League Focus: Differing Styles of Europe's Top 5 Leagues
After barnstorming wins for Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund set up an all German Champions League final this season, much was made of the decline of Real Madrid and Barcelona, and indeed the rise of the Bundesliga. It was also only the second season out of the last nine without an English team in the final. The stark and rather surprising failure of the Premier League's best to even have a team in the quarter finals of Europe's elite competition drew plenty of criticism the continent over, and the assumption by all too many Englishmen that the 'Premier League is the best in the world' suddenly looked oh, so embarrassingly misled.
Both Bayern and Dortmund entertained in their high scoring victories over the Spanish giants, and the Bundesliga made a hell of a statement that they had the best teams on the planet. Such was the dominance displayed by the German pair that very little was left to be debated on that front; Bayern were deserved winners and are currently the best team in the world, with Dortmund not all that far behind. However, the elite aside, is the Bundesliga really the best? Do you see the best quality football at a German game, and do they provide more entertainment than elsewhere in Europe?
There are of course vast differences in ticket prices in Germany compared to here in England, which make for good reason to prefer to watch a Bundesliga match, but disregarding financial factors, Bayern's league still appeals greatly. In terms of goals, you get more value there, with the average of 2.93 goals per game over the course of the season higher than any other of Europe's top 5 leagues. Bayern obviously played a significant part in that, scoring 98 goals, including nearly a tenth of those strikes in a 9-2 win over Hamburg in March - the highest scoring of the 1826 games across the top 5 European leagues this season. Bayern did, however, only concede 18 goals this term, a full 21 fewer than any other team in their league, with plenty other teams seeing more goals in their games than the Bavarians.
With La Liga only a short way behind on 2.87 goals per game, next is the Premier League (2.80), then Serie A (2.63), follow by the PSG dominated French top flight (2.54). Also with fewest shots per game (23.9), there is some reason to believe the widely held conception that you get less for your money in Ligue 1 than in other leagues.
Of course, not every strike provides as much entertainment as the next. In terms of goals from long range the Premier League leads the way, with a strike from outside the box, on average, every 2.3 games. With 9 such goals alone, only 27 of the 98 teams in Europe's top 5 leagues scored more long distance strikes overall this season than Tottenham's Gareth Bale, so he will have upped the English top flight's average in this sense. Spain's tika-taka approach might result in more goals than in England, but it means the fewest goals from range in Europe's top 5 leagues. Such tendencies seep into the national game too, and - worryingly for England - seemingly at an early age. At the current under-21 European Championship in Israel, Stuart Pearce's men are yet to have a shot inside the 6 yard box, with 58% of their attempts coming from outside the area, and they are already out of the tournament after only 2 games, while both of Spain's goals in their two 1-0 wins have come from inside the box.
It is, though, only really amongst the best in Spain that such good quality, quick-passing football is played. Barcelona and the Spain national team are the main and most obvious exponents of it, but lower down La Liga, things aren't so pretty. In fact, of the top 5 European leagues, only in the Bundesliga (14.2%) were a higher proportion of passes sent long than in La Liga this season (13.3%). As a result, La Liga had the worst pass success rate (77.6%) of all the leagues, just ahead of the Bundesliga (78.4%). Surprising, given that these are the two leagues from which the 4 semi finalists in this season's Champions League hailed.
Rather than show that the likes of Bayern Munich and Real Madrid hoofed their way to the last 4, though, this instead it shows quite how extreme the duopolies are in those two leagues, where two sides are by some distance the best, and the others have to sacrifice ideology for pragmatism, often meaning a more direct approach. In the Premier League, meanwhile, a lower proportion of passes were played long upfield - contrary to popular belief - than in any of Europe's top 5 leagues. The style of play that the likes of Tony Pulis and Sam Allardyce have promoted is part of a small minority at the top level in England, and is most certainly a dying trade, especially given that has Pulis left his post at Stoke since the end of the campaign.
In terms of drama and excitement, La Liga and the Premier League seem to stand out. The former saw a goal after the 85th minute every 2.77 games on average - that's nearly 4 late goals every gameweek (10 matches), many of which will have won vital points. The Primera Division also saw the worst discipline (or the harshest referees, depending on how you view the officials there), with the most yellow cards (5.4) and red cards per game (0.35) of the top 5 European leagues.
The Premier League, meanwhile, saw the most own goals, at a rate of one every 8 matches or 47 over the season, a full 13 more than any other league. The players in the English top flight also produced significantly more goal line clearances (116) than any other league (Ligue 1 - 84), which may be something to do with the very English opinion that a man on both posts is a necessity at defensive corners. The debate over zonal- vs man-marking at set pieces will continue, but the fact that the Premier League produced the most clearances off the line this term serves only to show that players on the post do sometimes make a difference, but not that it is an inherently better, or more effective way of defending.
The Bundesliga reigned supreme in Europe this season, and if it's goals you're after, head there. For cards and late drama, watch the Spanish top flight, whilst if you want to see long range goals, watch the Premier League. But if it's short passing you're in search of, don't head over to La Liga or the German league, you need look no further than the Premier League. Sort of.
