La Liga vs EPL

I'm getting tired of the comparisons between the English Premier League and the Spanish La Liga. People see the Premiership as the most competitive because teams like Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United and Manchester City are all fighting for the league. Have you paused to think if these teams are bigger than Real Madrid and Barcelona? Certainly not. In the end, there'll be one winner.
Undoubtedly, the premiership has more publicity and the money involved is way more than La Liga. Most premiership matches are on Saturday afternoons. Very convenient for everyone. La Liga's matches are later at night. Some 10 years ago, those of us who were privileged to have TV sets in our homes saw EPL more often than any other league. We only saw La Liga teams in the Champs' League. I'm just saying all these factors over the years have brought the EPL to where it is. But when we're talking of the quality of football in the league, La Liga wins hands down. I want to talk about the strength of both leagues. The Champions League and the Europa league are the best platforms to discuss this. Before I go there, I'll compare both leagues.
Everyone keeps on spitting about that La Liga is a two-horse race. First of all, if you ask me, I don't see 2 horses, I see 2 Bugatti's. Secondly, the Premiership has been a 2-team league for a while now. From the 95-96 season to the 03-04 season, it's been either Arsenal or Manchester United. From the 04-05 season to the 10-11 season, it's been Manchester United and Chelsea. The current season that ended saw the title go to Manchester City. Between these times in La Liga, Valencia, Athletico Madrid, Barcelona, Deportivo La Corona and Real Madrid have won the league. Do the math. Recently, it's just been Manchester United vs the richest team.
When you look at both league tables last season, you'll notice than the last team in La Liga got more points than the last in EPL. In Spain, the point difference between the 4th and 20th team was 31 whereas it was 44 in the EPL. Really, majority of the teams in La Liga are more competitive than the Premiership.
Last season, the top 3 assistors in the Premiership were Silva, Valencia and Mata. Mata and Silva are exceptional talents from La Liga. Most people wouldn't have heard of them if they stayed in Spain. They were hardly amongst the best when they were in La Liga and both of them struggle to hold a starting berth for their national team. They moved to EPL and dominated. Take a look at the former Balon D'or award. For the past 20 years, only Michael Owen and Cristiano Ronaldo have won the title for their merits in the Premiership. The Fifa World Best Player award went to an EPL player only once since 1991. Many players from La Liga have won it during these periods. Only means one thing, there isn't much quality in the English League.
People claim that teams like Stoke City will beat Barcelona and that these Spanish players won't survive in the Premiership. Europe provides the platform for all of us to see and compare. Unfortunately, we might never see the Stoke-Barca match because they aren't even good enough to qualify for the Champs League.
At the beginning of last season, there were 8 EPL teams and 6 La Liga teams in the group stages of the Champs League and Europa League. By the quarter-final stage, EPL had only 1 team (eventual winners) as compared to 5 from La Liga. The Spanish were more competitive. Chelsea won the Champs League but many people criticize their style and the way in which they won it. Winning the most coveted trophy in club football and finishing 6th behind teams like Tottenham and Newcastle puts your quality in question. We all saw Atletico Bilbao beat Manchester United home and away. They dominated in both matches too.
The main oversight of those in favor of the Premiership is the fact that Real Madrid and Barca are the best in the world. Currently, no team is their equal. Scratch the Champs League; these two teams are favourites when they meet any other team.
I've seen Arsenal, Chelsea and Newcastle beat teams by more than 5 goals. City beat Man Utd by 6 goals to 1. Blame it on the inconsistency.
On a normal Saturday afternoon, when I sit down to watch a Premiership game, all i see is running, running, running, crossing and heading. It gets old. None of them are good enough to hold the ball for long periods. Arsenal are the only exception. Big ups to them. Ronaldo left the premiership to La Liga and now doesn't only score but provides. He's become more complete.
Another argument is that all the quality players are only in two teams in La Liga. Well, I can't force your eyes to see quality. I can only point it out to you. We have the likes of Falcao, Arda Turan, Iker Muniain, Soldado, Rami, Navas, Negredo, Demichelis, Cazorla and others who will have starting places in most of the so-called top 6 teams in England.
Mourinho and Ronaldo who spent at least 2 seasons in the EPL have come out to say that winning La Liga is more difficult than any other league they've played in.
The hype from the English media sucks. Teams buy average players for extravagant prices. All these factors are adding to the gradual demise of the English league. In due time, when the publicity is enough, we'll all see why La Liga is better. For now, those of you who haven't seen the light can stay in darkness. Maybe you're blind, maybe ECG has caused it. Eventually, you'll get there and appreciate the Spanish La Liga.

