Teams that are playing some nice football

[Evilo]

Here we should register some teams that play nice football despite small means.
They show it can be done without bunkering down :

Ligue 1 :
Brest : 20th L1 budget, ranked 11th, 5th attack
Lens : 16th budget, ranked 7th, 7th attack

EPL :
Leeds : 17th budget, ranked 11th, 4th attack
Brighton : 13th budget, ranked 17th, 13th attack
Villa : 10th budget, ranked 5th, 6th attack
Southampton : ?th budget, ranked 9th, 9th attack

Serie A :
Sassuolo : 11th? budget, ranked 4th, 6th attack
Atalanta : 14th? budget, ranked 7th, 4th attack

Bundesliga :
Gladbach : 6th? budget, ranked 8th, 6th attack -> do they really qualify?

Liga :
Celta : 12th budget, ranked 8th, 5th attack

Feel free to add the team that you think we shouldn't miss.

Click to read more...

 

[Havre]

Aston Villa should definitely be included. Leeds and Villa are the best teams to watch in the PL in my opinion.

Bodø/Glimt played some amazing football this year. 3+ goals per game in the league. Attacked without fear against AC Milan in the EL qualifier. Tiny club even by Norwegian standards, but they have truly shown how football can be played even with small means. If their manager had been English he would have been on his way to at least the Championship by now. Not that many on here will now start warching Bodø

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

La real for me and red bull when I seen them.

 

[S E P H]

I like Leipzig and I don't think United plays a bad brand either, they're fun to watch as a neutral because they could potentially collapse into a 3-6 loss. I've liked what I've seen from Lille from Ligue 1, whereas Hoffenheim - for me - is the most fun to watch from BuLi (and Atalanta in Serie A).

 

[robertmac43]

Happy to see Brighton on the list. Just need to see some more consistent scoring to solidify themselves.

 

[Jussi]

Richmond AFC

 

[JeffreyLFC]

EPL: Southampton is a must!! I enjoy a lot watching them play same with Leicester.

 

[StevenF1919]

SASSOOL

 

[Evilo]

United, Leipzig and Lille don't qualify IMO as small budget teams relative to the league they play in.

I added the budgets (some info there aren't up to date in Italy and Germany, even EPL).

All those teams are "overachieving" except Brighton, but we all know the results on the scoreboard haven't translated to the positive football played on the pitch and the results they should have had with a tad more luck.
Also not sure Gladbach qualifies as small budget team overachieving thanks to positive football.

 

[AB13]

Everton deserves a mention. Ancelotti does know how to coach nice football. But their budget is quite large however.

 

[Vasilevskiy]

Cadiz don't play nice football IMO.

Celta and Real Sociedad right now in Spain

 

[Evilo]

But isn't Sociedad a rather big budget?
Last time I watched Cadiz I thought they played very good positive football, without fearing the bigger teams.

 

[Venkman]

Where's the budget info from? Leicester play decent stuff and are mixing up the big 6. Probably have big budget but they play above it compared to most PL teams.

Brentford play good football and mix it up with the relegated PL teams who have much bigger budgets despite losing their best players the last few years. One of the best run English clubs.

 

[Evilo]

Liga and ligue 1 budgets are from L'équipe.
The EPL budgets was on a gg search but doesn't seem accurate.

 

[Halladay]

EPL: Southampton is a must!! I enjoy a lot watching them play same with Leicester.

I agree with both, especially Saints.

 

[Evilo]

I added the rankings of each team's attack in their respective league.

 

[cgf]

Leipzig
Gladbach
Hoffenheim

Are typically just a delight to watch and all three outplay their budgets; which are small compared to the clubs they are competing with and:

Werder
Freiburg
Frankfurt

are fun to watch too, on their day...though they've been very inconsistent.
- Streich & Freiburg being the OG overachieving pressers
- Werder just having that Werder ethos which always promotes attractive football, regardless of their means
- and Frankfurt having gotten themselves an interesting young coach from Young Boys.

