interesting blog found - Why Serie A is better than the English Premier League

This is an article i found on a serieA blog, iv copied and pasted the whole thing but if u want to read the comments click on the link for the proper thing

http://www.serieatalk.com/why-serie-a-is-better-than-the-english-premier-league/3163#comment-37264



Like most soccer fans, I am a soccer league polygamist. Because I live less than 20 minutes from an MLS club, I root for and follow Major League Soccer in the U.S. However, I am also a passionate Arsenal fan who lives and dies in every match they play throughout the year. And of course, I love Serie A best of all and have my favorite club, whose scarf I wore proudly this past Sunday. I dare say almost every soccer fan, because of the diverse leagues around the world, has multiple favorite teams or leagues.

But as I read about Bobby Zamora's recent leg break and as Arsenal players continue to suffer and recover from rough (or, if you prefer) violent tackles, it made me compare the style and content of play I watch in both the EPL and Serie A every weekend. And upon reflection, I came to a conclusion I probably reached long ago but only now can put into writing:

Serie A soccer is superior to English Premier League soccer

This sentiment goes beyond just who has the best team (although it would be Serie A with reigning Champions League winners Inter). Looking at the two leagues as a whole, Serie A is superior to the EPL in a number of ways both on and off the pitch and, if I were a novice soccer fan researching what league to watch, it should be obvious that I would want to watch Serie A. The following are the reasons for this argument, and I welcome your thoughts in the comments section below and on Twitter @roberthayjr. Thanks also to Niccolo for his contribution to this post:

The Italian style of play is more fluid and skillful, while the EPL style is one of constant hard fouls - If you are a fan of an EPL club, it is almost inevitable that one of your most important players will miss time with a nasty injury picked up from a violent tackle. Arsenal alone lost Robin Van Persie this year and Aaron Ramsey last year for extended time to hard fouls in league play. It's not just Arsenal - Tottenham fans will have to enjoy not watching Jermaine DeFoe for seven more weeks, Everton fans Jack Rodwell, Tottenham fans Luka Modric, etc. Why? Because these players are subject to constant fouling and aggressive slide tackling, which is the EPL style of play. On a Serie A pitch, there are fouls and slide tackles, but you are more likely to see fluid passing and individual skill over broken shins.

English fans whine about their clubs, Italian fans actively seek to undermine their clubs - AC Milan fans made news last year when one of their ilk, protesting club owner Silvio Berlusconi, threw a statue at him and knocked him out. Manchester United fans, conversely, feel wearing old shirts conveys their anger sufficiently. When a club under-performs in Italy, the fans act as though the world is ending and the papers ring endlessly with criticism and advice on just how the manager should have done differently. If it's truly bad, they simply do not attend and show the management what an empty stadium looks like. English soccer fans and their local press more grumble and fall into a "woe is me" attitude. The Italian style is much more fun.

Serie A owners are much more interesting than their EPL counterparts - Who would you consider the most interesting and exciting Premier League owner? There are some who are hated, but that is more for their nationality and mismanagement (Glazers, Hicks). Italy has some real characters running their clubs, likely because many of them are family owned and operated within the country. The obvious one is Silvio Berlusconi, who is passionate about AC Milan and tends to make himself the center of most offseason stories; has an English owner ever said publicly the team would have won the Premier League if he had been manager, and was 100% serious? Napoli's Aurelio De Laurentiis is another colorful personality that loves to spend his family's wealth on the club, and is not afraid to speak on it.

Serie A has more parity than the EPL - Right now, the top four clubs in Serie A are Cesena, Inter, Chievo Verona, and Lazio, with Brescia right behind. Granted it is early in the season, but it is much easier for smaller clubs to climb the ladder in Serie A than it is in the EPL. The Premier League is dominated by four clubs every year and the story at the beginning of every season is which club can crack the top 4. While Serie A has its Big Four (Juve, Inter, Milan, and Roma), it is much easier for smaller clubs to compete for European tournament spots. A club with the budget and population of Chievo could never compete for a UEFA tournament in the EPL, but can in Serie A.

