Roy Keane claims we have been "brainwashed" into believing the Premier League is Europe's finest

Former Man United midfielder Roy Keane reckons we've been "brainwashed" into thinking the Premier League is the world's best league.

Speaking in Greece after the Red Devils' surprise 2-0 defeat against Olympiakos, Keane said:

"We've been brainwashed by this Premier League, that it's the best league in the world. Nonsense.

"It's the best brand, but we've seen over the last few weeks with the English teams struggling that these teams are falling behind the top teams in Europe, particularly United."

Keane also suggested Man United "never turned up" against the Greek Champions in their Champions League last 16 tie.

"There were certainly one or two players playing tonight for Man United who were not showing enough quality," he said.

"I think David Moyes... when he went into United in the summer, he probably looked at players expecting great things.

"And then he looked at them at close quarters, and I would say privately he's probably been shocked at the lack of quality he's working with."

No one cares what former footballers think or say anymore.  

All I got from that was that Roy thinks United sucks

Roy's a bitter man, he often comes off as the simon cowell of punditry, not saying he's a clown or anything, he'll speak sense sometimes, but just as often say something controversial for the sake of stirring the proverbial pot.

PL when judged as a whole, being the best in the world, is certainly not nonsense.

I care what they say. Anyway, Arsenal played the defending champions and City took on Barcelona, a loss to those two teams isn't something that is in the realms of "EPL sucks, lolz". However, Utd losing to Olympiakos is quite funny and at the same time, not even remotely surprising.

So if any team misrepresented the EPL in the UCL, it would be Man Utd. Also, what Lex Luther wrote...

'Brainwashed' - Codenamed "I watch and listen to Sky Sports religiously."

Nonsense.

I'm pretty sure if Liverpool or even Everton had played this Olympiakos team they would have beaten them handily. Much less City, Chelsea or Arsenal. Please.

Also, what Doc said about Arsenal & City is spot on.

?

Doc wrote:I care what they say. Anyway, Arsenal played the defending champions and City took on Barcelona, a loss to those two teams isn't something that is in the realms of "EPL sucks, lolz". However, Utd losing to Olympiakos is quite funny and at the same time, not even remotely surprising.

So if any team misrepresented the EPL in the UCL, it would be Man Utd. Also, what Lex Luther wrote...

Whoa Whoa here, LOL at people dismissing this.

Correct me if I'm wrong but Arsenal has been top of the league for most of the year this year correct? And 1 point off the lead right now? Right?

City is basically tied for 1st as there 3 points off the lead with a game in hand.

Manchester United is the reigning EPL Champions with a new coach the same as Barcelona is the reigning Spanish Champions with a new coach.

How are these unfair or not telling match up's?

Barca is in second place with Atletico in the terrible La Liga if you listen to pundits and people on this forum. Barca vs City totally fair match to gauge leagues.

Bayern vs Arsenal again very fair match, it's not like it was Man United vs Bayern, top team in Germany vs second in the EPL off the lead by a point.

United vs the Greek champions, please I promise you United fans were celebrating the match up when it was pulled out of the pot. Totally fair.

Don't give me this crap that they somehow got some incredibly hard ties. Win your groups for a change. This isn't like this is some isolated incident they have been poor in the CL for a little while now.

Get a clue people. Your three teams who have played so far in the knockout rounds have not even scored a goal yet, and two of the games were on home soil.

Some of you need to wake up and stop like Roy said "brainwashing" yourselves.

Keane has a point imo, epl is marketed as the best league or whatever, so if the top teams gets beaten then the league ain't as amazing as the media claims, maybe the epl doesn't have the best everything...... surely not the best players obviously.

United being holding champions has nothing to do with this season. Last season, sure, they were a one of the best teams in the league and were the so called torch bearer's of the PL. Now United are a midtable club in the PL this season. They are worse than Everton and Spurs. They're representation in Europe is not a fair indication of how good PL is.

chad4401 wrote:Keane has a point imo, epl is marketed as the best league or whatever, so if the top teams gets beaten then the league ain't as amazing as the media claims, maybe the epl doesn't have the best everything...... surely not the best players obviously.

the best league doesn't necessarily have to have the best teams, but more or less a more balanced set amount of teams which the EPL does have.
granted some fans exaggerate how good their team is based on the league the play in.

The whole of the PL (especially in the first 6 months) this season has been on the decline with the departures and new managers coming into the league. I mean, you're either in a title race, or you're facing relegation right now. (Unless you're Pardew/Moyes. And I guess Spurs/Everton with their Europa spot battle.)

