MLS on par with Premiership

tdv

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/news/story?id=439873&cc=5901

KdjaCL

He just doing his job really, funny tho


kdjac

el rabitos

seen many mls games have we?

darkskol

Good one

mike65

Pfffffffffft! Lalas la la.

Mike.

Mitch Connor

el rabitos wrote:

seen many mls games have we?

nope - but i have 3 mates in america who reckon the MLS is about as good as the championship - certainly not prem level.

Pepe LeFrits

His comments about the MLS are laughable but he makes good points about the marketing machine that surrounds the premiership. Sky make the PL out to be a super-high quality, exciting and unpredictable league but in reality it is anything but. Most of the matches are dull and of a poor standard and they rarely match the hype.

~Rebel~

Says it all that Danny Dichio is scoring away merrily there in a completely newly formed club, when he wouldnt get near a premiership team, let alone be a regular scorer.

Not to mention that Ronnie O Brien is considered a star player over there.

godtabh

I've been to a couple of MLS games. The one thing that stood out for me was the fitness. The games were played at pace and in some heat.

As for quality I didnt think it was that good.

gustavo

~Rebel~ wrote:

Says it all that Danny Dichio is scoring away merrily there in a completely newly formed club, when he wouldnt get near a premiership team, let alone be a regular scorer.

Not to mention that Ronnie O Brien is considered a star player over there.

I'm going to take a wild guess that you havent seen him play for at least 5 or more years , would certainly have been worth a look in our recent friendlies over there

Steve_o

~Rebel~ wrote:

Says it all that Danny Dichio is scoring away merrily there in a completely newly formed club, when he wouldnt get near a premiership team, let alone be a regular scorer.

Not to mention that Ronnie O Brien is considered a star player over there.

QFT...the MLS is along way off The Premiership or any top European League!

Mr. Presentable

Anyone have a link to the actual interview? Nowhere in that article does he say the MLS is on a par with the EPL.

What he does say is

" if you took a helicopter and grabbed a bunch of MLS players and took them to the perceived best league in the world they wouldn't miss a beat and the fans wouldn't notice any drop in quality."

which is not untrue. He's not saying exchange them for Scholes and co, but there are teams in the EPL other than Liverpool, Chelsea et al

Quoted from the Mirror

"The game was not without moments of quality ... [but] some of the defending from both sides was the type of stuff you watch through your fingers,'' according to The Mirror. "It was the football equivalent of a demolition derby.

"The use of possession was alarmingly careless"

Which is true of the majority of EPL games too. Games featuring Newcastle, Everton, Wigan, Blackburn, Fulham etc. Comedy defending and a seeming fear of possession.

It's nice to sneer at MLS, but remember the EPL is looked down on in terms of defending and possession by the Spanish and Italians. It's all relative.

~Rebel~

gustavo wrote:

I'm going to take a wild guess that you havent seen him play for at least 5 or more years , would certainly have been worth a look in our recent friendlies over there

worth a look for ireland in the friendlies in America by all means, but do you really think right now he could be classed as a star in the premiership? After already failing to make it there and in Italy? No doubt he's progressed a bit, but i suggest its more a case of him finding his level.

gustavo

~Rebel~ wrote:

worth a look for ireland in the friendlies in America by all means, but do you really think right now he could be classed as a star in the premiership? After already failing to make it there and in Italy? No doubt he's progressed a bit, but i suggest its more a case of him finding his level.

He was very young when he "failed" in the Premiership ,same with Italy ,

A man with Juventus at the time also "failed" there , Thierry Henry , I would suggest he is able for Italian football at the moment .

Mr. Presentable

gustavo wrote:

He was very young when he "failed" in the Premiership ,same with Italy ,

A man with Juventus at the time also "failed" there , Thierry Henry , I would suggest he is able for Italian football at the moment .

Yeah, Ancelotti has recently been quoted as saying that not realising the potential of Henry was his worst ever mistake.

Mind you, they bought him for about 2m and sold him for about 11m, so they saw something.

