Three reasons why English clubs have struggled in Europe
THERE are three reasons our sides haven’t romped away with their Champions League groups in the manner I predicted they would.
1) Complacency.
2) Quality of scouting across Europe.
3) And the competitiveness of the Premier League.
We’re an island and we can be a bit insular at times.
And even though we tell ourselves week after week, year after year, that we have the best league in Europe, it’s clear the continent still has some very good teams to rival us.
Obviously, there are the regular big boys in Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Co.
But others whose budgets and resources don’t match the top four English clubs in any given season are still unearthing very good players because they have no other choice but to.
There’s young talent out there, that’s for sure, and it exposes a degree of laziness in our biggest clubs that they rarely pick them up in their youth.
Then there’s the competitiveness of our top flight.
Over the course of a season, players are all going to have peaks and troughs, and it looks like some have treated the early Champions League games in the same way you’d treat early league games.
Essentially, you’re still a bit undercooked and not quite into the rhythm of playing two games a week.
People might scoff at that and say, “Come on, Stan, Manchester City, Manchester United, Liverpool and Tottenham have squads made up of 25 internationals”, and I understand that.
But I’m still confident they will all go through and, once you see them going into games against opponents who raise the hackles of players, fans and clubs alike, you will see them responding accordingly.
Liverpool and City are the two English teams who can win the Champions League but United and Spurs should be looking at the semi-finals as a minimum as well. Naturally, as a former Liverpool player, I’d love to see them go one step further than last season, but if City were to be the English team to triumph, I’d be very pleased for them as well.
Not least Vincent Kompany and Sergio Aguero, two fantastic servants who have been both very lucky and very unlucky over the years in which they have helped change the face of their club.
Both have endured the sort of injury problems that would have crippled lesser men, Kompany in particular, and both have seen off the rivals who have come in to challenge for their place in the starting line-up.
That speaks volumes about both as characters and footballers.
As an ex-striker, I love to watch Aguero. I know he has had the sort of players around him for years now that any forward would love, but the fact he has had only one wobble in eight years, when Pep Guardiola arrived, is very impressive indeed.
Aguero will be remembered as one of the great Premier League strikers long after he calls it a day.
And one of the best strikers never to lift the Champions League trophy if City do keep falling short.