Is the Premier League getting stronger or weaker?

So are you suggesting no weak teams were mid table at any stage of last season, or the season before, or the season before? ....

 

Not teams as poor as the ones we have now

 

Aston Villa, Norwich & QPR were mid table around this time last year (13th December) and wigan last year won 7 out of 9 games towards the end of the season.

 

Said ages ago Stoke are average, shipped in 3 at home v Southampton already. First time Southampton have scored more than 1 goal on the road bar QPR

 

Change in formation/tactics saved Wigan, they had decent players. The league is weak but entertaining as today is proving

 

So that'd be the second time then

Everyone's allowed to have a bad game, especially during the winter fixture pile up. I don't think you can draw any conclusions from this.

 

Why did you only respond to the wigan point, when I just pointed out three teams which were mid table last year and are of the same standard as teams in mid table this year?

Earlier you mentioned Norwich going on a 10 match unbeaten run is a sign the league is weaker, so going by that logic, wigan winning 7 out of 9 games (which is in many ways just as impressive,considering they were practically relegated) shows the standard hasn't changed.

You're not interested in any debate, unless it "proves" the point you're trying to make so maybe we should all vacate this article and allow you to talk to yourself!

 

They have shawcross and cameron injured, half of their back line, the reason stoke are solid at the back is because they have a settled back five, and they don't have the strength in depth to cope with injuries.

 

Villa now 1 point clear of the relegation zone and Southampton have a game in hand and 13 better goal difference.

 

Villa have enough winnable games in January. If they win less than 2 they're probably down though. It's hard to see Villa staying up

 

Newcastle 2 points worse off than they were in the 08/09 season when they were relegated. Does anyone really think Newcsstle will go down this season? Think that further strengthens the argument that the league is weaker

 

...and just how does the performance of one mid-table side indicate that?? , they have a small squad that stayed fit last season, if anything punching above their weight, this season they have not, and normal service is resumed.

 

Not one almost every team.

How often can you sit half way into a PL campaign with 60% teams having shipped 4+ goals? Or 35% having shipped 5+ or even 3 clubs having already shipped 6 or more goals this season?

It's piss poor, the capitulations of Reading, Villa, Southampton, Newcastle etc on numerous occasions prove that.

Unlike La Liga it's not even the top 2 teams dishing out the thrashings, it's the rest of the league.

 

Weaker than when exactly?

When Reading or Bolton or Coventry were managing top ten finishes, for example, with teams of journeymen English pros?

When was this time when the PL was so strong?

 

Last seasons thrashings...


Player For Against Result Date
Bosnia and Herzegovina Edin Džeko4 Manchester City Tottenham Hotspur 5–1[40] 28 August 2011
England Wayne Rooney Manchester United Arsenal 8–2[41] 28 August 2011
Argentina Sergio Agüero Manchester City Wigan Athletic 3–0[42] 10 September 2011
England Wayne Rooney Manchester United Bolton Wanderers 5–0[43] 10 September 2011
Senegal Demba Ba Newcastle United Blackburn Rovers 3–1[44] 24 September 2011
England Frank Lampard Chelsea Bolton Wanderers 5–1[45] 2 October 2011
England Andrew Johnson Fulham Queens Park Rangers 6–0[46] 2 October 2011
Netherlands Robin van Persie Arsenal Chelsea 5–3[47] 29 October 2011
Senegal Demba Ba Newcastle United Stoke City 3–1[48] 31 October 2011
Nigeria Yakubu 4 Blackburn Rovers Swansea City 4–2[49] 3 December 2011
Bulgaria Dimitar Berbatov Manchester United Wigan Athletic 5–0[50] 26 December 2011
United States Clint Dempsey Fulham Newcastle United 5–2[51] 21 January 2012
Netherlands Robin van Persie Arsenal Blackburn Rovers 7–1[52] 4 February 2012
Nigeria Peter Odemwingie West Bromwich Albion Wolverhampton Wanderers 5–1[53] 12 February 2012
Russia Pavel Pogrebnyak Fulham Wolverhampton Wanderers 5–0[54] 4 March 2012
England Steven Gerrard Liverpool Everton 3–0[55] 13 March 2012
Argentina Carlos Tévez Manchester City Norwich City 6–1[56] 14 April 2012
Uruguay Luis Suárez Liverpool Norwich City 3–0[57] 28 April 2012
Spain Fernando Torres Chelsea Queens Park Rangers 6–1[58] 29 April 2012

The players are mentioned because they scored hat-tricks...19 of them, more damning evidence of last seasons weaker league

Your limp and embarrassingly unresearched warbling is getting a little tedious now!

 

Well!!...its been an hour since you were told this reply was here...cat got your tongue! ...just give it up DL, its much easier!

 

He has retreated to safe ground, the chav board and started a new thread http://www.not606.com/showthread.php/187046-quot-Strength-quot-of-the-Premier-League hoping someone agrees to help him out unlucky for him a sunderland fan on that thread derails any hope DL had.

 

Notso a lot of those games you have mentioned have been derby games (i.e one off games with unpredictable outcomes). If Spurs were to play Villa again do you honestly think the scoreline would be much different? Same applies with Chelsea.

The thrashings last season were more of a case of one-off results than a despairing lack of quality. Villa have been pumped numerous times as have Reading. It's a developing pattern with several teams.

Bottom 5 Last season after 19 games:

16 Wolverhampton Wndrs 19 4 5 10 21 34 3 2 4 13 15 1 3 6 8 19 -13 17
17 Queens Park Rangers 19 4 5 10 18 33 1 4 4 8 15 3 1 6 10 18 -15 17
18 Wigan Athletic 19 3 6 10 17 37 1 4 4 9 16 2 2 6 8 21 -20 15
19 Blackburn Rovers 19 3 5 11 28 41 2 0 7 12 19 1 5 4 16 22 -13 14
20 Bolton Wanderers 19 4 1 14 23 42 1 1 8 11 24 3 0 6 12 18 -19 13


Bottom 5 this season after 19 games: 16 Aston Villa 19 4 6 9 15 36 2 4 3 8 12 2 2 6 7 24 -21 18
17 Southampton 18 4 4 10 23 34 3 3 4 14 13 1 1 6 9 21 -11 16
18 Wigan Athletic 19 4 3 12 19 35 2 3 5 13 18 2 0 7 6 17 -16 15
19 Reading 19 1 7 11 21 37 1 5 3 14 19 0 2 8 7 18 -16 10
20 Queens Park Rangers 19 1 7 11 16 33 1 4 4 8 16 0 3 7 8 17 -17 10

Already you have 2 teams cut adrift, that shows a lack of competitiveness across all quarters which shows the league is weak, this is further illustrated at the top as well..

This season gap between 3rd to 1st stands at 13 points, last season it was only 6.

The facts and statistics don't support your argument that the league is stronger Notso, even if you believe the individual results do.

 

City have also gone down to 10 men against the 7th and 11th placed teams in the PL away from home and still won.

 

I always thought the PL was strong in the Noughties. It was fantastic and the strongest league as well.