What's Wrong with EPL - An Analysis

I am an avid fan of the English Premier League but then I like Spanish Primera Liga better. Let's face it. EPL is the biggest just because of the amount of money involved in it and is probably third in terms of the technical stuff involved with the game, only after the La Liga and the Italian Serie A.

The Element of Surprise

In La Liga and Serie A, there is always a possibility that a lowly team can beat a top team. AC Milan can lose to Sienna or Real Madrid can lose to Celta but then you never expect Sunderland to put up a fight against Chelsea, let alone beat them.

Two-Horse Race

The Premiership has had just four Champions (and two teams have won just once - Blackburn & Chelsea) since it began in 1992-93 but then you look at Serie A or La Liga, there are a lot more, which shows that the quality of teams at that level is very high.

In the EPL, it was always a two-horse race between Arsenal and ManUtd and lately, Chelsea with its financial power has made it a one-horse race! When you see a team always winning you do get bored and that sort of makes you question the quality of the rest of the teams.

Enigma in Europe

English teams, more often than not, seem to struggle in comparison to clubs from other countries. Liverpool's win last season was a notable exception. Strikers such as Henry scores 20 plus goals every season in EPL but then when it comes to Europe, he draws a blank at crucial stages.

Besides, in UEFA Cup too, English clubs seem to struggle compared to clubs from other leagues...this just shows quality is lacking in EPL. The last English club to win it was Liverpool some 3-4 years back.

Nature of Balance

The nature of balance has been seemingly disturbed in the EPL ever since Chelsea owner Roman Abromovich started pumping money into his team. Top players are lured by the money and end up at Chelsea but they also moan the fact that they don't play regularly.

Previously, a big club like ManUtd could spend close to 25 million pounds in a season but now, Chelsea Chelsea has risen the stakes by spending close to 100 million in a season. Compare this to a small club like Wigan which spends 2 to 3 million pounds and struggle to attract quality players.

The World Player

The fact that for over a decade there has been no player from the EPL chosen as the World Player of the Year shows that not many people consider it to be of the highest quality.

The Entertainment

EPL has been popular in the last few years just because it is highly entertaining but lately, it doesn't seem so. Goalless draws seem to be the order of the day ( for Chelsea though, it is 1-0). Chelsea with its unlimited riches seems to have quality players among its ranks but according to its coach Mourinho, has no obligation to entertain the crowds but only to win.I have been following La Liga over the past few years and it is much more entertaining!

The Masters

So, if you wanna get entertained by the exuberance and genius of Ronaldinho or the magnificent (though fading) skills of Zidane, or the magic of Kaka you'd better watch the La Liga or the Serie A, at least you'd never hear the commentators there bragging almost every minute how their league is the best.

Paul, is it?

Before the Blackburn game, 'Captain' Paul Scholes said that ManUtd couls kiss their title goodbye if they don't win their next two games. Scholes emerged the villain as ManUtd lost their home match against Blackburn, thanks to his major blunder - a wrong pass just outside his own penalty box.

It is high time Fergie looks at his line-up and decides Scholes is not the same person in the midfield as he is when he plays just behind the striker. Also, his age is catching up with him and he is not the same player who consistently provided 10-15 goals in a season.

It looks like ManUtd are already way behind in the title race and only a great resurgence would give them some hope and that looks highly unlikely if Fergie sticks to his 4-5-1 formation!

What's Wrong with EPL - Part I

For the first time since the Premiership started in the 1992-93 season, Liverpool and ManUtd played out a drab, goalless draw. With Chelsea repeatedly producing 1-0 wins, they have already established a lead and sit comfortably at the top of the table. The pundits have already declared Chelsea as the season's Champions as other clubs struggle to keep pace with them.

No doubt, the English Premier League is the biggest and the richest league in the world but then of late, the entertaining aspect of the games that has attracted millions of viewers all over the world has come down quite a bit. And these days, the crowds seem to stay away from the grounds and Premier League officials have actually started inquiries into the falling number of spectators.

