Here is Mine

I don't know about Jovetic man. I'll preface by saying that I don't watch much Italian footy but my gut doesn't settle with Jovetic. Not saying by any stretch of the imagination that he's bad, but I honestly hope he doesn't come to Arsenal. I'd much prefer Pepita (Higuain).

I think your gut is right, Foota. Mine says the same thing.

@Foota

It's El Pipita*. ;)

And he's the twelfth highest league-scorer in our history. Quite an accomplishment, knowing how rich our history is. I'd rather have him go to England than Italy, and I don't really care if he chooses Arsenal or Spurs because they BOTH need him badly. Sorry Juve fans, but I think you'd be better off looking for a striker elsewhere. ;)

Where is Knibis? He give up? awww

@lodatz what you stated there is a biased opinion nothing more.

@Dynastian: lol my bad. thanks for the correction. I really hope Juve land Gomez instead so that he comes to us.

@raimondo90: because it's not bias to pretend that defenders in the league you prefer are better than they actually are?

If you disagree with my opinion, then go right ahead. You're disagreeing, however, with what anyone who watches both leagues can tell you in an instant.

I never stated any defenders were better. I gave proof they were almost even. I don't see either leagues defending as better. No sense claiming that.

Can I include retired players? If so, I have never watched this player play live but from what I watched on youtube he's the most entertaining player I've ever seen.

@raimondo: then there is no sense saying that any league is any different from any other. Which is of course nonsense. Of course there are differences, and one of the most stark differences between the PL and La Liga is the fact that PL teams place a much higher priority on defending. Bundesliga defenses are similar to PL defenses, too -- a lot of power and athleticism, whereas Spanish clubs prefer tricksy little wing-backs who can dribble, and center halves who are really good passers.

Reason why? Spanish football is far more about dominating possession, and expecting full-backs to, basically, be part of the offense instead of the back line. Hence the general decline in quality of La Liga defenders. Pique, for example, is not really that great a defender. He is, however, absolutely perfect for Barcelona as he links in with their midfield. Marcelo cannot be relied upon to man-mark someone effectively, but he sure can bomb forward with a jinking run.

It's not that difficult to grasp, dude. It just means that when faced with teams and styles that are typically far more direct, and who play in a reactive way (like, say, English or German clubs), they struggle. When faced with defenders who fall back and don't get stuck in, who don't 'get their shirts dirty', as it were, such as in Spain, well, sure...

...even Ever Banega can look world class, even though he's really not.

@Lodatz

You just about nailed it. La Liga is basically all about possession game, and if you noticed carefully, all of Real's and Barcelona's full backs are more like wingers than defenders. Alba, Alves, Carvajal, Marcelo, Coentrao, and Montoya may all be decent defenders, but they rarely ever commit to the task. On the other hand, I'd much rather prefer someone like, say Leighton Baines, to cover my LB spot over Marcelo. It's a more direct approach, but a wiser one for when you play clubs with more direct approaches in the CL. I mean, these FB's all do great in La Liga, but not so well outside of it, simply because they don't fit in to the style of play.

It's just like how La Liga players often do well in the EPL, where a more direct approach to the game will allow them to showcase their talents more. It's where players like Torres, Mata, Cazorla, Michu, Alonso and etc. thrive. Nevertheless, Lodatz is right. La Liga's main concern is not defending, but possession play. That's why United were able to get the advantage over Madrid so easily when Welbeck was covering Alonso, our main distributor of the ball. And also when Nani got sent off unfairly, Welbeck had to sit back, therefore giving Alonso the space he needed. So if Alonso was left unmarked, Madrid could've thumped 3-4 goals past United easily, but Sir Alex is too good of a tactician for that to happen. It's the same with Bayern - Barcelona. Javi Martinez and Schweini covered Iniesta and Xavi so well, Messi didn't even get a sniff of the ball. It's like, you don't even have to bother with Ronaldo or Messi. Just cover the men who give THEM the ball, and you'll have shut down the entire playing style of the Spanish team. So that's why Real and Barcelona tend to have more difficulty when playing English teams with smart tacticians for managers, but otherwise do fantastic.

There are differences between every league but again, different doesn't mean weaker. I pointed it out that they were almost even. I don't expect you to listen since I'm not analyzing each league's style. Modern football is constantly changing and those who cannot adapt to the modern pace or need of fullbacks to have more than one ability are the truly weaker teams.

@raimondo: Well of course football is always changing, but you can still identify trends and styles within leagues. I don't know why you wouldn't be analyzing each league's style, when you were given a statement precisely about that style in the first place... O.o

But yes, different can mean weaker, when it is not effective. The world has had 4-5 years to get used to (and learn how to play against) the tiki-taka style of Barcelona, which is what the majority of La Liga is basically copying at the moment. The thing is: that can still work for Barcelona, because they have one of the greatest squads of all time. That doesn't work out so well for teams who are NOT Barcelona, though, because they're frankly nowhere near as good at it.

