Premiership Problems? (Football in General)

Name: MrStubby

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Product:	Football in General
Date:	04/01/01 (20 review reads)
Rating:

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OK so what is going wrong with the Premiership? Once again Man Utd are going to win it, unless some bizarre case of events causes them to throw away an 11 point lead in the 16 games that remain.

Don’t get me wrong, I am not anti-Man U, it’s just that I don’t want to see England’s No1 league become as dull as the Scottish Premier League. Once upon a time the top division was touted as the best in the world. I don’t think we could claim that anymore. The way I see it is like this. Man U are the cream of the crop, untouchable by anyone else at the moment. Following them is a small group of teams, Arsenal, Liverpool, and despite current performances Leeds and Chelsea, who make up the top 5. There is then a bunch of above average sides, including the likes of Villa, Spurs, Sunderland, Leicester and surprisingly Ipswich. And then everyone else fighting for mid table positioning and to avoid relegation. The scary thing there is that the difference (at the moment) between the second bottom team and the team in 9th place is only 10 points. The gap between 9th and 1st is 20 points. At this stage in the season that means something is terribly wrong.

But what? Man U don’t spend more money than anyone else, so why do they do so much better? I guess you could point to Arsenal’s defence this year and say that it is nowhere near what it used to be, but even so, does that excuse them from the performances that have cost them the title already? Liverpool too should have made much more of a challenge this year after they threw away a champions league spot at the end of last season, and even beat Man U at Old Trafford, but once more their defence has been much poorer than last year, and they have lost and drawn games they really should be winning.

On the spending front, look at the teams who have spent Leeds, Chelsea etc…They are still big clubs, but their poor league runs this year goes to show that money doesn
’t buy the title. On the flip side, Ipswich have stunned everyone this year with their superb start, but, and to take nothing away from them, you have to wonder where they will finish if a couple of injuries hit their small squad.

Man U are by no means invincible, both Charlton and Ipswich have shown that if they are pressured they will leak goals, but most teams seem to be afraid to attack them.

I think it all comes down to the fact that Man Utd want it more than anyone else, and until a manager/team comes along who is prepared to fight them, they will continue to win the league year in year out.

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