English premier league was the subject of the first part about the best league in the world. I apologies first for some spellings in the first part –I updated the post fixing where I thought there was a need for editing. This part will be brief as there are lots of factors the EPL have in common with the rest of the world leagues.
If it’s not convincing to consider the EPL as the league to crown, its more unlikely to find a sold case for the liga to consider it the best league in the world.
Evaluating the EPL in the first part was based on what the league generally stands for:
“Is it an exhibition to enjoy the game? Is it the level of competition? Is it the mechanism that helps the domestic level to improve and feed national teams that represents the respective country? Is it an environment that helps the game’s evolution throughout the tactical clashes that take place between the clubs involved? Is it the mean that transform football from a game to an economic module helping the country and the people financially? Or maybe, it’s a mix of this and that.”
For being an exhibition, the liga and the Serie A are the same. They are more like a Shakespearian theater than a music concert. In a Shakespearian theatre, you can expect the artists to have more quality, the music is more correct and the lyrics are of the best ever written. Yet, lady gaga will always generate more headlines than Andrea Bucelli. More audience. More dancing and chanting and fun.
The liga is the place where you find the Picasso type of footballers. The techniques and skills. The offense and the flair. But it’s also where the stadiums are only attended in occasions. The fields are not always up to the standards and the media coverage ranges from “not that good” to embarrassing. Matches schedule is also a bug that hurts the liga’s market value.
As mentioned in the first part, it’s not accurate that the EPL is generally more competitive than the liga. Yet, while competitiveness means different objectives from avoiding relegation to qualifying to the Europa league, champions’ league or winning the title, the competition for the title is still the most attractive face of all.
The gap between Barcelona and real Madrid as title contenders and the rest of the liga teams is getting wider every season. The solution must not count on blocking the improvement of the big two so the rest can catch, but to help the rest to grow in a stable manner. Some of the teams were so close to break through, and the failure was mainly the result of sloppy management than anything else. The most recent example is Valencia. They were up there. They needed two more seasons of stability with some smart signings and a new monster will start competing for the title. Instead, they decided to take risky shortcuts. The most irresponsible decision was to start building a new stadium while not sure how to sell the existing one. From there on, it was a free fall. Deportivo was another example. And the list is long. That shows the need to put some guidelines to channel the clubs’ management on the proper path. That’s even more important than injecting more money. With bad management that will not really make a difference. Ask the English premier league teams.
Taking about the EPL, the main demand in Spain is that the TV revenues should be distributed as it happened in England because that will help to create a more competitive league. While I agree on the first part (the distribution) I don’t believe in the second part (enhance competitiveness). It didn’t happen in the EPL anyway. The teams competing on the title are the ones financed by sugar daddies, not TV returns. The rest are less competitive than the liga clubs as I pointed out in the first part.
Still, there is a need to reconsider the distribution of TV revenues. The change will not damage the big two as much as it will help the other 18 teams to finance their operations (even though at the moment, the change will be bad for Valencia because they will earn less money than they do through the existing system- proving that the change will not solve problems alone).
On the bright side, the liga is no doubt the best big league when it comes to feeding the national teams. Not only the first team but all the way through the youth squads. Barely can you find a Spanish club without a proper youth setup. Its hard to predict how long that will last, but at the moment the liga is perfectly fitting to develop domestic talents into world class players.
Unlike the liga, the Serie A suffered a decline in football quality in the last few years. It’s a heartbreaking to compare this Serie A to that’s of the nineties for example. Other than sharing all the mentioned defects of the liga, the continuous scandals Italian football faces make things only worse for the Calcio to heal.
Even though, the tactical level of the Italian football is still superior in many ways, that’s not enough to rescue one of the most popular leagues in the world. Unless the clubs start to trust the youth more, invest in the infrastructure and the stadiums (some are disastrous even for amateurish leagues), and until the FIGC gain the trust of all its members and maintain enough stability, the Calcio will never be the league we knew.
