Loïc Rémy

[Tomo 21,733]

But I've seen articles before saying the lesser teams in the PL are richer/have squads with higher value than the teams in other leagues. And to be honest that sounds right. Even the worst teams in this league are not complete pushovers to be roflstomped by the top teams. The PL does feel more balanced in every regard, the worst teams are not as shitty as in other leagues, the middle of table teams are slightly better on average and the top teams are not as much of powerhouses as R. Madrid and Bayern for instance.

The thing is I have seen a bit more off the PL overall this season and if im honest I don't think the mid table - relegation teams are very good at this level, infact I think there horrible.

The game that struck me the most was the West Brom vs Arsenal match late November, West Brom were beyond rubbish, they were hopeless, they couldn't string consecutive passes together ffs and the fact Arsenal only just scrapped through says a lot about them.

Atletico scrape through games in La Liga quite a lot (tbh it's truly amazing how Simeone has them competiting with the big two) and the reason Barca and Real regularly smash teams isn't because those teams are bad, it's because those two are that good, if Barca faced QPR or Sunderland 9 times out of ten they would drum up equally as comprehensive cricket scores like they do in La Liga.

The PL really isn't all its cracked up to be.

[Tomo 21,733]

Does that also explain why a 36yo drogba is ahead of him in the pecking order?

Because Didier earned that by performances.

Remy was second choice initially, hench why he was selected for the Palace and Marinbor games, but got an unfortunate injury and Drogba went on to score 6 goals in just over a month.

[Dion 2,476]

Of course they have more money but how well do you spend it? La Liga teams have less money but because of their limitations in terms of funds, they spend it more wisely. More importantly though, they produce their own players. The coaching plays a significant part as well. Same goes for the Bundesliga, though they are not at the level of the PL and La Liga imo. Serie A is not a top league anymore.

Look at how much Utd and Liverpool shelled out for Herrera and Moreno for example. Their 'value' wasn't that high at their previous clubs, they're homegrown players of lower profile clubs. Then PL clubs decide to buy them, high transfer fees and wages are involved, and now they're value is high. That's ridiculous.

Aston Villa pay 24 mil pounds (!!!) for the services of Darren Bent. Sevilla bought Bacca for 7 mil euros. Bacca is 2, 3 times the striker Bent is. What is value?

We've seen Barca (look at how their decline has caused them to struggle a lot more these past years though), Real and Bayern crush teams, yeah. Again, lower placed teams park the bus a lot more against the top sides in the PL. It limits the damage in terms of scores, but they're still poor teams. And like Mourinho always says, no matter the score, the amount of points won or lost remains the same. When the likes of QPR have to 'play', when they have to go out there and win, they're lack of quality is very obvious.

And the PL top teams aren't as good as Real, Bayern and prime Barca. That also plays a big part. Chelsea had a period of brilliance in 09/10, completely annihilating teams left and right. Did that make the PL teams weak? No, Chels was simply outstanding.

On the balance, again, I disagree. While the title race has been about Real and Barca for the most part these past 10 years or so, the competition for European tickets and the fight against relegation is always quite entertaining. The PL had a settled top 4 (Utd, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool) for years until recent years. Everyone knew they would finish in the top 4, and the title race was between Chelsea and Utd. City replaced Chelsea in recent years. Was the Bundesliga the best league when the likes of Stuttgart and Wolfsburg won the league? No.

There's only one place where you can prove your strength and that's in Europe. I'm not saying the PL isn't the best league but I seriously disagree with the PL supremacy talk. That's the nonsense the PL marketing machine spouts out. For me, the PL and La Liga are on a similar level.

(I've realised this has nothing to do with Remy, my apologies. I'll just say his name a few times to make it a bit more relevant. Remy, Remy, Remy.)

Maybe you have a point about the lesser teams in the PL parking the bus makes them look like they're better than they really are, but the fact that these teams have more buck to spend should imply they're stronger on average in the long run, we can't always count on La Liga teams spending more wisely or finding great homegrown talent. That's why I'm really surprised that, upon search for evidence and comparing the tables between those leagues for the last 5 seasons, the lesser teams seem more equal then I previously believed.

