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English game still lagging behind

The Ranter

It may seem a fatuous argument with the current European Champions an English club but the evidence still goes some way to suggest that teams from the motherland of football are underperforming in Europe's premier competition. Chelsea eliminated in the first knock-out round, Manchester United in the group stages, while Everton weren't able to progress even that far.

Meanwhile the champions themselves, Liverpool, were humiliated by a frankly average Benfica side. Arsenal then are left as the sole English representative, after defeating the worst Real Madrid team in a decade, who are currently on their third coach this season (the incumbent now being a man who has never coached at this level before). To paraphrase, if you put a learner driver in charge of a Ferrari, buy some decent insurance!

The Londoner's victory over Madrid, eye catching as it was, hardly leaves them as favourites in a competition that still includes some quality sides in Barcelona, Milan and the Londoner's next opponents, Juventus. Moreover, since the English game returned from the wilderness 15 years ago there have been just two victories in the top competition, from two final appearances. It's a very poor return for a nation that has pretences on having the 'greatest league on Earth.'

There used to an argument to say that the lower level of skill of English players was at fault - that continental sides were able to retain possession with greater efficiency while their opponents played a crude game of kick and run. Perhaps this was a fair point in the days of Charles Hughes and Graham Taylor, when 'playing the percentages' was the règles du jeu but today the domestic game is awash with Sky cash and the continent's best players perform in the Premiership.

Indeed three of the world's top four players (according to FIFA) ply their trade within these shores. Much the same can be said of coaches, coaching facilities and stadia - in none of these areas does England lag behind, with Premier League teams frequently leading the way.

No, the answers aren't as simplistic as that but there may be other clues to 'English' failure. There is some irony in the fact that as the continental trend has been towards attacking football, with the desire to score goals away from home in particular, the English quintet regressed to a 'continental' 4-5-1 system that put safety first. United, for instance, started the season with Rooney exiled to the left wing and van Nistelrooy as a lone forager up front.

Similarly Everton, Chelsea and Liverpool have regularly employed this tactic both domestically and in the Champions League. Meanwhile even the great entertainers Arsenal has been reduced to leaving Henry up-front alone and packing the midfield. By contrast Barcelona, Bayern and even, at times, Milan have pushed three players into forward positions on a regular basis, with the Catalan side scoring an average of two goals a game away from home this season. Just as Catennacio finally died a death, England joined the party.

Arsene Wenger suggests that the Champions League has simply become another cup competition, with the entry of so many non-champions diluting the quality and increasingly the likelihood of a 'cup game' surprise. Certainly if the evidence of the last two seasons is to be believed - where neither Porto, nor Liverpool were close to being the continent's best side but still took the trophy home - then monsieur Wenger has a point.

This argument, while offering some explanation for the freakish nature of the last two season's winners, doesn't offer any insight into the relative failure of English teams in comparison to those from Italy, Spain, France and Germany however.

Much has also been made of the lack of a genuine playmaker at Chelsea, despite the club's wealth. Indeed, United and Arsenal have two of the world's very best in Rooney and Henry, while Chelsea would trade a substantial amount of their riches to sign either.

The argument would seem, however, to have far more to do with the genius of Ronaldinho and his devastating impact on the tie between the sides. Proving that money can buy you players but it can't match the allure of fantasy.

Each team has its particular reasons for failure, of course. Liverpool so conspicuously lacks a cutting edge; Peter Crouch troubling air traffic control more than opposition defences. Chelsea, with an unlimited budget, still cannot find a striker of comparable class to the rest of their superstar squad – or, indeed, room in the side for Hernan Crespo who appears to not fit into Jose Mourinho's tactical system.

Manchester United boast their weakest midfield quartet in living memory, supplying a complement of World Class forwards with enough chances to score just a solitary goal on the team's travels. Everton, aside from simply being not good enough for the competition, were unlucky to draw a top class Villarreal side, in good pre-season form, in the qualifying round. As for the last remaining Premiership side, Arsenal, it's a minor miracle that Arsene Wenger's team has made it this far, given their Premiership form away from home.

Without a smoking gun perhaps we should believe the managers' excuses; bad luck, injuries, refereeing injustice? Surely, these are the cries of myopic men. Meanwhile 'expert' pundits blame the rigorous English season for burning out players even though there are precisely the same number of games in the Spanish League, for example.

Whatever the reason, the crème of English football has served up a poor return for the money invested over the years in players, coaches and infrastructure. Perhaps the 15-year blip will come to an end next season with Gary Neville, John Terry or Steve Gerrard holding aloft the trophy? Maybe, even, it'll be Thierry Henry... but will Barça hand him the captaincy?

Champions League Winners 1995 -

1995: Ajax
1996: Juventus
1997: Borussia Dortmund
1998: Real Madrid
1999: Manchester United
2000: Real Madrid
2001: Bayern Munich
2002: Real Madrid
2003: AC Milan
2004: FC Porto
2005: Liverpool FC

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