The Premier League Can No Longer Lay Claim to Being the Best League in the World

For a long time now there has been an arrogance in English football that the English Premier League is the best league in the world. The clubs, the players, the media and the fans all are entirely convinced that the football they are seeing is better than anything else out there. Yet, with only one English club left in any European competition, can that still be the case?

The logo depicts itself as a beacon to the rest of the footballing world, but just how true is that?

There was a time when that was certainly true. The days of Ronaldo, Tevez and Rooney at United and Drogba, Terry and Lampard all in form at Chelsea proved that no-one could touch the Premier League. In addition, there were Liverpool, Arsenal and Spurs sides who were improving all the while and a tightness around the mid-table. All this culminated in the 2008 Champions League final in Moscow between, you guessed it, Man United and Chelsea. The tight 1-1 draw followed by United edging the penalty shootout was supposed to reflect the fact that at the pinnacle of English football the defences are rock solid, the midfield is a fountain of creativity and the strikers are capable of the most spectacular goals. Of course what we know now is that Premier League football has a habit of being defensive and at times desperate.

This isn’t a problem confined to the Premier League though. Serie A, once that brilliant and unpredictable league that everyone tucked into their Sunday lunch with, now is a shadow of its former self. Where the best players in the world once roamed, only a few really top class players remain and the game is still trying to forget the unfortunate match-fixing scandal of a few year’s ago. I’m not saying that English clubs are going to get embroiled in anything like that but a look north of the border at what has happened to Rangers might just provide a wake up call to many of the teams. If just one big club goes under and there is an outflow of the foreign owners, what will happen then?

I’ve been banging on to anyone who’ll listen that the Spanish became the home of the best football on the planet as soon as Real Madrid and Barcelona opened their pockets and brought players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka, Alexis Sanchez, Fabregas and Xabi Alonso over to La Liga. Having the three best players in the world for the last few seasons playing in La Liga has raised the entire standard of Spanish football. Por ejemplo (full of surprises aren’t I?) just look at Atheltic Bilbao’s brutal dismantling of Manchester United a few weeks ago. United, leading the Premier League and supposedly England’s best club, were outplayed and out-thought both at home and away. Bilbao played some scintillating stuff while United very often resorted to long ball tactics – not exactly dynamic is it? Meanwhile, Bilbao have tonight secured their place in the semi-finals of the Europa League with another impressive win over Schalke. This from a team who three years ago played a friendly against my local team, Colchester United and were very much cannon fodder for the bigger clubs in Spain until recently. The real issue though is that we’ve lost quality from the Premier League. People can point to Van Persie,Aguero and Silva but none of them have the impact that Ronaldo did at United or that Henry did at Arsenal. In Ronaldo and Henry, the Premier League had its first two players who could potentially be labelled in the ‘greatest ever’ category but inevitably they had to move on at some point and the Premier League just hasn’t been able to lure a player of that calibre since.

Fernando Torres' lack of form symbolises the plight of the Premier League

That has led to the league becoming tighter and in some people’s eyes better. I think it’s great to see teams like Newcastle and Spurs becoming genuine fourth place contenders but that sort of system has been in place for years in Spain. Valencia, Villareal, Atletico Madrid and Sevilla regularly fought it out for the European places over the past few seasons. I think another issue with the Premier League is that we have a lot of big names over here, on big pay packets but they’re not in their peak like they are over in Spain. Torres, Terry, Ferdinand, Berbatov, Drogba and Gerrard would have been the most desirable collectibles in the Panini sticker album a few seasons ago but now they’re out of form and looking old. I know that most people say that the only reason La Liga is so popular now is down to Messi and Ronaldo. But if you look beyond them, beyond Real Madrid and Barcelona even and you can still see real talent. There’s Iker Muniain at Bilbao, Falcao at Atletico Madrid, Roberto Soldado at Valencia, Jeremy Toulalan, Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Julio Baptista at Malaga and Jesus Navas at Sevilla. Almost every team has a talisman who could make the jump over to anywhere in European football and I can’t really see someone like Tim Cahill doing that – sorry Everton fans. The depth of the league isn’t quite up to the level of late 80s/early 90s Serie A but it’s getting there.

