re: England 26 man provisional squad for Euro 2016

quote:

---

Alli's best > Ramsey's best

---

Agree to disagree. Ramsey's best season produced ten goals in 23 PL games, the same number of goals as Alli in ten less games, while playing further back, and with more defensive responsibility. Ramsey has been injured less than Wilshere, but in general when they both play it is Wilshere who is displaced, not Ramsey.

quote:

---

Sure, the quality of play wasn't what it has been in the past. Maybe. But the match day atmosphere and pressure to perform hasn't changed. Some of the bigger clubs had down years but the talent level in the Premier League is still ridiculous. The best in the world, top to bottom. Alli and Dier proved they are 2 of the better players at their position in the league, and they are still very young.

---

This hasn't translated to success internationally for England teams when the league was stronger. Suddenly now that the league is far weaker than it was in 2010, the players that did well are better prepared? That makes no sense.

quote:

---

Who was better? I'm not talking where they finished in the table. Spurs played the best football in the league this season, start to finish. I'm not the only person that thinks this.

---

Arsenal was awful at finishing and scored only 4 less goals, and had one more goal conceded, despite playing horribly for most of the season. Tottenham had superb positioning, again, but they looked toothless for large portions of the season. From game week 28 to 38, the last ten weeks of the season, Spurs had 4 wins, 4 draws and 3 losses. That is the form of an average team, not the league's best. Not only that, they didn't even win 20 games. Only two teams did, and no team in the PL has won it without winning twenty games.

Tottenham played better than they usually do, which is why people are saying they were the best. They were an above average team, not the best.

quote:

---

Who was better? I'm not talking where they finished in the table. Spurs played the best football in the league this season, start to finish.

---

This argument doesn't work in domestic leagues. Two teams were better from start to finish. But just looking at the team at the top of the table, it's not like Leicester snuck in the playoffs and got hot. They won 4 more games than Spurs and lost 3 less. They were better all season.

quote:

---

Basically, every meaningful statistical measure shows that Spurs were the best team from start to finish.

---

What? No they didn't. They were third in open play goals, behind Man City and Arsenal, both of whom were utterly terrible (in comparison to how good they usually are) in open play. Tottenham tied with Liverpool with the most set piece goals with 17, which fits in with what they were trying to do, which was to defend and use athleticism to create scoring opportunities. Whoscored shows many more stats, but they don't lead in all the meaningful categories.

quote:

---

but in my opinion Delph is a fantastic player and will breakout over the next few seasons. We'll just have to wait and see on that one.

---

he's an average player who will be 27 this year

his time to breakout has long passed.

quote:

---

Many, many tv pundits and writers.

---

Also, this has as much to do with Tottenham's departure from the mean level of their play. Tottenham and Arsenal were virtually the same in many categories, but Tottenham was praised because they are not accustomed to being near the top and Arsenal were savaged because they faltered again. Yet statistically they were similar in many respects. Not only this, Tottenham employ a static defensive structure which means they rely on athleticism rather than technique to create chances, which means that when teams match their athleticism, their defensive positioning isn't as solid as it appears. In the last ten weeks of the season, the opposition scored 14 goals, nearly 40 percent of their goals conceded. Read that again. Does that sound like the best team in the league to anyone?

quote:

---

For anyone living in the UK, do English fans just walk around with zero expectations for this thing?

---

Like I said on the first page there is literally no expectations this tournament. Getting out the group would be nice

quote:

---

he's an average player who will be 27 this year

his time to breakout has long passed.

---

He's Milner without the ability to contribute out wide. In a small team he looks great but in a large team he was outperformed by the Fernandos. Delph is average, in pretty much every way. He's prone to Hollywood balls as well, which is annoying.

quote:

---

Many, many tv pundits and writers. Basically, every meaningful statistical measure shows that Spurs were the best team from start to finish

---

lol

The only people claiming this asinine rant, are butt hurt, big club, ball suckers.

Same bullshite the Ball sucking TV/Media pundits said when Atletico won, and claimed the teams who finished 2nd and 3rd, were 10 times better(lol).

Only a jackass, who's mouth are all around the big clubs nuts would make any claim of Spurs being better.

quote:

---

Leicester earned more points and won the league, obviously. But they didn't play the best football.

---

did they have the most points???

then yes they played the best football.

Outstanding on the counter attack and great on defense all season.

They never gave a frick about possession.

quote:

---

Yes you can. It's pretty easy to compartmentalize these things. Leicester earned more points and won the league, obviously. But they didn't play the best football.

---

If you are going to make this argument, Spurs should probably have a higher goal differential over Leicester than 2.