Premiership or La Liga: which league will be the best this season?

kinaldo

So, as a sad, beleagured and despairing Newcastle fan, I'm trying to keep my interest in the Premiership alive.

I shall be rooting for Liverpool this year but it looks like even they are going to lose one of their best players to Real Madrid this week. Although with Michael Owen becoming Man Utd's new No. 7, their prospects still seem good to me.

Madrid's infamous daily, Marca, is currently running a poll between La Liga and the Premiership, with 79% out of about 45,000 voters so far believing that La Liga will the best this season.

Most are probably madridistas, but are they right? Is England's Premier going stale? Is Liverpool vs Man Utd or the Manchester derby going to be anywhere near as attractive as El Clásico or the Madrid derby?

Personally I think not, and come May, The Bernabéu will see either Madrid or Barca crowned European Champions once again. I wouldn't bet against a Real-Barca final either.

Royale with Cheese

How exactly do you measure which league is the bestest?

kinaldo

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

How exactly do you measure which league is the bestest?

There's no rules, it's entirely subjective, so you decide.

Unless someone wants to make rules...

flahavaj

While I agree with the poster that said how is it even possible to measure which league is better, I'd confidently predict there being more English than Spanish teams in the CL semi finals this year.

kinaldo

flahavaj wrote: »

I'd confidently predict there being more English than Spanish teams in the CL semi finals this year.

I wouldn't be so confident.

I predict Madrid to take the CL by storm this season, with the extra motivation of a home final to play for behind them.

Then there's Barca, currently the best team on the planet, which leaves only 2 semi-final spots up for grabs.

That_Guy

Championship will clearly be the greatest league next season.

kinaldo

That_Guy wrote: »

Championship will clearly be the greatest league next season.

And League One the following season, surely.

flahavaj

kinaldo wrote: »

I wouldn't be so confident.

I predict Madrid to take the CL by storm this season, with the extra motivation of a home final to play for behind them.

Then there's Barca, currently the best team on the planet, which leaves only 2 semi-final spots up for grabs.

Just gut instinct to be honest. Theres no guarantee Madrid will gel, I'd still fancy United, Liverpool or Chelsea against them over 2 legs in a hypothetical QF. They still have big questions to answer regarding their defence and defensive midfielders, not to mind accomodating their Player Manager Raul who will have to be picked regardless of superior options.:pac:

Diabhal Beag

They really are different. La Liga is a 2 horse race realistically but next season the Premier League could well be won by any of the big 4.

But I always enjoy Spanish football more than the English style. I would rather see Xavi's brilliance over the Lampard style of shooting from anywhere.

A Spanish team IMO will win the Champion's League this year and it will more than likely be Barca too.

ironictoaster

Premier League me thinks.

I will still be watching the PL religiously, it's will be exciting as well with the rise of Man City. Also, who will their 19th title first.

As a United fan, I'm interested to see life without Ronaldo and Tevez as well, youth players rising.

Of course I will be watching the Madrid v Barca matches ,but the stars both teams isn't enough to make the La Liga as much as I watch the PL.

kinaldo

flahavaj wrote: »

They still have big questions to answer regarding their defence and defensive midfielders, not to mind accomodating their Player Manager Raul who will have to be picked regardless of superior options.:pac:

Their defence really isn't that bad, at least on paper, and is quite plentiful - Casillas, Ramos, Pepe, Metzelder, Marcelo, Albiol, Arbeloa, Torres, Heinze...

Then there's the two Diarras and Gago as DFMs, and possibly Xabi Alonso coming in and filling that role.

Not bad options.

Besides, neither Madrid or Barca have ever relied upon on a really good defence to be successful.

As for Raúl, he's now at the stage of his career where he can be quietly dropped, and Pérez who wants rid of him would certainly back his new manager on that.

Mr.Nice Guy

I think La Liga has certainly been boosted by the activity of Madrid but I'm not of the view that the Premiership will suffer greatly as a result. I thought the Premiership was fantastic entertainment last season and I don't think it was necessarily down to a particular individual. Ronaldo for instance dominated the season before last but last season, while he contributed with some great goals, he didn't exactly take it by storm as in 07/08. Likewise Alonso leaving wouldn't be as damaging to the league's reputation as say Torres or Gerrard departing.

