“ Is the Premier League gap too big? “

Watching the Newcastle v Man City match tonight. City 1-0 up at half time but Newcastle have not even attempted to attack for most of that first half.

Jamie Carragher said at half time that it’s getting embarrassing how every team only want to defend when they play one of the big six of Man City, Man Utd, Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal. He said that people all over the world watch the Premier League because it’s unpredictable and all teams will attack, no matter who they’re playing - but he doesn’t think it’s like that now.

In that first half, Man City had 83% possession.

Is the Premier League getting embarrassing to watch and is the gap between the top six and the rest too big?

i do think Man City are exceptional this season but in general no.
the idea that our top division has always consisted of teams going hell for leather at each other is rediculous. if your aware your team isnt man for man a match for other teams your going to try to find a way to get points.

Seems to be this season although only 18 months ago Leicester won the league. I do think Man City are on a different level to anything the premier league has ever seen.

A few years ago the gap was closing with the Lower teams spending the riches, but the last few years it's gone back to how it was. Just look at the jacks last night as an example, Southampton at Spurs. Granted Burnley have done well but in the main it's become ridiculous and not enjoyable. Man City are a one off mind.

All boils down to cash - Citeh seem to be allowed to spend billions which doesn’t come under the FFP - which is the most hypocritical name to be coined - Newcastle probably have the £ but aren’t allowed to spend it due to FFP regs, take players away a sec- if a club like Bournmouth can survive then a club the size of Newcastle should have no problem.

For me there needs to be a massive shake up - the problem is if you shake it up you change the global face of Football forever -

For instance if you took an ‘American’ sport approach to it with drafts and wage caps etc then squads could be looking mightily different... the problem is you’d destroy promotion and relegation and franchise the game globally in order to compete.

For me you FIFA (they won’t because the earn to much £) and the leagues of the world (ditto) need to cap homegrown players, wage caps, spend caps etc.

You can’t have one league doing it, you’d reduce the teams in your leagues ability to compete in the European competition it would have to be a blanket agreement...just wouldn’t happen.

The game will implode more like than not, and see massive amounts of cash and value disappearing, eventually clubs and leagues will have to rebuild and learn...probably won’t learn

All boils down to cash - Citeh seem to be allowed to spend billions which doesn’t come under the FFP - which is the most hypocritical name to be coined - Newcastle probably have the £ but aren’t allowed to spend it due to FFP regs, take players away a sec- if a club like Bournmouth can survive then a club the size of Newcastle should have no problem.

For me there needs to be a massive shake up - the problem is if you shake it up you change the global face of Football forever -

For instance if you took an ‘American’ sport approach to it with drafts and wage caps etc then squads could be looking mightily different... the problem is you’d destroy promotion and relegation and franchise the game globally in order to compete.

For me you FIFA (they won’t because the earn to much £) and the leagues of the world (ditto) need to cap homegrown players, wage caps, spend caps etc.

You can’t have one league doing it, you’d reduce the teams in your leagues ability to compete in the European competition it would have to be a blanket agreement...just wouldn’t happen.

The game will implode more like than not, and see massive amounts of cash and value disappearing, eventually clubs and leagues will have to rebuild and learn...probably won’t learn

You have nailed every point in a short post, spot on and nothing will happen but it's spoiling the game.

All boils down to cash - Citeh seem to be allowed to spend billions which doesn’t come under the FFP - which is the most hypocritical name to be coined - Newcastle probably have the £ but aren’t allowed to spend it due to FFP regs, take players away a sec- if a club like Bournmouth can survive then a club the size of Newcastle should have no problem.

For me there needs to be a massive shake up - the problem is if you shake it up you change the global face of Football forever -

For instance if you took an ‘American’ sport approach to it with drafts and wage caps etc then squads could be looking mightily different... the problem is you’d destroy promotion and relegation and franchise the game globally in order to compete.

For me you FIFA (they won’t because the earn to much £) and the leagues of the world (ditto) need to cap homegrown players, wage caps, spend caps etc.

You can’t have one league doing it, you’d reduce the teams in your leagues ability to compete in the European competition it would have to be a blanket agreement...just wouldn’t happen.

