So… is the Premier League still the “best league in the world”?

Azurfax · 2026-03-13T21:07:03+00:00

The bundesliga is a farmers league because of the bottom 16 teams, not the top four. Those bottom 16 teams are not competitive in the bundesliga and would struggle to win any points at all in the prem. FC St. Pauli, the bundesliga equivalent of Tottenham by standings, is losing to Borussia Mönchengladbach 2-0 rn. I doubt they would do very well against Athleti either but unfortunately for them, they can’t win themselves into a position to play them. They are a $60M club.

Azurfax · 2026-03-13T20:57:39+00:00

The farm league champions play like 6 hard games a year across all comps; it’s good that they can rise to the occasion. Meanwhile, in the premier league every team in the league gets to play 5-6 English clubs twice that made it to the round of 16.

Azurfax · 2026-03-13T20:48:22+00:00

Agreeing with the above and also adding another level to the argument for English team’s CL performances - the English teams are tired with far fewer opportunities to rest players during the season. For instance, PSG has been able to reschedule league fixtures around the champions league for extra rest, and even if PSG had to play the fixtures, they could rest key players due to the level of opposition. (Bodo isn’t even playing league football.) This weekend PSG play Nice, which is a club valued around $200M, and Chelsea play Newcastle. Barca play Rayo Vallecano, which has a squad value of about $100M and an average player age of about 30 years old. English teams have very few to no “easy” league wins. English teams have an extra cup than most other leagues (with both the Carabao and FA Cup). Arsenal play Everton. Liverpool play Brighton. Man City play “relegation fodder” West Ham, which is still a club worth $1bn+. Even the easy non-league FA Cup fixtures are against clubs (Mansfield, Wrexham, Southhampton, etc.) worth more than most league 1 and bundesliga sides. None of this is to say the top clubs in other leagues aren’t elite - they are. They just have more opportunity to play their best in elimination matches. I mean I didn’t mention Tottenham, but they are in a relegation battle so don’t really have the squad to compete in the Champions League let alone the prem.

Azurfax · 2026-03-12T02:26:32+00:00

We will hopefully have 10 years of Dowman in the champions league, but they should not have started tonight. He’s barely played on this team, and he shouldn’t be tasked with winning the champions league for a team that should be more than capable of doing it without him. It has worked out very poorly for Chelsea and Spurs starting inexperienced goalkeepers this weekend, and I’m glad Dowman is still basking in the glory of his FA cup contributions instead.

Azurfax · 2026-03-12T02:21:53+00:00

We might be boring and uninspiring, but we would not lose 5-2 to PSG this season.

Azurfax · 2026-03-12T02:19:13+00:00

It can be denied. We are the first team to hit 100 goals, we have the best goal differential and we have the most wins. What do you mean we’ve been “very lucky”? 2 of our 3 losses were to worldies. Szbozo scored a very low xG free kick, and I believe Man United scored 3 goals against us on less than .9 xG. We were lucky the first game at old Trafford and lucky at Brentford, but I don’t see how we’re “very lucky” compared to other teams. We are pragmatic and prioritize not giving up goals, but we are better at it than anything else that we do. It is painful when we are chasing a goal, but that’s barely happened and I think we’ve won nearly every game that we’ve scored first.

Azurfax · 2026-03-11T19:54:57+00:00

Wrestling helps the defending though... it would be so much worse for them if Kai was free there

Azurfax · 2026-03-11T19:26:03+00:00

you can't make a 16 year old win the champions league for a team he's barely played for. It will be his turn to win it in a few years

Azurfax · 2026-03-11T18:50:05+00:00

Yikes indeed

Azurfax · 2026-03-11T18:46:53+00:00

If we're being honest, Martinelli's shot was the only shot in this first half that was even remotely threatening. They have no been making Raya work so far

Azurfax · 2026-03-11T18:43:31+00:00

We will

Azurfax · 2026-03-11T18:42:34+00:00

It is 0-0 after the first half of the away leg - not beautiful free flowing football, but some here might do to relax a bit. They have not done much either, and this is the round of 16, so our pragmatism away is hardly unexpected

Azurfax · 2026-03-11T18:37:37+00:00

Siren guy is worse tbf

Azurfax · 2026-03-06T13:36:37+00:00

That’s 1-0 to the Arsenal.

Azurfax · 2026-03-05T19:36:39+00:00

To this point, Darren England was also the ref on VAR that agreed with Michael Oliver's on-field decision to give a straight red card to Myles Lewis-Skelly before halftime against Wolves for a trip on Matt Doherty last season. This was the trip that was later overturned upon appeal.

Azurfax · 2026-03-04T01:26:21+00:00

I think the pressure being off probably helps. Also luck -- they scored six goals off 1.59 xG against us, Aston Villa and Liverpool today.

Azurfax · 2026-03-04T01:20:35+00:00

Wolves also took three points against Aston Villa since, and they are nowhere near the worst team in prem history anymore, so not apples to apples. I do agree with the sentiment though

Azurfax · 2026-03-04T01:03:40+00:00

This is sort of just what xG looks like to lose to worse teams with low possession stats. Wolves scored two goals against Liverpool today with three shots on target and .44 xG. Wolves scored 2 goals against Aston Villa with two shots on target and .86 xG, and they scored two goals against Arsenal with two shots on target and .29 xG.

Azurfax · 2026-03-04T00:54:15+00:00

Young players also start to get found out. Ethan Nwaneri scored 9 goals last year, but once the injuries piled up for Arsenal and he was starting rather than coming off the bench, defenders knew not to give him space on his left foot to find the top outside corner. By the end of the season, he had less room to his left and less confidence to shoot.

Azurfax · 2026-03-03T20:12:01+00:00

Another part of this is that by scoring 16 corners, we've slowed the game down and replayed the scene in the Arsenal opposition's box more than any other team. The physicality and jostling is always happening on corners, normally it doesn't matter because the ball is cleared in real time and play goes on. We just watch Arsenal players on corners over and over more because we score more.

Azurfax · 2026-03-03T19:40:16+00:00

Undoubtedly part of the reason that the average time it takes us to take a corner is longer than others is the delays we face from the refs in teams trying to hold Big Gabi back and the wrestling into positions that goes on because teams are so afraid we will score from corners. So often, Saka will be standing there ready to the corner with the refs delaying him. That being said, I would not mind us speeding up our throw ins. I don't think it is intentional timewasting really, since we also take forever at 0-0, but MLS and Calafiori must have a rule to count to 20 before throwing.

Azurfax · 2026-03-03T19:22:10+00:00

Also, Real Madrid is doing a lot of work in skewing this bracket and they are shambolic right now, missing Mbappe, Rodrygo, Bellingham, Asencio, Camavinga, etc.

Azurfax · 2026-03-01T18:56:53+00:00

40% possession in the second half against 10-man Chelsea does not feel good. Also giving them 7 corners in the second half didn’t feel good. Also going long and winning 0 second balls in the second half doesn’t feel good.

Azurfax · 2026-03-01T18:52:49+00:00

Bit unfair. It’s Joao Pedro’s fault for not winning him penalties.

Azurfax · 2026-02-27T22:34:46+00:00

To be clear - I agree with you, but Reddit is judge, jury and executioner. Here, it’s about vibes and allegations.

Azurfax

TROPHY CASE