The Awesome Foursome
Spanish La Liga's representatives in UEFA Champions League 2003 - 04 was Celta Vigo and Real Sociedad. Both teams had an amazing run with Sociedad in particular, which gave Real Madrid a reak scare till the last match in the run up to the title.
Again this year's La Liga features Villareal, debutants in Champions league, who are making a mockery of the European giants to progress till the semifinals. Villareal also made it till the semifinals of the UEFA cup in 2004. Osasuna are doing well this season.
Italy's Serie - A has been represented in Europe by teams like Roma, Lazio, Udinese in the past three seasons. Luca Toni's Fiorentina are showing resurgence as they are in the driver's seat for the fourth spot.
Unlike the above leagues, EPL since the dawn of the millenium has been very predictable as far as the top four is concerned. Occasionally teams like Everton and Newcastle have sneaked in. But they get knocked out by unknown entities in the qualifying round unlike the Spanish and Italian teams. English teams also don't excel in UEFA cup as much as the other league teams. Boro seem to break the jinx, this season. But they've two more hurdles to cross.
Now coming to the main point about EPL, the divide between the big four, viz, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea and the other challengers like Bolton, Boro, Blackburn Rovers, Everton, Spurs, etc. is huge.
Let me illustrate this by taking Bolton first. They don't have a large squad. Their squad has a lot of players who are well past 30. They seemed to do well for most of the season till last month when they started showing signs of fatigue. Apparently, UEFA cup and FA cup seemed to have drained them completely. Their style of play being one-dimensional hardly helps matters either.
Another case is that of Spurs. In January, they only took 6 points out of all the matches played. The chasing pack took lesser than 6 was what kept them afloat. Without King, they struggle to even save a match. When King is injured or Dawson gets suspended like in the last weekend match against Newcastle, their Tier-2 players don't seem to be even half as good as the players they had replaced. NewCastle came into the match minus parker with a couple of losses. Had Spurs had good backup players, they could have solidified their position at number 4.
Wigan were hardly able to keep pace once they started to tire. From second to far away from UEFA cup in 5 months is a testimony to this.
Blackburn were pathetic in the Champions League the year following their EPL title.
Everton could not even muster anything in UEFA cup leave alone Champions League qualifying.
Now take one of the big four. Manchester United. Their midfield was decimated following Keane's abrupt exit and Paul Scholes' eye trouble. Fergie did not find any proper midfielder in the winter transfer window. Still people like O'Shea and Smith have more than ably filled the vacancies.
Likewise, Liverpool hardly had strikers to choose from during last season. But still, they went on to win the Champions League.
Arsenal's defence was 75% knocked out following Campbell's depression, Lauren's and Cole's injury. Even backup players like Clichy, Cygan, van Persie were sidelined. But still they've conceded only two goals in the past 7 matches.
Can any of the pretenders boast of such depth and quality?That's why English Premier league differs from other leagues. The Predictable top four.
At a time when Europe witnesses the rise of English teams like Liverpool, Chelsea and recently Arsenal, there's a need to ensure these teams play every year to consolidate Britain's position among Europe's elite.
Spanish La Liga's representatives in UEFA Champions League 2003 - 04 was Celta Vigo and Real Sociedad. Both teams had an amazing run with Sociedad in particular, which gave Real Madrid a reak scare till the last match in the run up to the title.
Again this year's La Liga features Villareal, debutants in Champions league, who are making a mockery of the European giants to progress till the semifinals. Villareal also made it till the semifinals of the UEFA cup in 2004. Osasuna are doing well this season.
Italy's Serie - A has been represented in Europe by teams like Roma, Lazio, Udinese in the past three seasons. Luca Toni's Fiorentina are showing resurgence as they are in the driver's seat for the fourth spot.
Unlike the above leagues, EPL since the dawn of the millenium has been very predictable as far as the top four is concerned. Occasionally teams like Everton and Newcastle have sneaked in. But they get knocked out by unknown entities in the qualifying round unlike the Spanish and Italian teams. English teams also don't excel in UEFA cup as much as the other league teams. Boro seem to break the jinx, this season. But they've two more hurdles to cross.
Now coming to the main point about EPL, the divide between the big four, viz, Manchester United, Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea and the other challengers like Bolton, Boro, Blackburn Rovers, Everton, Spurs, etc. is huge.
Let me illustrate this by taking Bolton first. They don't have a large squad. Their squad has a lot of players who are well past 30. They seemed to do well for most of the season till last month when they started showing signs of fatigue. Apparently, UEFA cup and FA cup seemed to have drained them completely. Their style of play being one-dimensional hardly helps matters either.
