If you saw the two Chelsea-Arsenal games, you were probably watching two games between the very finest clubs in Europe.  Remember, the European Cup was won by a team that couldn't even qualify for its own nation's European Cup slot last season, the league was that deep.

As much as I love Liverpool, their rather simplistic kick-and-run strategy was too much for CSKA Moscow. I would rather have seen the Reds beat Moscow by breaking down the defense with incisive short passing and runs a la John Barnes in the 1990s, but Moscow's packed and talented defense didn't allow for that.  Liverpool's intricate passing that I loved so much in the past has been superceded by such teams as Chelsea, Arsenal (Thierry Henry alone is amazing), and even Manchester United (I should wash my keyboard with soap after typing that).

When I was talking about Liverpool's rather porous defense, I was thinking only of the period from 1970-73 when I was in England to watch them.  Sure, Tommy Smith (their captain before Hughes) was great, but the rest of the defense was pretty weak.  At the time, they played three defenders and 5(!) forwards.  The European style, made extremely popular by Ajax and Cruyff, didn't really make an impact on English soccer until recently.   

Odds and ends:
The persistent belief that England still relies on the long ball is no longer true.   

Beckham has the uncanny ability to pick out a player and land the ball at his feet from almost anywhere, and he's matured immensely since his truly ugly foul that earned him the Red Card against Argentina.  He now deservedly wears the captain's cap.  (I still can't forgive him for being a Manc, but there you have it! )

Taljechin, 

Thanks for the info about Rennes, I'm going to have to watch more than just he PSG-Lyons matches this year!   

My poorly worded sentence got in the way of my meaning about Barcelona.  I meant that the league's depth drops off after the top two teams.  I like Barca.  But Alumbrado pointed out that R. Betis and Villareal are pretty darned good teams too.

I still think The Premier Leauge is better than Serie A.

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I hope you're not mixing up Sweden with Switserland!

I'm not sure where every player in the national team belongs at the moment, but right now Rennes in France have 3 players (they've just bought Edman from some english team, plus goalie Isaksson and Kim Källström) and there's probably some more swedes in France the Farnerud brothers (though I'm not sure they're in the starting national eleven...), 

Ajax used to have Zlatan and now have Rosenberg (both Malmö FF originally - and the explanation why MFF suck in international play, always selling out the few stars they produce too soon.) Allbäck and Wilhelmsson also played for some Dutch teams, but at the moment I dunno where they're at...

In the premier there's Fredrik Ljungberg and Olof Mellberg and some other, lesser knowns, but many of the national team seem to be leaving England, Anders Svensson went home to play for Elfsborg and Edman went to Rennes as mentioned - IMO he's the best and most creative left defender we've had for years, but obviously his english team wouldn't let him play. - Which reminds me of Tomas Brolin the closest we've had to a Swedish Maradona/Pelé (he was the main reason for our bronze in '94 for example) but his english team wouldn't even let him play....

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You seem to confuse a fat wallet with actual playing strength. The level of play in Italy is surely not inferior to England's, and more than one team has a realistic chance of winning the italian series... 

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Real Madrid must be the most over rated team ever! But they're a great example that you can't make a team from only stars... 

- For 'lacking depth' Barcelona is sure doin alright as they won la Liga last time!

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Not world class?? But they had Phil Thompson, Tommy Smith & Phil Neal during much of the 70's. All of them internationals if im not wrong. Towards the late 70's there was Neal & Alan Kennedy at fullbacks, Hansen & Thompson at centre back. Mark Lawrensen partnered Hansen after Thompson left. I thought they were legendary. Dont forget that that team of defenders + Clemence in goal let in 16 goals all season in 78/79 season.

For all of Clemence's brilliance, he would be completely helpless if he did not have a solid back 4 covering for him at the same time. Spurs' defence wasnt too solid (in fact they were probably too attack inclined to defend apart from chronic team nconsistancies) so Clem let in far more goals there, despite putting up consistantly good performances.

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I think it has to do with exposure. For example here in Holland we have had the BBC with Match of the Day and the likes for decades. Never had that with the Spanish and Italian leagues, those became only interesting when dutch players went there. German league has never been popular here for other reasons.

Taljechin, 

It's been a while since the Italian League was considered the elite league.  Of course they still have elite teams, but there's been a mass exodus from there to the other three great leagues of Europe, Spain, the Bundesliga and the Premier League.

Having said that, Spain is notorious for having two, and occasionally three great teams.  Real Madrid is of course the royal team of Spain, and Barcelona is fun, but the depth just isn't there.

England has recently (in the last 5 years or so) become the deepest and best league in the world.  I say this with a bit of a bias, but I'm stuck over here in the US watching what soccer I can and have had a chance to compare the various leagues.   

Before you write to disagree, compile a list of Sweden's national team members and see which leagues most play in (outside of Sweden).  I haven't done this myself, but I'm betting that more play for English teams than other nation including Germany.

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Well, there seems to be a few Dutch chauvinists here too!

Why would any of the best soccer players at any position necessarily be either Dutch or English? Every soccer playing country in the world has produced some great players which gives thousands to choose from, so any choice of who was the bestest player would be limited by e.g. one's nationality and time of birth etc etc...

Besides, some chauvinism could be expected when discussing the *English Premier* - for one thing isn't the Italian & Spanish leagues considered superior leagues?