So a team playing against relegation in the PL just (not counting the referee mistake) cancelled out Atletico, and you still claim they are better then any other PL team? That's pretty delusional
I'd hardly say he's underrated. He constantly gets in the team of the year with FIFA.
Alba isn't even a top 5 LB these days. Guys garbage
IMO the top 5 today in no particular order are Marcelo, Filipe Luis, Alex Sandro, Alaba and Alba.
I agree with you perfectly. The influential factor is the very nature of the English game. It prides itself for making it tough and unpredictable on a lot of talented players, especially defenders. This contributes to its excitement and popularity the world over and I have to admit, I myself find the chaos and unpredictability too exciting to want it to change. We must accept however that we can't use our game to judge the rest when said rest keep dominating in world cups and CLs. I agree with your point about the money as well. Money plays a huge part in football but in England, people seem to believe that it is the only factor as there is that deep rooted belief that players' quality is some sort of fixed number that cannot go up or down depending on the environment around it, or at least shouldn't. The reasoning is therefore to conclude the individual quality is bad once the team is not performing well and of course the only course of action then is to go out and spend more money, rinse and repeat, ... .In the case of Luis he certainly defends better than Marcelo but is miles away in offensive terms.
I blame Mourinho and of couse maybe Luis was more adapted to Spain, but I keep hearing that when players fail in England they are awfull, overrated and so on, but at international level they perform, that is why I say that maybe the problem is in the quality of football played today in the EPL.
One just needs to look to the quality (ok forget for a moment Victor Kasai) of play between Real and Bayern and then look to Leicester and Atletico, to be fair to Leicester, Atletico is the Leicester of Spain, they don't care if they have to play ugly.
What I mean is, putting aside the referees, does anyone really believe Chelsea or Spurs are on the same level as Real, Bayern, Juventus, Atletico or Barcelona?
If United wants to chalenge them it will not be on the amount of money spent, that is what England has been doing in the last years and does not translate inside the pitch, of course it is only my opinion.
Why would it say more about the league? Maybe they would struggle in a more tactical league like Italy for example? Marcelo didn't have the best of world cups, is it the world cups fault he couldn't perform like he does when he has Ramos / Ronaldo/ Modric in and around him?
I am all for distinctive cultures for each team. I don't understand the people who argue that we should for example fill our team purely on proven quality regardless of profile. I think that as admirable as Barcelona's and Bayern's playing style is, it is equally valuable that they feel distinctly Catalan and Bavarian just like we did in our own way back in the late '90s and early '00s. Sorry to go on about this, I am just trying to make the point that I am not calling for some sort bland, unrecognisable sporting entities.
Based on one game, he garbage now?
I'd say he's not even close to his old self. He regressed for more then a season now. He was the best LB few years ago so it shows. I'm sure Bayern fans will confirm.
I honestly think Pep ruined him by trying to turn him into some quasi-CM.
Alba not Alaba
You're probably right.
He has been really inconsistent and rarely showed his former peak form since his two knee injuries in 2014/15. He really lost a lot of ability on the ball. I don't think he lost much physically though, it's very odd. Before that first injury late in 2014, he was getting better and better in terms of technique and control. He regularly took freekicks and hit them brilliantly, scoring a few wonderful goals. Nowadays if he takes a freekick it's more likely to hit the corner flag than the goal.
Not sure that's true. He developed nicely under Pep for a year and improved further in many ways, especially in that left sided centerback/libero/box to box role in the back three. I'd argue that the injuries were the clear point when he started to regress. He's playing regularly as a leftback for quite some time now and the various positions Pep used him in can't count as an excuse anymore.
I just remember him playing CM for Austria and thinking he was so out of his depth.. sometimes being moved around can just confuse a player and kills their momentum. I just feel like the hype went to his head and he tried to become something he was not suited to and forgot the basics of what made him such a talent in the first place.
What PL hatred, what is getting ridiculous is your permanent dismissall of other leagues.So a team playing against relegation in the PL just (not counting the referee mistake) cancelled out Atletico, and you still claim they are better then any other PL team? That's pretty delusional
Come on, take your PL hatred elsewhere. That's getting ridiculous.
Yes, I agree with you, and one thing that maybe United should look more is to pay a little bit of atention to what Spurs are doing with Pochettino, ok they haven't done nothing special yet in Europe, but if we look at the ratio between the amount of money spent and quality of play this season probably Spurs is the best team in England.