Next season will be a lot different.

Donuts wrote:

chad4401 wrote:Keane has a point imo, epl is marketed as the best league or whatever, so if the top teams gets beaten then the league ain't as amazing as the media claims, maybe the epl doesn't have the best everything...... surely not the best players obviously.

the best league doesn't necessarily have to have the best teams, but more or less a more balanced set amount of teams which the EPL does have.
granted some fans exaggerate how good their team is based on the league the play in.

that the thing about the epl they love to exaggerate everything, every time a new player enter the league pundit's start wanking about the pace, higher tempo, physicality etc.... of the league, like players gotta be pl proven to be considered legit and sh!t , come cl their best teams gets played off pitch, and then comes the keane like responses followed by a push of the reset button come next season , like it never happened .

McAgger wrote:United being holding champions has nothing to do with this season. Last season, sure, they were a one of the best teams in the league and were the so called torch bearer's of the PL. Now United are a midtable club in the PL this season. They are worse than Everton and Spurs. They're representation in Europe is not a fair indication of how good PL is.

Actually it is fair as that is the whole point of the tournament. That's why it's called the Champions league. Should we re-seed the English teams every round depending on how there doing in league? They drew the Greek Champs for gods sake. They have better players.

No one is saying United is a bad representation of the league, were saying United plus Arsenal plus Man City playing 3 games and not scoring is a bad representation of the league.

Picking out United and complaining they shouldn't be in the tournament is really knit picking the facts you wish to highlight while not looking at the whole picture.

McAgger wrote:United being holding champions has nothing to do with this season. Last season, sure, they were a one of the best teams in the league and were the so called torch bearer's of the PL. Now United are a midtable club in the PL this season. They are worse than Everton and Spurs. They're representation in Europe is not a fair indication of how good PL is.

But yet people were blasting Serie A and Bundesliga for the performances of Juventus and Leverkusen in the CL

Arsenal and City playing with 10 men somehow means something? Morons.

Everyone knows this United side is awful. No idea why this was a shock. Look at the dross they've lost to since January.

Gil wrote:Arsenal and City playing with 10 men somehow means something? Morons.

Everyone knows this United side is awful. No idea why this was a shock. Look at the dross they've lost to since January.

Somehow the fact that they were both playing with 10 men seems to skip the minds of people.

Blue Barrett wrote:

Gil wrote:Arsenal and City playing with 10 men somehow means something? Morons.

Everyone knows this United side is awful. No idea why this was a shock. Look at the dross they've lost to since January.

Somehow the fact that they were both playing with 10 men seems to skip the minds of people.

Is that some kind of excuse? I think players who get red cards are directly responsible for that. It's not as if either of the red cards was unwarranted. At the beginning of each game, both teams had 11 men. The fact is that Bayern and Barca are 2 of the top candidates for the final this year and proved themselves as superior teams in those games.

and whose fault is it for playing with 10 men?
what a dumb reason, maybe if they played and fouled fairly they wouldn't have that problem.

wrong donuts the refs in cl don't understand, that bringing down the opponent as the last man is not a red in the epl .

To be fair, the GOATest team in the league isn't in the CL this season. We'll rescue PL's reputation next year hopefully

why is it the thug league team ends up with one man down in their European adventures . its the same with chav$ea (super cup) , man ci$$y and arsenal . its time for them to cut the rugby out of their league and play proper football .

Forza wrote:

Blue Barrett wrote:

Gil wrote:Arsenal and City playing with 10 men somehow means something? Morons.

Everyone knows this United side is awful. No idea why this was a shock. Look at the dross they've lost to since January.

Somehow the fact that they were both playing with 10 men seems to skip the minds of people.

Is that some kind of excuse? I think players who get red cards are directly responsible for that. It's not as if either of the red cards was unwarranted. At the beginning of each game, both teams had 11 men. The fact is that Bayern and Barca are 2 of the top candidates for the final this year and proved themselves as superior teams in those games.

Give it a rest. Both games were tied at 0-0 and Bayern/City were both being outplayed at the time.

Beating a team with ten men means nothing.

Donuts wrote:and whose fault is it for playing with 10 men?
what a dumb reason, maybe if they played and fouled fairly they wouldn't have that problem.

Are you daft? Who here is claiming both decisions weren't justified?

The argument we're making is that both games weren't indicative of anything. Bayern/Barca just benefited from the man advantage. Which they clearly did.

No one knows how either game would have played out if it stayed 11v11.