As Manchester United crashed out of the Champions League group stage last night (along with the more graceful exit of Manchester City) it left arguably the 3rd and 4th best domestic teams flying the Premier League flag. Worryingly neither club is fancied over Barcelona or Real Madrid as winners of the crown – wait, Real Madrid? Since when were English teams chasing Madrid down BEFORE Barcelona…
The Glory Days
Over the past 5 or so seasons the English Premier League has been held in a more elevated stature than normal and with good reason, the club sides have dominated the Champions League as a whole and players from far and wide have braved the English weather to prove their worth in the greatest league competition in the World!
Hopefully that last paragraph rings with just a hint of sarcasm, because it’s fully intended. Whilst English clubs have dominated the Champions League final stages, they’ve not exactly dominated as winners and when coming up against the best teams the Italian, Spanish and German leagues have to offer they’ve often come up short despite the ‘strength in depth’ of the league.
Furthermore, have the Worlds best players graced the league for love or money? That’s difficult to say comprehensively one way or another, but what is clear is that the Premier League has paid players very well of recent times – something that’s started to pose problems as the spending power of the Spanish clubs has surpassed English clubs recently as a result of a more favourable tax and exchange rate conditions, the result has been some fairly high profile exits and several missed opportunities.
When Saturday Comes
If you’re not aware one of the biggest games in club football is being played this weekend, Barcelona v Real Madrid. This particular tie is more intriguing than most of the recent clashes because for the first time in a while Real Madrid are closer than they’ve ever been to Barcelona, in-fact there’s a fair few pundits tipping Madrid to beat Barcelona this time around.
Anything other than a Barcelona win should be a wakeup call for the English league, a Real Madrid win should send shockwaves. The aim for Manchester United this year, if not Chelsea as well, was to get even closer to Barcelona, but instead we’ve seen last years finalists out at the group stage and the rise of several of the old classic teams. If Madrid beat Barcelona the English clubs will have to worry about getting close to Barcelona first and Real Madrid second which on paper alone sounds like a daunting task. When you factor in the other emerging giants in Europe it makes for a grim outlook.
Look Around You
The problem as it exists is not going to get better any time soon, City fans can relax – that’s a team on the rise, but Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool are all on a heavy decline and have been for a couple of seasons now. The arrogance I talk of is borne of TV rights and the intense build up the Premier League receives, but at the very heart the clubs can only have themselves to blame – lacklustre squad development set in two seasons ago, when clubs made business cases to restrict strengthening any further because the squads they had were competitive enough to challenge for the league and compete in Europe.
All the while, the Spanish league has been getting stronger – it has it’s own problems, but Valencia compete with two footballing giants and Real Madrid are the only team in World football who are close to besting Barcelona, not something you’d have expected given their European form in recent seasons. The German top tier is well mooted by those in the know, Bayern are looking like the team of old and even Dortmund are making a charge again. Most surprising of all is the strength in the Italian league, recently decimated by corruption and the dominance of the Milan sides Napoli against City and Udinese before that against Arsenal showed how strong those teams have become whilst the English teams basked in their perceived dominance.
A Change Is Coming
As the cold English weather blows outside the window, I believe the same winds of change are slowly creeping into football, but in an all too familiar way. I’ll not pretend to be a football historian, but one thing I am aware of is the double hit of English ignorance and arrogance that’s littered about footballing history. Reluctant to accept new ideas, with a perception of physicality over technique as the ultimate path to victory – an all too similar pattern regarding the ‘speed’ of the domestic game is emerging once again.
Whilst English football made merry from the decline of other European leagues and the well timed introduction of television money, the cracks are showing, teams are quickly adopting a ‘Spanish’ 4231 formation in a knee jerk reaction and trying to play technical football, yet when there’s 10 minutes left and you need a goal the long kick and rush game naturally finds its way even with the most continental of English sides. When presented against the ultra counterattacking Udinese earlier this season, Arsenal looked bereft of ideas, the comfortable football they’re allowed to play domestically did not suit and they looked lost, unable to adapt to new styles of play. If the technique focused players of Arsenal cannot adapt that does not bode well for the rest of the league.
Spanish football is on a steady rise, if you view the movement of football talent as an indicator of quality (rather than contract values) then that’s clear as day, regardless as a convert I can say the football is just ‘better’. German football is also rising steadily, soon they will have 2-3 teams who can provide a serious challenge in European competitions as well. Italian football is the real dark horse, surrounded by off-field issues no-one has really seen the sudden improvement that’s taking place, whilst the football is the same defensive, counter attacking style, there’s a new solidity in Italian football from otherwise mediocre sides which has been missing in recent times – remember Juventus? Well you’ll be seeing the old lady again very shortly.
When all is said and done, English football is about to once again pay for it’s own arrogance. The poor squad development of the past couple of seasons is coming home to roost where European football is concerned. Domestically there is more competition than ever, but the inward looking approach is making our club sides stale and awkward when faced with new challenges. What good will getting closer to Barcelona do, when Real Madrid play differently, when Napoli play differently again and when Dortmund and Juventus come back to the party?
Condemned, One And All
The problem is not money, it is not weather, it is not too many games, it is not poor youth development, coaching development or any other kind of excuse – it is the arrogance of English football over the rest of football as a whole. It considers itself superior, it considers itself to be leading the way when it’s behind the curve, and it’ll be to the demise of our top clubs, one and all.
Related posts:
