KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum EPL verses EUROPE

I've put a bet on that there will be no English teams next round currently looking good lol, really think chavs will get ko'd by Napoli, if Napoli play like they did against City they should comfortably beat Chelsea by 1 or 2 clear goals on aggregate.

Also to answer the main question of the thread, It's not that the main clubs have a lot more money than us it's that there in less competitive leagues whilst having the same pulling power as lfc, and having the luck that their rebuilding process occurred 1-3 seasons ago just when our last team in 09 went down the sh1tter.

e.g Bayern were awful before they rebuilt their team in 07/08, by rebuilding their defence from scratch, getting Gomez on form, buying Robben on the cheap and promoting Krood, Muller and Badstuber from the youth.

Luck Neuer, Robben, Luis Gastavo, Boateng, were all available on the cheap compared with their real value due to little time remaining on their contracts, being at smaller clubs, or being out of favour at old clubs.

e.g Milan similarly were poor from 08 onwards when their 1 man star player Kaka got several injuries and they rebuilt. They got youth in their defence with expereince, got rid of the older players in midfield keeping them but making them fringe players, and signing attacking players on the cheap when the oppotunity arose.

Luck Boateng, Robinho, Nocerino, Emmaulson, Mexes, Ibrahimovic, Van Bommel, Aquilani, Taiwo, Cassano.

The luck is in all these players being available below their true value i.e on the cheap, at small clubs, on frees or with 1 yr left on their contract or being out of favour at their old clubs.

But the difference between them and us is that they didn't have a Tottenham or City in their league, to lure the equivalent players in our league away.

The bigger issue is that if Chelsea and Arsenal stumble at this stage, England's European co-efficient of whatever it is takes a knock. It will be made worse by United and City not going deep in the EL, and I don't think either club cares about that competition. The upshot is that if we fail collectively again next season we may stand a chance of losing that 4th CL qualifying slot.

And then we'll have some fun, oh boy!

I'm not sure our league can be seen as weak compared to the other main european nations. Look at the champions league for the last 10 years:


Portugal = 1 finalist in last 10 years
France = 1 finalist in last 10 years
Germany = 2 finalists in last 10 years
Spain = 4 finalists in last 10 years
Italy = 5 finalists in last 10 years
England = 7 finalists in last 10 years


The majority of our finalists have come more recently as well which shows that our league is the strongest perhaps? And despite people constantly slating Serie A it's obviously a bit stronger than some are giving it credit for.

Its becoming a crappy league though. just don't get the excitement as we used top get from the EPL 4-5 years ago.

I think that's more to do with our current position than the actual quality of the league though. Top 4 battles are great and relegation battles can be great....but neither are any of our business at the moment. Who gets excited by midtable sides??

Football is a tough game. However many of its best players ( mostly abroad spain, portugal etc) are perfumers. They play in Spain for the money, the weather and the fact that they play a more fragrant style of football unlike in England where toughness counts. Also they are more prone to accept these theatrical divers in Spain and thats a huge part of these perfumers game.

10 years is an eternity in football though. Just look at us. We went from being sh!t, to being the best team in Europe, back to being sh!t again. That's obviously an exaggeration, but things do change quickly. I think the point of this thread is basically that the Premier League and the teams within it have regressed over the last 5 years or so. I would say the league reached its peak in about 2007-2009, and has fallen off ever since. And I think that's a very good and salient point. The top clubs in England are at a fairly low ebb right now. We are still recovering from being brought to the brink of ruin, Chelsea and United are having difficulty replacing the old guard, and Arsenal's progression is being stunted by their manager. Only City and Spurs can be considered to be at a high point, and only City is built for long-term success. I can't see Spurs sustaining their current level for too much longer unless they break into Asian and African markets, which are already dominated/saturated by the original Sky 4.

So I guess what I'm saying is, yes things look bad at the moment, but I think they'll get better. United's young signings will mature and improve. Jones, Smalling, Cleverly, etc. have all shown flashes this season. Chelsea will eventually replace Lampard, Terry, and Drogba. Romeu, Cahill, and Lukaku are good places to start. Arsenal's investment in youth will eventually pay off. Wilshere, Ramsey, and Chamberlain already look the real deal. And we have been on an upward trajectory for about a year now. All is not lost.

Nope, the top four battle is still boring to me.

That's because it has nothing do with us.