Kaka, Ronaldo, Benzema and possibly now Alonso are great additions to a league with plenty of top players such as Henry, Messi, Villa and now Ibrahimivoc as well. But the Premiership has players that are also a delight to watch. Guys like Arshavin, Torres, Rooney, Gerrard, Lampard, Robinho, Ashley Young, Berbatov (yeah I said it!) Ireland, Tevez etc.

I can see myself making more of an effort to watch La Liga this year and doing a Dunphy with the beans on toast supper on a Sunday night but the Premiership is still tops for drama in my view and with Man City's new team, United's new tactics, Chelsea's new boss, Liverpool looking to continue on from last season and Wenger looking to revitalise Arsenal it will be a great tussle at the top. The relegation places are tricky to call this year as well I feel. Can't wait. Bring it on. :cool:

ziggy

This post has been deleted.

kinaldo

ziggy wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Well good riddance to Heinze, didn't know that deal had gone through yet, but Metzelder is not the worst. Maybe he could do with more opportunities.

eZe^

Royale with Cheese wrote: »

How exactly do you measure which league is the bestest?

Like this;

If you support a La Liga team, you'll think that's the best... If you support an EPL team, you'll think that's the best...


Not the most comprehensive of comparisons, but I guarantee that's how 90% of the voting will go... :P

angel01

I think the premiership will be the best, well it will interest me most anyway.

chopperbyrne

La Liga has been consistently more entertaining than the Premier League for years.

The mid table and lower teams in La Liga are much better to watch than their Premier League equivalents.

astrofool

If madrid gel at all, la liga will be a glorified SPL.

eZe^

Mr.Nice Guy wrote: »

I can see myself making more of an effort to watch La Liga this year and doing a Dunphy with the beans on toast supper on a Sunday night but the Premiership is still tops for drama in my view and with Man City's new team, United's new tactics, Chelsea's new boss, Liverpool looking to continue on from last season and Wenger looking to revitalise Arsenal it will be a great tussle at the top. The relegation places are tricky to call this year as well I feel. Can't wait. Bring it on. :cool:

You see, that sort of stuff is actually in every league around the world, it's just you haven't taken the time to look for it (which obviously makes sense because you support an EPL team). Take La Liga - The re-emergence of Zaragoza from the 2nd division, a team that would on their day be capable of going toe to toe with anybody, they got relegated 2 seasons ago and it'll be awesome to see how they cope without Milito/ Oliviera.

Also there is Valencia and Atletico Madrid, two teams who are usually seen as being competitors, but usually feeding the top European teams, they have both managed to keep a hold of their best players, and Sevilla are always so shrewd in the transfer market. Plus, Madrid acquiring the current Ballon D'or, an ex Ballon D'or and a possible future Ballon D'or makes their potential campaign also fascinating. And look at Barca, they have brought in what is seen as a very very controversial signing in Ibrahimovic, as well as having some of the most talented youngsters in the world emerging from La Masia...

Then you have Serie A, Inter losing their most creative and best player for the past 3 seasons, Juventus significantly strengthening themselves with Giovinco and Melo, A.C Milan trying to rebuild with a new manager and an unmotivated Ronaldinho as their new main man. Also there are Lazio, Genoa, and Napoli who have all made themselves very very strong with some excellent summer transfers. Julio Cruz to Lazio, Crespo to Genoa, etc. My point is there is potential excitement in every league, and it's all dependent on what league your favourite team plays in really, because that's the one YOU will be most concerned with.

I'm obviously going to vote for La Liga, sure the chances of a team other than Barca/ Madrid winning the league are low, but what about the other 18 places, there is always a major shock in La Liga, and I personally enjoy the fact that teams like Getafe are not afraid to try and go toe to toe with the big boys....

Kimbot

I think the Premiership will be the best this year.

So far I think United haven't replaced Ronaldo/Tevez so I see them dropping a few more points than normal.
Liverpool will put them to the sword.
Man City will be tough to beat.

rossie1977

kinaldo wrote: »

Their defence really isn't that bad, at least on paper, and is quite plentiful - Casillas, Ramos, Pepe, Metzelder, Marcelo, Albiol, Arbeloa, Torres, Heinze...