The game will implode more like than not, and see massive amounts of cash and value disappearing, eventually clubs and leagues will have to rebuild and learn...probably won’t learn

You have nailed every point in a short post, spot on and nothing will happen but it's spoiling the game.

Yep, have to agree!

All boils down to cash - Citeh seem to be allowed to spend billions which doesn’t come under the FFP - which is the most hypocritical name to be coined - Newcastle probably have the £ but aren’t allowed to spend it due to FFP regs, take players away a sec- if a club like Bournmouth can survive then a club the size of Newcastle should have no problem.

For me there needs to be a massive shake up - the problem is if you shake it up you change the global face of Football forever -

For instance if you took an ‘American’ sport approach to it with drafts and wage caps etc then squads could be looking mightily different... the problem is you’d destroy promotion and relegation and franchise the game globally in order to compete.

For me you FIFA (they won’t because the earn to much £) and the leagues of the world (ditto) need to cap homegrown players, wage caps, spend caps etc.

You can’t have one league doing it, you’d reduce the teams in your leagues ability to compete in the European competition it would have to be a blanket agreement...just wouldn’t happen.

The game will implode more like than not, and see massive amounts of cash and value disappearing, eventually clubs and leagues will have to rebuild and learn...probably won’t learn

You have nailed every point in a short post, spot on and nothing will happen but it's spoiling the game.

Yep, have to agree!

Me too. We spent years thinking Scottish football was as boring as hell with only two real teams in the entire league. The Premier has gone the same way with up until recently, about four or five teams in with a chance of winning it. Danger of that becoming two or three teams, and fans will soon get cheesed off with that.

first 11 seasons of this century there was a defined top 4.
Arsenal and Manchester United finishing top 4 .. 11 out of 11 times .and both Chelsea and Liverpool 8 out of 11.

in the 7 years since the 2010 /11 season its been shared between 6 clubs with Manchester City and Spurs now making it more a big 6 rather than a big 4..

there is no trend either of the relegated clubs getting less points now or at any point over the 18 year period.

both the above suggests very little change, if anything its more competitive at the top.

It is top 6/7 then the rest Leicester was unique and maybe another 20yrs before happens again.! Chelsea, man u & city have bottomless wallets, pool spurs arsenal and probably Everton make up the teams hanging on coat tails! the rest will never get behond these teams so basically premiership is a two tier league? At least there are 7 top teams several European leagues just about got 2 most of time.

Aren’t Burnley currently 6th?

Aren’t Burnley currently 6th?

Yes but will they be end of season? Always get a club surprising everyone but it doesn't normally last! Everton usually fills around 7th but had bad start but expect them to move up by end season.

Aren’t Burnley currently 6th?

Yes but will they be end of season? Always get a club surprising everyone but it doesn't normally last! Everton usually fills around 7th but had bad start but expect them to move up by end season.

Whether they do or not, they’ve played every team in the league, have one of the lowest budgets and are able to compete

Aren’t Burnley currently 6th?

Yes but will they be end of season? Always get a club surprising everyone but it doesn't normally last! Everton usually fills around 7th but had bad start but expect them to move up by end season.

The top 6 at the end of the season will be the top 6 that nearly everyone knew would be there at the start of the season. Man C, Man U, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool & Spurs. Hard to see anything much changing in the future, just hope we don't start getting the league title done and dusted by Xmas too often.
Maybe once every 20 years something strange like Leicester or Blackburn will happen, but these are things that most of us will only see two or three times in a lifetime.
Like Alan says, Everton will probably be the team that may just about be able to stay close to the elite sides.

All boils down to cash - Citeh seem to be allowed to spend billions which doesn’t come under the FFP - which is the most hypocritical name to be coined - Newcastle probably have the £ but aren’t allowed to spend it due to FFP regs, take players away a sec- if a club like Bournmouth can survive then a club the size of Newcastle should have no problem.

For me there needs to be a massive shake up - the problem is if you shake it up you change the global face of Football forever -

For instance if you took an ‘American’ sport approach to it with drafts and wage caps etc then squads could be looking mightily different... the problem is you’d destroy promotion and relegation and franchise the game globally in order to compete.