Then where can we find the best league in the world?
It’s possible to build a case for any league. In fact, leagues of France, Holland, and Portugal for all the players they generate for the national team and the number of players they export (economical factor) added to the level of competitiveness (regardless of the quality of competitiveness) can build a case. South American leagues are also unfairly overlooked.
But in my opinion, the best league in the world at the moment is the Bundesliga. It’s not the best league for any specific reason but it generally ticks more boxes than any other league. Financially it is stable and the clubs are governed by strict regulations to control the books. The competitiveness is improving. The youth setup is impressive feeding the national teams. The stadiums are also wonderful. I can’t claim that a football fan will straight forward find it more exciting to follow the Bundesliga than the liga, the EPL, or the Calcio as the German teams will need some time to build their fan base abroad. But if there is a module to follow, that’s the one I can recommend.
One of the main debates during the world cup was the annoying trend of using double pivots. It sounded like a sin or a disgraceful behavior. While Holland fans considered it as an ugly compromise aiming to bring the world cup home, it was an unacceptable idea for teams like Brazil and Spain.
While analyzing a system, one of the common flaws is to focus on tactical notations more than system functionality. That leads to some football stereotypes that sounds like a given: Three players in defense are less reliable than four. Two holding midfielders is less offense oriented than one. And so on…
The team that impressed the majority of world cup followers was Germany. If we use absolute tactical terminologies, they were playing two holding midfielders. But the flair was there so as the scoring potentials. Because none of the two players, Khedira and Schweinsteiger was as static as the notations might reflect. Khedira was more a Pivot assistant/box2box midfielder, as long as the match scheme permits.
Brazil’s usage of two holding midfielders was heavily criticized. Dunga is a flop in the eyes of football analysts. But if it wasn’t of Melo’s stunning performance for Holland against Brazil, who knows? Maybe Dunga would have been labeled as the new Zagallo.
As I always repeat: The coach is the hostage of his own results. Dunga made lot of mess (especially with some substitutions). Yet, the two holding midfielders Dunga used served the offense fire as much as it created a stability for the defense (The coach can’t control things enough to prevent his player to score an own goal then earn himself a suspension). It’s always important to keep the midfield area under control, especially for this Brazil where you can’t count on a Ronaldo or a Ronaldinho to create chaos and decide the game. When the team lost possession they had two holding midfielders but while set offense they had only one: Melo. Gilberto was a third center back who released the two fullbacks to attack with no concerns. As an aftermath analysis one player was sacrificed for more defense duties released two players to contribute in the offense without hesitation. It was almost impossible for Brazil to use one holding midfielder with the kind of fullbacks they have –especially on the left. Keep in mind that the structure was not Dunga’s innovation. Brazil 1994 had Mouro Silva and Dunga in the final. Brazil 1998 had Sampaio and Dunga in the final. Brazil 2002 had Gilberto Silva and Edmilson in the final. In 2006 with Ze Roberto being less-disciplined beside Silva, they failed in the quarterfinal regardless of having all the superstars you may wish.
Moving to Spain, I will try to keep focused on the holding midfielder detail because there is a plan to write a post about Spain in the world cup. Before evaluating the success of two holding midfielders for Spain it’s important to question the certain: Were Xabi and Busquets playing as two holding midfielders?
Technically, yes. But if we dive more in depth, those two were the best demonstration about how far the functionality can upgrade the standard position and role of a player. While Xabi was a mix of Khadira’s (Germany) Box2box/pivot assistant, Busquets was by far the performer of the world cup. He was a Gilberto and a Melo (as a position not as a performance) at the same time, two in one. And he added the normal deep lying play-maker touch you can expect from Barcelona’s graduates. No wonder that with Busquets and Xabi behind and Iniesta in front, Xavi was able to go and do some shopping while the match is taking place and return without notice. Was this the best system for Spain? That’s another discussion. But the Busquets-Xabi partnership not only helped releasing the fullbacks to attack but also closed the midfield and buried any opportunity for counter attacks.
