the best league from my point of view is the english league. why? because of the pace they play in england. and u have to mature and practise pretty hard to keep up with this pace. of course the spanish league is more technical oriented and they have many players who are awesome but still i think that many players who are playing in spain or italy can't survive in england. not without a coach who is backing u up. l
You're right, many foreign players can't adjust to the EPL. But don't you think the opposite is also true? Take three high profile Englishmen who tore up the EPL - Michael Owen, Jonathan Woodgate, and David Beckham - but were never really comfortable in La Liga. Then there is Hernan Crespo, poor at Chelsea but now shining at Inter Milan. And consider this: the fact that Brazillians tend to do poorly in the EPL, yet they are often the best players in the world.
What that tells us is nothing definitive except that for most players, a certain league brings out the very best in them, while others can destroy their careers. Very few footballers have the ability to handle both combinations, since a physical game can rarely be technical at the same time. So you can't really judge a league's strengths by its style of play.
But that does lead to another interesting point. Whatever Arsene Wenger might say, a country's domestic league should be able to provide support to its national association. The past three World Cup winners: Italy, Brazil, and France, not only had players from its domestic clubs but also heavily depended on La Liga, Serie A, and Ligue 1 for players. If you look at World Cup team composition from the last summer, the more successful teams had a balanced number of players who played at home and abroad. Three of the four semifinalists - Italy, France, and Portugal - had a significant number of players who had foreign experience. Only Germany was pretty much made up of solely German-based players, but they were also the hosts.
England also pulled most of its players from its own clubs, except for Beckham and Owen "English Poser" Hargreaves. And what do you know - they were England's best players.
And consider this: in the EPL, Thierry Henry and Gilberto Silva are currently the only World Cup winners still playing -
foreign players at Arsenal, the Premiership's only "foreign" team that doesn't subscribe to the traditional English playing style but instead relies on technique. But in the other three leagues, there are several world cup winners still playing.
Now, if the EPL is the best league in the world, and if the best English footballers play for the best EPL teams, then theoretically, the English national team should be doing a lot more than humiliating itself on a yearly basis. But other than one fourth place finish in 1986, England hasn't even gotten to the semifinals since their win in 1966.
When people try to diagnose the problems with English football, they tend to point fingers at the number of foreign players plying their trade on British soil (remember Southgate's rant that Wenger's imports into the EPL were ruining England's national football?). But people tend to ignore the fact that the problem is the opposite - more Englishmen should play abroad.
The reason England can't hack it on the global stage is because they don't know how to play against teams that play in a different style. If the world played EPL style football, then yes, England would be doing a lot better internationally. Unfortunately, that's not the case, which leaves English players with no idea on how to handle teams that are tactically cohesive.
The only solution is for these players to get some valuable foreign experience, but they don't want to leave because of A. comfort, and B. high wages. Of course, there have been rumors of Lampard and Gerrard leaving for Spain and Italy, respectively, but trust me, they won't settle in immediately. Because as well as struggling with different tactical approaches to the game, most British players are unable to cope with the change of lifestyle and language when they move abroad.
To go back full circle, the EPL discourages its players from trying to get foreign experience, which later translates into failures in an international setting. Like Shaun Wright-Phillips, who would rather content himself with a fat paycheck than switch to a foreign team where he could develop his skills and get more playing time, and Peter Crouch, one of Liverpool's current underachievers. And the list goes on.
That is not the mark of a successful league. I really believe that if the EPL didn't have so much money, it would not be able to remain competitive with Serie A and La Liga.
Wow, that was really long. But what can I say, EPL's underachievement is a sore topic for me.
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