Premiership In Decline

[GaNgStA kEeKs]

1 Man Utd 23 36 57
2 Chelsea 24 22 51
3 Liverpool 24 21 46
4 Arsenal 23 24 42
5 Bolton 24 2 40
6 Portsmouth 24 10 37
7 Reading 24 2 34
8 Tottenham 24 -3 33
9 Everton 23 6 32
10 Middlesbrough 24 0 30
11 Newcastle 24 -4 30
12 Man City 23 -6 30
13 Aston Villa 24 -2 29
14 Fulham 24 -10 29
15 Blackburn 22 -7 28
16 Sheff Utd 24 -14 24
17 Wigan 22 -13 22
18 West Ham 24 -21 20
19 Charlton 24 -24 19
20 Watford 22 -19 12




The current Premiership there and i have to say i cant remember the last the overall standard in the league has been so poor.

Start from the top. Bar Man Utd the top 4 havent been that great this season. Current champions Chelsea struggling week in week out now. Playing poorly and looking a shadow of their former selfs.

Liverpool to be fair have a superb home record and look to be turning the corner so they can be omitted for now.

Spurs - buy all these players splashing the cash and they are the most inconsistent side around.

Mid table you have Boro and Newcastle. These are two of the poorest teams in the league imo. How they are sitting here makes a mockery of the league.

Then at the bottom sides like Charltn and West Ham. Charlton especially been playing some of the worst football in this league since ive been following it.

Watford on song for the worst points tally also.

Sorry to be so brief but i gotta make a dash for a short time but all in all i just think the standard of the league is the poorest i have ever known.

Down the years its been for me the best league in the world team for team but its nothing like that now.

Thoughts?

[Kop66]

I think it's because it's all about playing in Europe these days Keek, there are several prem teams playing in Europe this season, the best players are always rested/prepared in prefference for the european games, leaving the gaps to be filled by cheap foriegners.

I watched most of the Hibs v Aberdeen game on Thursday and have to say that Scot's football looks in better shape than in recent seasons, great game.

[GETT1NLOTS]

I disagree completely.

I think the Premiership has better sides now than ever.

We have 4 teams in the knockout stages of the CL for a start. I also think this Arsenal side would have on the PL 5 years ago too - so that says something. The bar has been raised by Chelsea and the others are playing catch up.

If you want to argue if it is competitive? - Well that's a different argument.

[GaNgStA kEeKs]

Originally Posted by GETT1NLOTS

I disagree completely.

I think the Premiership has better sides now than ever.

We have 4 teams in the knockout stages of the CL for a start. I also think this Arsenal side would have on the PL 5 years ago too - so that says something. The bar has been raised by Chelsea and the others are playing catch up.

If you want to argue if it is competitive? - Well that's a different argument.

I honestly think outwith the top 4 Gett1n its very poor just now.

Bit boozy just now and my first post wasn't explained well enough. Will try and come back and do it at a later date.

[slick]

I've with Gett1n om this one and think the standards are getting higher hence the small difference bewteen most of the sides.
I admit it looks poor but there is now a huge void between the Prem and the rest of the leagues when there never used to be.

As Gett1n has mentioned nearly all the English clubs are still in European competition and i don't think the standard has been higher, says me a City fan

I understand what ure saying Kiko and it does look poor at times but i think thats because theres little difference between the teams and in the main anyone of them can beat each other top 4 or 5 aside that is but this season has shown even that gap is closing.

[slick]

After watching the Wigan game and the City one last night i think Kiko has a point.

[rockshark]

to be fair i think the league has changed, its more about not losing nowerdays rather than getting all three points. I feel the league is more competitive and the teams overall are better however the 'entertainment' factor has def. decreased. Also i think the championship is a lot better than the old divi 1

[all_funkt_up]

I think its all down to exposure. I think that there is a perception that the league is weaker because we see more poor games. More games on TV = more poor games on TV. I think probably the standard at the top is higher than ever before to be honest. I would bet that the collective points total of the top 4 this year will be higher than any other year in the Premiership's history.

You only have to look back to the late 1990's to see how the standard has improved. The following are the points total of the team that finished first in the corresponding year - 96/97 75 pts ... 97/98 78 pts ... 98/99 79 pts

Last year Chelsea finished on 91 points - I find it hard to see how people can justify their arguement that the standard in the Prem is dropping.