Reasons for this?

A 4-5-1 formation, meaning teams are more defensive and score less goals
High ticket prices
Chelsea dominating the League

If teams such as Liverpool and ManUtd struggle to score goals, you know there is a problem. Fergie and Rafa's preference to a single striker play means fewer goal scoring chances.

Newcastle games are always entertaining because even when they lose, they score a couple of goals but then injuries to key players haven't really helped their cause. Last week, they scored their first goal for about 5 games.

Ticket prices are soaring and just when you thought that Roman didn't care much about spending his millions to get good players for Chelsea, he proved that he too is a businessman by increasing ticket prices. Chelsea charge disabled fans about 30 pounds when clubs like ManUtd and Arsenal let them in free.

Chelsea, with the depth in their squad, can afford to play two quality teams and now are leaps and bounds ahead of their rivals in terms of spending power, capable of buying any player they want. And obviously, with their squad, they would win irrespective of whether their coach is Mourinho or Geoffrey Boycott's mom.

I am huge fan of the EPL but do I consider it as the best in the world? Nope. The reasons - in my next post.

Player Awards!

Ronaldinho was awarded FIFPro Player of the year and Rooney, the Young player of the year. Also the World XI was announced.

World XI

Cafu Nesta Terry Maldini Ronaldinho Lampard Makelele Zidane Eto'o Shevchenko

But I do not understand what Zidane has done in the past year to be named in the eleven. He neither achieved anything with France nor did he do well in Spain and his club Real Madrid went trophyless for the second consecutive year. Just being a star and a three-time World Player of the Year is not enough to gurantee a place in the World Squad if he did not perform well in the last year.

This just shows players (who are the voters) are still in awe of him even though his game in the last year doesn't deserve any mention.

According to me, Kaka was one of the top players in Europe and he also did well for Brazil, winning the Confed Cup and taking them to the World Cup finals.Crespo did much better than Shevchenko even though I like the latter. AC Milan must thank him for taking them to the finals of the Champions League.

My goalkeeper has to be Casillas because of the awesome saves he made in spite of the dreadful, horrendous Real Madrid defence in front of him.

My Vote
European XI

Casillas Cafu Carragher Stam Heinze Makelele Kaka Ronaldinho Park Eto'o Crespo

EPL XI

Cech Neville Ferdinand Terry Heinze Ronaldo Lampard Gerrard Robben Rooney Henry

Nominees are invited for the Worst Players (all positions) and Worst Team 'Loser' Awards. I'll be making the final decision soon.

11 Reasons to HATE Real 'Mad'rid...

1. Boasts a team of superstars who cannot perform

2. Sold midfield lynchpin Makelele to Chelsea and thus made life difficult for ManUtd in EPL

3. Has no place in the team for performers such as Guti, Mori, Owen etc.

4. Pays a shocking and measly weekly salary of 7K pounds to the real and only Galactico - goalkeeper Casillas while salary of other superstars are in the range of 80-100K pounds

5. Plans to bid for Italian goalkeeper Buffon

6. Feels they can win the league by buying star strikers every season

7. Carlos, Zidane, Beckham are still in the starting line-up

8. Captain Raul is still not sold

9. Owen was treated like shit

10. Club President Perez is an asshole

11. Barcelona Rulezzz!

Wayne Looney?

Just when ManUtd were losing a number of players to injuries (Keane, Solksjaer, Brown, Heinze, Saha, Neville, Fortune), the red card shown to Wayne Rooney has been an additional blow to the morale of the team. In the Champions League clash against Villareal, though the yellow card shown by referee wasn't justified, you just cannot applaud the referee right in front of his face!

Rooney did just that and earned himself his second yellow and saw red.

It seems talent more often than not seems to be accompanied by arrogance and bad temper and this has been true since the days of George Best. ManUtd always seemed to produce talented youngsters with a fiery temper. Roy Keane, Eric Cantona, David Beckham were among the few who were known to taunt the referee and some people say it helped them to remain at the top of their game.

