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With Spurs dramatic win last night against the mighty Ajax does this mean the English Prem is now probably the best in Europe?

I don't like how the amount of money is being deployed there it's a different world but it is nice that football (our national sport) is on the crest of a wave right now.

To me just to see English clubs right up there is something to be proud of.

I have enjoyed both Liverpool and Spurs matches but still will only ever be a mariner til I die.

UTM.

Spurs have spent nothing for 2 Windows . They have nurtured young players and created a team to be proud of . That can happen in any league any time if you have a tight group that believe in the coach .coys

I've never understood what 'best league' actually means, it's a bit like 'best fans'.

Seeing English players like deli ali, Kane etc is great to see it is just not based on expensive imports but though academies this is definitely the right way to do it.

Quoted from Abdul19

I've never understood what 'best league' actually means, it's a bit like 'best fans'.

it means the Best don't get your point but hey ho

Well the league is 20 teams. Do the fantastic achievements of 10% of them mean that the league is 'the best'?

Quite a simple (but possibly balderdash) point really.

The interesting bit is that the teams that were beaten this week were the ones the national media keep holding up to us as examples to follow. In the end both were found wanting in desire, fitness and physical presence. Spurs for instance were a different side when they brought on someone big who could head a ball and create chaos in the area. Suddenly crosses looked dangerous and Ajax had no answer. Messi did not play badly for Barca but who was the more effective on the night, Messi the media favourite or Jordan Henderson so often criticised by journos?

But it is an irony that this sort of play, an essentially British game, should be successful when the bulk of the Liverpool and Spurs squads are not British!

First CL for 6 years not to feature Messi or Ronaldo, apparently. That's a good indication of where the balance of power has rested in recent years. The huge, gazumping amounts of money now rolling in for the top PL clubs are obviously beginning to have an impact (plus the oil money) to make the big PL teams more competitive in Europe after a very lean period. However, I'd say that the overall quality of football is still higher in La Liga and the Bundesliga. Not by much, however, and some of the small/medium-sized PL teams are now actually playing some good football instead of just attempting to grind out results.

The only concern is that we may be heading to a place where the big boys are just so far ahead of the rest that upsets by smaller clubs become almost non-existent.

Quoted from Abdul19

Well the league is 20 teams. Do the fantastic achievements of 10% of them mean that the league is 'the best'?

Quite a simple (but possibly balderdash) point really.

It's 50% isn't it? 4 teams qualify for the champs league. 2 made it to the final. The maximum possible return.

With the possibility of 2 more English teams making the europa league final tonight.

The impact of Pep Guardiola (despite again missing out on the CL) can't be ignored. The way English teams play has transformed since his arrival to the PL and it has benefited the Premier League as a whole but also the England national team. I was a doubter of his for a long time, because he had incredible players at his disposal at Barcelona, then Bayern Munich and Man City were teams who *should* have been winning their leagues, but look at how Spanish teams, then German teams and now English teams have developed their style of play and dominate in European competition.

It can't be a coincidence, but I have absolutely no idea what he is doing differently to any other manager who has tried to instill the same tactics/ethos into their teams!

Quoted from Codswede

The impact of Pep Guardiola (despite again missing out on the CL) can't be ignored. The way English teams play has transformed since his arrival to the PL and it has benefited the Premier League as a whole but also the England national team. I was a doubter of his for a long time, because he had incredible players at his disposal at Barcelona, then Bayern Munich and Man City were teams who *should* have been winning their leagues, but look at how Spanish teams, then German teams and now English teams have developed their style of play and dominate in European competition.

It can't be a coincidence, but I have absolutely no idea what he is doing differently to any other manager who has tried to instill the same tactics/ethos into their teams!

He has an enormous backroom staff of physios, psychos, coaches, mentors, dieticians ..... everything to make the individual player perform at a peak. That is how he succeeded before. Some players have benefitted greatly from this. However, though the impact of some Man City spending on scientific developments and facilities may have influenced other clubs, I don't think Guardiola's personal impact has been as great as Klopp or Pochettino who are both better motivators and game tacticians.

Quoted from Mrs Doyle

Seeing English players like deli ali, Kane etc is great to see it is just not based on expensive imports but though academies this is definitely the right way to do it.

Admittedly I don't watch every England game (some friendlies) but I can't remember seeing him have that good a game for England.

The Premier League  is the most exciting.  The impact of top managers has raised standards.
Liverpool have recently recruited 2 specialist fitness coaches from Bayern Munich.

It is not all about money.  Liverpool sold Coutinho and got a top class keeper and centre- half for the same money.  Spurs have not bought a player for 18 months.  The  last player bought was .........
Lucas  Moura.   Whatever happened to him?