EDIT:
Seeing Southampton mentioned I guess Union would qualify (especially on the budget front lol), as we're a similar hard-working club who has ridden aggressive early pressing to surprising results...but I don't think either team is actually that interesting to watch with the ball; at least not until Maxi gets back. Kruse's worth the price of admission on his own.

 

[Evilo]

Leipzig is a small budget compared to whom exactly? They're 3rd in the league and have the 2nd or 3rd budget.

Same for Gladbach, if they're really the 5th budget and they're ranked 8th, they don't qualify.

Hoffenheim is 12th in the league and rank 10th in scoring.

 

[S E P H]

No club that's sponsored by Red Bull is small IMHO.

United, Leipzig and Lille don't qualify IMO as small budget teams relative to the league they play in.

Oops, didn't see the small budget comment, if that's the case I would say...

BuLi
- I still say Hoffenheim (Have some good young players and play delicate football)

EPL
- Leeds United (Bielsa IDGAF about defence is truly something to watch and admire)

EFL
- Brentford (Sucks they didn't get promoted because they had a lot of interesting pieces)

La Liga
- Athletic Club (Hard to say because Spanish football is all about possession and playing from the back, but Athletic might be too big of a club so I'll say Sporting Gijon instead)

Ligue 1
- Lens (You're right about this Evilo, they're like mini Bielsa where they play direct attacking)
- Metz (Not as attacking as Lens, but they stay in matches against the bigger clubs)

Serie A
- Udinese (Definitely back in the day, not sure what they're up to nowadays but aren't as good as they were a decade ago)

 

[cgf]

I should've known better than to mention anything german in an Evilo thread

You're right. Leipzig totally spends as much as Bayern, Dortmund, United & PSG while being hideous to watch; Gladbach definitely has Leverkusen/Wolfsburg/Inter/Real money to throw around while playing Mourinho-ball; and Hoffenheim are secretly spending Citeh money on a club that only bunkers.

 

[cgf]

Leipzig is a small budget compared to whom exactly? They're 3rd in the league and have the 2nd or 3rd budget.

Same for Gladbach, if they're really the 5th budget and they're ranked 8th, they don't qualify.

Hoffenheim is 12th in the league and rank 10th in scoring.

I think we're having a translation issue. "Nice football" typically refers to the style in which teams play and how attractive they are for neutrals.

Whereas what it looks like you meant to ask was "which teams are most over-achieving their budgets domestically"...in which case Union should be the first club listed

 

[Evilo]

I should've known better than to mention anything german in an Evilo thread

You're right. Leipzig totally spends as much as Bayern, Dortmund, United & PSG while being hideous to watch; Gladbach definitely has Leverkusen/Wolfsburg/Inter/Real money to throw around while playing Mourinho-ball; and Hoffenheim are secretly spending Citeh money on a club that only bunkers.

I should know better than expect you to read the OP before posting.

Here we should register some teams that play nice football despite small means.
They show it can be done without bunkering down :

So a small budget team (RELATIVE TO ITS LEAGUE, which I already said) that plays nice football instead of bunkering down.
And what do you come up with? LEIPZIG????

 

[Duchene2MacKinnon]

But what your suggesting is pretty subjective. I don’t know their exact budgets but I would assume Leeds has a similar budget to the likes of La real, no? A mid table team’s budget in the epl isn’t exactly the same as Serie A or la liga. Again I don’t have the exact numbers.

 

[Evilo]

But what your suggesting is pretty subjective. I don’t know their exact budgets but I would assume Leeds has a similar budget to the likes of La real, no? A mid table team’s budget in the epl isn’t exactly the same as Serie A or la liga. Again I don’t have the exact numbers.

Well that's why I said relative to their league.
You're looking at how they're faring in their own league. So why compare with other teams from other leagues????
You can find some nice football played in amateur ranks, so what would be the point?

As I said in the first post, the interest here is to list the teams from each league that are playing nice football despite smaller means than their competition (their league).
It's quite easy for a top 3 team to play nice football in their league. They have much bigger budgets and player talent.

 

[Evilo]

So @cgf , rather than posting nonsense, could you help us on small budget german teams that are playing offensive football and doing rather well (relative to their means) in the BL rankings?