Columbo 588 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Not for me, I 'd rather watch EPL, but I do live in England so thats probably why. Anyway, my point was not which is the most entertaining league - I was just stating the fact that EPL has dominated the CL in the last three years with 3 out of 4 in the semi-finals being English 3 years in a row now. You're counter argument seems to be "Yea but out of those three occasions only one English team has ever won the Champions League" ..... But out of these three occasions, how many spanish teams have won the chamions league? The only Spanish team to reach the CL semi-final in the last 3 years is Barcelona. Wheras, all 4 English teams have done this. From 2000-20009 four Spanish Clubs have won the Champions League compared to the two English teams that have won it. English clubs are certainly starting to do better in Europe and compete more but I get angry at the biased English Media whose articles in February when all four of their clubs made it to the quarter final were very arrogant. English Clubs have certainly been doing better in Europe in the last few years but there not the world beaters there are made out to be and that is shown through the fact that they're not winning the competition. I'd also argue that the EPL are not dominating the CL if there teams aren't winning the competition. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdunsmb 43 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 But the football in La Liga is far better. The football in Serie A is also far better IMHO. Depends on your defintion. More flair and open attacking play I suppose. I usually watch one La Liga game a week, - can't say I've watched Seria A for years now, really doesn't interest me, especially since the corruption. Serie A is brilliant. It's no longer the catenaccio-based play of the early 90's, teams actually have a go for the full game now. And technically, it's beyond both La Liga and the Premiership. Yeh, I would probably watch some games if Sky showed them, but can't be bothered going on the internet to watch them etc. Plus, I have a busy enough schedule watching all SPL and EPL games. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
papaguy51 912 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 But the football in La Liga is far better. The football in Serie A is also far better IMHO. Depends on your defintion. More flair and open attacking play I suppose. I usually watch one La Liga game a week, - can't say I've watched Seria A for years now, really doesn't interest me, especially since the corruption. Serie A is brilliant. It's no longer the catenaccio-based play of the early 90's, teams actually have a go for the full game now. And technically, it's beyond both La Liga and the Premiership. Yeh, I would probably watch some games if Sky showed them, but can't be bothered going on the internet to watch them etc. Plus, I have a busy enough schedule watching all SPL and EPL games. This is true. I needed to get a good computer seat and a decent graphics card for comfortable internet streaming. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
sdunsmb 43 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Not for me, I 'd rather watch EPL, but I do live in England so thats probably why. Anyway, my point was not which is the most entertaining league - I was just stating the fact that EPL has dominated the CL in the last three years with 3 out of 4 in the semi-finals being English 3 years in a row now. You're counter argument seems to be "Yea but out of those three occasions only one English team has ever won the Champions League" ..... But out of these three occasions, how many spanish teams have won the chamions league? The only Spanish team to reach the CL semi-final in the last 3 years is Barcelona. Wheras, all 4 English teams have done this. From a) 2000-20009 four Spanish Clubs have won the Champions League compared to the two English teams that have won it. English clubs are certainly starting to do better in Europe and compete more but I get angry at the biased English Media whose articles in February when all four of their clubs made it to the quarter final were very arrogant. English Clubs have certainly been doing better in Europe in the last few years but there not the world beaters there are made out to be and that is shown through the fact that they're not winning the competition. b)I'd also argue that the EPL are not dominating the CL if there teams aren't winning the competition. a) Different argument there made. b) Good argument The point is English teams in the last few years are doing considerably better than Spanish and Italian teams in recent years, to argue otherwise is embarrassing Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mac444 6 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Real Madrid have no morals. They just throw money at everything. I'ts worse than Man City and what Chelsea are doing/used to do. I don't even know why players go there as they are rank rotten and won't win the champions league for ages. Singing 4 or 5 great strikers doesn't stop you leakin goals and you can only play 2 or 3 of them at one time so some are gona get unhappy. Would love a team like Liverpool, Man U etc to put another 5 past them in champs league. Ronaldo - Attacking midfielder Kaka - Attacking midfielder Benzema- Striker Yeah mate your right but if you look at what they already have in Huntelaar, Van Nistelrooy, Robben, Raul, Higuan, Sneijder, Van Der Vaart. Someone described them as putting the roof on without foundations and they are exactly right. Apart from Raul Albiol they havn't fixed their major problem. Defence Those in bold Real are trying to offload According to Ballague all the Dutch players are up for sale, including Sneijder, Van Der Vaart (who has been pretty disappointing) and Robben. I'm also maybe reading to much into it but I think Gago may be up for sale, as Kaka' wore his number (8) when presented. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