COMMENT!!!

Anyone can comment with the anonymous account in the drop-down menu. I want to hear from you. Comments, compliments, criticisms, insults, shut-ups, everything.

Ghanaian or Nigerian music?

   I'm a big fan of good music. I listen to all kinds of msic from all over the world as long as its good. I love Ghanaian music too. Since i started listening to Nigerian music, I've come to the conclsion that they make the best music in Africa. I'm ghanaian and I'm supposed to be patriotic and all but lets face fact, Ghanaian music isn't there yet.
   A Nigerian song inspired me to write this post. I'll talk about that song soon. Before that, let me talk a little about Ghanaian music. When i was small Daddy Lumba was my favourite artiste; this was before hip-life became big. Aben wo ha, Auntie Atta, Odo Poison are still part of my all-time top 26 favourites. Highlife was good back then. Amakye Dede, Kojo Antwi and the like too are legends. They made good music. Then there was hip-life. Reggie Rockstone thought he was dope but he never did it for. Obrafuor was good. Everyone wanted to rap; even me. I used to record hiplife songs on my late mother's gospel cassettes and play them back while i write the lyrics. These rappers got me in trouble. Then our music was 'modernised', things changed. A few years back Richie(an Achimotan) was on top with his RnB-ish style. Actually, him and his crew were big; ASEM, Eazzy, OJ Blaq and the rest. I may not have mentiuoned other good musicians but there have been good ones. They left and are leaving their mark. Then came the azonto era. Azonto music is super. It's soo good, some churches have started making azonto gospel songs. I heard fetish priests now chant with azonto beats. Azonto is everywhere. Big ups to Sarkodie for his hits.

 Azonto music is good. I love it. Unfortunately, every musician is doing it. Makes me miss the good music we had before azonto. There isn't variety anymore.
   All this while, i hear nigerian music. Back then, they made good songs but as time went by, their quality became too much. There's something about nigerian beat mixed with their accent and local languages which makes my ears perk up like dogs especially when they're waking up from sleep. 8 and a half out of every 10 nigerian songs you listen to is good (the half could be a verse or becomes 17 out of 20 when doubled). D'banj, P. Square, Naeto C, Banky W, WizKid, M.I, Asa, 2 Face and Wande Coal have music that have a global appeal. To me, the only Ghanaian artiste that gets close to these guys is Sarkodie. Sometimes, when I'm bored and looking for good new music to listen to, i check out P.J Butta's Radio Express Africa Chart. Not once have i seen a Ghanaian song there. There's always atleast 3 Nigerian songs there. My favorite african artistes are M.I, P. Square and Banky W; Nigerians unfortunately. Banky W sings better than most female artistes, M.I raps better than most global hip-hop stars and P. Square make one of the best overall music I've heard. I'm not overrating them.
   Now these Nigerians are showing distinction. D'banj has Kanye West in his videos. He has a song with Snoop Dogg and Now P. Square has made another hit this time with Rick Ross a few months after the one with Akon. So its P Square's Beautiful Onyinye that inspired me to write this. Why? Cos I'm happy. I'm not a musician but i know it's not easy to get these Ameriacn artsistes to make songs with you how much more feature in videos. As i watched the video, i was thinking to myself, 'these boys started long ago and look at them now'. I've always liked P. Square. I can sing along to at least 10 of their songs. If you haven't heard Ifunanya(also in my top 26), check it out. They have so many other hits that i won't mention. When they started, they always talked about their past like most artistes. Then they got tired and started talking about girls and parties and fame and did everything that most musicians do but the difference is that they made good use of their talents. If you notice, their older videos had so much dancing involved. Now, they hardly move around. Reminds me of Usher. Wait, they even look like Usher. Anyway, they've alraedy established themselves. Why should they dance again? The Beautiful Onyinye video was done in Miami, on a yacht, with Rick Ross. Just think about it. When will Castro and co. get there?
   Maybe time will tell but since we haven't heard from time yet, Nigerian music will always be ahead of Ghanaian music.

This is the video. I like this Rick Ross. He doesn't talk about coke, Maybachs, his supposedly lazy eye or choppers in cars.
Finally, check out Ghetto Love by Stone Bwoy and Irene and No Away by Becca and M.I. Good music.