Lately though, Beckham last lost his temper and mellowed down a lot due to his status of an international celebrity. This perhaps has resulted in the downfall of his game and he is no longer considered to be a class player but a liability who can only consistently provide good long balls.

So then, should Rooney take anger management therapy as suggested by a few people? No, I don't think so because it is his anger that drives him and his passion for the game. At the age of 19, he is still to mature and will definitely learn a lot working with people like Keane, Neville, Giggs and of course Fergie.

It would be better if the press and the media lay off him for a while, lest they would destroy the only hope of England winning the World Cup next year.

Real Disaster!

In the Champions League clashes yesterday, Chelsea won 1-0 at home and Liverpool were 2-1 victors away at Real Betis but the surprise winners were Lyon who thrashed Real Madrid 3-0.

Real without star players Ronaldo and Zidane but they should be happy that Zidane was injured, lest the score line would have been even more humiliating. Only a penalty save from Casillas prevented the fourth goal.

Lyon don't seem to have been hurt by the loss of Essien to Chelsea and I have really begun to like them. But then, I like any team that beats Real Madrid! My list of favourites in Europe just seems to grow - Juventus, Monaco, Leverkusen and now Lyon!

Hey! By the way, what happened to that latest Brazilian import to Real Madrid? What's his name? Oh, yes...Robinho! He was supposed to have been electrifying, pacy, bubbly, first-class, fantabulous, skillful and prolific against newly promoted side Cadiz in their La Liga opener. Whatever happened since then? Home-loss to Celta Vigo and a thrashing by Lyon!

Coach Wanderley Luxemborgo might say he's not too worried about the result but I believe he's already started pissing in his pants. With the superstars in his team, how can he not deliver?

I feel Real is gonna fight back and try to come back strong. But then, what should Lux do to make that happen?

Drop superstars Roberto Carlos, Beckham, Zidane and Raul from the squad and go for players who can play as a team. I pity Guti who has proved more often than not how much he's useful on the field but still left warming the bench!

Return Of The Champions!

They are saying cricket is regaining popularity in England thanks to the awesome and pulsating Ashes series which England won 2-1. Maybe, that's why the Riverside stadium was half-empty for Boro's home clash against Arsenal. The fans who had gathered were treated to some exciting football. Arsenal lost 2-1 and the absence of Viera and the injured Henry seemed to be the cause for the Gunners' lacklustre display.

Old Trafford was full as usual but fans left a bit disappointed after ManUtd drew 1-1 against derby rivals Man City. Chelsea pulled away from its nearest rivals after a 2-0 win at home against bottom-placed club Sunderland. It's amazing to see Chelsea win comfortably even though they weren't playing their best football.

Sadly for Liverpool, they had to content with a 0-0 draw away at Tottenham. They will have to find some inspiration in the attack if they have to realize its dream of winning the Premiership. But they are the only team apart from Chelsea yet to concede a goal this season.

It was no fairytale return for Owen as his Newcastle team luckily drew 1-1 with fellow-strugglers Fulham. No good result in two more games would definitely mean curtains for Souness' managerial career at Newcastle.

There are a few exciting Champions League clashes this week. Diego Forlan would be eager to prove a point to Fergie after he was sold to Villareal from ManUtd after a few disappointing seasons at Old Trafford.

Chelsea play Anderlecht and almost-Spanish team, defending Champions Liverpool play Spanish team Real Betis. Liverpool's Spanish Coach still struggling to come to terms in the EPL seems to do well in Champions League but a draw seems more likely given the lack of fire-power for the Kops up front.

Real Madrid play French Champions Lyon in an exciting clash. Real lost to Celta Vigo last week in La Liga controversially and would be eager to make up for that but then Lyon is no pushover. But then, Essien's sale to Chelsea might hurt them a bit.

Barcelona won their league match last week against Mallorca and would be hoping to carry over their form when they travel to German side Werder Bremen. A tough encounter for the Spanish Champions!