Serie A clubs are more successful in Europe than EPL teams - Many people don't realize this, but Italian teams have been more successful in European play (especially recently) than Premier League clubs. Overall, Italian clubs have won 12 Champions League trophies versus 11 for England, but since 1992 that number has been 5 for Italy, 3 for England. The same trend has held true for the UEFA Cup/Europa League: an Italian club has won the trophy 9 times (5 since 1992) and an English club has won the trophy 6 times (once since 1992).

Its a shame its not though.

i dont like to play chess

Bro i dont pretend to know your situation but i wish you good luck in what ever disease you clearly are struggling with....

May god be with you.

english_jewel wrote:i dont like to play chess

didnt realize milans 4-4 draw with udinese or genoa coming back from 3-0 down at ht to win 4-3 counted as chess?

Probably fixed matches.

uh oh,get ready for the shitstorm

Ade wrote:Probably fixed matches.

Proberly was, yet still entertaining

Troll alert

Completely agreed on all points, especially on violent tackles. (Except on Italy having the best team in the world, although at the time of publication an argument could be made for that).

That being said, when most people talk about the best league they are usually speaking about the quality of football, and today the quality of football is higher in the EPL than it is in Italy.

Whilst I prefer Serie A to the Premier League- that article is really bad.

First leg AC Milan vs tottenham anyone? AC Milan's tactic was pretty much to kick the shit out of tottenham. Proffessional fouls somehow went unpunished- the only time ive seen a ref be kind to an Italian side- although Ibras goal was disallowed.


I'll be brief-

Why I prefer Serie A

-Tactics- broader range of styles of play- you have passing sides, counter attacking sides, physical sides- this leads to more entertaining varied games than the EPL- usually long ball fast paced football.

- This also leads to small sides giving big sides a big upset- regularly. Sides like Bari took it to the big guys last year- although in Bari I saw something of the premiership which i'll discuss below.

-Slower average pace does not translate to "boring" If you like sports played at a fast pace football is not for you- ice hockey might be better. Slow passing leads to a fast break. I heard someone say once it's like an opera- you need the slow to appreciate the fast. Also the slower pace allows players to express themselves more- and the higher technical qualities of serie a display themselves more- better passers- skilled players "teckers" displayed more in this league. In the premiership there is no time on the ball.


However Serie A is by no means perfect- Diving- it happens much more.

Stadiums are empty

Games can evaporate in the last 20 minutes due to lower physical fitness of the players

Games towards the end of the season when teams have little to play for can be completely uncompetative whereas prem games are nearly always played at 100% However this is a general rule and depends on the team and manager- look at Bari this season. Long relegated but won by 4 goals on the last game of the season- a quality I admire from the premiership.

At the end of the day its about preference. What annoys me about prem fans is that a substantial amount of them will say cliches about serie a when they have never watched a game in their lives. And the fact quite a lot of premiership fans also like Barcelona- who dive a hell of a lot more than the average serie a side and also play at a slower tempo.

This is what I think anyway- like I said I could go on all day but will spare it.

I disagree on the parity bit, especially if you take into consideration the level of the EPL teams vs the level of the Italian teams.

As for the rough tackles....how many times have Inter lost Sneijder? Milan lost Pato or Nesta? etc. etc. I agree with his point, but the method he used to prove it is just invalid.

Now, the owners are more involved and all, but thats because politics are too involved in Seria A. Sure, some people might like it, but that doesn't mean that having politics involved instantly makes the league better. Who knows, they might end up like Fifa at some point...

When was the last time that a manager spent a reasonable amount of time in Seria A? There aren't many Wengers or SAFs over there, because the managers of the teams aren't as passionate as the managers here.
Does that make sense? No? Well, neither does the point that ha makes...to me at least. Its not like Abrahimovic spent a fortune on Chelsea or anything..

Not worth reading tbh (too tired). I support Real Madrid and I can tell you that the EPL is the best in the world. Would there be any point in reading an article that says "Why Carvalho is better than Vidic" apart from just having a laugh?

Managers don't leave they get sacked in serie A iceman.

And lack of foreign investment isnt a wholly bad thing... The Italian's haven't rented their league out to every sheikh going- they keep the clubs owned by Italians- who are passionate about football and not interested in the clubs only from a business point of view.

Countless times foreigners have tried to invest- an American at Bari- an Albanian at Bologna but it just doesn't happen. Partly due to famed Italian Bureaucracy and as I said above partly because people don't want to sell to foreigners.

