The relative strength of the Premier League

[InfiniteBoredom]

If that's the criteria you are using, which league is the best in the world according to you?

Clearly La Liga.

 

[ManUtd1999]

If that's the criteria you are using, which league is the best in the world according to you?

I didn’t quote that stat to use it as a criteria.

But, to your question: it's really hard to say. The CL is the best team competition in Europe, and winning it (or reaching finals/SFs on a regular basis) says something about the quality of the team and the league from which the team comes. In this respect, the English league has done well: there was at least one English team in the previous 3 finals of the CL and one English team in 5 of the last 6 finals (the only exception being 2020). That's really a good return, particularly given that 4 differnet English team have played the finals (City, Liverpool, Tottenham and Chelsea).

On the other hand, when a team that has dominated the English league for over a decade fails almost always to reach the final (or even semis), you start wondering. Furthermore, the 1-0 of City over an Inter Milan team that finished third in Italy (18 points behind the winners Napoli) without real stars was the first time that an English team beat a non-English team without the need for penalties since.... Manchester United of 1999! Liverpool beat Tottenham (2019), Chelsea beat City (2021) and Chelsea beat Bayern (2012) on penalties.

And then you see Real Madrid, and Barca for few years before that, winning European titles, but is the current Spanish league better than the English? I don't think so. Therefore, I really don't know; the English league is more competitive, that's for sure.

 

[Kwabs]

The PL had two golden periods, the one you are talking about and the one recently where Chelsea, Spurs, City and Liverpool all reached finals and there was 7 finalists out of a possible 12 between 2018 and 2023 which is an incredible record. The other measure of the strength of the PL in the past 5 years is how for the first time in my lifetime, PL teams are making the elite of Europe park the bus, I never remember that happening, English teams used to be the ones having to nullify the technically superior Europeans and reduced to defending resolutely to have a sniff. These things are alwats cyclical though and just like La Liga took over from the PL around 2010 when they had the likes of Messi, Cristiano, Benzema and all those superstars, someone else will do the same to the PL.

The problem with calling this a 'Golden period' is that it included 3 finals between an English club and a club from another country and the English clubs lost 2 out of those 3. English teams basically only won if facing another English club (with the exception of City last year)

Contrast that with Spain winning 5 in a row between 2014 and 2018 with 3 finalists, 2 All-Spanish finals and beating all non-Spanish opponents in the finals where they met them.

I think the real golden period for English clubs in European football was that time in the late 70s, early 80s. Now that was dominance.

 

[Ludens the Red]

Yeah a little bit embarrassing this for the ‘all hail English league’ pundits in particular
Not sure why a lot of them were so sure Arsenal would beat Bayern. Arsenal are a nothing side in Europe. Bayern had full focus on these knockout ties and player for player they’re still more than a match for Arsenal. Admittedly I was surprised city didn’t go through after drawing at the Bernabeu but again before the ties city were such strong favs amongst English pundits as if Real Madrid were some comedy outfit.
Liverpool were basically already in Dublin according to Carragher.
Theyre going out tomorrow along with West Ham. This will lose England the 5th spot which again pundits were talking about with such certainty. Maybe the lesson learnt here is just shut the feck up a bit. Whilst the Pl is undisputedly the most popular league in the world, the notion the teams in it are streets ahead of their European counterparts should end here.

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

Maybe I'm just romanticizing my childhood but perhaps PL was stronger in that 2005-2009 period. There were regularly 2 and even 3 English teams in semi-finals and at least one in every final of those years. Got weaker afterwards (except for our final in 2011 and Chelsea's win in 2012) until Pep and Klopp came in + Tuchel's Chelsea win.

That era had a very strong top 4 but the level below was weaker. I think mid-table is much stronger these days, because of the even greater wealth it’s full of highly regarded international managers and some really good players.

 

[KeanoMagicHat]

Yeah a little bit embarrassing this for the ‘all hail English league’ pundits in particular
Not sure why a lot of them were so sure Arsenal would beat Bayern. Arsenal are a nothing side in Europe. Bayern had full focus on these knockout ties and player for player they’re still more than a match for Arsenal. Admittedly I was surprised city didn’t go through after drawing at the Bernabeu but again before the ties city were such strong favs amongst English pundits as if Real Madrid were some comedy outfit.
Liverpool were basically already in Dublin according to Carragher.
Theyre going out tomorrow along with West Ham. This will lose England the 5th spot which again pundits were talking about with such certainty. Maybe the lesson learnt here is just shut the feck up a bit. Whilst the Pl is undisputedly the most popular league in the world, the notion the teams in it are streets ahead of their European counterparts should end here.

Yeah like Arsenal ended up relying on Jorginho and Havertz who wouldn’t make the Bayern team. I find Arsenal a strange one, quite rigid and functional that score plenty of goals. Their pressing is excellent, credit to Arteta for that, and allows them to overwhelm a lot of weaker teams. But at the elite level they have a lot of players that I’m not sure are that good.

 

[giorno]

Yeah like Arsenal ended up relying on Jorginho and Havertz who wouldn’t make the Bayern team. I find Arsenal a strange one, quite rigid and functional that score plenty of goals. Their pressing is excellent, credit to Arteta for that, and allows them to overwhelm a lot of weaker teams. But at the elite level they have a lot of players that I’m not sure are that good.

Jorginho starts for Bayern. The guy was a key player for Chelsea and Italy as they won EC/Euros in 2 months. Bayern started Guerreiro, Laimer and Dier tonight

Also yes, Bayern are individually better than Arsenal. Of course they are, they're Bayern Munich. So's Real Madrid. PSG should be but isn't because they spent badly, same as United. Barcelona actually may be still, even with the restrictions. Arsenal isn't City, it wasn't built on infinite money. It's still a young team