For me you FIFA (they won’t because the earn to much £) and the leagues of the world (ditto) need to cap homegrown players, wage caps, spend caps etc.

You can’t have one league doing it, you’d reduce the teams in your leagues ability to compete in the European competition it would have to be a blanket agreement...just wouldn’t happen.

The game will implode more like than not, and see massive amounts of cash and value disappearing, eventually clubs and leagues will have to rebuild and learn...probably won’t learn

You have nailed every point in a short post, spot on and nothing will happen but it's spoiling the game.

Yep, have to agree!

Me too. We spent years thinking Scottish football was as boring as hell with only two real teams in the entire league. The Premier has gone the same way with up until recently, about four or five teams in with a chance of winning it. Danger of that becoming two or three teams, and fans will soon get cheesed off with that.

Steve, but that changes over time. Remeber the big manu vs arsenal rivalry that lasted years where it was two basically a two team league

This happens in most leagues around the world whether la liga,serie a,ligue 1 in france etc there good to watch and draw good crowds and the better teams like Man city get the better the british teams will do in europe to compete with your Real Madrid's and Bayern Munich's,for me it's a feather in the premier league's cap for kids worldwide to have flags and photo's of teams like this in their bedroom's rather than your Barcelona's.

Apart from Man City this season, the gap between the top 6 and the rest of the League is considerable. However, the gap between top and bottom is much smaller than in most other leagues in Europe. You are far more likely to get a top side beaten by a side trying to avoid relegation in the Premier League here than in other European leagues.

Even the bottom teams in the Premier League come close to selling out every week, and the distribution of the TV money helps keep it competitive enough for a Leicester to happen every so often. The reason there is so much money from overseas for the League is its competitiveness. The Spanish League which has had 3 top teams in recent (Barca, Real and Athletico, plus a couple of others like Villarreal and Sevilla ) comes closest in terms of competition, but the difference between thos top 3 and the bottom 3 is vast.

The Premier League is simply the best League in the world and I’d love to have another stint there.

I still enjoy premier football, still exciting games with no end of skill.
Football has moved on tremendously from my heyday but I still love it. Man City are a step above this season but so we’re Liverpool in their day and so were Man Utd in their day.

And no the gap is not too big.
Second half last night Newcastle could easily of drawn the game or even won.

that's why pundits dont make it as managers, they dont have a clue.
goal difference could be key to a side like Newcastle, and losing 1-0 when the likes of Swansea are getting stuff 5-0 its as good as a point

There are 7 huge teams in the PL
Man City
Man Utd
Spurs
Arsenal
Chelsea
Everton
Liverpool
And then the rest, who arnt that much bigger than about 10/12clubs from the Championship

There are 7 huge teams in the PL
Man City
Man Utd
Spurs
Arsenal
Chelsea
Everton
Liverpool
And then the rest, who arnt that much bigger than about 10/12clubs from the Championship

Newcastle???

There are 7 huge teams in the PL
Man City
Man Utd
Spurs
Arsenal
Chelsea
Everton
Liverpool
And then the rest, who arnt that much bigger than about 10/12clubs from the Championship

Out of the rest, many are a lot smaller than a lot of clubs in the Championship.

There are 7 huge teams in the PL
Man City
Man Utd
Spurs
Arsenal
Chelsea
Everton
Liverpool
And then the rest, who arnt that much bigger than about 10/12clubs from the Championship

Newcastle???

Not at present but given time and proported wealth of new owners they could or should be up there in time

There are 7 huge teams in the PL
Man City
Man Utd
Spurs
Arsenal
Chelsea
Everton
Liverpool
And then the rest, who arnt that much bigger than about 10/12clubs from the Championship

Newcastle???

Not at present but given time and proported wealth of new owners they could or should be up there in time

Yes I take your point. They haven't achieved on the pitch since the late 60s but their support is massive. Bigger than Everton and Chelsea certainly and if they started to creep into the top 6 they'd probably need a bigger stadium. If ever the phrase "Sleeping Giant".....