Banega is not Xavi, for instance. That's why, as Dynast said, he tends to go missing against the good teams who really CAN play effectively against tiki-taka style football. If something is not effective, such as the way Spanish teams tend to defend against Barcelona, compared to the way the English and German teams DO effectively defend against Barcelona, then yes...

... you can say that one is better than the other, right now.

@Lodatz "such as the way Spanish teams tend to defend against Barcelona, compared to the way the English and German teams DO effectively defend against Barcelona, then yes" .
First of all,when you talking about spanish teams that dont defend well against barcelona you include into them the bottom teams while all the german teams that have faced Barcelona were in a top level at champions league.
If you want a fair comparison you have to compare how well Madrid defend against Barcelona and how Bayern for example.Not How well Espanyol does it and how well Leverkusen.
Secondly,which German team defended effecively against Barcelona?
I remember only bayern this year.A year that every team made barcelona's life too difficult.
Even PSG,Even Milan with all those youngsters.
Bayern did it well,no matter that a few Barca players were unready for that game.They deserve credits for that.
But who else did it?
Leverkusen was trashed with 7 goals at Camp nou and 3 in Germany.Stuttgart lost with 4 goals at Camp nou a few years ago.
So which other german team defended effectively against Barcelona?
Moreover,i cant remember an english one except for Chelsea of course which defended too effectively no matter that they played with 10 men behind the ball.They managed to do it.
Arsenal failed to do it,Manchester United failed too.
My disagreement has not to do with the fact that English teams defend better than the spanish.That is true.Spanish teams pays less attention to defence.Their wing backs aim is to join attack and help the whole team to score more than to help the team to defend(at the most teams not all).
The most care about how the will attack.They care most for their midfield and attack.they feel that the creativity and the possesion are most important factors.
My disagreement has to do that you say that German(!!) teams defence is similar to english.IMO it is probably at the same level if not weaker than spanish.
If you want examples of solid defence you have to look through italy,not Germany.
I probably went off topic but i hope you managed to understand what i am trying to say and with what my point has to do.
I am not sure if i told what i wanted in the right way in order to make you understand but i think that you know me,and you will catch my point.

@Don: I get what you're saying about Italy, for sure, and Italy of course is the old-school standard for great defending, but I also think the recent great generation of Serie A defenses (not just Italians like Maldini, Cannavaro, Nesta etc, but also imports like Samuel, Lucio, Cafu etc) have been fading away.

Juventus is back to the old school, of course, so good for them.

But yeah, I'd say that German defenses have caught up, as the whole of German football in general is catching up.

As for defending against Barcelona in particular... dude, Barca have not beaten Chelsea in a single match since 2006. Arsenal have also beaten them since then, in 2011, as have Man United in 2008. I'm not saying that Barcelona have not had the better balance, but we're talking about the greatest club side of all time, here. But yeah, that's kinda the point -- Europe has spent the last 5 years learning how to play against that greatest club side of all time. Not always successfully, but, increasingly so.

So if you're playing in a similar way to Barca, but are not as good as them...

... well, Europe has an answer for that.

@Lodatz, Don, and Rai

And at the same time, Real is the odd one out in La Liga. They are the only team to consistently rely on counter-attacking, and it works. It just didn't work this year because we just completely screwed up at the beginning of the year. But again, Real (like Barcelona) have a weakness that is too easily exploited. Just sit back against us and let us have the possession, and you'll see our team struggling. You see, we're meant to compliment Barcelona, not play their exact same style. When you force us to keep possession, we lose it far too easily.

Anyways, back on track, I'd like to say that the only reason Real Madrid and Barcelona keep on winning the league is because the other teams let them. Yes, that's right, they LET them. Only very few teams actually TRY to beat them, and sometimes they manage, sometimes they don't. There have been a majority of the games played in either Camp Nou or the Bernabeu where the other team just stops caring after conceding the first goal. They just stop TRYING. They let Madrid/Barca have their way with them.

Just look at the difference this year. This year, Simeone decided to take a stand with his Atletico team that he had to build with a shoe string of a budget, and led them to 76 points in the league, and were even ahead of Real for the majority of the season. A few years ago, it was Pelegrini with Villareal that did so.

The thing with the EPL is, teams actually TRY to beat Chelsea/Man United/Tottenham/Arsenal/City. Since there are FIVE teams competing for the top spots, the other teams realize that they HAVE to scrape some points away from them. Otherwise, they risk losing 10 matches out of 38.

But in La Liga, it's not that there's only Real and Barca, no, but they are the only clubs with MONEY. Valencia, Atletico, and etc. all have pathetic budgets. They are all in debt due to the awful way in which the money is distributed in La Liga from TV rights. The difference in money earned between the 1st place team and the last place team is a 12.5/1 ratio. That means that if Zaragoza earn 10.000.000, Barcelona will earn 125.000.000. Pathetic, isn't it?

So after a while, the other teams in La Liga realized that nothing will change if they try to fight Barcelona and Real, because there's a high chance they might win the league anyways. So they just simply stop trying. :/

I wish the TV rights would be fixed, I really do. :/

^ +1