[crowie]

I think its a mixture of some improvement, some dropping and the rest staying the same.

One one hand, as AFU points out, the totals being racked up by the winners are getting more impressive by the year. You can't argue that the quality of these sides are decreasing when they are continuing to rack up points totals so impressively.

On the other hand you have teams like Sunderland last year, record low number of points, Watford this year who could well challenge them for this "record".

There used to be a gap between the promoted sides and the current EPL side, there is now however a gap between the top 4 and the rest of the league. And the reason is simply money. No one can challenge the might of the top 4 financially, the same 4 who seem to be semi permanent members of the Champs League now. As the old saying goes, money goes to money.

You will get the odd team challenging the status quo but I think the gap between the top 4 and the rest will increase, the more money they get.

I don't think the standard is decreasing overall, I just think the better teams beat the poorer teams more often, creating a gap and the rest of the teams, bar the hopeless ones like Watford, Charlton etc are of much the same quality, hence will all take points of each other, hence will all be within a small number of points of each other, hence given the impression of a mish mash league where anyone can beat anyone else.

Finally, have a look at the odds of any of the top 4, especially away from home, against the rest, and especially bottom half sides. 1.50 and below is the norm now but there are very few occasions when the top 4 are odds against. Generally 1.25 and below when at home. Look back 5 years or so and I can bet you the best teams in the league weren't 1.50 and below for away games the majority of the time. Again, just emphasises the gap between them and the rest.

[christianu]

1 Man Utd 23 36 57
2 Chelsea 24 22 51
3 Liverpool 24 21 46
4 Arsenal 23 24 42
5 Bolton 24 2 40
6 Portsmouth 24 10 37
7 Reading 24 2 34
8 Tottenham 24 -3 33
9 Everton 23 6 32

These are all good quality sides to me, top 4 especially then after that there all good teams and none I would say are boring. Everton have a boring name and a boring feel to them but I dont think they are.

Man City are a really boring team to watch these days, id say probably the most in the league.

10 Middlesbrough 24 0 30
11 Newcastle 24 -4 30
12 Man City 23 -6 30
13 Aston Villa 24 -2 29
14 Fulham 24 -10 29
15 Blackburn 22 -7 28

These sides aren't bad either, Blackburn are very good especially and Newcastle have some good players, Villa are alright.

I think Kiko is wrong really, its just the tactics of a lot of teams have changed.

Also in Spain teams like Sevilla now, Villareal a few years ago, Socieadad that year can just come from mid table one year and challenge at the top the next, that would never ever happen here. Our top 4 are miles better than the top 4 anywhere in the world.

[christianu]

By the way how amazing would it be if Arsneal won the league now

I bloody love Arsenal.

[GaNgStA kEeKs]

Its all about opinions i guess.

I watch an unbelievable amount of EPL games. Rarely miss a live game on Payperview and Sky so i think im in a very good position to give my thoughts.

Maybe its the standard of football i mean as a spectacle. All very dire i find with not much happening in the final third with more and more scrappy games being battled in the middle.

[christianu]

Yeah it has become a bit more boring.

[FC Basher]

Talking about my own side,they really are a turn off.I couldnt wait to watch Spurs before,but now their just so boring.Cant remeber the last time they played football as a team or abit of flowing football, all they do now is grind results out,I can only remember one boring game from the 80's and that was the QPR final.How I was entertained before Hoodle Waddle Ardiles Klinsmann Archiebald Crooks...... Im a realiste,Spurs have giving nothing to the premiership and really should start thinking about droping the price of tickets.

Entertaining
Arsenal,Man Utd Chelsea
Liverpool have their moments,Portsmouth at Home can be
Wigan were in their first season,West ham used to be
The rest are drab.
Bolton a few weeks ago away to Liverpool,Flying high in the league and it took them over 70 mins to muster a decent attack,shocking

[slick]

I think the cash flying about has a lot to do with it too, bar the top 4 the rest are shit scared of relegation so come November, December anybody in the lower half of the league start playing negative hoping to pick up points to avoid the drop.

A £30 million pound a yr payment creates a survive at all costs environment and another reason why a lot of the cash has to be passed down to the lower leagues to stop the premiership becoming stegnant.