Holland system was the most primitive one of them all. No doubt van Marwijk will get his share of the praise because he reached the final, but the positioning and functionality of his players was too static to earn any credit. It was simple: close-down the defense and throw the ball forward for the skillful ones to make the difference. There is a difference between change and innovation. He changed the team tactics no doubt, but it’s safe to say there was no innovation at all. I dare to believe that reaching the final was absolute luck.
No doubt there were other teams applying this structure, but it is safe to say that the mentioned nations were the ones who received most of the sticks as a price for believing in it.
It’s that same man who lived in poverty for years, a good man. He always had the dream of fame and wealth, but it never crossed his way. Then one day he desperately decided to seek money anyway possible, whether practicing illegal business, rubbing a bank, or anything he can find. It doesn’t matter which path he took, the last chapter was the same, he lost his pride, sold his soul and is serving his period in that narrow prison where life is worse than what he was complaining from.
It’s the same duck that was charmed by the way the swan walk and tried to imitate. The duck failed to walk as a swan, and forgot how she instinctively walks.
Ladies and gentlemen, That’s Holland V.2010
Ladies and gentlemen, That’s Holland V.2010
It was painful to watch this team. They wanted this cup so badly that they undressed their football from its respected identity. They wanted this cup so badly that they didn’t hesitate to tackle the opponent on the chest, knee, elbow… shoot from the hip.
They gambled everything lost everything and won nothing.
It would have been disastrous if Holland would have won this one. The team of attractive football wins the cup when they gave up their style to play as everyone else. They win against a team that refused to play like everyone else and stayed loyal to their attractive style. That was too much for football god to allow.
Congratulations Spain. Hard luck for Holland. May be next time they can bring back their passionate football that represents them better and makes us appreciate them more.
Who will you pray for? I am all for Spain, though I always dreamed of the day Holland-not Spain- will win the tournament. Why? Because I was raised to worship the oranges football style. I consider Rinus Michels as my coaching icon. I mourn the 1974 team before and after every world cup for being the team that deserved the title more than any other team that lost it -beside Brazil 1982 may be. Their fans have that cheerful flavor in the stadium. All that being a relatively small country with -also relatively- limited resources. But those who were capable of beating the wild oceans still suffer to beat their bad luck and bring that dear title home.
But not this team. I can go as far as saying this is the worst team to win this title for Holland. Not that they are bad or anything, but there is a concern that this team may cause Holland football the same ruining infection the 1966 world cup winners caused for England. That team became the uncompromisable standard for English football and players were reshaped and evaluated per se. Coaches were struggling to imitate Alf Ramsey to an extreme that any innovative idea faced automatic rejection. And here we are 44 years later, Holland bring a different football approach to the world cup than they used to do, the common one or the so called "realistic". For the first time this team neither tastes orange nor carrot. There is no refreshing juice within. Healthy? May be. But its as good to health as a tablet. You need it, but you never seek it with joy. Its scary to think that if this team wins, Holland from bottom to top, from amateurs to first division, from youth to superstars will seek more of the same. Current coach already pointed out that "you cant count anymore on luck...Attractive football is a destructive ideology in Holland's football.". Its not that attractive football is the right way while the rest is wrong. Its just the only different style facing the rest. We need that. Holland 1974 were as close to the title as this team- or even closer. I hope it keep being the same next sunrise.
Spain deserve this one, regardless of laughable stuff you read in the past few days. Its the only team that all the opponents (Aside of Chile may be) were more concerned to stop than to beat. The unique style of play. Being a team with all what the word can express. Not group of individuals with a level of understanding. A team. And with the huge impact total football had on Spanish football -and Barcelona methodology in specific- its just fitting for this Spanish team to defeat this Holland.
I will not get into tactics and systems, nothing to say more than what previously said about the two teams. I will invite you to enjoy this final as it will be a great pleasure for the eye.