how underrated names such as Santa Cruz, Solano, De la Cruz, Angel ended up transferred for affordable fees to mid-table teams.
I'll get chauvinist in this one, but if we buy Jorge Valdivia and Alexis Sanchez from Palmeiras and River Plate (on loan from Udinese) for next season we would have such an immense offensive power that it would take a lot of pressure out of our over worried back 4. Even more, that burden would go straight onto our opponent's goalkeepers, centerbacks and specially on the wing backs which will have too much to worry at their end to rally freely up front.
This is one area of the game I am sure Juande will improve for next season and where he will show what an influential import he will become. He has seen these kind of players in Spain and knows that he has no one like that in his current squad to make us top 4 material.
Sorry about the extension (and bias) of the post, but there was an annoying welcoming message telling me to "Post some more!" and a "Ronny Rosenthal" under my nickname which was driving me insane. And I just want us to be the best team in the world, you know, just that...