Most of the other top teams like AC Milan, Juventus, Inter have relatively easy encounters and Arsenal too have an easy clash away at surprise qualifiers Thun. We can expect some quality football this week. But I do doubt the words of Fergie and Mourinho when they say Champions League is better than World Cup.

Not a chance! World Cup is the ultimate prize in sports! The pride and passion of representing one's nation far exceeds that showed by wavering loyalists of club football who play not so much for pride but for the money.

England Defeat - All because of Howard!

ManUtd keeper Tim Howard was the reason behind England's humiliating defeat at the hands of Northern Ireland at Belfast. Confusing? Let me explain...

It was because of Tim Howard's blunder against Porto in the 2003-2004 Champions League knock-out round that Porto scraped through to victory and went on to become European Champions that season. Porto's coach Mourinho captured the attention of everybody for his role in the team's success. Roman Abromovich wanted England Coach Sven Goran Ericksson to take charge at Chelsea following Claudo Ranieri's removal. Sven was tempted but nonetheless refused and recommended Mourinho's name to Roman.

If only had Sven taken over as the coach of Chelsea when he had the opportunity, he wouldn't have been the national coach and wouldn't have made a mess in the name of trying out a new formation in an important World Cup qualifier.

So then, I blame Tim Howard for England's defeat!

Road to the World Cup - Doors Still Wide Open!

A team that is supposed to rival Brazil in next year's World Cup and prides in the best midfield consisting of Gerrard, Lampard, Beckham, Cole and SWP does anything but boost its reputation when it loses to a team like Northern Ireland, which btw, has a FIFA ranking superiror only to countries like India!

Calls for Coach Sven Goran Errikson have become stronger after the latest 1-0 humiliation at the hands of Northern Ireland. But I doubt if the F.A. will take such an extreme step since it would send wrong signals just before months prior to the World Cup and also, changing the coach just a month before the last 2 crucial home encounters against Poland and Austria would sabotage their hopes of qualifying!

Poland are almost qualified. They need just a draw in their final match against England and will qualify either as group winners or as best placed runners-up, England's best hope to qualify automatically would be to win their remaining 2 games and finish as group leader (that's not impossible!) or best runners-up.

France stunned Ireland with a stunning goal from Henry (after all the criticism) separating the 2 teams but then, France wouldn't be too happy with their performance. They struggled to create chances and a squad of superstars have to do better to finish the group as toppers. They lie 2nd currently behind the Swiss on goal difference.

Portugal drew 0-0 with Russia but it wont make much difference to them, they will definitely go through as group winners since they have 2 home matches against lowly teams. Holland to are almost through as they thumped Andorra 4-0, Ruud among the goals again! Czech regained their 2nd position as they beat Armenia 4-1. Italy's 4-1 win over Belarus has all but sealed their position as favorites to top their group.

Serbia-Montenegro coonceded their first goal in the qualifiers against Spain but drew 1-1 to maintain their 2-point lead over them. The group is still wide open after the Bosnians won 1-0 away at Lithuania.

Mexico is the latest nation to qualify for the World Cup after they thrashed Panama 5-0.

It would be a catastrophe if England, with all the fuss about their EPL league as the best in the world, were to miss out on the World Cup. Having been already hailed as one of the favourites, they would look to justify that tag when they play their final qualifiers next month. I just hope they qualify for the World Cup even if they are to come through the ignominy of playoffs!

Check this out!

European Group Tables

The Road To World Cup 2006

The weekend saw a few teams qualifying for next year's Soccer World Cup in Germany. Ukraine look set to make their World Cup debut after they became the first European team to qualify. It is commendable that they have qualified first in a group consisting of teams such as Turkey, Denmark and Euro Champions Greece. Another feather in his cap for the reigning European player of the year, Ukraine captain and AC Milan striker Andrei Shevchenko.

