29 Apr 2026 09:42:04
I watched the PSG v Bayern game last night and what a game, no faffing around passing across their own back lines, no continual back passes and when they got near the goal they had a shot! No worries about losing possession, what a refreshing watch it was and a huge upgrade on the total dross on offer in the Premier League.
Arsenal, with their horrible brand of boring football and Pep with his tippy tappy possession based nonsense have set the tone in this country and I sincerely hope it changes now. Bayern or PSG please to win the Champions League and maybe then styles will be copied.
29 Apr 2026 19:46:59
And that shows the gap between Premier League clubs and those teams. There is a chasm at the moment when a few years ago, Premier League teams were ahead.
30 Apr 2026 10:20:16
EPL sides do seem to have dropped off in the last couple of seasons. It may also be to do with the fact that the EPL is a much tougher league to play in than those on the continent, where too often just a few top clubs can usually count on beating almost every other side in the league. This would particularly apply to the German and French leagues, in which Bayern and PSG have almost all the money and are likely to win their leagues almost every season. So, top players will get less tired, they can revolve/rotate players more easily, and it seems as though, in the case of the French league, that PSG get given rests from their league games in between each two-legged match in the knockout stage of the Champions League.
One of the reasons, beyond Maresca getting our tactics spot on on the day, why we beat PSG in the final of the CWC was that we had had a far easier side of the draw in the knockout stages, not having to get past Bayern and Real Madrid. They had obviously also gone the whole way in the Champions League when winning it. In other words, they must have been a tad more tired perhaps than CFC, who could play a B team in the Conference League until its final, plus had that easier route to the CWC final.