EPL fans really annoy me!

For the record, I’m not an intransigent La Liga fan and the fact that the Spanish Primera division doesn’t get as much as publicity in Africa as the English Premier League means [football] fans in this part of the world don’t have a level playing field when comparing the two leagues. Much as fans on our dark continent, at least those with the resources and time, can be able to watch almost all, if not all English Premier League matches, live or recorded, depending on the schedule, the same can’t be said of La Liga or any other European league. The EPL has the a wide publicity and marketing strategy that makes it possible to reach greater parts of the world than any other league, and this means football fans in those parts can choose to either follow the detailed English game or live with on the bits and pieces of the rest of the European leagues. For the lack of an alternative….yeah, for the lack of it….most fans in various parts of the world, including Kigali or Gicumbi and even in The New Times newsroom have taken into the EPL teams and it’s exceedingly intricate to convince them there is very good football, some even better than in the EPL, played somewhere else. Every week, I watch EPL matches and a few La Liga, French Ligue 1, German Bundesliga as well Italian Serie A, but comments made by some diehard EPL fans really annoy me. The whole world knows that Barcelona is the best club team on the Planet, at least in the last two seasons or so, yet the fogey EPL fans would urge that the La Liga winners of the last three seasons Barcelona would struggle to win the Premier League. Some time back, one funny Manchester United fan, knowing very well my soft spot for La Liga, told me of how, because of the physicality of the Premier League and the long throws and long balls that teams like Stoke and Blackburn play, the likes of Barca and Real Madrid would struggle to compete in the EPL! Here, this good Man United and EPL fan told me that the team that has beaten his favourite team in two UEFA Champions League finals would find it hard to see off the Blackburns or Stokes of this world! Funny indeed Under Pep Guardiola, Barca have progressed through to the Champions League final, at the expense of English clubs. Last year they faced Arsenal and before that it was Chelsea. I’m sure everyone knows how that went or even a year before that. My good friend [he can give you every stat to justify how the EPL is far superior to not only La Liga but any other European league….he has the audacity to claim that Stoke or Blackburn or whoever, who thrive on sending in a barrage of long balls towards their centre forwards, would give Barca a run for its money! Doubt I do. Because I keep an eye on La Liga, especially for purposes of this column, I want to take this opportunity to remind my Man United and all EPL diehards that Barcelona, in every game they play in Spain or European competition, always has around 70 percent of the ball possession. There are games where this figure is closer to 80 percent and some off-days where that figure is around 60 percent, which in itself is quit a phenomenon feat. How many teams can have that? So he reckons that with the 20-35 percent of possession that the EPL team would have, that they would do more damage than Barca would with their 65-80 percent? Not likely. The physicality of the league, EPL or any other would be different than what they usually play against, but who is to say that the teams would actually be physical with Barcelona? Common knowledge tells me that most teams in the English Premier League would alter their tactics to “park the bus.” However, I don’t think long balls forward would work if all your players are on the back foot? Besides Barca, I would go further to say that the like Real Madrid, Valencia, Atletico or Villarreal would also do very well in the EPL. Minus Man United, Chelsea, Arsenal and most recently Manchester City, how many teams would actually do very well in La Liga? Whilst I agree that the EPL is the most physical of the top European leagues, that doesn’t make it the best and I’m sure that has been proven on very many occasions and it’s likely to continue come May when none of their team reaches the Champions League final. nku78@yahoo.com