As expected, World Champions Brazil qualified after thrashing Chile 5-0 thanks to a hat-trick from Inter striker Adriano. With Adriano firing and Robinho giving good company upfront, time is running out for Ronaldo to prove his worth, who has now gone 6 matches without a goal. Brazil looks favourite to land their seventh World Cup next year at Germany.

Argentina looks to be the only team that can challenge Brazil. But they lost 1-0 at Paraguay but I guess it was due to lack of motivation as they are already qualified. Sir Alex Ferguson must be smiling after Gabriel Heinze picked up a red card playing for Argentina, which means he can have good rest ahead of a busy schedule ahead for the ManUtd defender.

Portugal seems like the next European team to qualify though they have a tricky encounter against the Russians in a couple of days. They seem to be scoring freely and are already the top scoring team in the qualifiers in Europe. With good defenders in Carvalho and Andrade and a midfield boasting of players like Ronaldo, Figo and Deco, Portugal look solid but then they always flatter to deceive at the World Cup.

Holland are almost on their way to the World Cup after Red Devil Ruud's goal gave them a 1-0 victory over Armenia and their close rival Czech Republic (without Nedved) losing 2-0 to Romania thanks to a brace from Chelsea reject Adrian Mutu. The Dutch coach and former legend Marco van Basten has not found use for star players like Van Bommel, Davids and Seedorf in his team and has largely depended on lesser known players and that seems to work but then, at the World Cup, the experience of these players would play a huge role.

England's famed squad struggled to win over Wales, with a deflected goal from Joe Cole saving their blushes. Coach Sven's ass was on fire after their 4-1 friendly loss to Denmark last week and Sven responded, if not convincingly, with a win. Still, they are 2 points behind group leaders Poland and they'll have to win their mid-week qualifier against Northern Ireland if their dream of automatic qualifying is to come alive.

The most interestingly poised group is one where 4 teams - Swiss, Ireland, France and Israel have the chance to top their group, with the former three on equal points and Israel just a point behind. France has been struggling in their qualifying and have a tough match ahead in Ireland on Wednesday. Prolific Arsenal striker Thierry Henry who scores easily against teams in the EPL, seems to struggle to score when playing for the Les Blues. And the fact, that he can't produce the same magic does make me question his abilities! Liverpool striker Cisse scored two and made up a third for Wiltord to set up a 3-0 victory over Faroe Islands, the score line the French coach will not be too pleased with.

Italy escaped with a draw after coming back from 1-0 behind to draw level with the Scots. Italy are sure to be looking over their shoulders now that they have lost 2 points. With a squad of superstars, it is unimaginable that they even come second in their group and face the ignominy of play-offs. I hope they win the rest of the matches easily and qualify!

Croatia and Sweden are battling it out for the top spot in their group and even if any team misses out on top spot, they still can finish in the top two second placed teams and qualify automatically, if they keep winning.

Spain is in an interesting group. Serbia & Montenegro is giving Spain a tough time. They are the top of their group and lead Spain by 2 or 3 points. Also, they are the only team not to have conceded a goal yet in the qualifiers. Again, it is Chelsea reject Mateja Kezman who is scoring the goals. Spain looks set to play in the play-offs. Again, a World Cup without Spain will be inconceivable because no team under-achieves at the World Cup as Spain does!

USA have also qualified for the fifth successive time after beating Mexico 2-0. Mexico need just a point to secure their berth at the World Cup and that should happen this week.

The African qualifiers are certain to produce some shocks with top teams like South Africa, Senegal, Cameroon and Nigeria struggling. I think Ivory Coast was in a strong position with Chelsea striker Drogba scoring a few goals but then lost their tie against Cameroon. If only Henry can score for France, they wouldn't be in such a precarious situation.

Countries that have qualified so far:

Germany (hosts - automatic qualification)

Argentina

Brazil

Iran

Japan

Saudi Arabia

South Korea

Ukraine

USA

A few more teams should qualify by Wednesday and a few more surprises in store, I am sure!