They keep telling us that the standard of MLS football is improving and we keep saying “shut up, you’ve got Jozy Altidore as one of your highest earners.”
But Steven Gerrard has insisted that he’s been impressed by the quality of play in the States and thinks Bruce Arena’s side would be able to handle more than half the sides currently in the Premier League.
“It’s certainly not the Premier League, but it is striving for that and hopefully one day it will get there. It is still a level down for me, but the level has surprised me,” he said.
“I think if we were full strength, we could compete against more than half of the Premier League on a one-on-one fixture. That gives an ideal of the level.Â
“I think we would still struggle against the top six sides. But we would be a match for a lot of the teams. That’s just trying to get the people back home to gauge the level. So it has surprised me and it is better than I thought.”
We think Mark Hughes’ Stokealona would have a thing or two to say about that.