I never said they left. Alright, they get sacked
How do you expect to have passionate managers if they keep on getting sacked? Last time I checked, someone just went from managing Milan to managing Inter directly even after being a Milan legend-ish figure. Passion? None.
A bit harsh in my judgement, especially since its one situation, but the point is still there somehow.
You can point out how Chelsea have a different manager every year, but then again you already blamed that on having foreign investors so the point is moot.

Foreign investors are what made the EPL as competitive as it is. Next season there are 6 teams competing for the top 4 places, all of which have a realistic chance of making it. If you pick any 2 teams from them, they would be in the top 4 of any other league.

I am sorry but Serie A is not like before and cant be as good as EPL.

I'm not saying this because I'm an EPL fan, but there is some hyprocrisy in this article:

The Italian style of play is more fluid and skillful, while the EPL style is one of constant hard fouls - If you are a fan of an EPL club, it is almost inevitable that one of your most important players will miss time with a nasty injury picked up from a violent tackle. Arsenal alone lost Robin Van Persie this year and Aaron Ramsey last year for extended time to hard fouls in league play. It's not just Arsenal - Tottenham fans will have to enjoy not watching Jermaine DeFoe for seven more weeks, Everton fans Jack Rodwell, Tottenham fans Luka Modric, etc. Why? Because these players are subject to constant fouling and aggressive slide tackling, which is the EPL style of play. On a Serie A pitch, there are fouls and slide tackles, but you are more likely to see fluid passing and individual skill over broken shins.

In this paragrath he criticises the Premier League for being too rough and having too many hard tackles which result in key players being injured.

English fans whine about their clubs, Italian fans actively seek to undermine their clubs - AC Milan fans made news last year when one of their ilk, protesting club owner Silvio Berlusconi, threw a statue at him and knocked him out. Manchester United fans, conversely, feel wearing old shirts conveys their anger sufficiently. When a club under-performs in Italy, the fans act as though the world is ending and the papers ring endlessly with criticism and advice on just how the manager should have done differently. If it's truly bad, they simply do not attend and show the management what an empty stadium looks like. English soccer fans and their local press more grumble and fall into a "woe is me" attitude. The Italian style is much more fun.

But in this paragrath, he criticises English fans for peaceful protests and supports acts of voilence and agression from Italian supporters.

So hard tackles are bad, but throwing a statue at a person and knocking him out is good? Showing that your upset through peaceful protest and criticism is bad, but vandelising training grounds is good?

Not only is it hypocritical, it's a poor justification of why one league is better than the other. Furthermore, it's slightly ironic that protesting by not attending matches, which he advocates, is precisely why a lot of fans do not like Serie A.

Then there is this paragrath:

Serie A owners are much more interesting than their EPL counterparts - Who would you consider the most interesting and exciting Premier League owner? There are some who are hated, but that is more for their nationality and mismanagement (Glazers, Hicks). Italy has some real characters running their clubs, likely because many of them are family owned and operated within the country. The obvious one is Silvio Berlusconi, who is passionate about AC Milan and tends to make himself the center of most offseason stories; has an English owner ever said publicly the team would have won the Premier League if he had been manager, and was 100% serious? Napoli's Aurelio De Laurentiis is another colorful personality that loves to spend his family's wealth on the club, and is not afraid to speak on it.

Berlusconi and De Laurentis are both colourful personalities, so Serie A is better than the Premier League?

That makes no sense whatsoever. When you're comparing two leagues, you compare what happens on the pitch, not off of it; that's more football culture and that's a different argument.

Like I said before- it's a matter of preference. I like Serie A because of the variety in play, the openness of the league where many can compete for the top 4- and if not that the fact the teams on the bottom can and do regularly beat the top teams. I like the fact that technique is better displayed in the league.

Iceman you said 6 can challenge for CL-

In Italy in the last 5 years from what I can remember Inter, Juventus, Milan, Roma, Sampdoria, Fiorentina and Udinese and Napoli have reached the CL- and Palermo, Lazio and Genoa have came seriously seriously close in the last few years.

The fact that last years champs league 4th spot- Sampdoria just got relegated speaks volumes about how even the league is.