CooperSF 5,792 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Real Madrid have no morals. They just throw money at everything. I'ts worse than Man City and what Chelsea are doing/used to do. I don't even know why players go there as they are rank rotten and won't win the champions league for ages. Singing 4 or 5 great strikers doesn't stop you leakin goals and you can only play 2 or 3 of them at one time so some are gona get unhappy. Would love a team like Liverpool, Man U etc to put another 5 past them in champs league. Ronaldo - Attacking midfielder Kaka - Attacking midfielder Benzema- Striker Yeah mate your right but if you look at what they already have in Huntelaar, Van Nistelrooy, Robben, Raul, Higuan, Sneijder, Van Der Vaart. Someone described them as putting the roof on without foundations and they are exactly right. Apart from Raul Albiol they havn't fixed their major problem. Defence Those in bold Real are trying to offload According to Ballague all the Dutch players are up for sale, including Sneijder, Van Der Vaart (who has been pretty disappointing) and Robben. I'm also maybe reading to much into it but I think Gago may be up for sale, as Kaka' wore his number (8) when presented. Gago wanted the number 5 since it is a legendary number in Argentina Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mac444 6 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Real Madrid have no morals. They just throw money at everything. I'ts worse than Man City and what Chelsea are doing/used to do. I don't even know why players go there as they are rank rotten and won't win the champions league for ages. Singing 4 or 5 great strikers doesn't stop you leakin goals and you can only play 2 or 3 of them at one time so some are gona get unhappy. Would love a team like Liverpool, Man U etc to put another 5 past them in champs league. Ronaldo - Attacking midfielder Kaka - Attacking midfielder Benzema- Striker Yeah mate your right but if you look at what they already have in Huntelaar, Van Nistelrooy, Robben, Raul, Higuan, Sneijder, Van Der Vaart. Someone described them as putting the roof on without foundations and they are exactly right. Apart from Raul Albiol they havn't fixed their major problem. Defence Those in bold Real are trying to offload According to Ballague all the Dutch players are up for sale, including Sneijder, Van Der Vaart (who has been pretty disappointing) and Robben. I'm also maybe reading to much into it but I think Gago may be up for sale, as Kaka' wore his number (8) when presented. Gago wanted the number 5 since it is a legendary number in Argentina I checked up on Real website after I posted, which is what happened 5 shirt is generally holding midfielder in S. America. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cappa 24 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 Good buy. They need a defensive mid though. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Stars Bearette 1 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 They have spent around a quarter of a Billion Euros in the last month. Absolutely astonishing. And by all accounts the spending is not over either. I really don't see why they need Benzema when they have an abundance of forward players. Seems to me like Perez is just buying players to keep them from going to rival clubs. Rather angry about this one. I really want Man United to buy Karim Benzema, but it seems nobody can compete with Madrid at the moment. Really hope Barcelona tear them a new one next season. they are grabbing the top players across Europe...it would make my day if Barca still beat them...have always liked Barca more Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithgersbear 3,225 Posted July 1, 2009 Share Posted July 1, 2009 But the football in La Liga is far better. The football in Serie A is also far better IMHO. Depends on your defintion. More flair and open attacking play I suppose. I usually watch one La Liga game a week, - can't say I've watched Seria A for years now, really doesn't interest me, especially since the corruption. Serie A is brilliant. It's no longer the catenaccio-based play of the early 90's, teams actually have a go for the full game now. And technically, it's beyond both La Liga and the Premiership. Have to disagree Papa to be honest with you. I find Serie A to still be boring. Every team in that league plays the same sort of brand of football. It might not be as negative as it was 5-6 years ago but it's still too rugged for me. The PL last season was boring for general play because of Tony Pulis, Sam Allerdyce and some others putting out negative after negative tactics and vile mentality like Stoke. I don't think it will get much better this season coming up because it could well be even worse. Just check out that tripe in the league now. But the PL in general is exciting to watch, quick games, top 7-8 can play good attacking football. