A winter break to back up arrogance.
Today sees arguably the two biggest domestic football matches in Europe take place.
It’s Liverpool versus Manchester United at Anfield this lunchtime, before Barcelona and Real Madrid clash at the Nou Camp tonight.
As usual, the two Spanish giants are embroiled in a fierce battle to win La Liga and are both very much alive in Europe.
Their English counterparts are in an unseemly spat just to finish in the top four and make the Champions League for next season.
That reflects the current state of the two leagues after a sobering fortnight for the Premier League.
Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester City were all knocked out of the last 16 in the Champions League, and coupled with Liverpool’s exit at the group stage means there are no English representatives in the quarter-finals for the second time in three years.
The misery was complete on Thursday when Everton shipped five in crashing out of the Europa League at Dynamo Kiev, ending English interest for this season.
Spain, on the other hand, has three sides remaining in the Champions League as they look to secure two semi-finalists for the fifth consecutive year.
Seville are also on course to defend their Europa League crown.
The Premier League is heralded as the best in the world. As a spectacle, that is the case. It is an intense, nine-month marathon that is both a physical and mental challenge.
But there is no doubt that it’s taking its toll in Europe. Whatever you say about the quality, there is an innate physicality about English teams.
Our Champions League representatives may have bigger squads and greater resources than the rest of the Premier League, but they can’t cruise through games on quality alone.
Look at the recent example of Burnley. They took advantage of a tired Chelsea side, four days after Jose Mourinho’s side had drawn away to Paris St Germain, to claim a point at Stamford Bridge.
Then last week, they caught a Manchester City side who had one eye on their trip to Barcelona. The result was a Burnley win and a thoroughly miserable evening for City.
These sides are super-fit and well-drilled and, what’s more, there is no feeling of inferiority.
Roared on by their supporters, it’s the British trait of ‘have a go’, rather than submitting to the supposed natural order.
That just isn’t the case in other leagues. Lesser sides in Spain are beaten before kick-off on trips to the Bernabeu and the Nou Camp, and Bayern Munich swagger through the Bundesliga on a weekly basis.
It’s an age-old debate, but the benefits of a winter break would be felt at this time of year.
While Europe’s best are enjoying a few weeks off over Christmas, English clubs are playing even more football.
It’s popular with the supporters and adored by the TV schedulers, but it requires a huge physical effort that eventually catches up with players.
That period of rest would allow players and managers to recharge their batteries and be ready for the bigger tests in the second half of the season.
There is also, it has to be said, an arrogance about the Premier League. Its own self-promotion has resulted in a belief that all foreign teams can be swept away.
Arsenal thought Christmas had come early when they drew Monaco. They failed to pay the team from the Principality enough respect, and by the time they had got a grip on events in the second leg, it was too late.
Watching the Gunners go gung-ho for an equaliser in the home leg and be caught on the counter-attack was, frankly, embarrassing.
So, for a fifth successive year, it was a last-16 exit for Arsene Wenger. The Gunners have become the aristocratic version of Ajax, Benfica and Olympiakos Champions League perennials, who collect the money but don’t trouble the elite.
Manchester City have looked uncomfortable in each of their four seasons in the competition.
Their formula of better players sweeping away inferior opposition has worked well domestically to collect two Premier League titles, but shows a lack of savvy against Europe’s best.
Manuel Pellegrini’s decision to name just two central midfielders in the first leg at home to Barcelona was a crass error of judgement, exacerbated by the fact that a similar error was made against Bayern Munich last season.
Lionel Messi and Co. were a class apart over the two games, but City didn’t seem to have any plan as to how to control the little Argentine.
The big shock was Chelsea’s exit against PSG. Jose Mourinho has proved to be a cut above the rest in how to manage Champions League games.
So for his side to twice lose a lead at home to 10 men and worse to be out-played and out-manoeuvred for large periods was a big wake-up call.
Was it a sign that Mourinho has been seduced by the passion play of English football?
Matches are fast and furious. Goals, mistakes, saves, bad refereeing decisions they are all a result of the furious tempo.
The League would not be as popular if games were more tactical and chess-like. Heart over head is the way we like it.
However, to compete against the Continent’s best, head must come first.
Bayern, Barca and Real all have fabulous squads and special players, so you need careful plans to overcome them, possibly sacrificing some of your own team’s assets to do it.
But the worry is that the situation will only get worse. The new £5-billion TV deal places even
greater importance on the Premier League.
Never mind this season’s Champions League. It’s Hull away on Saturday and we need the three points to make sure we’re in the top four for next season.
There is always another league game. And it is soon going to become the priority like never before.
Cristiano Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso, Gareth Bale and Luis Suarez are all Premier League stars who have been attracted away from English
football.
Until that balance shifts, English clubs will remain one step behind Europe’s elite.
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