Fair to say Eamon Dunphy does not consider this a vintage Premier League season.
Manchester City dominant, their challengers so inconsistent that Burnley are challenging for a Champions League spot, while at the foot of the table a large number of below average teams are battling to avoid the drop.
"I don't like to hyperbole, but this is the worst Premier League," said the RTÉ soccer analyst on 2fm's Game On.
Dunphy's ire is spread beyond England's top flight as he considers the world's most popular sport to be failing.
"Good footballers are not appearing," he said. "(Lionel) Messi and (Cristiano) Ronaldo set the bar and there is no one approaching them," he said.
"The game is dying because it is a street game. The only place you can learn it is on the streets, but you have guys coaching six and seven years olds and just confusing them."
In contrast, Dunphy used rugby as the example of a sport that is evolving and progressing, with each generation inspired to exceed their predecessors.
"You look rugby and it’s in a wonderful, golden age because kids are inspired by guys like (Brian) O’Driscoll, and people like that. They want to play - Joey Carbery, Johnny Sexton. It is fantastic. If I want to watch some sport at 5.30 on a Saturday, I’d watch a rugby match.
"Look at what Joe Schmidt is doing with the Ireland rugby team and compare him to Martin O’Neill, for god’s sake. Football is a dying game," said Dunphy, in a potentially hyperbolic fashion.
"I mean, Ibrahimovic should be working in a car wash and they still talk about him as if he is one of the great players of all time. Even Pep Guardiola couldn’t make him a player when he had him for a season."
You can listen to Dunphy discussing Manchester City and the state of the beautiful game below.
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