~Rebel~

gustavo wrote:

He was very young when he "failed" in the Premiership ,same with Italy ,

A man with Juventus at the time also "failed" there , Thierry Henry , I would suggest he is able for Italian football at the moment .

again though, do you genuinely believe that if Ronnie O Brien moved to the premiership that he'd be classed as a star? Really?!

yabadabado

i have been at a few mls games its not epl standard but i wud say it is as good as the championship.some good players that wud make it in the championship teams.if they had competion like the champs league think it wud raise the level alot not much competition.as for ronnie obrien i think he wud hold his own in the prem wudnt b a star but i think he cud make it in a mid table team(think a few of the players cud Nate Jaqua and Ricardo Clark wud be 2 who i think cud make it. striker and dmf.

Mr. Presentable

yabadabado wrote:

i have been at a few mls games its not epl standard but i wud say it is as good as the championship.some good players that wud make it in the championship teams.if they had competion like the champs league think it wud raise the level alot not much competition.as for ronnie obrien i think he wud hold his own in the prem wudnt b a star but i think he cud make it in a mid table team(think a few of the players cud Nate Jaqua and Ricardo Clark wud be 2 who i think cud make it. striker and dmf.

If I understand you, my point exactly. The EPL is not just the top four.

Chucky the tree

~Rebel~ wrote:

again though, do you genuinely believe that if Ronnie O Brien moved to the premiership that he'd be classed as a star? Really?!

who says they would be stars?

GuanYin

I've been to EPL, Championship and MLS games.

The EPL, overall doesn't match the premiership in terms of quality, but as someone said earlier, their fitness level is excellent. They play at a high pace (even in amateur leagues here) and it can seem quite frenetic at first.

The thing is though, the players, by and large, lack the quality and most of what you focus on and remember are the abysmal defending and route one attacks.

That said, there are plenty of MLS players who would make it in the premiership, just in terms of attitude and fitness, they wouldn't be star players and they wouldn't be in the top teams.

Teams like Sheffield United, Wigan, Watford, Charlton and West Brom from last season would not find the MLS easy.

I'd say they're about the same quality as the top half of the Championship in any given season.

Pighead

psi wrote:

I'd say they're about the same quality as the top half of the Championship in any given season.

On a par with the Eircom Premier League so. Sounds impressive.

~Rebel~

Chucky the tree wrote:

who says they would be stars?

the thread is about the MLS being on par with the Premiership.

Im saying it cant be really when players like O Brien and Danny Dichio are so successful over there but wouldnt make anywhere near as much of an impact in the Premiership. Would be average at best, and at least in Dichio's case, we know not even that.

Pigman II

When I clicked that link it asked me to pick a region. I choose USA because I've been hearing good things about the MLS!

thebaz

i think i remember Lalas huffing and puffing for Coventry , he was one of the first foreign superstars to the Premiership, in the early days .. along with zola, cantona, bergkamp, klinsman etc ..

the americans produce good goalies , and a lot of journeymen like mcbride ,lalas, reyna

gustavo

Lalas played in Italy for Padova , I think that you are thinking of Cobi Jones. Those players like Reyna and McBride are fine footballers and far from being the "journeymen" you paint them out to be.

thebaz

gustavo wrote:

Lalas played in Italy for Padova , I think that you are thinking of Cobi Jones. Those players like Reyna and McBride are fine footballers and far from being the "journeymen" you paint them out to be.

apologies then , but Lalas comments are to put it mildly , stupid ... and for me mcBride is a poor version of shearer , and Reyna is just poor

gustavo

These guys have made a good living in what is regarded as one of the best leagues in the world , indeed McBride is really underrated and they were both part of a team that got to the 1/4s of the World Cup so they cant be that bad.

Mitch Connor

thebaz wrote:

apologies then , but Lalas comments are to put it mildly , stupid ... and for me mcBride is a poor version of shearer , and Reyna is just poor

i'm no fan of shearer, but i'm sure you'll find a very very very high number of strikers could only be describer as a poor version of Shearer, given that Shearer was one of the best out and out strikers of recent times.

Galvasean

It would be interesting to see how a MLS team would fair against Premiership opposition. i bet they are a lot better than Scots Prem teams.