da leao：
da supremo： With two games of the season played, it already looks like it will be another exciting and competitive season at the top and bottom of the Premier League. In terms of entertainment there is no doubt that the Premier League is the best in the Europe but with some poor quality games to start the season, has the standard of quality really dropped in recent years or is it just more competitive than ever?
Evidence of this decline can be seen as no Premier League players were selected in the FIFA team of the year when it was announced in January 2011 and it was dominated by Spanish players. With the recent departures of Ronaldo, Alonso, Mascherano and now Fabregas to Spain, the English league seems to be losing its world class players and English clubs are struggling to replace them. The only side that are recruiting superstars is Man City and they can only do this by offering extortionate salaries. Man United and Chelsea may sign one big name each summer but nowhere close to what Barcelona and Real Madrid do.
One of the reasons for this decline is that the English 50% tax system does not help attractive the top players and along with the credit crunch, which has made the Pound weak against the Euro, all English clubs have had to cut back on spending in recent years. Even big clubs like Man United and Arsenal have had to sell their top players in order to remain at the top of the game, with the exception of Manchester City.
There is now a smaller gulf between the teams at the top and bottom of the league but I think the standard of quality of the top teams has decreased rather than a huge improvement in the smaller teams. Premier League teams are being extra cautious in the transfer market these days and would rather recruit young English players than expensive European talent which although reducing the quality, has to be a positive thing for the national game.
Last season the Premier League was one of the tightest for years and this was probably due to the fact that the bigger teams have stagnated with less coming in money over recent years and also because of the improvement of the promoted teams from the Championship which I believe is not far off the Premier League in terms of quality.
Because of this increased competitiveness, it is difficult for even the best players in the league to really stand out. The ever increasing tactical side of the game has made it harder for even the best players to conquer organised defences who normally have a defensive midfielder protecting them. So players who leave England know they won’t be getting kicked every two minutes in the foreign leagues like they do in the Premier League.
There is no doubt that the Premier League is still graced with some of the finest players in the game and with players like Kun Aguero, Juan Mata and Sneijder likely to join Manchester United, there is obviously still an attraction to play in England.
Although the league may have declined in quality, this seems to have made the league even more exhilarating and is it hard to find a better league in the rest of the world. The standard of football may have dropped due to the lack of investment at the top of the game but instead of harming the league, it has actually brought the teams closer together and made it even more entertaining to watch.
The Spanish League may have the world class players but the Premier League still has the passion, entertainment and excitement and for that reason it is still the best league in Europe, I for one would much rather watch a game involving Spurs v Liverpool than Seville v Athletic Bilbao. Obviously 600 million people worldwide agree.
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