The bottom half is really similar, some times PL teams are ahead, other times La Liga ones are, I can't really say I found a pattern there. The main difference seems to be on the top half, take away the first and second spots (where La Liga teams are always ahead by about 10 points) and PL teams are almost always ahead. I'm using those domestic leagues for comparison because I firmly believe they're the best way to compare strength (especially within the league and regarding balance), european games are too prone to flukes, long championships are a better display of real strength and depth of squad even if we won't have direct confrontations between leagues to observe.

EPL 09-10 La Liga 09-10

3. Arsenal 75 3. Valencia 71

4. Tottenham 70 4. Sevilla 63

5. City 67 5. Mallorca 62

6. Aston Villa 64 6. Getafe 58

7. Liverpool 63 7. Villareal 56

8. Everton 61 8. Atl. Bilbao 54

9. Birmingham 50 9. Atl. Madrid 47

10. Blackburn 50 10. Dep. Coruña 47

EPL 10-11 La Liga 10-11

3. City 71 3. Valencia 62

4. Arsenal 68 4. Villareal 54

5. Tottenham 62 5. Sevilla 50

6. Liverpool 58 6. Atl. Bilbao 50

7. Everton 54 7. Atl. Madrid 50

8. Fulham 49 8. Espanyol 42

9. Aston Villa 48 9. Osasuna 41

10. Sunderland 47 10. Sporting Gijón 41

EPL 11-12 La Liga 11-12

3. Arsenal 70 3. Valencia 61

4. Tottenham 69 4. Málaga 58

5. Newcastle 65 5. Atl. Madrid 56

6. Chelsea 64 6. Levante 55

7. Everton 56 7. Osasuna 54

8. Liverpool 52 8. Mallorca 52

9. Fulham 52 9. Sevilla 50

10. West Brom 47 10. Atl. Bilbao 49

EPL 12-13 La Liga 12-13

3. Chelsea 75 3. Atl. Madrid 76

4. Arsenal 73 4. Real Sociedad 66

5. Tottenham 72 5. Valencia 65

6. Everton 63 6. Málaga 57

7. Liverpool 61 7. Real Bétis 56

8. West Brom 49 8. Rayo Vallecano 53

9. Swansea 46 9. Sevilla 50

10. West Ham 46 10. Getafe 47

EPL 13-14 La Liga 13-14

3. Chelsea 82 3. Real Madrid 87

4. Arsenal 79 4. Atl. Bilbao 70

5. Everton 72 5. Sevilla 63

6. Tottenham 69 6. Villareal 59

7. Man Utd 64 7. Real Sociedad 59

8. Southampton 56 8. Valencia 49

9. Stoke City 50 9. Celta de Vigo 49

10. Newcastle 49 10. Levante 48

My hunch is that the dominance of Real and Barça is killing the good teams who are not at the very top. That little edge of points they have over the champions and runner-ups of the English league is coming from these teams I showcased here. In the PL these other teams from top 10 will often find draws or wins against each other and sometimes even from those in top 2, whereas Barça and Real will usually massacre everyone in the league rarely dropping points, actually, even their top 3 is also on average about 9-10 points ahead of the 4th. As we approach the exact middle of the table and below there seems to be equivalence, they all lose and win in similar patterns - probably getting crushed often by the top 7-8. But it shows, nevertheless, more balance in the EPL than in La Liga, I just expected to see it across the entire table. I'd also like to discuss how English teams have been doing in Europa League but I'm still not sure how to explain it, it seems they are taking losses they shouldn't be taking, I'm not sure if they don't give it as much importance as teams from other leagues or if it is bad luck, or if it is both, or even if they really are worse teams. I don't think it is the latter though.

Btw, Remy, Remy, Remy.

[Barbara 15,149]

Because Didier earned that by performances.

Remy was second choice initially, hench why he was selected for the Palace and Marinbor games, but got an unfortunate injury and Drogba went on to score 6 goals in just over a month.

I know DD earned it, but as he's 36, he can be injury prone. José should be balancing those chances between him and Remy more because we will definitely need Remy to be in form towards the end of the season. There are occasions when we could have used him and we didn't. I don't know why José has been more stubborn than normally this season, it's starting to bug me to no end. He has his untouchables, favorites or whatever, but he's been too narrow minded with some of his choices, especially now in december.