Lionel Messi, just one of the many reasons why La Liga is so entertaining

The style of football is also much prettier on the eye over there. I’m very much someone who’d appreciate a 0-0 draw full of attacking, quick passing football instead of a 2-0 win that was claimed through dull passages of play and physical football. People fawn over Barcelona’s style but watch Revista de La Liga and the majority of teams play football like that, it’s just that Barcelona do it better. The closest we have to that here are Arsenal, Swansea and Man City but only when they’re on form. I’ve just lost faith in the English game and am genuinely fearful that if we get far enough to play Spain at Euro 2012 that we’ll be completely slaughtered in front of millions of viewers. I’d dare say Germany would do the same – the Bundesliga is becoming a cracking little league too. Dortmund have a young, brilliant team while Bayern are a match for Barcelona and Madrid for the title of best all-round unit.

I’m not saying that the Premier League is the worst league in European football, far from it actually, but we just need to stop this attitude that just because our league is the richest in the world, it doesn’t make it the best. Chelsea, Man City and United can have all the millions in the world but without a player to match Messi then they might as well have nothing. Coming onto Barcelona I’d like to say that they were an absolute joy to watch the other night against Milan. Messi, Xavi and Iniesta will be remembered as three Gods of the game. It’s also important to remember that they beat a strong Milan side without 20 goal a season man David Villa and without a recognised left-back. Chelsea will give it their best, as they always do, but I fully expect them to be taught a footballing lesson by the Catalan giants. Those four years since Moscow must feel like an awful long time ago….

The Return of the Prodigal Son

Tevez helped City to a 2-1 win last night but can the events of the past really be forgotten?

What a difference a month makes. Four weeks ago and Carlos Tevez had just returned to Manchester after his lengthy AWOL period in Argentina. With his tail between his legs, he made a grovelling apology to the club, the fans and manager Roberto Mancini. Last night Tevez returned to action, ironically coming off the bench, and set up Samir Nasri for the winning goal against Chelsea. It was the final step of Tevez’s reintegration with his team and the talk is now of Tevez powering City to their first Premier League title. My question is, do they really need him?

I can’t imagine many of the City first team welcoming Tevez back with open arms after he deserted them last September. That tension permeated the club and may have cost them against Swansea a couple of weeks ago. Tevez is not a different person, he is just back because he realised that no other club could afford to take him away from the Etihad. He needs to prove that he is willing to give 100% for the club, he needs to show passion and commitment whenever he steps on the pitch. I’d still treat him as if he’s ready to throw his toys out of the pram at any second and if it does then Mancini’s big gamble will have backfired spectacularly; what’s more is that any whiff of conflict between Tevez and his manager or teammates and the momentum swings back in United’s favour. Mancini is going to have to manage a very delicate balancing act here.

Don’t get me wrong, Tevez is a great player and any team would want him on their books but City coped perfectly well without him for the last six months.  They became a solid unit and despite losing the lead in the title race, they were still favourites to be crowned Champions come May. Mario Balotelli was finally getting his head down and putting in some important performances, will he now be left to rot on the bench while Tevez steals all the glory? Will Tevez himself be happy to be used in a rotation system when that was what got him all riled up six months ago?

We’ve seen clubs throw away their title chances time and time again: Newcastle, Arsenal, Chelsea and even Manchester United. The most common factor in their decline was over-tinkering and Manchester City could easily find themselves going the same way. Aguero, Balotelli and Tevez could in theory fill the slots in a 4-3-3 but City have been brilliant with their fluid 4-5-1 all season and who then would Mancini drop from the midfield in order to placate Tevez? The little Argentinian (Tevez, not Aguero) isn’t even at full fitness yet and a yard of pace could be the difference between 1 point and 3; with United looking so strong at the moment, every point counts.

Expect Mancini to go greyer before the end of the season

Yet Mancini could still turn Tevez into the most important player in the team. If I was Roberto, I’d use Tevez as a distraction. Take last night for example, the cameras were focused on Tevez even if as much as coughed and no-0ne remembers Aguero’s equalising penalty as well as the number of other chances he had. If you have the threat of Tevez on the bench, teams will have to come up with a plan to stop him just in case he comes on – that removes time for them to be focusing on your actual starting XI. Let Aguero and Balotelli get the early goals and bring Tevez on as an impact sub. If he impresses, give him a start here and there. Simple.

What interested me though about last night, and gave an insight into how little Mancini trusts Tevez’s fitness right now, was when he substituted Balotelli for Gareth Barry at half-time. You’ve got a world-class striker on the bench who is raring to go and he brings on a central midfielder. Maybe it was used to show Tevez that his road to regular football won’t be an easy one to walk but clearly there is still some resentment from Mancini to Tevez. The fans won’t forget what he did and unless he starts banging in the goals, they’ll be on his back straightaway.

