Best league in the world?

There was a time, four years ago, when you could argue that the Premier League was the most competitive league in football.

England supplied three Champions League semi-finalists in 2007/2008, with Arsenal also competing in the quarter finals before an all English final in Moscow was settled by penalties in favour of Manchester United.

Fast forward to 2012 and the much fabled 'best league in the world' only has two representatives in the last 16 of the Champions League. Manchester United and Arsenal scraped through their respective groups, despite few convincing performances in Europe and in the coming years England's second coefficient spot could come under threat from the financially regulated might of the Bundesliga.

Whilst third place still allows four sides to compete in the Champions League, of greater concern are the performances English sides have produced when faced with foreign opposition. I can't recall any games from this campaign where a Premier League side has convincingly dominated and won a game.

Arsenal were extremely fortunate to take one point from Schalke, who topped the group, and faced some nervous moments against Montpellier, who have just six wins this season and Olympiakos, who finished just a point behind Arsenal.

Manchester United were handed one of the 'Europa League groups' that Jose Mourinho complained off, in comparison to his own teams group of death, and topped the group despite playing very poorly. United conceded first in five of their group games and generally defending terribly, but the combined fire-power of Robin Van Persie and Javier Hernandez disguised these wobbly performances.

Even the most jingoistic football fans would not suggest that English sides have a divine right to top their group, but it is the ease with which Premier League sides have been unable to match other teams in terms of ball retention and tactical acumen, which is the real indicator.

The Premier League is technically deficient compared to Serie A and La Liga, there is no question of that. Even the Bundesliga, which is the closest in terms of style of play, has several teams which are far more proficient with the ball. All three German sides topped their Champions League groups, and with Hannover, Leverkusen, Stuttgart and Monchengladbach progressing in the Europa League, the Bundesliga has an impressive seven representatives in the latter stages of European football.

Roy Hodgson and his side were outplayed by every team at Euro 2012, a 30 minute spell in the Sweden game aside, and the physical and speed focused aspects of the Premier League are starting to seriously hamper it's chances internationally.

English football has produced some incredible results over the last 12 months: United winning 8-2 over Arsenal, City scoring six at Old Trafford, Chelsea losing 5-3 to Arsenal and commentators are right to label this brand of football exciting. But exciting does not translate as effective and European sides are increasingly able to take advantage of the defensive errors that were incumbent in the previously mentioned goal-fests.

The Premier League tops the big five leagues, in terms of goals conceded as a result of individual errors, which suggests that teams are tactically stronger in La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and the Ligue 1 as individuals are not exposed as frequently. This stat can be found here, via whoscored.com, and is further indication that the Premier League is far from the strongest. Fans want to see well construed goals, not defensive errors which lead to efforts.

Italy occupy fourth place in the UEFA coefficients, but I would argue that the strength of their league is greater than the Premier League. A hypothetical top six of Juventus, Inter, Milan, Roma, Fiorentina and Napoli would beat a supposed top six of United, Man City, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, Spurs and Newcastle from England

The tactical dominance of Serie A was displayed in Turin three weeks ago, as Juventus romped to a 3-0 scoreline, which flattered Chelsea in truth. Roberto Di Matteo was sacked the next day, but there was very little any side could have done to stop Juventus that evening. Their fluid 3-5-2 saw the Old Lady dominate all areas of the pitch, with numerical superiority in defence and midfield.

Manchester United emerged as 3-2 winners in the hectic Manchester derby this afternoon but the 4-2 between Roma and Fiorentina in Italy on the same weekend featured the better football, from teams that are likely to fight it out for fourth place.

The Roy of the Rovers style of the Premier League may be exciting to some, but football purists and fans will appreciate the technical dominance exercised by the rest of Europe and hope that theses teams won't escape further into the distance before the English game tries to catch up.

Some Totti genius.