Is the Premier League the best in the world?

[alfie103]

On the basis tonight's and last night's results, I had a debate on facebook regarding how far English Teams were behind European teams and the quality of the Premier League. Is the Premier League still the best in the world or is the English teams champions league performance evidence of the Premier League's slide?

 

[panoma]

Guess there are some better teams out there than the best in England, but as a whole the Prem is the best and toughest. Arent that many leagues where the CL winner finish 6th in the same season, typically the same teams dominating every year instead.

 

[RichieS]

Depends what criteria you're assessing it against. In pure footballing terms no as it still focusses on physicality and speed. Entertainment-wise, probably.

 

[ItsBoris]

Chelsea and Liverpool seemed to be the English teams that could play well in the Champions League, now Liverpool are out of it and Chelsea have changed their style.

But the Chelsea team with Essien, Drogba, Ballack, Lampard, Terry, etc was pretty devastating against European opponents.

United and City seem to be worse in Europe than in the Premier league, and Arsenal are better against European teams that aren't as good as them but lose against the first good team they play.

 

[Bus-Conductor]

In terms of technical quality, it's never been the best in the world. It certainly isn't now.

 

[tototoner]

Quality No
Competitiveness No
Entertainment Probably

 

[Shadydan]

Nope and it's questionable whether it was the best league in the world in the first place. When the top four were constantly qualifying for the 2nd phase of the CL it was renowned for being the 'best league in the world' but honestly how are you meant to judge a whole league on the basis of how 4 teams have fared in a seperate competition?

The general standard of quality in the Prem especially this season has been utterly abysmal.

 

[Chapel Hill Hotspur]

Quality No
Competitiveness No
Entertainment Probably

Have to agree with this.

Not great quality. Not competitive at all (it's more a stock market than a league), but pretty entertaining.

 

[Real_madyidd]

I am going to have to say "yes". Football is entertainment, and it is the most entertaining. It's a bit like WWE, ther are bad guys and good guys, the bad guys are all about cash (Million dollar man / vince McMahon) the good guys are not. Sometimes the bad guys win, but we all enjoy watching them lose.

 

[DuDe]

"Does a big, furry animal with teeth and claws defecate in a heavily wooded area?"

 

[Vedi]

Quality No
Competitiveness No
Entertainment Probably

spot in IMO.

I watch alot of football with friends, every weekend we look out for top matches in the european leagues and every week its always either Premier League or Bundesliga that we watch the most games.

Prem: Any game between Us, ManU, ManC, Pool, Woolwich, Chelsea, (Everton this year) is a game to watch out in our opinions.

Germany: Bayern, Dortmund, Schalke, Leverkusen (and some derbys like HSV-Bremen)

Spain: Sadly only Barca and Real and Real vs Athletico.

Italy: We stopped watching it some years ago but currently there are more and more matches that might be interesting again. Last year we watched all the Napoli matches.

So all in all the Prem is for pure entertainmen still the best league, followed by the Bundesliga in our opinion. Every weekend you have at least one really good game between top teams

 

[Sir_Bill_Nick]

In terms of quality it's La Liga by a country mile!

 

[Montasura]

Quality No
Competitiveness No
Entertainment Probably

I think this sums it up perfectly, and of course its all down to the type of football a person prefers to watch so it is very subjective.

 

[tiger666]

In terms of quality it's La Liga by a country mile!

If you only include a few clubs.

 

[SteveH]

EPL is very exciting - Spain is technically better at times but play-acting spoils it - Germany is very well run - Italy has some good advertising round their now, dilapidated grounds.

 

[Sir_Bill_Nick]

If you only include a few clubs.

I don't really agree, most teams are technically good, even at the lower reaches of the league.

We should remember that Bilbao dismantled Utd last year and finished 13th (I think) in La Liga.

 

[hellava_tough]

In terms of quarter-finalists, semi-finalist, finalists and winners of the Champions League, the EPL has been pretty dominant only marginally bettered by La Liga:

EPL

Winners 3 (Liverpool 2004/2005 Manchester United (2) 1998/1999, 2007/2008)

Final 5 (Arsenal 2005/2006 Chelsea 2007/2008 Liverpool 2006/2007 Manchester United (2) 2008/2009, 2010/2011)

Semi-Final 10 (Arsenal 2008/2009 Chelsea (4) 2003/2004, 2004/2005, 2006/2007, 2008/2009 Leeds 2000/2001 Liverpool 2007/2008 Manchester United (3) 1996/1997, 2001/2002, 2006/2007)

Quarter-Final 14 (Arsenal (4) 2000/2001, 2003/2004, 2007/2008, 2009/2010 Chelsea (2) 1999/2000, 2010/2011 Liverpool (2) 2001/2002, 2008/2009 Manchester United (5) 1997/1998, 1999/2000, 2001/2001, 2002/2003, 2009/2010 Tottenham 2010/2011)


La Liga

Winners 6 (Barcelona (3) 2005/2006, 2008/2009, 2010/2011 Real Madrid (3) 1997/1998, 1999/2000, 2001/2002)

Final 3 (Barcelona 1993/1994 Valencia 1999/2000, 2000/2001)

Semi-Final 9 (Barcelona (4) 1999/2000, 2001/2002, 2007/2008, 2009/2010 Deportivo la Coruña 2003/2004 Real Madrid (3) 2000/2001, 2002/2003, 2010/2011 Villareal 2005/2006)

Quarter-Final 11 (Atlético Madrid 1996/1997, Barcelona (2) 1994/1995, 2002/2003 Deportivo la Coruña (2) 2000/2001, 2001/2002 Real Madrid (3) 1995/1996, 1998/1999, 2003/2004 Valencia (2) 2002/2003, 2006/2007 Villareal 2008/2009)


So I don't think it's all doom and gloom

 

[specspurs]

Quality No
Competitiveness No
Entertainment Probably

Can't agree with entertainment either,but the Premiership is the best at self-promotion and publicity particularly in foreign markets.