we are predicting who will win the league cuz thats the nature of this sport and thats what makes it fun. isnt that the sort of banter we all have with our mates (my teams better than yours, my teams gonna win the title, your team sucks, hahaha, etc)?
some people are in this belief that arsenal are the best team in europe or something. does the best team really lose 5 games in a row? does the best team lose 4 games before christmas, in their own league?
as far as saying real madrid being the best in europe: in EU cup, they probably are the best, cuz they up their level for these games. but in their own league they dont seem to be very good (over the last 1.5 seasons).
on judging if they are the best team in EU, it depends on what the weighting is on the EU Champ league performance and what weighting performing well in your league is given. personally, i would give equal weighting to both the champ league and domestic league, as well as the country your league is in (spain getting the heaviest bias, switzerland and the like getting the lowest bias and every other league falling somewhere in between). on this basis, i would pick a team that is riding high in their domestic league (preferably lying top of their league) and has scored the most points in their games in the champ league, to date.
from the above and based on this years competitions so far, i would have to say Valencia are currently the best team in europe, this season. they have scored 17 pts from their 7 games so far this season (scoring 16 pts in stage 1) and are currently lying in 2nd place in the best league in europe.
comparing that with arsenal, they've scored 13 pts in champ league to date, and lay in 1st position in the league (our league imo, being the 2nd best).
and like i said, the best team in europe doesnt lose 5 games in a row, in all competitions. you cannot leave out this fact.
also u guys seem to think that had bergkamp played against man utd, that arsenal wouldve won? well, arsene wenger who i believe to be among the best 2 managers (currently rated as best manager in the country) in the country, decided that bergkamp shouldnt start and i dont think any of us here are in a position to question his decision. remember wenger probably has a better footballing/tactical mind than every member on this forum and im pretty sure he strongly believed that the team he put out against man utd was the best team he could field on the day, barring inuries.
also i feel that arsenal only won the league last year cuz of the terrible start man utd had last year. they lost something like 6 games in 7. had they lost only say 3 (which is what has happened this year), i think they wouldve won the title. this strongly leads me to believe that arsenal have very little chance of winning the title. that and the fact that in january, man utd get back about £100m worth of players (becks, keane, ferdy, butt, plus the extra players we buy when the transfer window opens).
an interesting statistic is that when arsenal won their 2 titles. both years, they won the old trafford fixture. when they dont win that fixture, they dont win the title. this indeed is why everyone is getting excited that arsenal are no longer title favourites this year.
also on another note, how many arsenal supporters think they are gonna get any points from their next game against valencia. i for one think they will lose that game, because i dont rate this year's arsenal very highly. although i would like to see any english side beat a spannish side, cuz thats the only way our league status is gonna increase.
off topic:
did u read about rivaldo and his opinions on the best english player. i couldnt stop laughing when i heard who he thought is the most dangerous english player...his first name begins and ends with 'E'.
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