Another case is that of Spurs. In January, they only took 6 points out of all the matches played. The chasing pack took lesser than 6 was what kept them afloat. Without King, they struggle to even save a match. When King is injured or Dawson gets suspended like in the last weekend match against Newcastle, their Tier-2 players don't seem to be even half as good as the players they had replaced. NewCastle came into the match minus parker with a couple of losses. Had Spurs had good backup players, they could have solidified their position at number 4.
Wigan were hardly able to keep pace once they started to tire. From second to far away from UEFA cup in 5 months is a testimony to this.
Blackburn were pathetic in the Champions League the year following their EPL title.
Everton could not even muster anything in UEFA cup leave alone Champions League qualifying.
Now take one of the big four. Manchester United. Their midfield was decimated following Keane's abrupt exit and Paul Scholes' eye trouble. Fergie did not find any proper midfielder in the winter transfer window. Still people like O'Shea and Smith have more than ably filled the vacancies.
Likewise, Liverpool hardly had strikers to choose from during last season. But still, they went on to win the Champions League.
Arsenal's defence was 75% knocked out following Campbell's depression, Lauren's and Cole's injury. Even backup players like Clichy, Cygan, van Persie were sidelined. But still they've conceded only two goals in the past 7 matches.
Can any of the pretenders boast of such depth and quality?That's why English Premier league differs from other leagues. The Predictable top four.
At a time when Europe witnesses the rise of English teams like Liverpool, Chelsea and recently Arsenal, there's a need to ensure these teams play every year to consolidate Britain's position among Europe's elite.
posted by Marauder | 9:13 PM
5 Comments:
I think its got to do with the managers. SAF, Jose,Rafa and AW are all experienced at the European level. Except for AW all have won UCL. They are all tactically very strong and thats why even without a good squad Liverpool manages to do what they did.
At the European stage, tactics play a huge role.
Its High time Arsene is rewarded for his good work done in transforming the club
Hi da....came across your blog from Koundi's....nice work maams.
will check it out regularly...keep posting.
Sometimes I feel if analysis plays an important part in Football at all...Arsenal with their sloppy defensive formation have managed to eke out a record number of clean sheets...Liverpool winning last year is obvioulsy an aberration...I mean, if Rafa can devise the tactics to keep Juve quiet, cant he do the same for Crystal Palace? Yet, they were losing easily to these sides...oh, well.
Aja.
These days, there is more focus on defence and the team that defends well wins the CL! In EPL, the manager has to change tactics so that the team attacks a bit more just to please the crowd. But in CL, it's all abt gaining the maximum advantage from an away leg even if it means just a draw.
It's not often that we see teams in the latter stages of the CL playing with 2 strikers.
Aja,
Arsenal have entered territory unknown to them. Wenger himself was amused at the clean sheet record Arsenal managed to break. Such a drastic change might force Football lovers into bashing Arsenal. After all, Wenger has always maintained that Arsenal will play with colour and will not compromise on it.
Myself, disheartened to see Arsenal compromise their attacking flair over defense. Whatever said, Arsenal are better off in their plamodus operandi atleast in Europe bcoz most of the time they try to go on a rampage against seasoned campaigners, they concede possession far too easily and get caught on the break. Now, the midfielders are doing a lot of backtracking to close down any possible space to the opponent. Their defensive workrate has affected their attacking instinct. Still Cesc is providing creativity comparable to the likes of Bergy's genius with his precise passes.
By being proactive enough and sacrificing the flamboyance to some extent, Wenger has proved Rafa's tactics are not a flash in the pan.
Familiarity is the key. Let Bolton play Barcelona twice. Let Deportivo play Milan twice every season. Once the modus operandi is deciphered, the Davids will no longer be able to command the position they usually do. The biggies will become aware of what the minnows are trying to do and will take measures to counter it. The Goliaths will also not be able to capitalize on the complacency of the now alert Davids. The bottom line will be UCL will be a magnified version of any other European league without these upsets.
Only if Barca win this season, will I accept that nowadays, a colourful team can win UCL. If I can count all the teams which took part in UCL finals, for the past 4 years, with the exception of Monaco and the early Galacticos who had reasonable defenders, other teams have been rock solid at the back. Lucio, Nesta, Carvalho, Carragher, Thuram are some of the names to have decorated these backlines.
I doubt if we'll ever see a European final, where teams play end-to-end stuff and keep trading goals providing wholesome entertainment to the viewing public.
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