In terms of quality of the players present- the premiership edges it- but not hugely. And I expect Serie A to be back at the top in a few years. The recovery started a few years ago. With ambitious Juve and Roma business plans- an up and coming Juve and of course AC Milan and Inter and calciopoli behind the league some big names will be coming back to Serie A.

EDIT: In truth that article was very poor and has probably acted to damage the reputation of Calcio rather than promote it. I mean if you're trying to say that Serie A is better than the Premiership because of the presidents you're onto a loser.

This isn't new info...

The fact that last years champs league 4th spot- Sampdoria just got relegated speaks volumes about how even the league is.

It speaks volumes how shockingly poor the management of Sampdoria is.

GoonerJay29 wrote:

The fact that last years champs league 4th spot- Sampdoria just got relegated speaks volumes about how even the league is.

It speaks volumes how shockingly poor the management of Sampdoria is.

I'll agree with you there- some of the choices this season were very bizarre.

However I don't think the quality of management can be solely blamed for the relegation. It wasn't Sampdoria's 4th spot to stay in- they were beaten fair and square from it.

mezzogiornese wrote:Like I said before- it's a matter of preference. I like Serie A because of the variety in play, the openness of the league where many can compete for the top 4- and if not that the fact the teams on the bottom can and do regularly beat the top teams. I like the fact that technique is better displayed in the league.

Iceman you said 6 can challenge for CL-

In Italy in the last 5 years from what I can remember Inter, Juventus, Milan, Roma, Sampdoria, Fiorentina and Udinese and Napoli have reached the CL- and Palermo, Lazio and Genoa have came seriously seriously close in the last few years.

The fact that last years champs league 4th spot- Sampdoria just got relegated speaks volumes about how even the league is.

In terms of quality of the players present- the premiership edges it- but not hugely. And I expect Serie A to be back at the top in a few years. The recovery started a few years ago. With ambitious Juve and Roma business plans- an up and coming Juve and of course AC Milan and Inter and calciopoli behind the league some big names will be coming back to Serie A.

EPL teams in CL (5 seasons): Manchester City, Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham. Everton and Aston Villa were always lurking around as well.
Fulham, who were 11th last season iirc, got to the EL final. Birmingham won the CC and then got relegated. Speaks volumes of the parity in this league as well, wouldn't you say? They actually won the cup, but still got relegated. Portsmouth, who got relegated last year, were in the FA cup final last year. Parity.

Seria A will catch up....if you just decide to assume that the EPL won't improve at all. City need no introduction, Liverpool showed what they're all about in the second half of last season, Chelsea can still manage to waste 75 million easily, Newcastle are starting to pull their weight around especially with how the club is run now, Sunderland are wasting no time in solidifying their position, Villa and Everton are starting to build up slowly, QPR are as rich as City...
I still didn't mention Arsenal, United and Tottenham too.

If you ask any unbiased football fan which league is better, between Serie A and EPL, then I think he'll find that EPL win 80% of the time, imho.

Serie A stadiums lacks atmosphere; there seem to always be this edgy feeling that games MUST be fixed or influenced; not to mention that the majority of BIG name players play in either La Liga or the EPL. However, I do enjoy certain Serie A games.

As much as I'd like it to be the Europa League is not exactly the most valued of trophies is it? The same goes for the Carling Cup we all know that.

Which probably explains why Italy lost it's 4th Spot.

Even with the EPL's massive investment Italy will always be an attractive place to go for players- particularly for latin and south american players. Partly due to the climate and partly to do with the shared latin culture.
For evidence you only need to look at players like Tevez- who are paid all the money in the world but can't feel at home in England.

Then there's the base of home grown players- Italian ones are historically much better but I'll admit English players are looking good at the moment.


That's what I think anyway- I may be wrong- and for the record I do expect the EPL to improve too- its surely going to happen with the megabucks they own. But with financial fair play coming in soon and the Premier leagues huge debt I expect we'll soon return to times when wages are less important to the choice of players when picking a club.

Well, its a European trophy, is it not? Thats the 11th placed team reaching the final and beating the likes of Juventus (who you've already stated as a CL contender) on the way.

As for the Carling Cup or the FA cup, they are competitions in England between English teams. The fact that a team can win it and then get relegated only shows how equal teams are, just like how you gave Sampdoria as an example.

We'll have to wait and see I suppose