Is English football at it's strongest ever?

[liamctid]

I'm not sure. I think City and Liverpool are probably two of the best teams this league has seen in my 25 years of going to and watching football, however, I think the following 4-6 teams are alright without being great. Someone like Everton or Leicester could finish ahead of United or Arsenal this season, but that doesn't mean that Everton or Leicester are great teams. Three of the traditional "bigger" clubs are going through a bit of lull at the moment (Chelsea, United, Arsenal) in my opinion.

The English league had 4 European finalists last season which would suggest it is very strong, however, this is coming off the back of La Liga having a Champions League winner for the previous 6 years, so maybe it's a bit too soon to know?

Despite City and Liverpool being miles ahead, I'd say the "top 4" from 2007-2009 were probably stronger (especially in Europe) over time on the whole than the current top 6.

 

[Magicpole]

Barca are in transition and so are Madrid. It will be interesting to see if they re establish themselves as the top dogs. I don’t think any of the English teams are better than they were at their peak. For City, improving your defence is the key for me and has been for a couple of years. I hoped you would buy VVD as I knew thatvwould gave two major impacts, you get better and you remove Liverpool as a threat.

I don’t think you even bid for him and that to me was a mistake. In the last couple of seasons, defensive mistakes at crucial times have scuppered you. I don’t see that addressed this year and is the only reason I think winning the CL will be difficult to achieve. Not to mention the league. It’s a two horse race and Liverpool must be slight favourites, although you can always count on them fucking up.

Going to be interesting.

 

[Deleted member 77198]

I've just watched a video from 2003-04 where this Newcastle team were battling to get into the top4 and just missed out at the end of the season:
Given
Hughes, O'Brien, Bramble, Bernard
Ambrose, Speed, Viana, Robert
Shearer, Ameobi

Subs: Harper, Bridges, Chopra, Taylor, Brittain.

Do you think that team would even stay up in the Prem now?

 

[Asa's left peg]

I think it may appear that we are at our strongest, but it coinsides with a huge drop accross europe. Juve are still ok (although early days with the new signings) and Barca, whilst still ok domestically, will be tested this season. Ajax have been dismantled, so it will be interesting to see where the challenge comes from in Europe this season.
Reading the press over the last few days, it sounds like Kazakhstann are ready to be a real force in world footbal.

 

[L4EV]

Honestly don’t think so. City and Liverpool are excellent teams but the top teams beyond that are still a distance behind for me. I think English performance in the CL is being helped by the fact Barca, Madrid and Bayern are all in their worst state in years. Mid to late 2000s the PL had 4 teams who all regularly reached the latter stages of Europe.