Worst Premier League season in terms of quality...ever?

MrMatisse

Seems like Man Utd not playing their best are able to run along unbeaten, someone like darren bent can command a fee of 26mill and Sunderland/bolton sit quietly in the top half of the table. This has got to be one of the worst seasons in terms of quality ever.

_blank_

26 million?

Thought it was 18 rising to 24 with add ons

Notorious

Another pi**ed off Liverpool supporter?

MrMatisse

Mere number, mere numbers:D

nullzero

It's not been a great season by any means, very patchy.
It's hard to remeber a season when so amny sides have been so poor.
We'll have to se how the run in goes.

L'prof

Des wrote: »

26 million?

Thought it was 18 rising to 24 with add ons

Some people insist on talking in Euro even though it makes more sense to talk in pounds for the premiership.

Jax Teller

Who cared if it's worst ever ? We are still going to watch it regardless

Mushy

As a neutral its by far the best season yet. I'm delighted to see the likes of Bolton/Sunderland up there going for Europe, will be good to see.

Won't deny its worse quality I'd say, said to my brother whoever wins it is just the least **** team, and he agreed. And he a Man Utd fan.

eagle eye

Best quality season imo. The other teams are getting better not all the top teams getting worse. Just look at the Champion's League, three of the four English teams top their groups. And all qualified too.

ctrl-alt-delete

Des wrote: »

26 million?

Thought it was 18 rising to 24 with add ons

10,419,385,796 Zimbabwe Dollars to be precise!

Yakult

Its being a entertaining season so far. Cant wait to see how it all ends!

SEPT 23 1989

No its much better when one or two teams dominate year in year out:rolleyes:

JerryHandbag

Theres no denying the standard of the top teams has dropped over past 2 seasons. The top 2 teams from 08/09 (Utd & Liverpool) only lost 6 games combined. Last season it was 13 losses.

Even though United are unbeaten we've still dropped a lot of pts and only won 2 games on the road, and largely not playing our best. All in all it makes for a much more exciting league for the neutrals.

DM_7

When United don't win 5-0 they are playing bad. When they do, the other teams are ****.

When it comes to Quality what do people want? If two teams were running away with the league (spain) would that make things better?

Overall the quality whan you look at all the the sides is possibly better than ever. The top side are not as far ahead as they used to be which is great. Outside the most recent Winners Chelsea, United and Arsenal there are teams with some quality players.

Spurs have quality like Van Der Vaart, Bale and Modric. Man City have so much cash they can buy Quality players from likes of United, Arsenal, Barca. Liverpool with likes of Torres and Gerrard are only 10th!

In the past those players would have been with the top 2 or 3 clubs and as a result the teams outside the top 2 or 3 were miles ahead of the rest of the league.

Just because Sunderland and Bolton are in the top 10 does not mean the quality of the league is bad.
For example, last Season Blackburn and Birmingham finished in top 10, Spurs were 4th (after 8th and 11th the years before), does that mean the quality was bad?
Year before west ham and Fulham were in top 10. everton 5th.
Year Before, Everton 5th, Portsmouth, Blackburn top 10. I could go on.

stovelid

MrMatisse wrote: »

Seems like Man Utd not playing their best are able to run along unbeaten, someone like darren bent can command a fee of 26mill and Sunderland/bolton sit quietly in the top half of the table. This has got to be one of the worst seasons in terms of quality ever.

Unacceptable lapse in quality. Does the league have a complaints department?

IvySlayer

Just on the Bolton/Sunderland thing, have you seen them play lately? It's better than the hoofball you used to see.

mike65

It's quite good fun and all four "big guns" have qualified for the CL knockout stages. I suspect we will see the traditionally stronger teams start to get on top from now on and Blackpool/Stoke/Bolton top drift down.

eagle eye

There are a lot of more intelligent managers coming through too. Coyle, Holloway and Di Matteo just to name three of the very recent ones. Steve Bruce did wonders at Wigan, its taken him time to find his feet again at Sunderland but they are playing very good stuff now. Just even look at the bottom of the league and the managers are pretty high quality with Grant, McCarthy and Martinez there. Fact is that more teams are getting the best out of their players than ever before. Its got a lot more to do with those teams being better than it is with the top teams falling backwards imo.

MrMatisse

Bruce for years didnt do much, now all of a sudden he seems able to take a load of journey men + Gyan and turn them into contenders for europe. I think it could be jsut because the league is so poor this season

Paully D

Definitely not. There's a life outside the top 4.

Paully D

MrMatisse wrote: »

Bruce for years didnt do much, now all of a sudden he seems able to take a load of journey men + Gyan and turn them into contenders for europe. I think it could be jsut because the league is so poor this season

A squad with the youngest average age in the league, even younger than Arsenal.

What in the name of christ are you talking about? :rolleyes:

Bodhisopha

It's good if you get excited by looking at a league table. Personally i prefer to watch good football.

Pauleta

Its woeful this year but not the worst year ever. Up until around 97 it was pants in terms of quality. This year United are unbeaten and boring the pants off everyone most weeks. Compare this United team to the champions league winning team of 08 and you will get some prespective of how standards have plummeted.

MrMatisse

yeah thats what im seeing myself

eagle eye

MrMatisse wrote: »

Bruce for years didnt do much, now all of a sudden he seems able to take a load of journey men + Gyan and turn them into contenders for europe. I think it could be jsut because the league is so poor this season

So you don't remember his Wigan side?

MrMatisse

I remember his Birmingham side

cson

Rest of the pack catching up rather than the traditional ascendant teams slipping up in quality; interestingly if you look at Blackpool's league position and the type of football they play - it's pretty quality stuff that's yielding the results.