Zouma and Remy proved time after time that they were a level above (if not more) than the rest of our bench players. Still Schurrle, Ramires, Mikel and Luis are the only ones receiving chances. Zouma has been introduced well, if we look only for his development, Mourinho played him in all domestic cup matches, but he needs to grow a pair and use him in the league too because Cahill is a walking bomb that has already done some damage to us (and in many other occasions had others covering for his messes and saving our arses - mostly Terry and Courtois).

I do believe Remy will have more chances towards the end of the season - like Ba had, but I have confess, I'm starting to question some of José methods. I think he's more stubborn than he should. I know our group isn't an easy group to manage - some don't have a winning mentality yet, others struggle with consistency, we have average players - such as Cahill (Iva has also been average lately) - doing a job at the cost of others covering for them, limiting our attack, but still I'm not happy with José choices. Maybe the RM saga had more consequences than we foreseen. He doesn't look like the sharp manager he used to be...

[nyikolajevics 2,595]

Rémy has only played 412 minutes for us but scored 4 times and(around 100 min/goal) and has two assists. He is awesome, should be on the pitch more often.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Rémy has only played 412 minutes for us but scored 4 times and(around 100 min/goal) and has two assists. He is awesome, should be on the pitch more often.

Those figures are excellent, it wouldn't be too extreme to say those statistics would be even better if he'd have been able to play the full 90 against Maribor at home, too.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

This dude knows how to score

[ZaynCFC 27]

If the rumours are true and Rémy leaves for Newcastle, I'll be amazingly angry with our Special One. Rémy is the clear No. 2 in our strike force IMO and every time he played, he has been tremendous. He is the reason why I am not that scared if we play without Costa.

Love Rémy

[BlueLion. 21,491]

If the rumours are true and Rémy leaves for Newcastle, I'll be amazingly angry with our Special One. Rémy is the clear No. 2 in our strike force IMO and every time he played, he has been tremendous. He is the reason why I am not that scared if we play without Costa.

Love Rémy

If Remy goes then it could mean Cuadrado comes in, though.

We don't need a second striker when Costa is an untouchable and Didier is happy on the bench. We need more dynamism in midfield because Hazard can't do it all by himself. The only reason we had three forward last year is because they were average at best. When you have one superb striker and a very good one on the bench who is showing no signs of a decline, why waste Loic's potential on the bench? He will return in the summer to be our number two.

[ZaynCFC 27]

If Remy goes then it could mean Cuadrado comes in, though.

We don't need a second striker when Costa is an untouchable and Didier is happy on the bench. We need more dynamism in midfield because Hazard can't do it all by himself. The only reason we had three forward last year is because they were average at best. When you have one superb striker and a very good one on the bench who is showing no signs of a decline, why waste Loic's potential on the bench? He will return in the summer to be our number two.

Because I'm not convinced of Drogba at all. I rather hide after saying this on the forum..

[BlueLion. 21,491]

Because I'm not convinced of Drogba at all. I rather hide after saying this on the forum..

Really? I think Drogba has been class every time he's played, though admittedly he was off the pace at the start of the season.

[Blue Armour 4,311]

Really? I think Drogba has been class every time he's played, though admittedly he was off the pace at the start of the season.

I haven't seen too many outfield players adjust their game so well to continue playing at top level at that age..

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Really? I think Drogba has been class every time he's played, though admittedly he was off the pace at the start of the season.

Agree, but in my opinion what Zayn means is that he will not that comfortable, we only have Costa and Drogba as our only pure striker option, regardless if Cuadrado coming in or not.

[nyikolajevics 2,595]

Rémy and Terry swapping their kits Nice pic.

I hope Rémy starts against Bradford, he'd deserve more minutes on the pitch.

[Thor 2,430]

Why not start him on the wing against sides where we don't need Willian hounding the ball on the right wing? Remy is quick enough, and works hard enough to do that himself anyway. That way, himself and Costa can switch between the wings where they are both comfortable, and we can keep Remy happy with some playing time, because he is clearly good enough to be here.

[Sir Mikel OBE 4,920]

Looks like Saturday just might be the most important day of his Chelsea career now

[Sheva. 5,373]

Drogba will start obviously.

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Remy dude, your time to shine has come