The CL final will be the first one whereby neither team has won their league this century.

Finally, Southampton must have mixed feelings about all their ex players in a CL final.

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

The Premier League is the most exciting. The impact of top managers has raised standards.
Liverpool have recently recruited 2 specialist fitness coaches from Bayern Munich.

It is as much the impact of the owners as the managers. The clubs are not run by the managers now but by executives whose job is to see the club gets as far as possible into the global financial elite. To do this they will use a model they are familiar with, indeed they may own one themselves - American Football, Baseball, Basketball or Ice Hockey. All are based on the franchise system and are as much about profits and off-field finances as the game itself, hence the massive sums spent on hiring backroom staff as well as players and coaches. The impact of US owners and others who now copy them is huge in this respect. The only top owners not to keep up with the pace strangely seem to be the Glazers, they have always used their club to finance their other businesses.

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

The Premier League  is the most exciting.  The impact of top managers has raised standards.
Liverpool have recently recruited 2 specialist fitness coaches from Bayern Munich.

It is not all about money.  Liverpool sold Coutinho and got a top class keeper and centre- half for the same money.  Spurs have not bought a player for 18 months.  The  last player bought was .........
Lucas  Moura.   Whatever happened to him?

The CL final will be the first one whereby neither team has won their league this century.

Finally, Southampton must have mixed feelings about all their ex players in a CL final.

I disagree when you say it's not about money. I would imagine the Premiersh*t gets more collective revenue from media sources ( BT and Sky ) than any other top level league in Europe. Therefore the clubs have more cash to buy the best players and employ the best managers from Europe and beyond. Of course they also have good youth set ups but as a consequence can " hoover up " the best available young talent including young players within the EU. That doesn't necessarily mean those players will develop at whatever club they are at but keeps them away from other clubs. Interesting to note that this past season Chelski had 42 signed players at various levels of age that were on loan to other clubs.
Also when you mention " this century " then I would hardly regard 19 years as fairly representing a century.

Quoted from TownSNAFU5

Spurs have not bought a player for 18 months. The last player bought was .........
Lucas Moura. Whatever happened to him?

[img]https://memecrunch.com/meme/5FH/not-sure-if-serious-fry/image.jpg?w=552&c=1[/img]

Quoted from rancido

I disagree when you say it's not about money. I would imagine the Premiersh*t gets more collective revenue from media sources ( BT and Sky ) than any other top level league in Europe. Therefore the clubs have more cash to buy the best players and employ the best managers from Europe and beyond. Of course they also have good youth set ups but as a consequence can " hoover up " the best available young talent including young players within the EU. That doesn't necessarily mean those players will develop at whatever club they are at but keeps them away from other clubs. Interesting to note that this past season Chelski had 42 signed players at various levels of age that were on loan to other clubs.
Also when you mention " this century " then I would hardly regard 19 years as fairly representing a century.

Quite so. Money is the key. Money that they have now and money they are chasing.

I don't find the PL exciting or inspiring either. The example of Chelsea is a good one. There are a few clubs at the top end chasing big prizes and doing anything they can to stop anyone else getting there. The football is occasionally very good but the players are being forced like rhubarb, they are being turned into machines that can run all day and that was the difference for Liverpool and Spurs. In the Times yesterday the journo said the Liverpool midfield ran further than the whole Barca team over 90+ minutes. These 2 games were exciting spectacles and I love to see English sides doing it over the continentals but the PL is more like a computer simulation than the game I used to love.

Quoted from Codswede

The impact of Pep Guardiola (despite again missing out on the CL) can't be ignored. The way English teams play has transformed since his arrival to the PL and it has benefited the Premier League as a whole but also the England national team. I was a doubter of his for a long time, because he had incredible players at his disposal at Barcelona, then Bayern Munich and Man City were teams who *should* have been winning their leagues, but look at how Spanish teams, then German teams and now English teams have developed their style of play and dominate in European competition.

It can't be a coincidence, but I have absolutely no idea what he is doing differently to any other manager who has tried to instill the same tactics/ethos into their teams!

Would he have guided us to promotion with the players that we have or the players we could afford. Don't think he would have done much better than Jolly ----on second thoughts---

The Prem is the strongest from top to bottom but we have too many "big" sides to really claim to have the best teams. One swallow doesn't make a summer.

Quoted from WOZOFGRIMSBY

It's 50% isn't it? 4 teams qualify for the champs league. 2 made it to the final. The maximum possible return.

With the possibility of 2 more English teams making the europa league final tonight.

I'd always assumed the phrase 'best league' referred to the division as a whole rather than the division's representatives in Europe. :-/

(That's why I always thought of it as subjective/meaningless!)