Tevez doesn’t really change anything in regards to where the Premier League trophy is heading at the end of this season. The deciding game will still be City vs United on Monday 30th April but he could provide that extra talent that gives City the advantage. Conversely, he could just decide that Manchester is not really his scene and head off back to Argentina again. City have to face Stoke, Arsenal and Newcastle away before the end of the season while United have a much kinder run-in. Sir Alex Ferguson will be eyeing the return of Tevez intently, looking for any sign of trouble that he can exploit. Tevez cannot expect to waltz back into first team football and the affections of the City fans and Mancini has to ensure that he stays in control, that the players do not become distracted from their goal. Like I said, Tevez is a gamble but the rewards are enormous if it pays off.

Deadline Day – What You Won’t See

One of my favourite days of the year today – Deadline Day! Where Jim White struggles to maintain any sanity or dignity on Sky Sports News and where various sports reporters stand outside desolate training grounds to illustrate the point that said football clubs exist. All this while Gary from Salford texts in to say that his mate’s wife’s sister’s hairdresser has just spotted Lionel Messi walking down the street in Manchester, not far from the Etihad. Of course it’s all a circus that is stirred up by the media but it’s one that the managers play along with as many big deals go through at the last minute. It seems as though they, like us, read the live text and think because so and so has heard a rumour that they have to go and sign the player in question. Madness. Anyway, to poke fun at this charade I thought I’d have a look at some deals that won’t go through today and the said consequences of such deals. Who knows, a few of them might end up on Sky Sports News later!

Jim White - the face and sound of Deadline Day... Unfortunately

Emile Heskey to Manchester City

Man City's best signing?

Mancini is scouring the world looking for a replacement for Carlos Tevez only to be told by the tea lady that the signing he needs is right under his nose. Heskey can’t believe his luck and Mancini reckons that he’s done a good piece of business – at least this player doesn’t mind sitting on the bench! Heskey becomes a star signing after Balotelli headbutts Aguero in a league game against Blackburn for no apparent reason, getting himself sent off and leaving Sergio in A&E. Up steps Heskey and the wingers – grateful that they have some height to aim for – set him up for a hat-trick. City fans everywhere are seen sporting the “Why Never Me?” Heskey t-shirt range.

Carlos Tevez to anywhere

The new darts sensation?

Tevez spends deadline day at home with his wife and kids, watching Argentinian soap operas, chatting on the phone with El Diego and practicing throwing darts at Mancini’s head. He can’t be bothered to leave his house yet alone Argentina and despite Harry Redknapp offering a “tidy sum”, he chooses to retire from football to concentrate on his darts career – he wins the BDO world title a record breaking 19 times.

Neymar to Barcelona

Neymar - Ronaldo's new best friend?

Perennial cock-tease Neymar finally can’t escape the clutches of Barcelona after they promise that all the TV cameras will be focused on him and him alone while Barcelona are playing. He joins for £40 million and instantly demands to be paid more than Messi. Spends his first paycheck on hair products before showboating too much for the Catalan fan’s liking and being benched for the rest of the season. Sold to Real a year later where he becomes a club legend, forming a double act with Ronaldo that results in a number 1 song being released.

Roy Keane to Manchester United

Roy Keane - Don't mess with his women!

Fergie, struggling to cope with his new crop of kids and after a few glasses of scotch, reminisces about the mid 90s success he enjoyed with United. Having already recruited Scholes, he sets his sights on the other linchpin of the midfield: Roy Keane. Keane cannot stand management anymore and having seen the success that Scholes is enjoying he decides to make a comeback. His first game is marred by a filthy challenge on Frank Lampard that sees the Irishman getting a straight red. He blames the incident on Frank’s relationship with Christine Bleakley saying that “she’s mine! I’ve fancied her for years”. Fergie sees the error of his ways and promptly terminates Keane’s contract.

Anton Ferdinand to Chelsea

Anton Ferdinand - An unlikely defensive partner to John Terry?

In a peacekeeping attempt, Abramovich orders the transfer of Anton Ferdinand believing that if they spent time in the defence together, Ferdinand and Terry would soon forget their differences. The move is a disaster though as Ferdinand and Terry spend the entire 90 minutes of every game trash talking and trying to land punches on each other. No-one is brave enough to take either of them out of the team for fear of upsetting Abramovich and Chelsea ship 80 goals in the second half of the season and end up relegated to the disgrace of their fans.

So there we go then. A bit of light entertainment on what has become a bit of a second Christmas to every football fan – Deadline Day! Have a good one and I’ll see you when the metaphorical dust has settled.