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny 9 Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 The point is English teams in the last few years are doing considerably better than Spanish and Italian teams in recent years, to argue otherwise is embarrassing You are right to say that in the CL English teams have indeed dominated - their top 4 seems to be at the latter stages on a permanent basis. But an interesting oddity is English sides are utter failures in the Uefa Cup - the competition which tests the mid-range fodder of a league and which would test the Evertons, Spurs and Newcastles etc. This tournament hasn't seen an English finalist since Middlesbrough in 2006 and can only boast 2 finalists (and one winner) since 2001. So, the tournament which tests mid-range teams sees little success from the English entrants, and the tournament which tests the best teams sees domination from England. This tells me the very best in England are so much higher than the other 16 teams that it's barely even a league. In conclusion, England's CL teams dominate the CL and their domestic league, and the rest of the league fight over scraps. Spain seems to have a more revolving door of power, where in different seasons different teams are strong. Which one is a stronger league? Well, which of those 2 definitions sums up a league better? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orangeclement 574 Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 The point is English teams in the last few years are doing considerably better than Spanish and Italian teams in recent years, to argue otherwise is embarrassing You are right to say that in the CL English teams have indeed dominated - their top 4 seems to be at the latter stages on a permanent basis. But an interesting oddity is English sides are utter failures in the Uefa Cup - the competition which tests the mid-range fodder of a league and which would test the Evertons, Spurs and Newcastles etc. This tournament hasn't seen an English finalist since Middlesbrough in 2006 and can only boast 2 finalists (and one winner) since 2001. So, the tournament which tests mid-range teams sees little success from the English entrants, and the tournament which tests the best teams sees domination from England. This tells me the very best in England are so much higher than the other 16 teams that it's barely even a league. In conclusion, England's CL teams dominate the CL and their domestic league, and the rest of the league fight over scraps. Spain seems to have a more revolving door of power, where in different seasons different teams are strong. Which one is a stronger league? Well, which of those 2 definitions sums up a league better? Nail on the head Danny, did we not have a little argument over this subject a while ago ? seems you've come round to my thinking Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny 9 Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 The point is English teams in the last few years are doing considerably better than Spanish and Italian teams in recent years, to argue otherwise is embarrassing You are right to say that in the CL English teams have indeed dominated - their top 4 seems to be at the latter stages on a permanent basis. But an interesting oddity is English sides are utter failures in the Uefa Cup - the competition which tests the mid-range fodder of a league and which would test the Evertons, Spurs and Newcastles etc. This tournament hasn't seen an English finalist since Middlesbrough in 2006 and can only boast 2 finalists (and one winner) since 2001. So, the tournament which tests mid-range teams sees little success from the English entrants, and the tournament which tests the best teams sees domination from England. This tells me the very best in England are so much higher than the other 16 teams that it's barely even a league. In conclusion, England's CL teams dominate the CL and their domestic league, and the rest of the league fight over scraps. Spain seems to have a more revolving door of power, where in different seasons different teams are strong. Which one is a stronger league? Well, which of those 2 definitions sums up a league better? Nail on the head Danny, did we not have a little argument over this subject a while ago ? seems you've come round to my thinking Not true, I've not espoused a personal preference for either league - just summed up some of the characteristics of both. I'm entirely impartial on this. