Following their rather predictable elimination from the Champions League on Wednesday night, Jamie Carragher, the Sky Sports pundit with an all too baffling accent, stated that major “changes” were needed at Manchester City.
Manuel Pellegrini, a man with as much charisma as a piece of plywood, saw his side lose the second leg of their last-16 tie 1-0 at the Nou Camp, and once Carragher, the former Liverpool and England defender, made his pertinent point, the age old-debate surrounding English teams underperforming in Europe was reignited once more.
With Chelsea unexpectedly eliminated from the Champions League last week, the onus was on Manchester City and Arsenal to claw their way back from the brink of Champions League elimination, but fairy tales rarely overpower the often painful truth. With the English in Europe underwhelming yet again, one can’t help but ask the question: can the Premier League still boast the self-proclaimed ‘best league in the world’ tag? Although the majority will vociferously bark “yes”, the naysayers may ‘gently’ nudge you in the direction of the all-Spanish Champions League final last season and the all-German 2013 affair.
While it is important to differentiate between the top clubs in world football and the most engaging, domestic competition, aren’t we just fooling ourselves by constantly alluding to English football’s competitiveness and unpredictability rather than its actual quality? Perhaps the constant discussions surrounding the David versus Goliath showdowns, Burnley beating Manchester City, for example, help gloss over one painful truth: the days of Premier League teams challenging in Europe are nothing but a distant memory, a little like Bill Cosby’s credibility.
A remarkable four year run started a decade ago, a run that saw England produce Champions League finalists every year up until 2009. Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea and the once indomitable Manchester United all reached the proverbial summit. That amazing feat will not be equalled for quite some time, especially when you also acknowledge that two of the four Premier League sides lifted the trophy.
Yes, it’s true that English clubs remained somewhat competitive after 2009. United faced and succumbed to the mighty Barca in 2011, while Roberto Di Matteo’s Chelsea triumphed in 2012, but since then, rather pathetically, only one team has made it as far as the semi-finals, and that was Chelsea last season.
However, when we discuss the sheer drop in quality of English teams, Manchester City, who yet again suffered an early exit, deserve the greatest criticism. Now, of course, there is no shame in losing to Barcelona, but the results over the last couple of weeks have been a sobering reality check for English teams’ eminence in European football.
If insanity involves doing the same thing, over and over again, and expecting different results, then the intervals of sanity experienced by City and Arsenal are becoming shorter and shorter. Although the Premier League is the self-styled ‘best league in the world’, the undeniable reality is that England does not possess the best teams in Europe.
Arsenal failing to to make the Champions League last eight for the fifth straight season shouldn’t have come as a real surprise. Wenger is like your ten-year-old niece— a little too old to be a flower girl, but too young to be a bridesmaid. But still, just happy to be included in the bridal party. Securing Champions League football seems to be Arsene’s ultimate goal. Qualify, play a couple of decent games, then crash out.
Former England defender Danny Mills stated; “Think about the great teams in Europe. Do Arsenal have the right mentality, the game-management and the character?”
A couple of significant questions, if they were asked a decade ago. Of course Arsenal do not have the mentality, nor the arrogance to genuinely challenge the likes of Bayern Munich and Real Madrid. The whole “Wenger Must Go” debate is a much exhausted one, something that is best left for another day.
Pellegrini, on the other hand, is a different story. While the latest defeat might not spell the end for the Chilean, losing at home to Middlesbrough in the FA Cup, at home to Newcastle in the Capital One Cup and at Burnley last Saturday may very well be the results that will nail Pellegrini’s proverbial coffin firmly shut.
Cast your minds back twelve months: City played Barcelona and were much more competitive over the two legs. This year, though, the gulf in class was enormous, and if Joe Hart had not played as well as he did, this would have been an utter whitewash, an embarrassment of epic proportions. While Barca and company progress in Europe, City and Arsenal seem resigned to stew in a crock pot of amateurism.
