“I don’t think the standard here is as good as it has been,” Woodgate said. “No disrespect to Liverpool but you can tell because there aren’t too many teams behind them. I just don’t think it has been a great league this season. That’s my opinion, but I don’t know why it is. Athletic Bilbao dominated Manchester United over two games – which has never been seen.”
I think it’s fair to say he has a point. At the end of this season, Spanish sides are set to overtake English teams at the top of the UEFA rankings. Barcelona and Real Madrid continue to fly away from the rest of the competition in Europe, turning the Champions League into La Liga lite in terms of its competitiveness.
Meanwhile, as he points out, our best team, Manchester United, were comprehensively outplayed by Athletic Bilbao. That game, though an anomaly in a sense, is important .Bilbao were able to win because tactically they matched up perfectly to United. Manchester United like to crowd the centre of the pitch and hit teams on the break with their fast wingers. However, Bilbao play such a high line, and try and play so much in the opponents half, that United unusually found themselves outnumbered where they usually find themselves with a numerical advantage in the middle of the park. And when they had the ball, it was usually deep in their half, and with Bilbao pressing so high, it was difficult to find their wingers.
So it is simplistic to say, Bilbao beat United, therefore La Liga is better. But then again, Bilbao are 11th in the Spanish league right now, six points adrift of Levante – a team with an annual budget about the same sum that it would cost United to prize Iker Muniain from the Basque country.
But the English league has depreciated in quality. Manchester City were able to put together a huge winning run this season, rather easily too. Whilst the number of goals in games between the top sides does indicate serious defensive weaknesses amongst them all. No team is quite right. This Manchester United team, beaten by the 11th place team in La Liga, are well on track to break the 90 point mark, and easily. In fact, for the first time in years, the team winning the league in England look like getting more points than the team winning the league in Spain. That tells a story in itself. It means that despite being so far ahead of their English counterparts, Barcelona and Real Madrid actually find it tougher to win their league than their English rivals.
That is a worrying state of affairs. A league in which the biggest sides are depreciating in quality, yet still able to dominate with such ease is a serious concern. It would be ok, were it the case as it is in Spain, that the top sides are simply so good that they are increasing their dominance as a result with the improvement in their quality. But the English league is being dominated yet further by United, even as they appear on the face of it, to weaken. That is not good for anyone in England.