Then there's the two Diarras and Gago as DFMs, and possibly Xabi Alonso coming in and filling that role.

Not bad options.

most of those players were playing outside of albiol and arbeloa (who will probably struggle to start many games anyway for real seeing as ramos is such a great defender ) against barca and liverpool when they shipped 10 goals in two games and were ripped apart, reals hope in the big games is that they score more than the opposition because they will concede

i said it a few months ago and i ain't changing my mind, imo barca are NOT retaining the champions league this year

orourkeda

astrofool wrote: »

If madrid gel at all, la liga will be a glorified SPL.

It is a glorified SPL based on last seasons finishing position. 17 Points between 1st and 3rd.

This is really a pointless argument. Serie A was the strongest league in Europe not that long ago and is now not even mentioned here.

Nobody can be sure until it all kicks off

Raskolnikov

Has anyone actually watched Real Madrid in pre-season? Defensively, they're still completely disorganised and a shambles. Offensively, they haven't clicked either. I know it's only pre-season, but we haven't seen anything to suggest Real have sorted themselves out.

Bubs101

Think Serie A could be good this year with Inter losing Ibra, will make it close again and possible new champions in Fiorentina

3hn2givr7mx1sc

La Liga is fairly competitive outside the top two, and there's more football played when lower teams play bigger teams, whereas in England the defenders just hoof it up to the forwards, in the hope that they can hold up the ball or have a long-range effort.

The way I see it is the Premier League has 3 separate leagues within itself, 1-5(United, Liverpool, Chelsea,Arsenal and City), 6-12(Spurs, Everton, Villa, West Ham, Sunderland, Wigan, Blackburn), 13-20(Wolves, Burnley, Birmingham, Bolton, Fulham, Hull, Stoke, Pompey) in saying that I will watch a lot more Premiership than La Liga:P

jesus_thats_gre

Everton, Villa and Spurs are in a league of their own - certainly shouldn't be mentioned in the same breath as Sunderland, Wigan and Blackburn anyway.

leninbenjamin

i would hope the premier league would be the most entertaining this year (I say 'hope' as it because that's the one I watch )

On paper at least it's shaping up to be a good one, United will be finding their feet again after losing Ronaldo, Chelsea have a new manager and it could either way, Pool will be their somewhat consistent selves, Arsenal might have a bit more focus after offloading Ade and Toure (who seemed to have been fairly disruptive to morale last year), and of course Citeh, Everton and Villa will keep upsetting the top 4 for another season.

Then again these things never seem to work out as you'd expect and the battle between Madrid and Barca looks like it's stepping up again.

meh...

Zatman

La Liga is the best league by a mile as football is played the way it should be played by a majority of teams unlike the Premier League where a majority of teams play terrible hoof ball football

ADTR

La Liga.

missingtime

God dammit I just want some SOCCER!!!

leninbenjamin

missingtime wrote: »

God dammit I just want some SOCCER!!!

http://www.loi.ie/

Pro. F

First question- which league will provide the most CL semi-finalists? I think the premier league has the best chance of having 3 teams again. And even if the PL doesn't get 3 into the semis i can't see la liga getting any more than the obvious 2 that far.

Second question- which league will provide the best entertainment? This is a far trickyer question.

In terms of overall competition for places it will be roughly equal imo. The PL has more teams that can win it (4) but la liga is more open outside of the 2 potential winners.

In terms of the actual quality of the play there are two things that influence which league i'd prefer to watch- the quality of the football and the amount of feigning injury. La liga has a far higher quality of football in the mid-table and lower teams imo. If you watch games between these teams you get far more teams in Spain who get the ball down and actually play football rather than just hoofing it like you get in the PL. So la liga has a better depth of quality through out the league imo. BUT a big mark against la liga for me is the amount of sissies playing there. If you watch any hotly contested game with a bit of needle in Spain you will spend a lot of your time watching cry-babies rolling around on the ground clutching their faces. It's not diving i'm talking about, it's feigning injury - it holds up the game more and is more annoying imo. I know it might seem trivial but i find that if i watch a good bit of la liga i start to long for the more honest rough and tumble of the PL and it always draws me back.

So that is a very, very long winded way of saying that i think they both have pros and cons. If i have the opportunity i'll watch both