You're talking out your arse OP.

dreamers75

cson wrote: »

You're talking out your arse OP.

I concur, the teams playing well actually playing ball are in the euro spots.

I think the big 4 are being put on the financial spot by Man City, they are operating correctly within their means even Chelsea now expect to post a profit. Not buying the best players around has levelled the field somewhat and its good to see.

SantryRed

cson wrote: »

Rest of the pack catching up rather than the traditional ascendant teams slipping up in quality; interestingly if you look at Blackpool's league position and the type of football they play - it's pretty quality stuff that's yielding the results.

You're talking out your arse OP.

Not at all. There is absolutely no way the top 3 teams are the same quality that they were in 2008. No chance.

Tchaikovsky

I'd blame the dip in quality on Mercenary City.

It's not as bad as when the Prem was 24 teams, with the likes of Swindon, QPR, Ipswich, Southampton and Oldham polluting the quality.

Optimalprimerib

You are seeing the so calledlesser teams actually going for it against the so called bigger clubs. There is no fear in them. Look at west brom v man utd on new years day. Great game of football. The only team who put their backs to the wall is man city against their rivals.

I think the quality this year has been a big Mark up on previous years. Then again you are probably one of those connoisuers that thought the world cup was top quality

Devil08

Darren Bent has the same amount of Premier League goals as Rooney and Drogba. 82. I think his price is justified. He is also English which you always pay more for top English players.

I also think the quality is great this season. People say Utd arent playing well, but they have won all their games at home except for the one they drew. They have dropped a lot of points on the road but this is because a lot of the smaller teams are a lot better than they were. It is very hard to win away from home now for most teams. It is a lot more competitive than in previous seasons thats for sure. When was the last time we had a 4 or 5 team title race after xmas??? Great standard IMO.

jaykay74

Tchaikovsky wrote: »

It's not as bad as when the Prem was 24 teams, with the likes of Swindon, QPR, Ipswich, Southampton and Oldham polluting the quality.

In fairness that only existed in your head. There was never 24 teams in the prem league or even in thee old 1st division as far as I remember.

Southampton didn't pollute the quality, they were a decent side in the early 90's.

Devil08

There was 22 teams.

SantryRed

Optimalprimerib wrote: »

You are seeing the so calledlesser teams actually going for it against the so called bigger clubs. There is no fear in them. Look at west brom v man utd on new years day. Great game of football. The only team who put their backs to the wall is man city against their rivals.

I think the quality this year has been a big Mark up on previous years. Then again you are probably one of those connoisuers that thought the world cup was top quality

There's no fear in them because they are able to have a go. Two years ago they'd be tonked if they opened up.

eZe^

I've never enjoyed a premier league season as I have this year, things are so topsy turvy, the emergence of Spur/ City, the rollercoaster of Liverpool, Chelsea's ****ing up, Arsenal looking like proper contenders, Utd being super consistent. Great season imo.

SantryRed

eZe^ wrote: »

I've never enjoyed a premier league season as I have this year, things are so topsy turvy, the emergence of Spur/ City, the rollercoaster of Liverpool, Chelsea's ****ing up, Arsenal looking like proper contenders, Utd being super consistent. Great season imo.

Yes it has been a great season. But I think people are mixing up quality with excitement.

Do you think it has been a season as good in terms of quality as a few years ago?

eZe^

SantryRed wrote: »

Yes it has been a great season. But I think people are mixing up quality with excitement.

Do you think it has been a season as good in terms of quality as a few years ago?

Well, I think the quality is finally more evenly distributed among the 20 teams in the league. So yes. Maybe the top 4 teams are weaker, but over the whole course of the league it's much much better, which is better for England as a whole.

L'prof

eZe^ wrote: »

Well, I think the quality is finally more evenly distributed among the 20 teams in the league. So yes. Maybe the top 4 teams are weaker, but over the whole course of the league it's much much better, which is better for England as a whole.

And better for Barca Not that I think they'd fear any team anyway!

Het-Field

Nah. 2009/2010 was the worst.

I recall 2002/2003, West Ham United were relegated with 42 points. In 2006/2007 West Ham saved themselves with 42 points. In 2009/2010 West Ham, and six other teams were safe with 39 points or less. Further, there was a gap of 5 points between the team third from bottom and the team fourth from bottom. Sunderland finished 12th with 44 points, and were comfortable for most of the season.

At the other end of the table, it wasnt much better. The top four lost 30 games combined, and the likes of Liverpool simply were not at the races. Aston Villa put up a robust fight, but fell away very badly. The likes of Everton were not really at the races,w hile Fulham disimproved badly.

Warper

The fact that an unspectacular Man Utd team are still unbeaten says it all really. Not to mention the fact that a team like Blackpool are in the top half of the table. Utd look like they are going to walk the League in second gear.

Panthro

I think that the average standard during the season that Derby were last in it was wayyy down.
But thats because Derby were in it, they were bruuuutal.

greendom

Warper wrote: »

The fact that an unspectacular Man Utd team are still unbeaten says it all really. Not to mention the fact that a team like Blackpool are in the top half of the table. Utd look like they are going to walk the League in second gear.

How do you assess "quality". For me if a team prospers by having the right attitude and playing football in the right way, that's quality.

d22ontour

The quality will miraculously rise just as soon as United lose their first league game.

SantryRed

d22ontour wrote: »

The quality will miraculously rise just as soon as United lose their first league game.

That makes no sense

enfant terrible

SantryRed wrote: »

That makes no sense

United have a lot of tough games ahead and could end up losing 4 or 5 by the end of the season.