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Orangeclement 574 Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 The point is English teams in the last few years are doing considerably better than Spanish and Italian teams in recent years, to argue otherwise is embarrassing You are right to say that in the CL English teams have indeed dominated - their top 4 seems to be at the latter stages on a permanent basis. But an interesting oddity is English sides are utter failures in the Uefa Cup - the competition which tests the mid-range fodder of a league and which would test the Evertons, Spurs and Newcastles etc. This tournament hasn't seen an English finalist since Middlesbrough in 2006 and can only boast 2 finalists (and one winner) since 2001. So, the tournament which tests mid-range teams sees little success from the English entrants, and the tournament which tests the best teams sees domination from England. This tells me the very best in England are so much higher than the other 16 teams that it's barely even a league. In conclusion, England's CL teams dominate the CL and their domestic league, and the rest of the league fight over scraps. Spain seems to have a more revolving door of power, where in different seasons different teams are strong. Which one is a stronger league? Well, which of those 2 definitions sums up a league better? Nail on the head Danny, did we not have a little argument over this subject a while ago ? seems you've come round to my thinking Not true, I've not espoused a personal preference for either league - just summed up some of the characteristics of both. I'm entirely impartial on this. of course you are Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny 9 Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 The point is English teams in the last few years are doing considerably better than Spanish and Italian teams in recent years, to argue otherwise is embarrassing You are right to say that in the CL English teams have indeed dominated - their top 4 seems to be at the latter stages on a permanent basis. But an interesting oddity is English sides are utter failures in the Uefa Cup - the competition which tests the mid-range fodder of a league and which would test the Evertons, Spurs and Newcastles etc. This tournament hasn't seen an English finalist since Middlesbrough in 2006 and can only boast 2 finalists (and one winner) since 2001. So, the tournament which tests mid-range teams sees little success from the English entrants, and the tournament which tests the best teams sees domination from England. This tells me the very best in England are so much higher than the other 16 teams that it's barely even a league. In conclusion, England's CL teams dominate the CL and their domestic league, and the rest of the league fight over scraps. Spain seems to have a more revolving door of power, where in different seasons different teams are strong. Which one is a stronger league? Well, which of those 2 definitions sums up a league better? Nail on the head Danny, did we not have a little argument over this subject a while ago ? seems you've come round to my thinking Not true, I've not espoused a personal preference for either league - just summed up some of the characteristics of both. I'm entirely impartial on this. of course you are Why the skepticism? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amac9 2,060 Posted July 2, 2009 Author Share Posted July 2, 2009 Lyon have announced that star striker Karim Benzema is to become the latest player to join Real Madrid. The French forward had been linked with Manchester United, but big-spending Real - who have already captured Kaka and Cristiano Ronaldo in record deals - have won the race. Lyon have said the transfer will be worth at least £30million as new Bernabeu president Florentino Perez continues to build a new era of 'galacticos'. A statement on the French club's official website said: "Lyon announces the agreement with Real Madrid of the transfer of international attacker Karim Benzema for a net minimum value of €35m. "It will also be possible to add various no-claims bonuses related to athletic performances, allowing the deal to reach a maximum amount €41m." Preference It was thought that Benzema would remain at Lyon for one more season in order to concentrate on the 2010 World Cup. However, the Ligue 1 outfit have announced that the attacker told the club's hierarchy that he wanted to join Real, who he preferred to United, this summer. The statement continued: "A few days ago, Karim Benzema informed president Jean Michel Aulas of his wish to join Madrid, which has always been his preference after Lyon, quicker than it was initially considered. "The player wished to seize the opportunity that was offered to him by Real, which was to be one of the major elements of the club's new, ambitious policy built around some of the largest players in the world. "Lyon accepted the decision of Karim Benzema and negotiated the conditions of a transfer which satisfy the various elements. "The club wishes Karim the greatest success with Real Madrid." http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11827_5410725,00.html Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muff 245 Posted July 2, 2009 Share Posted July 2, 2009 It's now getting ridiculous - I hope Real Madrid fail next season. Benzema is overrated. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlueSuedeSambas 54,254 Posted July 3, 2009 Share Posted July 3, 2009 In his first season for Lyon he was absolutely sensational, but last year he wasn't even close to hitting the same sort of form. Maybe the transfer talk was getting to his head, maybe he wanted to move, maybe he was having a slump because he is still young. Whatever it is....Real have taken a huge, huge gamble here. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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